Toasters, Blenders, and Lemon Zesters

The End of a Journey

2011-08-03T13:50:00.000-05:00

[Note: This is a post originally made on my substituting blog; I wanted to share it here, as well, for those who don't visit Adventures.]

For the first time in a very long time, I find myself struggling with words. How do I start this? What do I say? How do I say it? I usually write in a kind of extemporaneous way, with a general idea fixed in my but nothing specifically planned. But all of my words seem to come out too cliche and unoriginal.

Many of you who come to read my blog are also friends on Facebook and/or followers on Twitter, or you may be one of my family members who actually reads this. So most of you know already. But I have a hunch that I have a few lurkers who are none of the above.

I guess I can take my advice from The Sound of Music and just start at the very beginning. Well, okay, not the very beginning, but close enough to the beginning for my purposes.

The past couple of weeks have been quite busy ones for me. I had several job interviews, I started a new job, then started another new job, quit the first, and kept preparing for interviews. I heard back from the first interview quite quickly and learned the position had been filled. I came out of the second interview feeling lackluster about it. I didn't think I had presented myself very well. I was upset with myself because the latter job was very much the job I have been looking for. However, I have a policy of not writing off an interview until I hear back from the interviewer.

So imagine my surprise when I got a call on Monday morning asking if I would be willing to come in for a second interview the following day.

I thought about what I needed to do to prepare for a second interview and realised that I had no idea. You see, I've never had a second interview before. I've either been hired on the basis of a first interview or I've never been called back. I was told that the interview would be fairly informal, just the principal and myself and maybe another teacher. The principal made a point that I did not need to get "all dressed up" or wear a suit. So I donned my brown leather shoes, light brown slacks, blue dress shirt, and my awesome Utahraptor tie my baby sister got me for Christmas. It is one of my favourite ties, and I wanted to show the principal the kind of attire she could expect me to wear every day at work.

I arrived for the interview and was shown around the school, including the room would possibly be mine. We talked about classroom management, education philosophies, best practices, and other esoteric topics that fascinate me but probably bore those not deeply invested in the education profession. Then we returned to her office and continued our discussions. She told me about the goals of the school, including their efforts to become a fine arts and international studies building without becoming a fine arts or international studies program. I shared my experiences living in Australia and my networking with other teachers across the nation and in other countries. I also talked a little bit about my missionary work in California and how it related to my teaching.

After about an hour (during which the other teacher never arrived), the other candidate arrived, so we had to end our interview. And it wasour interview. The principal wanted to know what I wanted from her and her school, since I was shopping for a school as much as she was shopping for a teacher. On my way out, I greeted the other candidate, who happened to be the student teacher I'd worked with at Stratton while subbing for the 4th grade (gifted) teacher. That was when I realised that I was one of only two candidates being considered for the job. I left feeling considerably better about how I presented myself and about the job in general.

It was at 11:13 am CDT that I got the phone call that has, in no uncertain terms, changed my life. After saying hello and exchanging the requisite "how are you" queries, I heard this words: "Alex, I would like to invite you to join our team here at Wiley, if you are interested."

Holy freaking cow!

After well over 1,000 applications to posting in over 350 districts in the state of Illinois, not to mention the many applications sent across the nation last summer, I finally found my new home.

My new home isn't even that far from my current home. Wiley Elementary School (home of the coyotes, as my oldest brother was so kind to find out and tell me) is located in Urbana, Illinois, which is home to one of the three districts to have utilised me as a substitute teacher last year. Admittedly, I was only in Urbana twice, and it wasn't at Wiley, but it is still one of those districts to have had me on their lists. So in addition to the wonderful joy of having a full-time teaching position after three years of searching, I have a full-time teaching position in my own community of Champaign-Urbana!

While on the phone, I sent Gretch a message on Google Chat that said, and I quote:

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE,"

to which she responded, " you ok dear?"

To be fair, she was at work, and may not have been fully aware of the sequence of events of the day. So when I got off the phone I called her and told her. Then I got the response I had expected: she squealed, told her coworkers, and said, "Oh my God... Oh my God... Oh my God! Honey, that's great!" Ah, understatements, how I love thee!

I made Gretch promise not to say anything online until I had finished calling parents, which didn't take me long. I called my mum, who didn't answer, then my dad, who didn't answer, then repeated until I got through to one then the other. I called Gretch's mum, who was instrumental in me getting an interview, and then I let Gretch know that she could announce it to the world. I had already posted it on Facebook and Twitter, and, I'll be honest: I have been shocked by the response! I knew a lot of people were waiting for such good news, but I didn't realise how many there were! I'm not even sure if a positive pregnancy announcement (whenever that happens) will generate as much response!

Several more phone calls and emails were exchanged with my new principal. I will be attending new teacher orientation on Monday and Tuesday, and then new employee orientation on Tuesday afternoon. I am heading over to my building to see my room (MY ROOM!) and start unpacking. Tomorrow morning I will be going in to get keys and work more on the room.

Oh, and school starts in two weeks. No pressure there, right?

So now I think I'll start a new blog (Adventures in Fourth Grade, perhaps) in a couple of weeks, unless I feel compelled to write sooner, which will almost certainly happen, and just import all of these posts to make sure they have a home. Of course, all new blog entries will be posted on the various social networking sites, and I hope you'll continue to come by and see what kind of crazy adventures I'm having! Thank you, one and all, for your love and support. Best of luck to my fellow substitute teachers, wherever you may be and whatever paths you choose to take! I'll continue to keep up with your blogs!

In the meantime, I am off to explore my building and figure out what the heck I'm supposed to do next! My next blog post will be from whatever my new blog will be called.

Cheers!

There and Back Again

2011-07-26T14:19:00.000-05:00

As much as I would enjoy writing a post about The Hobbit, this is actually my annual post on my experiences at the Illinois Teen Institute just a couple of weeks ago. While many who read this blog are surely familiar with it, I am going to assume that there are at least a few visitors who may not know. So before I get into ITI 2011, let me give a brief recap:

The Illinois Teen Institute is a week-long leadership camp during the summer, sponsored by the Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association (it has taken me many years, but I think I've finally gotten the name down pat). ITI was started in 1974 and has been going strong ever since, making it the longest-running Teen Institute in the nation.

As a Teen Institute, it is aimed at, well, teens. Students are able to attend as participants from the summer before their freshmen year of high school until the summer after they graduate. As a participant, teens are placed into two groups: First is a small discussion group of 8-12 teens and two staff members (depending on attendance numbers). The members of the discussion groups generally do not know one another before hand, and the purpose of the groups is to discuss the general sessions and workshops offered each day. The second group is a Community Action Team, and it is the heart and soul of the Illinois Teen Institute. Teens from the same area/school/community/etc work together to come up with a plan to improve their community, utilising the skills and information they have gained at the Institute. The CAT plan is conceived, planned, and carried out by teens, with adult sponsors or volunteer staff members present as resources. (As an aside, Operation Snowball, Inc. was the result of a community action plan from 1978, or thereabouts, that has become an international drug prevention program.)

As a leadership camp, ITI focuses on helping teens become better leaders in the schools, their communities, and in the state. It is also a "prevention first" program, meaning that students learn about ways to prevent risky behaviours, most notably alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) abuse, unhealthy relationships, bullying, etc. It is not a treatment, rehabilitation, or recovery program. The entire week is focused on the teens. The speakers and workshops are selected to provide meaningful information and useful skills.

I first attended ITI in 1999 as a participant. In 2000 and 2001 I was back again as a member of the Administrative Team (A-Team), which allowed me to attend free of charge as a teen staff member. As a member of the A-Team I did not have a discussion group, although I did participate with my Community Action Team. From 2002-2004 I was absent due to serving a mission in California, but I returned in 2005 as a member of the volunteer staff, working as a co-facilitator. This placed me with a discussion group and a CAT. I did this for two years before being selected as a PALS 1 Coordinator in 2007.

The PALS 1 program is designed for Peers with Advanced Leadership Skills who are coming back a second or third year to really focus on specific leadership skills. The program has changed somewhat over the years, but the main focus has always been to help those teens who are in positions of leadership be more effective leaders and to train to be leaders at ITI. (The PALS 2 program has been renamed Youth Staff and is just that: teens who have been through the program and are ready to practice what they've learned. They work with a volunteer staff member in leading discussion groups, working with action teams, and making sure the participants feel welcome and have a great week.)

I applied to be a PALS 1 Coordinator in 2008 but, due to a mix-up in contact information, I didn't learn that I had been selected until the Friday evening after staff training had started. Gretch and I had just gotten married about 3-4 weeks earlier and I was scheduled to work that entire week. Whoops. I was disappointed, but it was probably for the best, since we were still trying to get settled and all.

After bringing Gretch to my high school's Operation Snowball weekend in 2008 and 2009, I encouraged her to come to ITI, despite her complete lack of experience with the program. She applied as a volunteer staff member and was accepted as a co-facilitator. I returned as a PALS 1 Advisor (new name, same job) and we had a wonderful week together. We came back in 2010, volunteering for the same roles. During the 2010 camp, Gretch and I helped the girls in Headquarters (formerly known as the A-Team) with scheduling of workshops and other things, and I was encouraged to volunteer for HQ staff for the following year, which I did.

Which finally brings us up to ITI 2011. Due to Gretch's work schedule, she was not able to attend ITI this year. So I went alone. This marked the longest period of time we have been separated since we started dating on 16 August 2007. However, frequent telephone calls during free time and occasional chats on Google helped us make it through the week. Besides, many of our ITI friends are married and also spend the week apart. So we knew we'd be okay. Everyone asked how Gretch was doing and where she was. It was great to know that so many people care.

In fact, this is the very reason that I find myself going there and back again year after year. I love the community of caring that exists at the Illinois Teen Institute. My first CAT advisor was Brian Weidner. He had been going to school at Bradley University in Peoria back in 1999. Today he and his wife live and work in Minnesota, but he comes back each year as a workshop presenter, and we also catch up. I consider my friends at ITI to be like a family, and I hope that they think the same of me (and Gretch). Two experiences from this year really capture this sense of family.

The first was a girl who was attending as a first-year participant. She arrived with her mom, but nobody else. She was alone, and she was scared. She wanted to leave. A few of us helped her through the first few hours and encouraged her to stay, sharing our own experiences. After listening to our first speaker, the Amazing Tei Street, she decided to stick around. I later learned that she called her mom that night and said how glad she was to be there. I saw her off and on during the week, and each time she had a big smile and was laughing with her peers. She came alone; she left with a network of friends and supporters.

The other is also about a girl, here for the first time. She came from another state. She is kind of quiet and seems the kind who keeps to herself. I don't think anyone would look at her and think of her as someone who would be popular, or even someone who would hang out with the popular kids. On Tuesday evening, the teens participated in a talent show. This girl walked onto the stage and, without saying a word, put on her guitar and began to play the opening chords to Stairway to Heaven. When she finished, 300 people rose to their feet, cheering, clapping, and calling for an encore. Later on, she and one of the teen staff members, a young man who is a semi-professional musician, were jamming in a lounge area.

That, my friends, is why I keep coming back. It is because the world is not as bad as we are led to believe. There are good people doing good things. They say that the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow. The young men and women and the Illinois Teen Institute prove that wrong. The youth of today are the leaders of today. I am blessed to work with them and I know that I am a better person because of it.

Enjoyment

2011-06-14T14:47:00.000-05:00

The other day I was talking on Facebook about my hilarious adventures in looking for part-time summer work, most notably the fake job interview I went to in the morning. I guess it would be more accurate to describe it as a non-existent interview for a most-likely fake job, but whatever. In the course of the discussion, a dear family friend suggested I go into business for myself doing cleaning.

I apparently never told her or her husband about the cleaning business that Gretch and I had owned for a year, run for about six months longer than that, and worked for for the course of three years total. I explained that, having been there and done that, I was never going to do it again.

My father-in-law was surprised by my determination to never again own a cleaning business, particularly since I had seemingly enjoyed it when I did.

Here's the thing: I did enjoy being a small business owner. I did enjoy having a cleaning business. Despite the headaches, the heartaches, the stress, and the frequent desire to just fire all but three employees, I liked what I was doing and I was doing what I liked as a business owner.

But I also knew that being an entrepreneur was not my passion. That has been, and always will be, education. It is what I want to do more than anything else, and it is what I am doing now. I may not have a full-time job as an educator, but I am an educator nonetheless.

There are many things in my life that I have enjoyed doing, but that doesn't mean I want to do them for the rest of my life, nor even that I want to do them again. And since I am currently biding my time waiting for job interviews and there are only so many new jobs for which I can apply in any given day, I thought I'd make a list of some things that fall under this category of "it was enjoyable but never again."

School. I'm not talking about school in general. I am talking about each progressive element. Kindergarten was awesome when I was a kindergartner, but I certainly have no desire to be in kindergarten again. This is true for high school in general, as well.
Being a paper carrier. I loved doing this. I learned much about the early morning sky, the peace and calm before the sun rises, the beauty of when the sun crests the horizon. I loved being alone with my thoughts. I loved being able to interact with my customers. But to be an early morning paper carrier again? No, thank you!
Serving a full-time mission. These two years were incredibly enjoyable years of my life. I learned so much, I developed in so many ways, and I came to better understand my own beliefs as well as the beliefs of others. It was a great experience that I would never exchange for anything. I enjoyed being with the crazy desert folk of southern California, of working with men and women devoted to the gospel of Christ, and of just being somewhere different from Illinois. I loved my mission. But I also knew when I was done. I would like to serve a mission with Gretch when we are old and retired, but it won't be the same thing that I did when I was a young single adult. I know people who have said they'd love to do it again. I am not one of those people.
Having long curly hair. I love my curls as they are now. I loved them when they were insanely long, It was so fun to have shoulder-length hair that was super curly. I enjoyed the stares of others, the desire of old ladies to touch my hair, and the attention they brought me. But I also knew that I would get my hair cut and, when I did, I probably would not return to the length I had before. Maybe I will some day, but I really, really doubt that.
Student teaching. What a wonderful experience! Working with an experienced educator, learning from her (I didn't have any male cooperating teachers), and getting to know new schools, new people, new systems. I wish I had kept a better log of my experiences as a student teacher. I have reflective journal entries that I wrote for classes, but I don't think they are as open as I would have liked them to be. But now that I am a certified teacher, I have put those experiences behind me.
Substitute teaching. This is something I still do, and something that I enjoy immensely. Even though there have been rough days, I have loved every moment of my job. If I were to work as a substitute teacher for the rest of my professional life, I would find joy in it every day. That being said, I am anxious to have a classroom of my own. I want the experiences of being in the same place every day, working with the same people, seeing the same students grow and then move on year after year after year. Subbing is something I enjoy now, will enjoy in the future but once that phase of my life is past, I will be ready to move on.

And that there is the crux of it. I am one who easily transitions from one thing to the next. I love what I do while I do it but when it is time to move on, I move on. I have some regrets in my life, but not many. Life is too short to wallow in regretting what can't be changed. Live in the moment with an eye toward the future. Be there. Have fun. Choose your attitude. Make their day (and your own). That is how I find enjoyment in my life. Happy Tuesday!

Couponing

2011-06-04T23:13:00.000-05:00

Last night (Friday), Gretch and I went to one of our local County Market grocery stores with two other couples with whom we are good friends to attend a seminar on couponing. Now, to some of the older readers of our blog, this probably sounds like a silly thing to do on a Friday night. After all, what is there to learn about coupons?

I remember a time in my life when my sister and I would sit with our mum on the living room floor, each armed with a pair of scissors, and spent an hour or so clipping coupons. This was a labour-intensive task because, with several paper carriers in the family, we had access to many newspapers every day, including the coupon-laden Sunday edition. So clipping coupons was a big deal. And yet, I really don't have many recollections of seeing Mum use the coupons when we went shopping (and we did go shopping with her quite often). It may have been because we seemed to do a large bulk of our grocery shopping at either Sam's Club or Aldi, neither of which are particularly coupon-friendly establishments.

Still, we went to the seminar because we are all trying to be more savvy with our shopping, especially when it comes to groceries. When Gretch and I first married, we spent roughly $80-100 a month on groceries. Our bishop was shocked when we told him this, but, at the same time, our diet consisted of cereal and milk for breakfast, Gretch didn't eat lunch and I just had peanut butter & jam sandwiches, and dinner was often some variation of pasta with sauce. Over the past few months, though, we have made a concerted effort to increase the healthfulness of our eating habits. So this means more variety, fresh fruits and veggies, etc. And so our grocery bills have gone up considerably.

Which is why we are trying to find ways to save money and still eat nutritious food. Hence the reason we attended a seminar on wisely using coupons. It was interesting. I don't know that any of the content was new to me, but having it all presented together definitely helped it all make sense. Part of the process, though, is knowing what things cost in the first place. To this end, Gretch decided we needed to make a massive database of all the consumables that we regularly purchase of the course of the year. In order to find the best prices, we are going to be comparing the costs for all of these many items at County Market, Aldi, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, Meijer, Schnuck's, Target, and even Kroger (even though we don't have one close to us. Yes, we are going to spend a lot of time there when we are in Washington one of these days. But Kroget is last on the list.)

Taking advantage of Google Documents, we are going to be sharing this database with our friends so that we can all know what to expect. We spent a couple of hours at County Market today wandering the aisles, finding the best prices, and recording them. After I got home this evening, I put them into the document. There are still many items we need to locate. It was fun. I may do more on my own on Monday, now that I am officially a non-working bum until I find a summer job. We are also going to be trying to snag coupons from Gretch's parents, since they reportedly don't use them often. Otherwise we'll have to subscribe to the Sunday paper.

Oh, and we also bought a few grocery items, using some coupons we had received last night. Nothing spectacular, but we did save about 35% by finding items on sale and using them. Noah and Cherry reported saved a little over 50% today. I haven't talked to Dan and Kristie to see what their results were. Feel free to let us know of any secrets you use to help save money by clipping coupons and finding deals!

Memorial Day

2011-05-30T14:23:00.000-05:00

I posted this on my substituting blog today, but I wanted to share it with my family and friends who do not regularly visit Adventures in Substituting:

Today is Memorial Day here in the United States of America, and so it is that all government buildings are shut down, including the schools. It is a day to reflect upon the great sacrifices made by men and women throughout history in the defense of our nation. I tend to avoid any overt religious commentary on this blog, for the simple fact that I wish to focus on my work as an educator, more specifically so as a substitute teacher, but I thought I'd make an exception today. I figure that if we truly believe that we are "one nation under God" then it is totally okay for me to bring up my own faith every now and then.

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--a church commonly known to many as "the Mormon Church" because of our belief in the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon as an additional book of scripture, similar in purpose to the Holy Bible. I give this introduction because, on this Memorial Day, I have been thinking of one of my great military heroes. There are some, even within my faith community, who do not value him for what he represents, but I am not one of those. This man was named Moroni, and he was the chief captain of the military forces of a group of people known as the Nephites. As the chief captain, he had to lead his people in war against those who sought to take away their freedoms.

There is an account in the Book of Mormon that tells of him rallying the people together under what was known as the Title of Liberty. This was a flag or banner made from his own coat that had written upon it these words: "In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children." It was with this that he raised an army and conquered his people's enemies.

But what I love most about Captain Moroni is that he did not glory in battle. He understood that his purpose was not to conquer, but to protect, and he trusted always in his God. As the Book of Mormon says about him,

11And Moroni was a ^astrong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect ^bunderstanding; 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 brethren from bondage and slavery;

12Yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a man who did labor exceedingly for the ^awelfare and safety of his people.

13Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had ^asworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood.

14Now 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 ^anever to give an offense, yea, and never to raise the sword except it were against an enemy, except it were to preserve their lives.

15And this was their ^afaith, that by so doing God would ^bprosperthem in the land, or in other words, if they were faithful in keeping the commandments of God that he would prosper them in the land; yea, warn them to flee, or to prepare for war, according to their danger;

16And also, that God would make it known unto them ^awhitherthey should go to defend themselves against their enemies, and by so doing, the Lord would deliver them; and this was the faith of Moroni, and his heart did glory in it; ^bnot in the shedding of blood but in doing good, in preserving his people, yea, in keeping the commandments of God, yea, and resisting iniquity.

17Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto ^aMoroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the ^bdevilwould never have power over the hearts of the children of men.

And so it is on this Memorial Day that I give honour to the men and women who "labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of [our] people." To all the families of all the slain of our battles, I give thanks for your sacrifice, and for the sacrifice of your loved ones.

Easter Sermon

2011-04-25T19:19:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Easter Sunday, and our ward had a Sacrament meeting devoted to music and messages about the events leading up to and following the Saviour's death and resurrection. Gretch and I are in the ward choir, so we were a part of the music. And last week I was asked to be one of the speakers. I know that we use the word "talk" in the LDS church to describe sermons, but I like to think of my talk as my Easter sermon. The topic I was given was... actually, no; I'm not going to say what my topic was. It annoys me when people do it in their talks, so it would be silly to do it now. For those who continue reading, I'll let you decide what my message was.

I gave no formal title to my sermon. When I am given the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting, I spend all of the time between the invitation and the day of the meeting contemplating the topic. I read what the Scriptures have to say about the topic, I read relevant passages from books I have acquired, and I read articles on blogs and other sites. I also think about it. A lot. I talk to Gretch about the topic and bounce ideas off of her. And then, depending on when I am speaking, I write the talk the night before or the morning of.

Our Sunday meetings start at 11 am, so I had plenty of time to write in the morning. This gave me an extra night to mull things over as I slept. On Easter morning I got up, pulled out my books again, and started reading. I read the accounts given in the New Testament, as recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I started to go to the computer, but I decided I'd rather write by hand. Instead of writing things out word for word, which I have done in the past, I made an outline. Just as I finished, I checked on some sites and found some more information that I wanted to add. And then I was ready.

What follows is the message I would have delivered if I had been given an unlimited amount of time. It is long, so I'll understand if you don't wish to read it all, but I wanted to share it and to have a record that I could keep in a more permanent form than the two pages of outlined notes I had in my portfolio.

I love music. It has long been an incredibly important part of my life. And so it should be no surprise that when I was first asked to speak on Easter Sunday about Christ that my thoughts turned almost immediately to a song I first heard during Seminary when I was in high school. The song is called "More Than Just a Man" and it was written by Julie de Azevedo. The message of this song is that Jesus Christ was so much more than "just a man from Galilee"--I have searched for the lyrics online, but I was unsuccessful in finding them. Fortunately, I have this song on a CD I got on my mission, and I can write the lyrics out to the best of my ability:

Some say that He was just a man who walked in Galilee,
They say that He spoke words of truth, and did a few good deeds.
Others claim He was a prophet who lived a faithful life,
They say He worked many miracles yet He was not divine.

But He's more than just a man who walked in Galilee,
More than just a prophet to me.
He is my Brother, my Saviour, my Lord,
He is my King.

Still others don't believe He lived;
just a legend passed through time,
To give men something to believe
and calm their troubled lives.

But He's more than just a man in whom we can believe,
More than just a legend to me.
He is my Brother, my Saviour, my Lord,
He is my King.

He is counting on me to help others see.

More than just a man who walked in Galilee,
More than just a prophet to me.
He is my Brother, my Saviour, my Lord,
He is my King.

More than just a man in whom we can believe,
More than just a legend to me.
He is my Brother, my Saviour, my Lord,
He is my King.

More than just a man...

As I contemplated the words of this song, I stumbled upon a quote from the Prophet Joseph Smith that my friend Ben Spackman shared on a blog to which he contributes:

The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose the third day, and ascended in heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.

This got me thinking... who was Jesus Christ?

Jesus was a mighty teacher. He taught eternal truths about mankind and our relationship to God. He clarified teachings of past prophets and explained the meaning and purpose of the commandments. He taught in parables to show how the principles of the Gospel could be practiced. He demonstrated, time and again, and the single greatest commandment is to simply love: to love others, to love God, and to love ourselves. Yet being a great teacher does not distinguish Jesus from the multitude of great teachers who came before Him and who have come after.

Jesus was a mighty healer. The scriptures are full of accounts of Him healing the sick and the infirm, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, causing the lame to walk. He restored life to those who had died, and He cast out demons. But, once again, we must acknowledge that Jesus was not the first to heal and He was not the last. Being a healer does not distinguish Him from others.

Jesus was a mighty prophet. He prophesied of the scattering of Israel, of the ministry of His disciples, of His own death and resurrection, and of the last days. But there have been many prophets throughout the history of mankind.

What does distinguish Jesus? Why do we worship Him and revere His name? It is because, more than anything else, Jesus was and is the Christ, the Annointed One of God. Before His mortal ministry, He was the great Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As such, He was not just the Son of God. He was God. In the Institute class that Gretch and I have been taking, we have been studying the Book of Mormon. In the course of our study, we have come to understand that the great underlying message of the Book of Mormon is the testimony that Jesus Christ was the God of Heaven and Earth who descended from His throne above to atone for the sins of mankind.

One of the great sermons in the Book of Mormon is that of King Benjamin, found in Mosiah 2, 3, 4, and 5. If I could, I would simply transcribe the entirety of his message. In the heart of it is this beautiful summary of the role of Christ:

And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.
And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him.
And he shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men.

Later in the Book of Mormon, there is a period of time when the righteous were looking forward to the birth of Christ. The unbelievers in the land had taken control of much of the government and had set aside a day in which, if the signs of the birth of Christ had not been manifest, all of the believers would be executed. The prophet at the time was a man named Nephi. He prayed to the Lord for guidance and understanding of what they should do:

Now it came to pass that when Nephi, the son of Nephi, saw this wickedness of his people, his heart was exceedingly sorrowful.
And it came to pass that he went out and bowed himself down upon the earth, and cried mightily to his God in behalf of his people, yea, those who were about to be destroyed because of their faith in the tradition of their fathers.
And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:
Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.
Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son—of the Father because of me, and of the Son because of my flesh. And behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given.

I absolutely love the simplicity of this truth: God Himself spoke to Nephi and promised that He would be born in the morning as the Babe of Bethlehem. The sign of His birth did come, and Jehovah did come to Earth as Jesus of Nazareth. Years later, this same Nephi was among those who witnessed the glorious visit of the Saviour to some of the people who lived in the Western Hemisphere. This was His introduction to His people:

Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.
And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning...
Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole dearth, and have been slain for the sins of the world...
And when they had all gone forth and had witnessed for themselves, they did cry out with one accord, saying:
Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High God! And they did fall down at the feet of Jesus, and did worship him.

This, then, is the reason for my faith and my testimony. It is the reason that we are gathered today to celebrate the glorious Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is not because He was a mighty teacher, healer, or prophet, although He was all of these things. It is because the God of Heaven and Earth, the great Jehovah, came among the children of men as Jesus, the Annointed Saviour of mankind. In His brief mortal ministry, He set the example for us and showed us the way. He taught the higher law, the only law, that will lead us back to live with our Father in Heaven.

In teaching of love, Christ said, "No greater love hath a man than this: that he lay down his life for his friends." Christ suffered for us all; not just for our sins, for our pains and sorrows, also. His death loosed the bands of death for all. But Jesus did more than just lay down His life; He took it up again. And, through means incomprehensible to me at this point in my existence, He made it possible for all to live again.

That is what distinguishes Him from all others: Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God. By Him, of Him, and through Him, the worlds were and are created, and we are all the sons and daughters of God through His Atonement, the apex of which was not seen in His death, but in His resurrection. As John testified, so do I:

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

May we all take time to contemplate the life, the ministry, the atonement, and the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, even Jesus Christ, the Author of our salvation.

Is Civil Discourse Too Much To Ask For?

2011-04-22T10:16:00.001-05:00

As I am pretty certain everyone reading this blog knows, I am an active participant on several different blogs, many of them related to religion, politics, education, and social issues. In a recent blog post at By Common Consent, a Mormon blog, about immigration, a nugget was posted by a (to the best of my knowledge) drive-by commenter, ranting and raving about "illegals" ruining our nation. Here is the verbatim post:

Do illegals pay social security? Millions of dollars are sent back to Mexico to their families. And their are jobs besides farm jobs that that citizens haven’t done because wages have been depressed by importing them at a cheaper rate. A condition of higher unemployment means that any race, Irish etal takes opportunities from those who first deserve them. Eventually, the citizen would take any job to survive if they hadn’t already been taken by then. If no citizen needed that job, then I wouldn’t care about that aspect of it. But their is a coverup of statistics on unemployment and crime because the corrupt portion of the Republican party(and big bussiness) and the Democratic party to foster the socialist vote. These traitors exploit illegals of any race to undercut the citizen. But the illegal has better than he had and the citizen worse. We speak as though the issue is of employment alone but the illegal garners medical and other social benefits of welfare supported on the backs of the citizen. Stolen identities along with voting privileges make a an illegal vote for more socialist programs. More negatives than the social security they’ve been touted to bolster. I can’t speak for Indiana but what I see here makes those statistic seem to be a sham. But when you look at the Banks and bussiness that support and encourage them and you see how they tabulate the unemployment stats you realize it’s all biased reporting or a whitewash. It’s not that certain conditions never existed for immigration but this aint one of them and if it were it would only be right if it were legal immigration which checks a multitude of problems. The H2a visas are a way that already exist to rightfully moderate this but for the church to approve of a breach of federal law in the form of a state law contravenes it’s own rule of honoring and sustaining the the law. Are You ready to retire pretty soon so that the illegals would be paying your social security or are you young ? If you are young would you mind having your wage reduced or your job replaced by an illegal knowing that ,even though you were out of work, your social security payments would be there some day? Even if you couldn’t get hired? Well, if your young and you think that you are totally deceived if not self deceived. Our country is so negatively funded that you think immigration will fill a blackhole. The world is filled with disinformation about the true dire status of the economy. Forget about all this trash on racism. The principle is that ANY race outside that impairs the conditions of the citizen (which could themselves be any race) they should obey. But the really bad people who are traitors support them.

Things like this cause me to seriously worry about our nation when I realise that these kind of people live, work, and vote here. The current debate in our nation about the problems with our immigration system does not benefit at all when people start discussing the issues in this way. I don't think there is a single coherent argument in that entire wall of text. It is just nasty rhetoric, which is exactly what we do not need more of in our nation. Is it asking too much to see civilised discourse finally make its way to our nation?

For those interested, the entire blog post and all 175+ comments can be found here: http://bycommonconsent.com/2011/03/15/immigration-lolz/

It is in response to the recent news that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially supported recent immigration reform laws in Utah. See here: http://newsroom.lds.org/article/a-principle-based-approach-to-immigration

Grey Skies

2011-04-20T16:53:00.000-05:00

It is a few days past the middle of April. We had some wonderfully warm and sunny days, then the weather turned north and it got cold, rainy, and grey. Last night we had severe thunderstorms that knocked out power in some communities (although, fortunately, not ours). We are among the many of North America who really wish spring would just get here and stay for a couple of months and then turn into summer before it cools off again and we prepare for another winter that will, inevitably, be cold and miserable.

Back when I was in high school (over ten years ago--that's right: this May is the 10th anniversary of my high school graduation), I was actively involved in the school plays and musicals as the Chief Spotlight Operator. I had tried out for a play my freshman year and, upon not making it, was encouraged to sign up to do lights with my friend Jacob. The current spot light operators were both Seniors, so the drama/art/woodworking/who-knows-what-else teacher, Mr. Hershberger, affectionately known as HB, needed some new blood to operate the spots. I quickly took a shine to them (hahaha) and kept up with it. For the rest of my high school career, I was the guy at the spotlight on stage left. If there was a special event that needed just one spot, I was the one who did it. Usually we had two spots, but I kept my post, which consisted of standing on a somewhat rickety platform with an ancient light worth more than my life (at least, that is what HB constantly told me).

By my Junior year, I knew more about operating the spotlights than anyone in the school (except Mr. Hershberger, of course, but he never intervened). I will always cherish the day that the student director of our play, Kirsten something-or-other, tried to give me spotlight cues that didn't make any sense. Finally, frustrated with her lack of comprehension as to what spots can and cannot do, I told her, over the radio band that most of the technical crew used, to shut up and let me do my job. She started to get huffy but HB, ever the dear old man, politely told her to let me do the spots the way I saw fit. I didn't get smug about it, but I did feel happy that I had the full support of the Man in Charge.

It was my Freshman year, though, that I was first introduced to the musical Bye, Bye, Birdie. I haven't seen it since, but I remember almost the entire show. You see, the spotlight operators have a fully copy of the script of any given show so that cues can be recorded and planned. And I was at my post throughout all of the rehearsals. So instead of seeing the show once or twice, I saw it several dozen times. This was true for all the productions we did, which is why I can still sing along with Godspell, South Pacific, and Annie Get Your Gun (and Bye, Bye, Birdie, of course). One of the best-known songs from this particular musical is Put On a Happy Face:

As the lyrics say: Grey skies are gonna clear up; put on a happy face! It is gloomy now, but it is going to get warm soon! The skies are kind of grey for us, as well, but they, too, are clearing up! Good things are happening, and they are going to continue to happen. As C.S. Lewis put it in The Magician's Nephew: "When things go wrong, you'll find they usually go on getting worse for some time; but when things once start going right, they often go on getting better and better."

Who Are You?

2011-03-25T10:47:00.000-05:00

A thought has been running through my mind this morning and it doesn't seem to be planning on leaving any time soon. I have things I need to get done (such as applying for more jobs for the coming school year), so I am hoping that this may help me at least share the thought well enough that I can worry about other things.

The thought is really more of a question. Who am I? Who are you? How do I define myself? How do you define yourself?

So often in our lives, we have opportunities to introduce ourselves to new people. I've mentioned before how I have this habit of introducing myself as Alex Valencic but, if I am writing my name, it is always Alex T. Valencic. After sharing my name, it is inevitable that someone will want to know more about me, and the first thing they ask is what I do. How we respond to this question says a lot about what we think of ourselves, I think.

When someone asks me what I do, I respond by either saying I am a teacher or I am a professional educator, depending on which term I feel like using at the time. The follow-up question is either, "Oh, really? What do you teach?" or "Where do you teach?" I tend to respond to either question by explaining that I work as a substitute teacher for Champaign, Mahomet, and, occasionally, Urbana. Of course, the real answer to the question of what I teach is that I teach children. But that is one of those more esoteric responses that comes off as somewhat pretentious, so I shy away from it.

But I have been wondering... is what I do for a living really how I want to define myself? Why don't I define myself as being a husband, or a brother, or a son? Why not define myself as being a friend? What about my work as a drug prevention specialist? Or my work with the Boy Scouts of America through the Cub Scouts?

I think it is because I simply frame my life in the understanding that I am an educator. It isn't just what I do professionally; it is who I am. There is a reason why I have a habit of sharing far more information in response to a question than is probably wanted. I even frame my familial roles within the framework of teaching. My work in drug prevention and in scouting is the same. So, for me, I am an educator.

And yet I don't believe this understanding of the relationship between vocation and who we are is the same for everyone. I could go through most of my immediate family and share what I would say if someone to ask me who they are and what they do, but I ~~might be~~ would most likely be wrong. So I turn the question to you: who are you? Do you allow others to define you, or do you define yourself?

Blissfully Busy

2011-02-19T20:37:00.002-06:00

It has been nearly two months since a real update on the blog here. If all of your knowledge about our comings and goings comes from our blog, I'm sorry I've been so lax in keeping things updated. Gretch and I have both been really busy in the most wonderful of ways.

Gretch has continued to love her work with AmPride Communications, using her skills at graphic design in awesome ways. AmPride recently published two of their magazines, American Concierge and Community Concierge, which has marked the first time her name has appeared in a professional piece as a designer. One of the coolest parts of her job has been being able to use her skills as a typographer. Someone else in the company wrote all of the copy for the magazines, but Gretch was the one who placed all of the copy (referred to as typesetting, even if she isn't actually setting type the way folks did way-back-when). She also designed several of the ads in the magazines. With both magazines printed, she's now working on designing fliers, brochures, mailers, etc. She'll also possibly be doing some office assistant work, since she has the skills from her time with Simply Spotless.

Speaking of Simply Spotless, we formally filed a corporate bankruptcy on December 8, had a hearing with the trustee on January 20, and have received word that everything has been processed and cleared. With taxes already taken care of, we are finally finished with everything relating to the corporation. Of course, we will be dealing with our personal liability associated with the business for several years, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, and we have bright hopes for the future. And even though the business ultimately failed, I will continue to point out that I would not give up what I gained from my time as a small business owner and as an employer.

As for me, I have been teaching a lot, which has been wonderful. If it were possible for me to be hired as a full-time substitute in any of the districts in which I sub, I would jump on the offer. Alas, all of the districts hire substitutes on an as-needed basis. The work is awesome, the pay is good, but I still long for a classroom of my own. To that end, I have been working on fine-tuning my resume and letter of interest, searching for jobs within an hour and a half of Champaign (about a hundred mile radius), and making lots of contacts with teachers, administrators, students, and even parents. I hope you've taken time to check up on my other blog where I write about my adventures in substituting.

On days when I am not teaching, which are thankfully few, I spend time developing my philosophy of education. I am sharing this on my blog and will eventually compile, edit, and post the entire thing as (hopefully) a single document. However, it may turn out to be more like a short book. I think my word count is currently in the 5,000 range. It has been a great experience for me to put into words the thoughts I have on the how and why of what I do for a living.

In non-work related news, Gretch is serving as our ward's humanitarian aid coordinator (I'm not sure of the exact title), which consists of finding volunteer opportunities and sharing them with the other women in the ward. I've been serving as the Webelos Den Leader, which is an awesome experience and something I hope to do for at least three years. (I've told our bishop that I would be happy to take on other callings if he felt so impressed, but I want to keep this one). Last night we attended the Blue and Gold Banquet and had a great time celebrating the boys' accomplishments.

We've been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, courtesy of my parents' Netflix account, while my sister Ariana is watching at home. We already have plans to watch the movie with her the next time we visit. Speaking of visiting family, we had the opportunity to visit Adam, Meredith, and Gregory in St. Louis two weeks ago on a totally on-a-whim weekend trip. It was awesome hanging out with them, being introduced to Dorkness Rising and Shaun the Sheep, watching the Super Bowl, and just getting to hang out with them. We also went to the Temple for the first time in months and then went again last week to help out with a youth baptism trip.

So that's pretty much what we've been up to the past couple of months. I'll try to update more frequently, though, just so you all know we're still alive :)

LIFTB Catch Up (LIFTB 37-47)

2011-01-29T22:54:00.009-06:00

Just in case you haven't been going to lifeisforthebirds.com here is what you've missed:

LIFTB 37

LIFTB 38

LIFTB39

LIFTB 40

LIFTB 41

LIFTB 42

LIFTB 43

LIFTB 44

LIFTB 45

LIFTB 46

LIFTB 47

Visit the LIFTB website to catch all the latest comics now updated every SATURDAY.

A New Year

2010-12-31T07:23:00.002-06:00

[Note: This has been cross-posted on my Adventures in Substituting blog.]

It is shortly after 7 am on 31 December 2010. In just 17 hours, this year will be over. At times it felt like it was just zipping by and at other times it seemed like time would just not move forward.

Despite the numerous personal difficulties that I have experienced this year, from not being afforded many opportunities to teach during the end of the last school year, to applying for hundreds and hundreds of full-time teaching positions and only having one interview (that didn't produce anything other than a long early morning drive across the state and back again), to running a business that started failing in 2009 and finally closed this summer, to a few extremely personal trials that some, but not all, are aware of... despite all that, there were good things, too.

Some of my highlights of this year has been the many opportunities to teach during the first part of this school year, especially in a new school district, which has challenged me as an educator, which is exactly what I was hoping would happen. I've learned that family and friends are amazingly supportive, and that no matter how long and dark the road ahead may seem, there is an end in sight. I've developed new friendships, strengthened old ones, and learned that my older brothers can be a lot of fun. I have learned that cataloguing my books takes a long time, but it definitely worth it, and know I want to catalogue my movies and music, as well.

I have no idea what 2011 is going to bring. I have hopes for some things. I hope for an opportunity to teach full-time. But if I continue to work as a substitute teacher, I will not be upset. I love my job, and I am a dang good substitute. I expect to have more time to do more things outside of the house with Gretch (including visiting family and friends outside of central Illinois). She started working a new job in the middle of December, and it has been a godsend. She loves it, and I love that she loves it. There are still going to be bumps on the road; I know that, and she knows it. But 2010 has taught us that the bumps aren't too bad. We can get through it. And I continue to plan on sharing my many adventures throughout the coming year. The adventures will always be here, and as long as I am capable, I plan on sharing them with you.

Happy new year!

CG and Stop Motion Movie Wish List

2010-12-30T19:48:00.007-06:00

This is just another DVD wish list (mostly for reference purposes only, but if you feel like gifting one or two, we won't complain). This one is specifically for CG and Stop Motion movies. It is our goal to someday own all of these movies on DVD. Ones we own are crossed off.

PIXAR MOVIES

Cars 2
Finding Nemo
Monsters Inc.
The Incredibles
Wall-E

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION

Antz
How to Train Your Dragon
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Kung Fu Panda 2
Madagascar 2
Over the Hedge
Shark Tale

WALT DISNEY ANIMATION (CG)

A Christmas Carol
Bolt
Dinosaur
Meet the Robinsons
The Wild
Tinker Bell (the first one)
Valiant

BLUE SKY STUDIOS

Ice Age
Ice Age 2

WARNER BROS.

The Polar Express

IMAGI ANIMATION STUDIOS

Astro Boy
Planet 51
TMNT (CG animated)

OTHER STUDIOS

9 (Starz Animation)
Barnyard (Omation Animation Studios)
Happily N'Ever After (Lionsgate Films)
Hoodwinked (The Weinstein Company)
Igor (The Weinstein Company)
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (Paramount Pictures)
The Tale of Despereaux (Universal Studios)

STOP MOTION MOVIES

James and the Giant Peach
Wallace and Grommet: The Curse of the Were-rabbit

The Ghost of Christmas Past

2010-12-29T16:46:00.005-06:00

Christmas has come and gone, and with it, the joy of trying to find gifts for everyone and making plans to accommodate family and friends near and not-so-near.

Our Christmas festivities officially began on Christmas Eve Eve, when we got together with our friends Noah and Cherry to exchange gifts and to watch "The Rocketeer" - a movie that neither Gretch nor Cherry had seen. We made a bunch of chocolate chip cookies for them, and also got a framed print of the first picture we had with Noah and Cherry in Illinois, taken at Jimmy John's. I will refrain from sharing the picture online, if only because I don't know if they want it publicly shared or not (even though Gretch and I agree it is an adorable picture of the two of them!) They gave us a grey and maroon American Eagle hoodie, a nightlight of the Leg Lamp from "A Christmas Story" and a vintage Snoopy Christmas mug from 1958:

On Christmas Eve, we headed over to Gretch's family's where we had a wonderful time with them, as well as Miriam (one of Gretch's mother's best friends), the two sisters serving full-time missions for our church in this area, and a young woman named Kimberly who has been coming to church recently and is getting baptised on January 1. There was a large quantity of tasty food, fun times, and, after the Regers returned from attending a Christmas Eve service with Miriam at her church, the opening of family gifts.

Gretch and I received a bountiful harvest of movies that we had put on our Wish List, as well as many other wonderful gifts, including, but not limited to, socks, boots (for Gretch), some art-themed books, an awesome t-shirt for Surviving the World (one of my favourite web comics), and some Snoopy-themed items, including a lunch tin, pajama pants, and two books. Gretch got me a 5.5 quart saucepan and a copy of John Grisham's "Ford County", and I got her two small sketch books. (Her other gifts were being saved for Christmas morning.) For Gretch's family, we made a holder for William's many native flutes, a holder for Kalina's art pens, pencils, and markers, and a holder for Jonas's nunchaku for Tae Kwon Do. We also found a sushi-making kit for Mary. After taking home a plate of snacks, we bid her family a good evening and went home to sort through the gifts we had received:

Early on Christmas morning, we went by the Regers' to open stockings and see what gladsome tidings had come by way of the old, fat, jolly man with a beard. Yes, Santa still brings gifts to the Reger home. I also snatched a picture of their Christmas tree, to make sure that it could be saved for posterity (there were grumblings that the cameras available were not capturing the tree as some would have desired). There were more movies, more Snoopy things, and other fun things, like iTunes gift cards and delicious Tim Tams.

Having already packed our bags and loaded the car, we bid the Regers farewell again and hit the road for Washington, where we would be spending the next several days with my parents and baby sister. Along the way, we had a minor mishap which resulted in our car off the side of the road in a ditch. Fortunately, the good folks with the State Police were able to direct us to a towing company that sent a guy out quickly (only about fifteen minutes of waiting) to pull us out and get us back on the road. This was one of those times when I was immensely grateful for many things: emergency roadside assistance with our insurance, prayers for safe travels, and the good fortune to make it off the bridge we were on before going off-road. This delayed our arrival in Washington by about an hour but everyone was much happier that we made it safely, rather than not at all.

We opened gifts with my parents and sister, and spent the morning and after playing on her PlayStation 3 and watching TV. It was nice and relaxed and a lot of fun. We headed over to my brother Aaron's place for Christmas dinner with him and his family, where we had a delicious roast with potatoes, carrots, and rolls. We opened gifts with them, as well, and had a pleasant evening talking and sharing one another's company. We received some very nice gifts from my family, including a neck pillow for Gretch, a Snoopy book, a couple of teacher-themed letter openers, some gift cards, and a Utahraptor tie from Dinosaur Comics (another favourite web comic) for me.

We gave Ariana a new sketch book, along with several juvenile literature books that were duplicates from our library. We gave my parents several of their old home videos, along with a promise to create a family tree for them showing their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. For Aaron and Megan, we gave them an awesome gingerbread house cookie jar loaded up with the cookies we had been baking on Christmas Eve morning. Aaron and Megan's kids got us a fleece blanket that goes perfectly with our couch, and we got a box of Russell Stover chocolates from my oldest brother and his family.

The day after Christmas was Sunday, so Gretch and I went to church with my parents, then spent the rest of the afternoon doing what we had done on Christmas Day: PS3 and watching TV and movies. We also set up my parents Netflix account through the PS3 and helped them discover the wonders of online movies and TV shows. Later in the evening I got together with Kramer and Brett, two of my buddies from high school. We spent the evening chilling and chatting while Gretch hung out with my mom and sister.

The next couple days were more of the same: hanging out with Ariana, Mum, and Dad, watching TV shows, and playing games on the PS3, including the PlayStation Move Sports Champion game and Band Hero, which is the latest iteration of the Guitar Hero line. We had a wonderful time in Washington, and came back home Wednesday afternoon, after having lunch with Kramer and Chuck, another high school buddy. The drive home was blessedly uneventful, and thus our Christmas holidays ended. This is definitely a Christmas to be remembered by the Ghost of Christmas Past for showing love and affection and friendship despite difficult times.

Christmas Time Is Here

2010-12-24T12:55:00.005-06:00

Gretch and I have had to be creative with our Christmas plans this year, due to financial restraints and other issues. However, that hasn't stopped us from finding and/or making presents, doing some decorating, and, of course, baking on Christmas Eve day.

So, for those who can't make it to our home and don't go on facebook, here's our Christmas tree, with presents under and around:

Yes, that is a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, and yes, that really is what we are using for our tree this year. We decided that the amount of time and effort required to put up our large tree and decorate it with lights, garland, ornaments, etc, was just too much. Also, we really don't have the space in our house without massively rearranging everything. So maybe when we have a bigger place, and kids who want to put the tree up. For now, though, we are happy with our little tree with its single red ball ornament.

Is there really any food combination in this world that is better than chocolate and peanut butter? Probably not. I certainly find the combination to be much preferred over, say, chocolate and snails. (That's from a commercial for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups from the late 80s or early 90s, I think, but I couldn't find a video. Sorry.)

If you've looked closely at the peanut butter cookies drizzled with chocolate, you may have noticed that one seems to be considerably larger than the others. You would be correct:

I wanted to see what would happen if I lowered the temperature in the oven and baked a giant peanut butter cookie. It actually worked out quite well. Gretch was in charge of the chocolate topping, and, while it was delicious, the presentation left much to be preferred.

Anyway, we are heading over to the Regers' this afternoon and spending the rest of the day with them. Then it is off to Washington (Illinois, for those who are still confused) early tomorrow morning to hang out with the Valencic clan for several days. Then back to Champaign by the middle of next week, in time for delicious sales on holiday chocolates and other sugary delights. Oh, and New Year's Eve. Not sure what our plans for that holiday will be yet. Maybe getting together with some of our other young married friends and eating food while playing games all night. No matter what we do, though, I am sure we will have a great time.

Have a wonderful Christmas, everyone! Or, for those of our friends who are not of the Christian faith but still celebrate the holiday(s), have (a) very happy non-denominational capitalist gift-giving day(s)!

My Love Affair with Books

2010-12-22T11:48:00.005-06:00

The following is the text of a post I shared on my Adventures in Substituting blog this morning. Since I know that there are many family members and friends who don't regularly check that blog out, I wanted to share it here, as well, since it has much to do with what I've been doing since Gretch started working last week.

In the beginning, I didn’t know how to read. This was very frustrating for my mum and my teachers and, if memory serves correctly, for me. My mother, being the brilliant, wonderful, amazing mother that she is, realised that whatever the school was doing wasn’t helping. So she dug through her boxes, and she found what she needed. McGuffey’s Eclectic Reader for Young Children:

I don’t remember what the reader actually looked like, and it is quite possible that the versions were much more recent than those shown but, nonetheless, Mum taught me how to read in a very brief period of time by guiding me through McGuffey’s reader. For this I shall be eternally grateful. I also don’t remember this next bit, but Mum has told me about it so many times that I am pretty certain it is actually a fairly accurate recollection of history.

The first “real” book that I ever read, all on my own, was Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff. Sadly, I do not own a copy of this book, but I have tracked down copies from local libraries, and it is as awesome today as it was when I first read it. However, while reading this book was an incredibly important event in my life, I track my love affair with books to a particular volume that sits proudly on my shelf, nestled in among many other volumes. While I have other copies of the same book, I treasure this particular copy. Mum read it to my sister Amanda and I while I was in kindergarten. Each evening we would gather around and she would read a chapter or two to us before we went to bed. The book: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

And thus began a passion for literature that has stayed with me throughout my life. To describe myself as a voracious reader is almost an understatement. While I was in grade school, my classmates would read one book whenever it was required for a book report every couple of months. I would read a book in class while also reading a book with the class. My teachers were forever frustrated by this., and many eventually worked out a compromise: I could read in class and read ahead of the class as long as I could also keep up with the class discussions. (As a side-note, karma has come back with a vengeance. I am forever pleading with students to put their books away for a few moments so that they can hear the directions being given. As a substitute, I am not able to work out the compromise with my students-for-the-day that my teachers did with me, but when I am teaching full-time, I most likely will.) I read the entirety of The Chronicles of Narnia while in 4th grade, and gave a detailed book report of the entire series. I also read all of The Dark Is Rising Sequence, The Tripods Trilogy, and scores of other books. I was reading novels by John Grisham in middle school, while my classmates were reading Goosebumps and Maniac Magee. I started reading Ayn Rand in 8th grade, and had a post-college reading level before I reached high school.

The downside of my advanced reading, if such a downside can exist, is that I missed out on reading a lot of great books as a youth. Which is why I finally read Judy Blume’s series about Fudge last year. I did read a lot of children’s literature as a youth, though. Bridge to Terabithia, The Egypt Game, and Number the Stars as just a few examples. But I didn’t read The Giver and its two companion novels until last year, as well. But I am always reading.

I don’t know when I started building my own library, but I know I had it before high school. Pictures of my bedroom from when I was a teen show that not only did I love decorating my walls with posters, I loved having my books. Alas, the photographic evidence of such seems to have disappeared. I have always dreamed of the day when I would have a library in my own home.

Perhaps that library is a bit much to hope for now, but I can still dream, right? Well, I am working on it. As you may know, I have been working on a crazy project over the past several weeks. It actually started over a year ago, when my friend Miriam retired from teaching 4th grade and, in exchange for helping her pack up her classroom, she gave me almost all of her books. About 8 boxes worth, I believe. I had kept these boxed up for months, hoping to transfer them to my own classroom. But no job presented itself, and finally I decided that I was sick and tired of my books gathering dust in the basement. So Gretch and I went through all of them, gave away the ones we didn’t want, sorted them by grade level, and took the ones we wanted for our personal collection. I quickly realised I needed more ~~shelves~~ bookcases. So we started collecting them. I already had my few cases, Gretch had hers from before we got married, a friend had given us a lovely cherry oak (coloured–the case is actually particle board), and Miriam had given me two of hers. Still, it wasn’t enough. Gretch and I finally bought one, and then I got one off of freecycle. I put all of my books on shelves, and I was happy. For a time.

After we moved, the books were quickly unpacked and thrown onto shelves with very little organisation. This was not to be. So I began. I opened up a spreadsheet on Open Office, and I started recording the names of my books. Adult fiction. Adult nonfiction. Religion and philosophy. Vocational books. Juvenile fiction. Juvenile series. Juvenile picture books, poetry, and graphic novels. Juvenile fiction for the classroom. Juvenile fiction sets for the classroom. Juvenile picture books for the classroom. Juvenile nonfiction for the classroom. Several weeks and one thousand eight hundred thirty-eight books (including a few dozen magazines, but not including Gretch’s collection of Snoopy/Peanuts books), I finished. And here are the fruits of my labours:

And now that I have finally finished this project, I can devote some time and energy to developing my philosophy of education, which is another project that has been waiting for me to tackle. Not surprisingly, I will be delving into several of these books as I work on putting this together. Of course, it is also the 22nd of December, which means Christmas is going to be here fairly soon, so I may not have that much time to devote to philosophising. But I’ll see what I can do. Happy reading and happy holidays!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

2010-12-19T17:08:00.003-06:00

Gretch and I traveled to Washington this to celebrate my dad's 63rd birthday. His birthday is actually on Tuesday, but my brother Abram and his fiancee, Jen, were coming down this weekend to see my brother Aaron's daughter in a play on Friday, and they are going to Minnesota for Christmas, so it was decided that we would celebrate Dad's birthday a little bit early. (Which really isn't that early, seeing as we typically celebrate birthdays on the Sunday before the actual day. Unless it was for my birthday--those Sundays quite often coincided with the Super Bowl and, let's be honest: nobody wants to celebrate a birthday in competition with the Super Bowl. Not even people like my family members who, with few exceptions, have little to no interest in professional American football.)

We spent Friday afternoon at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Peoria with Jen and Ariana and looked at books for an hour. (Have I mentioned yet that I am a voracious and unabashed bibliophile? If you haven't noticed this, check out my substituting blog and see what I've been doing all this past week.

After dinner with the family, we had cake and ice cream and watched Dad open his birthday presents, including a box full of newspaper and nothing else. Dad likes opening things, and we always enjoy taking advantage of opportunities to get back at Dad for the loving torment he put us through as children (such as hiding Easter baskets inside furniture and hanging from bags outside second-story windows). My brother Aaron and his family came by for the festivities, and we exchanged some Christmas gifts with Abram and Jen.

Today we went to church with Mum (Dad and Ariana were not feeling well). I had a chance to catch up with some friends from my younger days, and found out that there are still people in the Morton Ward who don't know that I have curly hair--even though I've had my hair like this since 2006. After church we had an early dinner and then hung out with Abram and Jen some more before helping decorate Mum and Dad's Christmas tree. I also helped Dad set up his blog, which is going to focus on stories from his life, starting "From the Beginning"(the title of the blog).

Fun times were had, and I'm glad that we were able to come up and visit my parents. We are going to be back on Christmas morning and will be staying in town for several days. But right now, it is all about Dad and his birthday. Oh, and before Christmas, it will also be about my oldest sister-in-law, whose birthday is also on Tuesday.

A Grocery Store Rant

2010-11-29T11:45:00.002-06:00

It has been a while since I've posted a good old fashioned rant on here. And since ranting is part of what this blog is all about, I thought I'd share a recent email I sent to the good folks at County Market in Champaign. For those who are not aware, County Market is a grocery store located throughout the upper midwestern states in America (with some stores in Louisiana and Pennsylvania).

I went to County Market this morning to buy milk and cereal. While shopping I overheard a customer asking an employee for help finding an item, and was shocked when she blew him off, muttering that she was doing her own shopping. She was wearing her work uniform at her place of work. I registered the encounter, but didn't think too much of it until a few minutes later.

After making the purchases, realised I had grabbed the wrong brand of milk. County Market has an on-going program in which customers who buy 9 gallons of milk will receive a coupon for a free 10th gallon. These purchases are tracked through the County Market Max Card, which is a free rewards program, similar to those offered all over the place. This program works great when the cashiers and customers both remember to use the Max Card. I believe that the primary responsibility of asking about the Max Card should be the cashiers, as they should be offering to sign customers up if they don't have one. Alas, this did not happen today. Nor has it happened the majority of the time that I shop at this particular store. So I decided to send an email through the store's website. It may go directly to corporate, or it may go to the specific store. Last time I sent an email, it was to FedEx Office, and I was very pleased with the response. I'm interested to see how County Market responds. Here's what I sent them:

My wife and I use County Market for our shopping needs whenever we need to make a trip to the grocery store. We are generally satisfied with the products and the prices offered. We regularly shop at both the stores on West Kirby Avenue and on Glenn Park Drive, as well as other locations in the Champaign area. I have noticed that the cashiers at the West Kirby location never ask about using our County Market Max Card. I have never noticed this problem elsewhere, and it is a growing concern.

I am aware of the fact that I can just as easily provide my max card without being asked, but I feel like all cashiers should be trained to ask all customers if they have their cards as a matter of course. I was particularly disappointed by this lack of concern today when I went to purchase a gallon of milk, and was not asked about my card. As a result, my purchase did not count toward County Market's excellent "Buy 9 Get 1 Free" program.

Please remind all managers to train cashiers to ask customers for the Max cards.

Also, while shopping this morning, I witnessed a customer asking an employee a question about where a particular item could be found. She was in her work uniform and was pushing a shopping cart through the store. Rather than helping, she brusquely replied that she was no longer work, and that she was doing her own shopping. She then walked away from him. Surely an employee, even when off-duty, can take a moment to help a customer, particularly when the employee is still in uniform and on-site!

I'll let you all know if and when I hear back!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-29T08:20:00.003-06:00

Gretch and I were blessed to spend our Thanksgiving holiday with both sides of the family. This is one of the things for which I am most grateful. We live close to both sets of parents, so it is possible to see them often, although we don't get to travel to Washington quite as often as we would like, it is still nice to know that Mum and Dad are only an hour and a half away.

We went to my parents' house on Thanksgiving Day and stayed until Saturday morning. While there, we spent time with many of our nephews and nieces, worked on teaching our niece Liberty how to throw her head back and cackle and then utter the phrase "foolish mortals" (still a work in progress--she doesn't talk yet, and the throwing her head back and the cackling parts haven't quite synched up with each other), and we hung out with some of my brothers and their wives. And, of course, we ate. Oh, goodness, how we ate!

Mum and Dad made salad, pies, and provided a home for the meal. Tom and Tabitha made cranberry sauce, rolls, and pies. Aaron and Megan provided the turkey and green bean casserole. Abram and Jen made the sweet potatoes. Gretch and I made the mashed potatoes and the jello. It was our first time ever--thanks, Megan, for the recipe and preparation advice! Ariana made some of the pies, cleaned the house, and set the table. John brought a pie and cupcakes.

You may have noticed that we had several people making pies. There is a reason for this. The Valencic family has a wonderful tradition for Thanksgiving. None of us know exactly when it started, but it has been around long enough that it doesn't really matter. It is that there will be one pie made for each person present for Thanksgiving dinner. With my parents, three of my older brothers and their families, us, my baby sister, and my parents' friend John, we had a total of 22 people gathered around the three tables. Due to a slight miscalculation, which was in no way a bad thing, we ended up with 23 pies, as well as about a dozen or so cupcakes.

After dinner and clean-up, we went to Aaron and Megan's for an evening of playing the newest genus of Trivial Pursuit with my other siblings in attendance. We were on teams and had a great time, even if Gretch and I lost in a most spectacular fashion. (As a side note, I now know that Death Valley is a national park.)

Friday morning brought about another round of fantastical Thanksgiving traditions. First, I sent Gretch off with Mum and Ariana to go blitzing at 5 am. They gleefully shopped for a few hours, found some amazing deals, and then came home for breakfast. This is what I refer to as the true Breakfast of Champions. Pie from the night before. I decided to start off slowly, so I only took six pieces: Dutch apple, razzleberry, pumpkin, pecan, peach, and chocolate chip banana creme. Upon finishing that, I down a piece of lemon meringue. I thought I was done, but Gretch asked me to finish her traditional apple and pumpkin. So I did. Nine pieces of pie, one very happy stomach, and several delicious burps later, breakfast was done and I was ready to go shopping with Mum.

In addition to finding my wife's gift, I was able to get several movies (on DVD) from Wal-Mart for the ridiculously low price of $1.96, as well as the amazing Collector's Edition of Avatar. So I felt that the shopping extravaganza was a success. I also got to spend quality time with my mother, which is something that I don't get to do nearly as often as I would like. (And yes, Mum, I consider discussing about the differing qualities and prices of toilet paper to be part of that quality time.)

Friday afternoon was spent watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I with Gretch, Abram, and Jen. It was an excellent movie and stopped at an excellent point. There were some complaints, some scenes that seemed too short, and the usual geeky commentary about the strengths and weaknesses of the various directors over the course of the franchise's nine years, but all in all, I think that we all enjoyed it, even if we do have to wait an insane eight months for the conclusion!

After dinner with some of the family, Gretch and I went to see our friend Kerik, who had recently traveled to Australia and brought back a gift of Tim Tams for us. We chatted for a bit, but didn't stay for long because Gretch had been running on severe sleep deprivation, so we made plans to get together in Washington again soon and came back home.

Despite being tired, there was no way we were going to finish the day before engaging in another epic game of Scrabble with one of my older brothers. So Tom, Tabitha, Gretch, and I broke out the Scrabble board and let the competition begin. With amazing words like glamped (the past tense of glam camping) and dorkage (the quality of being a dork), the game was great. Tom ended up winning by about three points, but fun was had by all.

Saturday morning brought about bad times, though. Gretch and I were both sick, with the culprit most likely being gastroenteritis (stomach flu) or possibly food poisoning (although I doubt this, as only four out of the 22 people who ate dinner with us ended up getting sick, and we all got sick more than 24 hours after eating dinner). This put a huge damper on the end of the weekend, but after some clear sodas and a Priesthood blessing, we loaded up the car and made it home without any major catastrophes. Upon arriving home, we hunkered down with the saltine crackers and ginger ale that Gretch's mother brought over for us, and watched Judgment, which is an absolutely ridiculous movie that is so bad it is good. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world run by the One Nation Earth government, which is led by Franco Macalousso, also known as Lucifer. The O.N.E. government is trying to track down and execute all of the remaining Christians (aka haters--they hate mankind, apparently, although this is never explained). Helen Hannah is arrested for the crime of hating humanity and is tried in the O.N.E. Court of Justice, but the trial quickly becomes a trial seeking to prove that God does not exist. It kind of goes downhill from there. Actually, it kind of starts at the bottom of the hill and creates new hills that only go downward. Kind of like Dad having to walk through six miles of snow uphill both ways to get to school when he was a kid. We don't know how the physics of it work out, but somehow that is what happened.

Sunday morning saw some slight recovery, and we were able to add pepperoni and cheese to our steady diet of saltines and ginger ale. We watched the original theatrical release of Avatar and then went to Gretch's parents house for their Thanksgiving dinner. Unfortunately, we were only able to eat rolls and jello, but it was still nice spending time with her side of the family, which included her parents, her younger siblings, her grandparents and aunt in Illinois, as well as our friend Blake and Anjanette, and missionaries currently serving in our ward at church. It was a good evening with good fun, strange topics, debates on the methods of determining personal spirituality and holiness before the Lord, and discussions of literature and literary styles.

And thus ended Thanksgiving 2010. Despite being ill, Gretch and I have much to be thankful for in our lives. I like the way it is put in the grace used at the Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico: "For food, for raiment, for life, for opportunity, for friendship and fellowship, we thank Thee, O Lord."

Romans 15

2010-11-18T23:49:00.002-06:00

I participate on an interfaith blog that focuses on LDS and Evangelical issues. Those of us who regularly contribute to the blog (either as blog post authors or as commenters) have teamed together to do an interfaith study of Paul's Epistle to the Romans. I was assigned to review the fifteenth chapter. What follows is the review which I gave. It is divided into two parts: a summary of the chapter and the application of some of the teachings.

Summary

Romans 15 continues on from the advice started in chapter 12, giving practical advice to how the Saints can

“present [their] bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is [their] reasonable service.” Having discussed a variety of aspects of practical Christian behaviour in the previous chapter, Paul starts off by admonishing the Romans to “bear the infirmities of the weak” and to “every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.” Paul then gives counsel that we be “likeminded one toward another” that we “may with one mind and one mouth glorify God”.

Paul acknowledges that the people to whom he was writing were “full of goodness” and “filled with all knowledge” but he had written boldly to them on several subjects because it was his duty. He then talks about his own mission among the Gentiles and admits that he was worried about building on the foundation others had started—he felt his mission was to go to those who had not yet heard of Jesus.

He ends by promising to visit the Romans the next time he goes to Spain, but, first, he had to stop at Jerusalem because the Saints in Macedonia and Achaia had a contribution for the benefit of the poor in those parts. He asks for them to pray with him and for him, so that he can avoid being arrested by their persecutors in Judaea.

Application

There are three items that Paul brought up in this chapter that I find of particular application to my life:

I. How are we to bear the infirmities of the weak, and how does this help strengthen them?

I can’t help but draw a comparison to the classic sermon in Mosiah in the Book of Mormon, in which Alma tells those desiring to join the fold of Christ to “mourn with those who mourn” and to “comfort those who stand in need of comfort”. It is one thing to feel bad that someone else is sad. We can make them a casserole, drop it off, say the trite things that don’t really help, and then we carry on with our day. But to truly mourn with others, we feel their sorrow as if it were our own. To bear another’s infirmities, we feel the struggle they go through. Their struggles become our struggles. A friend of mine is trying to help one of her friends stop smoking. For every day that her friend goes without a cigarette, Sarah is going to go a day without shaving. Another friend of mine attends AA meetings with his friend, to be a support to his buddy. The LDS church has recently implemented an Addiction Recovery Program, patterned after AA, that allows people to attend simple to help those struggling with addictions. All of these examples show how we can bear the infirmities of the weak. Having a support system helps the weak overcome and become strong. And, by being that support system, we often find ourselves growing stronger, as well.

II. How can we be likeminded one toward another?

I don’t actually have a complete answer to this. I am reminded of Paul’s angry letter to the Corinthians:

10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.

This should be one of the great issues facing the Christian world today, but I don’t think it is. I fear that this is a passage that is glossed over or ignored. Or, worse, we all blame everyone else for what’s wrong. I am interested to know how others respond to this verse.

III. Paul teaches that we are full of goodness.

In several places in the scriptures, we find passages that tell us that “there are none that are righteous”, that “none of us are good”, and that what we think is good is really “as filthy rags before the Lord”. Even the Book of Mormon teaches us that we are lower than the dust of the earth. Yet here we have Paul saying, “Look guys, you really aren’t that bad. Yeah, I know, I’ve called you to task on a lot of stuff. But really, by and large, you are good people. You mean well. You do well. You’re smart, you’re funny, and, gosh darn it, people like you!”

Okay, maybe that’s not exactly how he put it, but that is what I hear him saying. I hear Paul telling us that, yes, we screw up. A lot. And we are so very, very fortunate to understand that it doesn’t matter how badly we screw up, because Christ can overcome everything. His mercy, His grace is stronger. To paraphrase a children’s song, Jesus is bigger than the boogeyman. And because of that, we don’t need to be flogging ourselves every night. We don’t need to be groveling on the floor saying, “We’re not worthy, we’re not worthy, we’re not worthy.” We know we aren’t worthy, but Christ can make us worthy, and He will, if we will let Him. So, instead of beating ourselves up, we can acknowledge that we are capable of doing good and that, in so doing, we are going to have a positive influence on others.

Operation Snowball, Inc.

2010-11-07T19:00:00.003-06:00

As many of you are surely aware, I am a long-time supporter of drug prevention programs that focus on teen leadership training and empowerment. Most notably, I am a volunteer drug prevention specialist through Operation Snowball, Inc. and the Illinois Teen Institute.

I got involved with these programs in 1996, when I attended a Snowflake event at Washington Community High School. Snowflake is a prevention program aimed at middle school/junior high students. I attended my first Snowflake as a 7th grader, through the influence of two of my older brothers, Anton and Adam, who were both involved in the high school's Operation Snowball chapter. I remember being bewildered at first, but quickly coming to enjoy the atmosphere. I could not tell you a single thing we were taught during that evening event, but I can tell you that I was there with my best friend, Carl, and we met a girl there named Colleen. When we got to high school, we became friends with Colleen (or Co, as we came to know her), and she and Carl eventually dated and, a couple of years ago, through a long, twisting road, got married. I don't actually remember meeting Co at Snowflake, but she remembers meeting me and, more importantly, she remembers meeting Carl. Pretty awesome, huh? Not that that has anything to do with today's story, per se, but still, I had to get that out there.

When I got to high school, I joined the Operation Snowball chapter and attended the weekend lock-in held in January 1998. I still have the orange t-shirt with a Superman-esque drawing on the back that bears the motto "Take A Stand". I went back in 1999 as a teen staff member, and kept the green shirt that has a cup of tea with slogan "Got tea?" to go with the theme of "Time Of Your Life". In 2000, I came for the "Lean On Me" year: baby blue t-shirt with a giant snowball with a boy and girl each leaning on one side. 2001 was my senior year of high school, and my last year on the teen staff: a navy blue shirt with silver letters that bore the simple theme: "All Star".

After graduating, I was certain that I would be coming back to Snowball as an adult staff member, even though I wasn't sure what that would entail. It was awesome. I still got to work with a small group, I worked with the teens, and I continued to not only gain knowledge about drug prevention, I was able to share what I had learned over the many years. The theme was "True Colors" and the shirts were red with a painter's palette. I decided very early on that I wanted to be truly dedicated to Operation Snowball, and that I would continue to participate with this amazing program. I saw how it had changed my life, how it had changed the lives of my friends, and I wanted to stay a part of it. However, I took two years off to serve a full-time mission for my church, so I missed 2003 and 2004.

So in 2005 I returned, and continued to help out. Our shirts were black t-shirt with a yellow guitar logo on the front and a multi-coloured drum set on the back to match the theme: "Rock Your World". (In addition to being my return to Snowball, it marked the first year I had been there since '99 in which the theme was not a song title.) 2006 was a ridiculously bright pink shirt for the theme "Saved By The Ball", which mimicked the logo for the TV series after which the theme was inspired. The back features neon green text that lists the teen staff as part of the "Bayside High Faculty" (something that didn't make sense to me then, and doesn't make sense to me now). The theme for 2007 was "Point of Impact" and was presented on grey t-shirts with the theme printed on the back over a series of four white circles that start small and grow larger as they form an arc.

2008 became a very important year for me and Gretchen. This was the 10th anniversary of my first Snowball, and it was Gretchen's first Snowball ever. We had started dating the previous August and, having recently gotten engaged, I asked Gretch to come with me. She came, but did not get a t-shirt for reasons that were not quite explained. Because she had never been before, she attended as one of two adult participants that year. The other AP was a lovely young woman named Sarah, who is now married to Lucas Doremus, who I also met through Snowball. She came at Lucas' behest when they were dating. The shirts for the staff were black, and had the theme "One Life To Live" printed in red and white (participants were given red shirts, with the theme printed in white and black).

In the year 2009, Gretch and I both attended at adult staff members, and we both got the white t-shirts with the motto "If Every ONE Cared" printed on the front. This was the first shirt to feature a quote on the back: "And as we lie beneath the stars, We realize who we are. If they could love like you and me, Imagine what the world could be." Nickelback, "If Everyone Cared". My baby sister, Ariana, was eligible to attend this year as a freshman, but since none of her friends wanted to go, she decided not to go, either. I think she also had something else happening that weekend.

2010 brings us up-to-date with the Washington Community High School Operation Snowball weekends. Gretch and I were proudly there for the weekend, cheerfully wearing our black staff t-shirts with the theme "Click: Take Control" on the front and a quote from John F. Kennedy on the back: "Change is the law of the life, and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." Ariana came this year, and received an orange shirt with the same theme and logo. It was awesome having three members of the Valencic family present, along with Cornelius (my yellow teddy bear who has accompanied me to every single Snowball and Teen Institute, as well as my mission in California and my semester in Australia) and Hippo, the stuffed hippo that Ariana gave Gretch for Christmas the year we got married.

Up until this point, every Snowball weekend I have attended has been at Washington Community High School. I tried to get involved with the Champaign County Operation Snowball a few years ago, but it didn't work out. And for years, I have been trying to convince my friend Rob Grupe, who I met at the Illinois Teen Institute, to let me come to the Effingham County Operation Snowball weekend, which is directs. After 11 Snowballs in 13 (school) years, I finally got my wish. Gretch and I were invited to attend the 30th Effingham County Operation Snowball weekend at Camp Walter Scott in Dieterich, Illinois, this weekend. The theme was "Believe In Yourself" and featured a man juggling several balls. The shirts were a bright blue with white and neon green letters that matched the colour scheme of the ITI 2010 shirts.

We had an awesome time! The teens in Effingham County are amazing young men and women, and I was inspired by their dedication to leading the peers in making positive decisions. They are also fun, funny, and intelligent, and they are deeply devoted to their cause. Their adult leaders were equally amazing, and they all welcomed us into their family with open arms. We have invited them to attend Washington's Snowball weekend in January, and have already had three teens and two adults ask about coming. And so the movement continues to grow, just as a bit of snow, rolling down a hill, gathers speed and momentum as is, well, snowballs.

Elections

2010-11-02T18:30:00.003-05:00

For the first time in the eight and a half years that I have been voting in the state of Illinois, I missed an opportunity to vote in an election. And I am going to be perfectly honest: I am very upset. And not with myself.

You see, I have been registered to vote since I turned 18. I have never, since that time, not been registered to vote. I have always been registered in the state of Illinois although, in all this time, I have lived in at least six different precincts. However, my registration has never ceased to be in this state, and, for the past five years or so, it has been in Champaign.

So even though Gretchen and I moved in August, we both knew that we were still registered to vote. Or so we thought. It turns out that Illinois has what I am going to call the stupidest voter registration rule ever. I didn't even know about this rule until about 20 minutes ago, when I arrived at my polling place to get my ballot for what I believe was one of the single most important elections of my life. This is the rule: "If you moved more than 30 days before the election within the same election jurisdiction, but outside your precinct, and did not transfer your registration, you can vote on a ballot for federal offices only after completing an address correction form."

Here's my problem with this rule: I have never been told this. Ever. I found it on the pdf of the "Registering to Vote in Illinois" brochure on the state's election website. But, as a dutiful citizen who registered to vote through the US Postal Service the same time I registered for Selective Service when I turned 18, I have never seen this document. I have never seen the rules for what to do when you move. And nobody has ever sent me something when I've moved to say, "Hey, heads-up: if you move and still want to vote in the full election, you need to update your registration information within 30 days of the election or you are going to get completely screwed over on Election Day."

Let's be honest: In Illinois, the governor is elected during the mid-term elections. Nobody gives a flying rat's patootie about the federal-only ballot, because there's nothing on that particular ballot! Instead of going in to vote for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, State Representative, State Senator, County Sheriff, County Board members, an amendment to the State Constitution, and a ballot measure to reduce the size of the county board, we were only allowed to vote for U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative.

So, despite casting a ballot for these two federal positions, I feel ashamed, because I feel that I did not actually vote. I didn't even take an "I Voted" sticker to add to my collection, because what did I do? Nothing. Nothing of substance, at least. Except get screwed over by a ridiculously stupid election rule that nobody has ever bothered to tell anyone about. The sad thing is that Gretch and I overheard a girl next to us expressing the same dismay that she was being barred from voting in the gubernatorial election, which is the only one she cared about. So it wasn't just us. I wonder how many other Illinois residents got slapped in the face for not following an election rule they didn't know about. How many other Illinois residents discovered that they were not going to be a part of the democratic process of our state? Hundreds? Thousands? One is too many. I am determined to find out who is in charge of the election rules to get this changed, or at least make sure that every resident of Illinois is informed of this rule upon moving.

In the meantime, I hope you voted today.

LIFTB 36

2010-10-30T11:53:00.002-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

Movies, Fantasy, and Learning

2010-10-25T20:52:00.002-05:00

Gretch and I love watching movies. If our recently posted list of movies we currently have on VHS that we want to get on DVD wasn't indication enough, we have the fact that we watch movies all the time at home. It is an inexpensive diversion that lets us do something together and it is something we love doing.

Today was an unusual day for us though. We usually watch one movie each evening. It is typically how we wrap up the day. We did watch a movie this evening. But we also watched three other movies today. And I watched a movie yesterday afternoon while Gretch was helping her friend Hannah with a photography project. So six movies within about a 36-hour period. Not too shabby, eh?

So what was being watched in our home? Well, yesterday I watched one of my many education-themed films, "Freedom Writers". In addition to being an amazingly inspirational film about the power that one teacher can have on her students, it is notable as one of two films that has ever made me cry. Yes, that's right, the man who almost never cries weeps during this movie. I told Gretchen this and she just laughed. She doesn't understand why I would shed tears during any point of "Freedom Writers". I will let you all in on the secret: I love watching the character Andre change his life and walk Miep Gies into the library and then tell her that she is his hero. (If you've never seen the movie, please go out immediately and rent a copy or borrow it from your local library.) The other part is when Eva does the right thing, rather than choosing to "protect her own" as her mother tells her to do. Again, if you haven't seen this movie, please do so now. Both of those scenes bring tears to my eyes as I contemplate the total change of heart that each character must undergo to reach that point.

This morning was the day I chose to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the theatrical release of "Back to the Future". I did this by watching all three movies in the trilogy. Gretch was originally going to not watch, but she joined me and, miracle of miracles, she upgraded her opinion of the movies from "terrible" to "okay". I was hoping for "full of golden awesomeness", but hey, I'll take what I can get. With all the great lines in these movies, I love the last scene with Doc Brown the best. His statement to Marty and Jennifer just rings so true: "Your future is what you make of it, so make it a good one!"

Finally, we watched "Secret Window" starring Johnny Depp. I admit, there's not really some awesome, powerful message in this movie. Just Johnny being good at being creepy. But hey, it is the week leading up to Halloween, and there are only so many scary/thriller movies out there that Gretch will watch.

The one thing that I love most about movies, and fantasy in general, is that there is so much we can learn from them. We can learn about the great heights of human triumph, the depths of human depravity, the joy of victory, the sorrow of defeat, and the reality that life is what we make of it. So even if I never have a flying DeLorean that can travel through time, I will still enjoy watching these movies, because they are fun and they help me frame my understanding of the world around me.

LIFTB 35

2010-10-25T17:02:00.002-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

Thoughts On My Mission

2010-10-20T22:04:00.003-05:00

My friend Katie recently posed a series of four questions on her blog, asking people to answer them in regards to their LDS missions. I thought I'd share my response here.

I want to start off by stating that I served in the California San Bernardino Mission, although I often claim to have served in the California Victorville Mission, due to the fact that I spent almost a year and a half in that city (three different areas, though). I was an English-speaking missionary. I also will say right now that I had a wonderful experience on my mission, even with the hard stuff I went through.

1)–What was your thought process when deciding to serve a mission and why did you ultimately decide to go?

I had honestly and sincerely decided to serve a mission when I was young. In my ward, many of the young men left the church after turning 18, but I had made a conscious decision to stay active and to serve a mission. This was reinforced when I was 16 and found myself defending my faith to a large group of friends of other faiths. I realised that I enjoyed talking about my religion with others, and I felt that this would be what my mission would be like. The decision was partly influenced by my three brothers who also served missions, but I also had two brothers who did not, so I really felt like it was my decision, and not just family/social/cultural pressure.

2)–How hard was it and why?

I honestly did not feel my mission was very hard. The hardest thing I went through was being a junior companion after the half-way mark, and serving with an elder who managed to offend just about everyone he met as soon as he met them. This was especially hard because I had already been in the ward for six months and had spent most of that time rebuilding the members’ trust in missionaries. He destroyed all of that within a couple of weeks. That was hard on me, because I saw good people getting hurt by someone who, of all people, had no business hurting them.

There was one day that I remember as being one of my darkest. It was actually my first full day in the field. My trainer took me out tracting and I had no idea what to say. I was embarrassed and ashamed–of myself. But I was able to learn from it, recognise what I did wrong, and made a personal personal vow to never do that again.

3)–What was good about it? What made it good?

The best thing was seeing people change their lives. Very early in my mission, I noticed that the first line in the old missionary handbook stated that my purpose as a missionary was to “bring souls to Christ through the ordinances of baptism and confirmation.” I underlined the first part of the sentence and made that my personal mission: to bring souls to Christ. I recognised that some people would come to Him through different routes. I remember teaching a couple of different families in Victorville that, as a result of our lessons, decided to become active in their old churches again–not LDS churches. I sincerely believed (and still believe) that people coming closer to God in any way is better than not coming closer at all. This mindset helped me overcome the despair that came from being in low-baptising areas (for our mission). It also helped me have a broader view of what I was there to do.

In addition to that, I met amazing people every day. My companions were great, except for the one that I hated–oddly enough, though, he and I still keep in touch, and he considers me his best companion. Go figure. I learned so much from these young men I was around. I still use their advice in my life and share it with others. The members were amazing, the people in Victorville, even the crazy guy who said he’d join the church when I became the prophet, were awesome. I looked for the bright side to every situation. So when I actually had a door slammed in my face, I was able to laugh when the door popped back open and we were still standing there.

4)–If you could go again, would you?

If I could go back to being a 19-year-old guy, yes, I would definitely do it all over again. I would also love to serve a mission in the future with my wife. But I would never want to serve another proselyting mission like I did seven years ago. It was an incredibly important part of my life, but I have moved forward. I am one of those guys who will never describe my mission as “the best two years of my life”–that is just silly. But it was the best two years on the day I got home from my mission. Now the best two years have been the past two. And I hope that I can always say that.

Movie Wish List

2010-10-18T11:49:00.019-05:00

Alex and I have decided that we want to try and get all our VHS tapes on DVD. And since it is always so hard to come up with a list of what we'd like for Christmas/birthdays/etc, we thought we'd use them. So below is our wish list of the movies we'd like to own on DVD. Our address is below where you can send them. Please don't think that you have to get us what's on this list or anything at all, but if you're wondering what we want just look below, any of them will do. A lot of them are really cheap (under $5 or $10) so if you have a tight budget, these are perfect. :) We will also be updating the list occasionally so that we can use this for our own records.

ADDRESS
2509 A Leeper Dr.
Champaign, IL 61822

MOVIES
(Since there's quite a few movies, we've BOLDED the ones that we would really like.)

A Far Off Place
A Troll in Central Park
Aladdin (1, 2, 3)
Angels in the Outfield
Atlantis: Milo's Return
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Awakenings
Babe
Babes in Toyland
Beethoven (1, 2)
Behind the Waterfall
Bicentennial Man
Big
Blank Check
Call of the Wild
Captain Ron
Cinderella
Cool Runnings
Cutthroat Island
Dirty Dancing
Down Periscope
Duck Tales the Movie
E.T.
Escape to Witch Mountain (Old and New)
Fantasia (1,2)
Far and Away
Ferngully
Field of Dreams
Forever Young
Forrest Gump
Friendship's Field
Gullivers Travel
Harry Potter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7I, 7II)
Heart and Souls
Heidi
Hercules
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
Hot Shots (1, 2)
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Indiana Jones (1, 2, 3, 4)
Iron Will
It Could Happen to You
Johnny Dangerously
Joseph King of Dreams
Jurassic Park (1, 2, 3)
Just Like Dad
Land Before Time (1,2,3,4,5,6,7...)
League of Their Own
Little Giants
Mary Poppins
Meet Me in St. Louis
Milk Money
My Fair Lady
Naked Gun
No More Baths!
Old Yeller
Picture Perfect
Pinocchio
Pocahontas
Regarding Henry
Remember the Titans
Return to Snowy River
Sara Plain and Tall
Save the Last Dance
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White (Disney)
Snow White (Kids Klassic)
Sommersby
Split Infinity
Star Wars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
Steel Magnolias
That Thing You Do
The Black Cauldron
The Buttercream Gang
The Christmas Box
The Cutting Edge
The Flinstones (Live Action)
The Fox and the Hound
The Great Muppet Caper
The King and I (Animated)
The Little Mermaid (1, 2, 3)
The Man From Snowy River
The Man Without a Face
The Mighty Ducks
The Muppet Movie
The Prince of Egypt
The Seventh Brother
The Shaggy Dog (Old 1, 2 New)
The Swan Princess
Treasure Planet
Walking Across Egypt
Wayne's World
Where the Red Fern Grows
White Fang (1, 2)
White Squall
Zorro (1, 2)

Brief Thought

2010-10-02T16:58:00.007-05:00

Gretch and I are watching the 180th Semi-Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this weekend. We're watching online at home, mostly because a) it is more comfortable, b) it is more convenient, c) we can, and d) it allows me to participate in the live blogging and live tweeting of conference.

The last speaker of the afternoon session, Elder Richard G. Scott, spoke about the connection between faith and character. His comments at the very end struck a chord with me that I wanted to share before I forgot it, or before it slipped into the dark recesses of my mind.

After discussing ways in which one can strengthen his or her character, he talked about how character comes to the forefront during trials and struggles. It was at this point that this thought came to me:

When you have true strength of character, your struggles will refine you, rather than define you.

We develop strength of character in many different ways. Whatever you use to develop your inner strength, may it, too, lead to a life in which you are refined by trials, rather than defined by them.

Thanks Lars, for the reminder of this great example of how we may choose to build character.

Boiling It Down

2010-09-26T21:05:00.004-05:00

The other morning, while helping to set up tables and chairs for a women's conference at the church, I overheard one of my co-labourers discussing a book series with another fellow. In the midst of this conversation, I caught this snippet: "I like the Harry Potter series because I can see the story of Christ in it."

I find comments like this quite silly. Not because I think they are reading too much into a story, but, rather, because they are missing the story. They are taking a piece of literature and boiling it down to its most basic elements, which is almost always going to end up having elements of the Gospel in it, because the Gospel is so fundamental to life in general. The problem with this process is that when you boil them down just about every story ends up being the same thing, over and over and over again.

On Friday afternoon, I got to sit in on a sixth grade reading class as part of my substitute teaching assignment, and I watched as the teacher and students filled out a plot diagram. Such a diagram can only exist because every story fits into one. Conflict. Rising action. Climax. Falling action. Resolution. Sure, the parts shift around here and there, but you can find these elements, every time. A plot diagram is a useful tool for helping young people become critical about how they read, but if we are always doing this, we are going to miss out on the substance. And do we really want to spend our lives subsisting on broth?

That being said, I think there is something worthwhile about finding the kernels of truth in any given story. And if someone will return to a story because he (or she) finds those kernels of truth worthwhile, then that is awesome. But I also think there is something worthwhile about reading good literature because it is good. It reminds me of when I was on my mission. For the first 15 months of my labours, I had a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice for breakfast, and a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich for lunch. Dinner was whatever the members of the church fed us or, when no dinner was offered, occasionally fast food or spaghetti made in the apartment. I like cereal. I like orange juice. I like peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches. They are able to provide most of the nutrients I need for the day, and they have the added bonus of being rather inexpensive. But they got boring. The sad thing is that I didn't realise how boring it was until I was with Mijjidorjin Enkh-Amgalan, a fiery-tempered young man from Mongolia. He got me started on eating other things for breakfast and for lunch. It started with a cheese sandwich for lunch, actually. So I started eating other things, not just because they were nutritious, but because they were good.

As I hope it is when you read. I hope you read not just for information, not just because there is truth to it, but because the substance of the story is delicious to the heart, mind, and soul. And don't forget that there's nothing wrong with the occasional sweet treat that is full of empty calories and delicious sugary goodness.

LIFTB 34

2010-09-23T10:25:00.002-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

Note: Way back in the day (when LIFTB was still quite young) my younger sister created a comic character that was supposedly a prairie dog (although he looked more like a gopher) that wore sunglasses (mimicked from Dude who used to wear sunglasses). When she came to show the family her character, I made the mistake of calling it a gopher. This upsetted her so much that she created a drawing of her "gopher" torturing Dude. It was so funny I drew a rebuttal comic of Dude running over her "gopher" with a huge steam ship (both comics can be found here). I thought I had won the battle until many years later (last week) my sister shows me this, her comeback even more vicious before (guess I'll hafta draw another rebound comic):

LIFTB 33

2010-09-16T18:08:00.001-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

For Everything There Is A Season...

2010-09-16T17:02:00.002-05:00

For the few readers who actually access our blog through the website, and for those who may have noticed the new title in the email that they receive (but may not read), yes, it is true. Gretch and I have decided that, after over two years of the same boring blog title, it was time for an update.

Well, actually, I suggested it, partly in jest, after commenting at another blog about the fact that newly married couples should have receptions to legitimately acquire toasters, blenders, and lemon zesters. Someone else suggested it would be a good name for a blog, and I agreed. Then, somewhat shockingly, Gretch agreed to the change, as well.

So why toasters, blenders, and lemon zesters? Well, after giving it some thought, it occurred to me that these three common kitchen items actually serve as fairly decent symbols for what Gretch and I blog about.

We blog about our everyday activities. This is like having toast for breakfast. We blog about things that drive us crazy, which is like using a blender to mix things up. And, of course, we blog about random things, which is pretty much what a lemon zester is. Seriously, who uses their lemon zesters that often? And who uses them so often that they feel the need to own more than one??? (For the record, we only own one lemon zester, but we also own a lime zester, and the only way to tell the two apart is that one has a yellow handle and the other has a green handle.)

So there won't be much different with the content of the blog. But we updated the background and layout several weeks ago, so it was only a matter of time before the title would finally change. And yes, the web address is still the same.

Still Alive

2010-09-12T21:46:00.002-05:00

I just realised it has been about three weeks since Gretch or I have posted a real entry to the blog (real entry being defined as something other than Gretch's regularly-scheduled comic updates, as awesome as they are).

So, what have we been up to? Well, we are still alive. We moved into our new place and have spent the past few weeks trying to unpack and get settled in. We are getting close, although there are still a few items that we haven't found yet. I am pretty sure that they are mixed in with my various teaching supplies that are currently residing in the garage.

Most of the unpacking has been done by Gretch, though, since I have been working a temporary job for a cantankerous old man named John who is renovating a home, and needed someone to do odd jobs on the site for him. Mostly, this has involved me sanding drywall, priming drywall, and painting drywall. I have also spent a few thrilling days pulling nails out of wood that John seems to think he is going to use again in some way or another. Despite the certifiable craziness of my employer, it is a job, which is better than having no job, even though he is only paying me minimum wage, and is reporting me as a contractor (most likely so that he can avoid carrying workers' compensation insurance). Of course, because I am not on the payroll, I refuse to do any work that involves serious hazardous risks, such as climbing up a rickety ladder on uneven ground to operate a power sander. I almost lost my job over that, actually, but I would rather lose a temporary job than get injured and lose my ability to work, and thus lose my income.

In addition to working for John, I have resumed working as a substitute teacher in the Champaign schools, and I am in the process of applying as a substitute teacher in the neighbouring school districts. I am also continuing to keep my eye out for any other job opportunities in the state.

Gretch is also looking for work, preferably in the graphic design field, but she is also looking for jobs as an administrative assistant or in doing data entry, as those are both jobs she has done in the past.

So we are still alive, we are generally happy, and we will hopefully be updating our blog more often now that we have the Internet hooked up at home and can get online more easily.

LIFTB 32

2010-09-09T16:09:00.000-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

LIFTB 31

2010-09-02T16:06:00.000-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

LIFTB 30

2010-08-26T16:04:00.000-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

LIFTB 29

2010-08-19T15:35:00.000-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

Third First Anniversary

2010-08-18T19:52:00.004-05:00

On 16 August 2007, Gretchen and I went out for dinner and a movie. The reason for this outing was simple: we were both bored and had nothing better to do. Despite the fact that I had just recently seen "The Bourne Ultimatum", Gretch wanted to see it, so I figured, what the heck, it was a good movie, why not go see it again? And so we did. We were both hungry, so we went to dinner at El Toro in Champaign before the movie. I paid. And thus it began.

We saw each other every single day until the Monday before Thanksgiving that year, because I had a lot of assignments I needed to complete, and I realised that if I stayed in Champaign, I wasn't going to get them done. I came back to town on Thanksgiving Day to catch dessert with Gretch's family, and I failed to keep track of how often we saw each other after that, although I'd say it was probably close to 95% of the time between Thanksgiving and our wedding on 20 June 2008.

16 August 2008 rolled around, and I realised that Gretch and I had never celebrated the anniversary of when we started dating. So I suggested we celebrate our first First Anniversary. I am honestly not sure what we did for that anniversary, nor do I recall what, exactly, we did for our second First Anniversary. This year, though, we did something special, mostly because our second Second Anniversary was spent traveling back from Nebraska with Gretch's family and it was also Fathers' Day (sometimes known as Falker Satherhood). What with everything else going on, our anniversary came and went with very little fanfare.

So this past Monday, which was our third First Anniversary, we went out to Moraine View State Park, in keeping with the tradition I established of going to an Illinois State Park for our anniversary (last year, you may or may not recall, we went to Starved Rock State Park). Moraine View has long held a special place in my memory as the site of a regular Valencic Family Pilgrimage in the summer to spend the day at Locust Beach at Dawson Lake in the park. Sadly, this tradition ended some years before my baby sister, Ariana, was born, which means it was at least seventeen years since I was last there, and possibly closer to twenty.

The beach was considerably smaller than I remembered it, but Gretch and I had a fun afternoon swimming in the lake and laying out in the sun. Except that we kind of spent a bit too much time in the sun. Oh, and we don't have any sunblock. So, there was one downside to the whole thing. Gretch and I can both easily pass, from the backside especially, as members of the British Army circa the last 18th and early 19th centuries.

Ouch! But hey, happy anniversary, dearest! May we have many more state parks to visit and stock in SC Johnson and Procter & Gamble for years to come!

Finally!

2010-08-16T18:05:00.003-05:00

Hm... It has quite suddenly occurred to me that I rarely use punctuation in my blog post titles. I am not sure why this has occurred to me, but, seeing as my method of writing involves a lot of stream-of-consciousness, I figured I should let you all know, too.

So after a month of indecision, uncertainty, worry, concern, contingency plans and contingency plans in case the contingency plans fell through, Gretch and I have made a decision concerning the coming year.

We are staying in Champaign.

I know, kinda anti-climactic, but for those who have been following the adventures in homelessness followed swiftly by the concurrent adventures in joblessness, you'll know that the past month has been quite tumultuous.

I have applied for probably close to 300 teaching positions in the United States, mostly in Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri, but also in Iowa, Colorado, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Alabama, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Utah. Of all these applications, only one netted an actual job interview, which went very well. Unfortunately, having an interview go very well doesn't always net a job offer, or even an invitation to come in for a second interview. I will continue to apply for jobs as I see them come up, but, for the time being, I am going to resume my occupation as a substitute teacher in Champaign Community Unified School District 4 (look, I finally learned what CUSD stands for!) - incidentally, for any of you readers who know any teachers in the elementary and middle schools in Champaign, please let them know that I am indeed going to be subbing this year, and I would be delighted to sub for them any time!

Gretch has had a phone interview and one sit-down interview with a design firm in Rantoul, Taylor Studios, Inc., that designs and produces museum exhibits, as well as other things full of golden awesomeness. We are waiting to see if she will be called in for a second interview. The job would be as a graphic designer, starting off part-time with the possibility of becoming full-time (with benefits) sometime in the first quarter of 2011. Click the link if you want to see the kind of things that TSI does!

So, after all the craziness, we are just five days away from finally moving into our lovely new duplex at 2509-A Leeper Drive in Champaign! Thanks to everyone for the love, support, and prayers during this roller coaster ride!

Concerning Ignorance

2010-08-15T08:47:00.002-05:00

I really, really, really hope that those who read this will be willing to read all the way to the end. I don't want someone to start and get upset with me and start calling me a supporter of terrorists, or an anti-American, or anything else. I am as patriotic and supportive of my country as I can be. I love America. I love the values of America. I love what we stand for.

And I cannot tolerate those who use ignorance, fear, and hate to push an ideological agenda. The following is the compilation of my thoughts on the Cordoba House in Lower Manhattan. Please feel free to comment on my arguments and tell me where I am wrong. But please wait until the end before commenting. And please don't tell me about the imam of the Cordoba House being a terrorist or a supporter of terrorists. In the United States, we are innocent until proven guilty of an actual crime. Thoughts are not illegal. And even if the imam does want the United States to adopt Sharia Law, so what? Christians are all looking forward to the day when Jesus Christ comes with His avenging angels, kills all the wicked, and then overthrows all the governments and replaces them with His theocratic monarchy. Should we all be banned from worshiping because our beliefs in Christ support a government that is not in harmony with our democratic secular government? Of course not. Nor should Muslims be banned from worshiping because they approve of Sharia Law. (I don't approve of it, but then, neither am I a Muslim. But they are free to think as they will.)

So, concerning the Cordoba House that will be built in Lower Manhattan...

First and foremost: the Cordoba House is not a mosque. It is a community center that, being built by a group of Islamic investors, will include a prayer room for Muslims. But it will also include classrooms, art studios, a auditorium, a swimming pool, a restaurant, a bookstore, and whatever else can fit into a 13-story glass-and-brick building.

Second, the Cordoba House is not being built on Ground Zero or even near Ground Zero. This is something that folks outside of New York City seem to struggle to comprehend. It is being built in Lower Manhattan, approximately two blocks or so away from Ground Zero. To us in the Midwest, two blocks is close. To those in New York City, two blocks is a different neighbourhood altogether.

Third, the property for the Cordoba House was where a condemned building had been standing. The folks backing the Cordoba House went to the New York City Building Commission and said, essentially, "Look, we will pay for the demolition and put up something new. This is what we propose doing..." The building had been empty for several years. The Cordoba House will remove an empty structure and replace it with something that can be used by all people.

Fourth, I cannot understand the justification of the argument that having a mosque located in Lower Manhattan is somehow insensitive to the victims of 9/11. Yes, the 10 members of al Qaida who hijacked the airplanes that crashed into the WTC were Muslim. But they were also men. Should we ban all men from going near Ground Zero? They were airline passengers, and several had received training in flying planes. I suppose we need to ban anyone even remotely connected to air travel from going near Ground Zero, as well. Come to think of it, these were human beings! Better cordon off the whole area and just ban every single man, woman, and child from going near the site. We don't want to remind the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks that their family and friends were killed by human beings.

Do you see how ignorant this argument is? Folks are blaming anyone who prays to Allah for the attacks on 9/11. They are saying it is insensitive to the families of the victims for Muslims to build a community center that close to Ground Zero. I guess this includes the families of the sixty or more Muslim victims who were working in the World Trade Center when it was attacked. We need to give them notice that they do not have the right to mourn because the attackers claim to be of the same faith.

Never mind that Islam is reportedly just as fractured, if not more fractured, that Christianity. Never mind the fact that there are approximately 500,000 Muslims living in New York City today. Never mind that some of these families can trace their heritage in New York City from the days when it was still New Amsterdam. Never mind that there are approximately 1,000 men and women of the Islamic faith who serve in the NYPD and the FDNY, as well as other organisations that were among the First Responders to the 9/11 attacks. Nope. All that matters is that these folks are Muslim, and, therefore, bear the shame and the guilt of those who planned and carried out the cowardly attacks on September 11, 2001. And the most important thing we can do to hold them all accountable is by setting up a boundary what is too close to the site of the attacks.

Nobody has dared utter a word about what is an acceptable distance for the Muslims of New York City to keep away from Ground Zero. Because they know that doing so would just make them sound like morons, which is what they already sound like. And here's an interesting tidbit: the main opponents of this mosque are Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and Rev. Pat Robertson. None of whom live in New York, let alone New York City. They are fanning the flames of hate and fear because it scores points with the uneducated masses. Polls say that 70% of Americans are opposed to a mosque being built near Ground Zero. But as I said in the beginning, this isn't a mosque in the neighbourhood of Ground Zero. It is a community center that will include a prayer room for Muslims to use that is located in Lower Manhattan. There are already mosques all over New York City, including one in Lower Manhattan. Why are these folks opposed to this one? Because they saw some cheap points they could earn with their political base by telling half-truths, fanning flames of hate using slander and innuendo, and hoping that nobody would notice. Fortunately, the good folks of New York City don't care what Sarah, Newt, or Pat think. The folks of New York City are not opposed, as a whole, to this project. Just those who are outsiders looking for a boost in their polls.

An interesting side note for those who are Latter-day Saints is that the same kind of outraged protest happens every single time the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announces plans to build a temple anywhere outside of the Mormon corridor. But instead of complaining about terrorism, the protesters complain about proselyting, and traffic, and lowered property value, and those weird rituals and animal sacrifices and oh-my-dear-lord-have-you-heard-what-they-do-on-those-altars-in-the-temple???? Ignorance is ignorance is ignorance, and I oppose it wherever and whenever I see it.

LIFTB 28

2010-08-12T13:10:00.002-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

LIFTB 27

2010-08-05T13:05:00.001-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

Back To The Beginning Again

2010-08-02T20:29:00.003-05:00

Approximately 27 months ago, give or take, I found myself taking the first steps on a path that would inevitably change my life forever. No, I am not talking about getting married, nor am I talking about graduating from the University of Illinois. I am talking about the day I cornered Rafael Ruggieri after a church meeting in early May 2008 and told him that I absolutely needed a summer job, and would be willing to do anything.

See, Rafael was (and still is, for that matter), one of the older brothers of one of my best friends, Noah. And he and his wife also happened to own Simply Spotless, Inc., a cleaning company in our community. And he happened to belong to the same church as me. So, without even pulling the friend-of-his-brother card or the we-are-fellow-Mormons card (neither of which I would ever actually do, as such behaviour irks me to no end), I was able to convince Ralph, as he is often known, to give me a job.

I started as a lowly Associate Custodian, vacuuming hallways in old apartment complexes and cleaning bathrooms in commercial business properties. Within a couple of months, though, I was promoted to the position of Crew Leader, which meant that, in addition to vacuuming hallways in old apartment complexes and cleaning bathrooms in commercial business properties, I also got to carry a bunch of keys and disarm buildings.

A few months later, the Assistant Operations Manager, Cherry, who happened to be the wife of my aforementioned best friend, left the company, and I was offered the job. I took quickly to the post, which still had me doing all the things I had been doing before, but also added the responsibility of helping with scheduling employees (a task I eventually took over completely), and occasionally checking properties and assisting in making new bids.

In early December 2008, the Operations Manager left to take a job elsewhere, and I was promoted again. There were not many changes to my job duties, however, because, by this time, I had already been doing most of the Operations Manager's work, anyway. A couple of weeks earlier, Ralph had approached me and let me know that, by the middle of 2009, he would be selling the company because he would be beginning his residency as a medical doctor and, as such, was not allowed to have any outside business ventures. He had offered the company to the Operations Manager, but she turned it down. So he asked me if Gretch and I were interested. I had already had an inkling of this happening (thanks in large part to Noah and Cherry telling me they had recommended me to Ralph). We spoke to our parents about this and took my dad's advice, which was to call him immediately and say, "Yes! We want the company!"

At this time, Gretch came on board and began learning how to manage to company books, which was the main role that Liz, as Vice President, filled. Meanwhile, Ralph worked feverishly to teach me all he knew about running the business as President, and had me take control of just about everything by the beginning of February. By March, the employees of Simply Spotless were informed that Gretch and I would be buying the company in the summer. At this point, we were doing everything except signing the checks and the contracts with new clients.

On 1 June 2009, Gretch and I officially purchased the common stock of Simply Spotless, Inc. and, as the shareholders, appointed me as the President of the Board of Directors and Gretch as the Treasurer/Secretary. As the Board of Directors, we appointed me President of Simply Spotless, Inc. while Gretch was appointed Vice President.

Over the next six months, we saw some amazing growth in the company. Even when we lost a client, we were able to acquire a new client that was always inevitably larger. Unfortunately, this boom was a bubble waiting to burst. The economic turmoil that was afflicting the nation finally came to Champaign and it hit us with a heavy blow. In December, we received notice that our single largest client, who had been providing us with seven separate accounts, was terminating their contracts and switching to in-house cleaning. We were devastated, but we were also determined to keep on moving forward. We were asked to submit bids to several new potential clients, but we lost bid after bid. Then more clients dropped us, either because they, too, were switching to in-house, or we had been underbid by companies that could afford to do so. We lowered our costs as much as possible, but the only new business we acquired were a handful of small properties.

In May 2010, we started cleaning a new property for a client we'd had since October of the previous year. We saw this as a sign that things were looking up, and maybe, just maybe, we'd be able to make it through this slump. Unfortunately, a week after signing this contract, we lost our third-largest client, and, once again, we saw negative growth. This was when Gretch and I realised we needed to do so serious investigation into what the future looked like. We met with fellow business owners, legal representatives, members of the Small Business Administration, bankers and financial advisers, and even our church leaders. Everything pointed to the same answer: we had lost too much and we were not going to be able to recover. The final driving point was the day we realised that we could not expand the company because we did not have the capital available to do so. And thus it was that we made one of the most difficult decisions of our lives: we decided it was time to close Simply Spotless, Inc.

We made the decision on 29 June 2010, and announced it to our employees the next evening. On 1 July 2010, a year and a month after we purchased the company, we sent notices to all of our clients that we were closing, effective the end of the month.

Looking back, there are many decisions that, if I could go back, I would do differently. However, I don't think any of those decisions would have ultimately changed the final outcome. The decision to close the business was based on the fall-out from being in the midst of a recession. I do not for a moment regret the decision to start working for Simply Spotless, nor do I regret for a moment the decision to purchase the company. It has been a truly life-changing experience for me. I have a better understanding of business, marketing, sales, and management. I believe I am better able to manage my own personal finances. I have discovered new ways to improve my teaching skills, my leadership skills, and my abilities to interact with other people. I have made life-long friendships with people I would never have met before if I had not gone down this path. I have memories that will stay with me forever. In short, I believe that I am a better person for having taken on this task.

And so it is that, a few months longer than two years after I started, I find myself back at the beginning again. I am in the midst of applying for teaching jobs all over the nation. I will continue to apply until there are no jobs left. Gretch and I have contingency plans in place, so, despite being currently homeless and unemployed, we know that we will never be out on the streets or living in our car. We are blessed to have family and friends who love us and care for us, and will do all they can to help us out. What the future holds, we do not know, but we do know this: it is going to continue to be quite the ride, and, as long as we are together, we will survive and we will conquer!

LIFTB 26

2010-07-29T00:06:00.000-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found atwww.lifeisforthebirds.com

Communing with Others

2010-07-27T18:35:00.002-05:00

In discussing my recent blog about the harmonious voice of creation, I managed to get distracted from my original intent, despite the fact that I had given considerable thought to what I wanted to post. So I am going to add to my thoughts on music, despite Gretch's desire that I blog about "us" rather than "me". I argue that music is such a part of me that it is a part of us, and therefore I am not acting contrary to the intentions of our joint blog.

My original intent in revisiting the subject of musical performance was to discuss why I prefer to perform in ensembles. Even as I type, my father-in-law is trying to convince me to pull out my trumpet and improvise with him. But as I said before, I am not an improvisationalist, and I do not perform music for that reason.

So why do I perform music? Or, more importantly, why do I choose to perform music in ensembles? Further, why do I choose to perform music written by others and then performed by an ensemble?

The answer is, simply, this: community. I love the sense of community that comes from being in an ensemble. As a member of the trumpet section of dozens of bands and ensembles over the years, and even as a member of two mellophone ensembles, I have come to develop a deep and abiding sense of belonging that is associated with my musical persuasions. I know that every time I arrive on the Parkland College campus on Tuesday and Thursday evenings during the Fall and Spring semesters, I can look forward to seeing Jacob, Jeff, Greg, Jay, and, occasionally, Al, and we can all connect because we are the Trumpet Section of the Parkland Wind Ensemble. It doesn't matter that Greg is possibly old enough to be my grandfather, and that Jacob is a few years younger than me. We are a community.

Our community goes further than our section of the ensemble. The flutes, the oboes, the clarinets (of all flavours), the saxophones (also of many flavours), the bassoons, the French horns, the trumpets, the trombones, the euphoniums, the tubas, and the percussion all create a larger community that comes together to commune with one another. We rarely commune through our words, though. Rather, we commune through our music. We know when a member of our ensemble is ill, or not feeling well, through the music that he or she performs. We know when our conductor is having a rough day, and we know when the Cardinals have just won an important game. We come together and we support one another.

We don't simply play notes on the page, either. Despite what some think, music performance is much more than simply playing what another has written. No group ever plays the same piece of music the same way. Even on the rare occasions that we listen to a recording of a piece, it is merely to give a general sense of the piece, never to give a target for how we wish to sound. The greatest feeling, as an ensemble musician, is when we have finished performing, and we realise that we have all truly performed. It is a joy I have felt many times, and a joy I expect to feel many times in the future.

Does this mean that I don't think I can get the same feeling from other sources? Does this mean that I disdain those who choose to perform in different ways? Not at all. I admit that the main reason I personally turn away from other forms of performance is simply that I have no desire to do so.

I have a level of expectation that I hold myself to. I seek to rise to that level of expectation. I have the ganas for what I do. I don't have it for what others do. That is why I am an ensemble performer.

The Harmonious Voice of Creation

2010-07-27T12:00:00.002-05:00

I have written on the subject of music before. The great joy of being the blog author is that I can write about it again. If you wish I would write about something then, by all means, send an email and tell me what you'd like me to write about. Or email Gretch and tell her you'd like to see her contribute to the blog in ways other than posting her amazing comic. But, as usual, I digress.

In preparing for this blog post (yes, that's right, I actually prepared for this, rather than simply writing off-the-cuff as I so often do), I was searching for quotations about music. I stumbled upon the one used in the post title, by Guiseppe Mazzini, and realised it was the perfect title for my subject.

"Music is the harmonious voice of creation, an echo of the invisible world."

Of the many wonderful things about music, one of the ones that I cherish the most is the vast multitude of expressions of music. As I am sitting here typing, my wife is in one room listening to music being played through iTunes, my father-in-law is sitting near me on the couch playing one of his many flutes. Music is expressed in a multitude of ways. Even the same song can be expressed in hundreds of different ways by a hundred different voices. I do not believe that one expression of music is better than another. Thus, as I have mentioned before, I have an eclectic appreciation of all forms of music: modern, ancient, new age, classic, rock, alternative, country, folk, rap, heavy metal, 80s metal, aboriginal, native, large ensemble, small ensemble, solo, improvisational, religious, secular, and everything else that I have not thought of yet.

I don't only enjoy listening to music, though. I also enjoy performing, joining in that "harmonious voice of creation." I am an ensemble musician. I love singing in choirs or with congregations. I have performed with a variety of instrumental ensembles for almost 60% of my lifetime. For me, there is a great joy in joining together with other voices and, out of the voices of many, creating a single message. The message changes according to the ensemble members, the selection of music, and even the day or time of performance. There are a handful of pieces that I have performed with many different groups, and each performance has been different. I have a pile of cassette tapes and CDs with recordings of many of these performances, and I still enjoy listening to them, and reliving the memories that they represent. To this day, whenever I hear the opening chords of "The Circle of Life" from "The Lion King", I am brought back to the day I stood on the sideline of the 50-yard line in Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois my sophomore year of high school, performing with my high school marching band.

In addition to knowing what I am, I know what I am not. I am not a soloist. Whenever I have a solo, my hands shake, my lungs grow weak, and I tremble in fear. this fear is not of anything specific. I do not fear playing wrong notes - I have been playing far too long to fear that. I am simply gripped by an unknown fear. I have overcome that fear on many occasions, though. So I am not adverse to performing solo. I simply do not enjoy doing so. I am also not an improvisation. I know that this will pain my beloved father-in-law's heart, but it is the truth. I do not dislike improvisation. I simply do not choose to go down that path of music.

The great wonders of the harmonious voice of creation is that it takes all different voices to make it. Thus we need performers of all sorts contributing. As I once heard someone say, in a different setting and about a different topic, but still relevant, a world in which all are the same is a world of boredom. And thus it is that I will continue to encourage my father-in-law to pursue his passion for improvisational flute music while I pursue my passion for ensemble performance.

LIFTB 25

2010-07-22T00:05:00.000-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

LIFTB 24

2010-07-15T22:35:00.001-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

LIFTB 23

2010-07-08T22:40:00.000-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

A New Blog!

2010-07-08T22:20:00.002-05:00

Gretch and I are part of the Champaign-Urbana freecycle network. It has been really awesome--we can get rid of old stuff that has been taking up space, and we have been able to get things we really wanted, like a four-drawer filing cabinet and lots of moving boxes. (For those who don't know, freecycle is an organisation that encourages people within their communities to give away things that they no longer need/want to those who can use it, thereby reducing the number of items being sent to landfills. In addition to posting items to give away, members can post items that they are searching for.)

It has also been really amusing to see the ridiculous things that people ask for. I mentioned this on Twitter (and thereby also on facebook) one day, and my friend Crystal told me about the crazy things she sees come through the Peoria freecycle network. After giving it quite a bit of consideration, I realised that there was only one solution:

Blog about it.

And so I have, with Gretch's amazing support and help, created a new blog, called GreedCycle. It is a wordpress.com blog because the URL on blogspot has already been taken. In case you can't follow the embedded link, you can check it out here:

http://greedcycle.wordpress.com

Please check it out, and feel free to leave comments there! I hope you are as amused by the greediness of people asking for free things as we have been! (Oh, and as a special heads-up, about once a week we plan on having a post on the crazy things that people are just giving away for free, as well.)

Random Sunday Thought

2010-07-04T07:23:00.002-05:00

There are lots of stories found in the Scriptures. And many of them are favourites of mine. Probably so many that using the word "favourite" is slightly inappropriate. But I like the idea of being able to have multiple favourites, so I will use it, anyway.

Today, thanks in large part to a posting at By Common Consent about a religious work of art, I am thinking about the story of Peter and John outside the temple in Jerusalem, as told in the 3rd chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. A brief recap is that a man who was lame from birth was sitting outside the temple begging and when Peter saw him, his response was thus:

Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

I love the imagery that my mind associates with this story. I love that Peter then stretched out his hand and lifted the man up. He didn't throw money at the man. He didn't tell him to get up and find a job. He didn't go find a government official and demand that the government help. Peter just did what he could do.

May we all commit to do all we can to help our fellow beings. All of us need help at some point in our lives. May we also have the humility to ask for help when it is needed. As we do so, we will find ourselves rising to a higher plane of human existence.

LIFTB 22

2010-07-01T22:33:00.001-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

LIFTB 21

2010-06-24T22:32:00.000-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

Confessions Of A Bibliophile

2010-06-22T22:47:00.003-05:00

I have a confession to make. And, judging from the title of this entry, I am sure you can guess what it is. I love books. But when I say I love them, I mean, I really, really, really love books. I own a small library, yet I am pretty certain that, outside an actual library, my book collection would probably rival most of those held by private citizens not blessed with family legacies stretching back to the Virginia plantations.

I haven't counted my books, nor have I catalogued them. However, after spending most of today packing up my books, I have realised that this is going to be a major product that I will undertake in August. I want to have a list of all the books I own. I am strongly considering sorting them according to the Dewey Decimal System. However, I don't know if I will actually label them accordingly. Possibly on the inside cover. We'll see.

I lay blame for my bibliphilia squarely on my parents. Mum read to me when I was very young. I remember her reading The Chronicles of Narnia to my sister Amanda and me each night. At least, she read the first volume ("The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe", not "The Magician's Nephew".) The first book I ever read completely on my own was "Danny and the Dinosaur" by Syd Hoff. (Sadly, I do not actually own this book. Yet.) Our living room always had this amazing collection of books that Dad had somehow acquired, the Nobel Prize Library. Dad also had tons of books he acquired in college, all marked on the inside cover with a red stamp that said "Property of A. T. Valencic" followed by something about thieves being executed, I believe.

Of course, my brothers also contributed to this love of reading. Each night before bed, we would all stay up reading. (This is also why I tend to fall asleep with the lights on. Before I could read, they would stay up, so I would just go to sleep.) To this day, I try to read before I go to bed, even though I know that it annoys Gretch a bit. I am trying to convince her to do the same, though. Even my sisters, though younger than me, have contributed to my love of books. There are books I would never have read except that they recommended them. I recommend books to them, as well, more so to my baby sister than anyone, though.

One of the hardest questions for me to answer is, "What is your favourite book?" I tend to shy away from answers that are related to religious texts, like "The Bible" or "The Book of Mormon" - those are just in a completely different category, although I do have two shelves of a bookcase devoted to different versions of the former and different translations of the latter. I will usually cite Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" when pressed for an answer, possibly because it is the book I have read more often than any other single book. (I have averaged reading it about once a year for the past ten years.) But there are so many good books out there! And even though I will definitely read a good book more than once, which is why I have my personal library in the first place, I am also constantly seeking out new literature, so it is hard to really pick one as a favourite.

When it comes to the question of what I read, this, too, is difficult. My tastes in literature are about as broad as one can get, although I haven't really tried harlequin romances. Other than that, if you can name the subject, it is quite possible that I have at least one book that is related. My collection also spans every age level, from beginning readers to advanced literature on quantum physics. I am just as happy reading a work of fiction as I am reading a textbook on Operations Management. I have no idea how many books I have read in my life, nor do I have a clue as to how many hundreds of thousands of pages I have turned. I do know that it is a rare day that I do not have a book in my bag that I carry around as I am working through it.

So yes, I definitely love books. The next time someone comments on my wife's vast collection of Snoopy-related items, and then asks what I collect, I finally have an answer that goes beyond my letter openers, business cards, and baseball caps. I collect knowledge, and I do it most notably through my books. So thanks, Mum and Pops, for teaching me to love literature. And thanks to all of my family, friends, neighbours, and teachers who have introduced me to the vast scope that is the world of books!

Two Years And Counting

2010-06-20T08:03:00.002-05:00

Two years ago today Gretch and I were married according to the laws of man and sealed to one other for time and all eternity according to the laws of God. The decision to marry Gretchen ranks as the best decision I have ever made.

In the couple of weeks before our anniversary, Gretch and I had the honour to be present for both of our sisters' weddings. Amanda and Cameron got married on the 5th. Erin and Sam just got married yesterday (the 19th). All of these weddings have had my thoughts focused on what marriage means to me. I spent some time recently tweeting a few of those thoughts. This was by no means an exhaustive list of what I believe about marriage. Rather, it was just a few of the thoughts that came to me. Seeing as so many of you don't use Twitter, I thought I'd share them here, in no particular order:

"If a man cannot tell his wife about his hopes, his dreams, his worries, and his frustrations, then who can he tell?"

Although some of my friends jokingly responded to this thought by saying that a guy can turn to his therapist, his facebook friends, and his buddies, the reality is that if I can't tell my spouse, I can't tell anyone. Gretch and I are not able to read minds, so there are surely things that I think that she doesn't know, and there are things she thinks that I don't know, but we do not actively try to keep secrets from one another.

"'Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it.' Ephesians 5:25"

Many years ago, I saw an LDS-made video about families. In it, there was a brief clip about a young missionary who received a letter from his parents for a family he was teaching. They had been going through a rough time, and the missionaries' dad wanted to share some insights. The father wrote about a night he had a fight with his wife, "a real doozy" he calls it in the video, and ended up sleeping on the couch. He goes on to describe facing an old cross-stitch on the wall that had this scripture from Ephesians on it. I have loved this scripture ever since. To me, it perfectly embodies the type of relationship a man should have with his wife: complete and utter devotion, built on a foundation of love, with a willingness to do whatever is needed to support her.

"Marriage is like a corporation in which husband and wife are both the board of directors and the only shareholders. In this family corporation, each spouse has 50% of the shares, so that neither may act on behalf of the family without the other."

Years ago, I probably would not have understood this concept. But, having run a business for a year and a half, I have learned a lot about business structures. One of the things I find most interesting is that, in a corporation, the shareholders have a say in how the company is run. We have to be in agreement before decisions are made. We try to model our activities after those of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the LDS church. They do not move forward until they are in complete agreement. If Gretch and I do not agree, we have to work on a compromise. Of course, there are all sorts of holes in the analogy. No analogy is perfect, but this one at least makes sense to us.

So here's to the future, whatever it may bring!

LIFTB 20

2010-06-17T22:27:00.000-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

Why We Believe What We Believe

2010-06-10T17:11:00.002-05:00

Alternate Title: Why Belief In The Flying Spaghetti Monster (aka Pastafarianism) Isn't All That Unreasonable

Belief is a funny thing when you think about it. We believe what we are exposed to, what we experience, what we are told, and what we understand to be true. As Christof in the movie The Truman Show so succinctly put it, "We accept the reality of the world in which we live." To put it another way, we believe what we think is reality, and we will continue to believe such until there is a reason for us to change our belief.

In a way, I imagine we can apply Newton's First Law of Motion to our mental movement: "Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it." Likewise, every person in a state of belief tends to remain in that state of belief unless an external force is applied to it. In psychology, one hears a lot about cognitive dissonance. This is the notion that we will regularly come into contact with some thing or some idea that challenges our mental processes. When this happens, we must find a way to overcome the dissonance. We use many different methods to do so, but they all boil down to this: we find a way of adjusting what we know to what we have experienced, and move forward. Sometimes we choose to ignore the challenge, and move on as if it never happened. Sometimes we are completely disabused of our former notions and create new ones. Ideally, though, we find a way of merging the concepts to represent our better understanding of the world around us.

As an educator, it is my job to challenge my students' thinking. I would be doing them a disservice if I simply allowed them to carry on believing what they believe without making any attempt to challenge them to understand why they believe it. Near the end of this school year, I had a student tell me that a primary responsibility of a United States citizen is to not kill other people. I asked him why. He said something about it being illegal. So I asked him, "If killing was not illegal, would you kill?" He was horrified at the thought. It took him a while, but he finally said something along the lines of "killing is just wrong" to which I responded, "So there is something inside that tells you that killing is wrong, regardless of what other people say." He paused and then said, "Yeah, I guess so." He was 11-years-old and it was the end of the day, so I figured we could leave it at that. But I use this as a great example of what happens when we pause to think about why we believe what we believe.

If you grow up believing that the world was created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and there is never anything to challenge this belief, then it is reasonable for you to believe in it. As a non-believer of Pastafarianism, though, I am going to find your beliefs odd. And as a believer of a different worldview, I will probably do something to challenge your thinking to see if you will convert to my beliefs. Is this wrong? No, not at all. What if you don't accept the challenge, and you continue to believe in the FSM? Is it wrong for me to keep trying to convert you to my way of thinking? Now we come to a great dilemma. Some people will say yes. Some will say no. Personally, I think that if someone has no interest, no reason for changing their beliefs, then I am simply wasting both my time and his/her time trying to get that person to change. I am happy to continue to discuss our divergent views, but I am not going to keep pushing. To me, there are more important things to do in this life than to try to convince everyone that I am right. Unless, of course, it is my job to get you to change your ideas.

When I am being paid to convince somebody that something is true, I prefer the methods of Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator and philosopher who made the first push for teachers to move away from the blank-slate method of teaching. He was the one who said, "Hey guys, these kids know stuff! Let's take what they know, share what we know, and help them find their own way to knowledge!" (Not exactly, but that's how I interpret his methods.) This is in harmony with Elbert Hubbard, who once stated that "the object of teaching a child is to enable them to get along without their teacher." Now, I will admit that the grammatical structure is a bit odd. He probably should have started talking about the object of teaching children, not just a child. But I digress.

We should not simply dismiss somebody's beliefs because they are not the same as ours. We should seek to overcome cognitive dissonance by challenging our own thoughts. We will gain much more knowledge and understanding of the world as we take time to do a bit of navel-gazing and try to understand why we believe what we believe. Then we can worry about whether or not our Pastafarian friends are in danger of hell-fire. But not until then.

LIFTB 19

2010-06-10T14:08:00.002-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

LIFTB 18

2010-06-03T14:07:00.002-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

Make A Joyful Noise

2010-05-31T17:48:00.004-05:00

My father-in-law recently blogged about music, and lamented that Western society does not produce music except for the purpose of providing entertaining diversions. While I am sorely tempted to link to his blog, I will refrain. Rather, I wish to simply present my own thoughts on why I consume music.

And consume it I do. I love music. I devour it. It is a part of my being. Gretch and I almost always have music playing in our home, in the car, and when we are working (and can get away with it). I do not know when my love of music first emerged, but I would argue that it has always been with me.

My own father is a talented musician, although I fear there are times when this talent has been hidden from the world. Yet some of my earliest recollections of my childhood include Dad breaking out his amazingly awesome Martin D35 acoustic guitar and playing songs like "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by The Tokens, "Boogie" by John Hartford, and various songs from the world of classic folk music.

I learned how to read music by sitting in Sunday worship services with my dad, who would use the tip of his tie to point out how the notes in the staff lined up with the words we were singing. I may have been able to sing a melody before I could actually read.

My mother has said that she herself is not a talented musician, and yet I think she has a gift that is just as important, and it is one she passed on to me: the gift of appreciating music. With six boys and two daughters, born over the space of 21 years, the children in my family have brought home a vast array of music. Rather than yelling at us to turn off the garbage, Mum would take the time to listen to what we liked and what we loved. She may not have liked it all herself, but she definitely sought to understand why we did, and she was able to at least appreciate our own appreciation. It is because of her that I have such an eclectic taste in music.

She also encouraged all of us in our musical pursuits. Thus, when I started the fifth grade and had the opportunity to join the beginning band, she encouraged me. She suggested that I pick an instrument that had already been played in my family: trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, or percussion. My best friend was going to be playing the trumpet, so it was an easy choice for me. I became the third Valencic to pick up the small brass instrument. 17 years later, I am still playing the trumpet, having progressed from beginning band to middle school band to high school concert band to high school symphonic winds to university concert bands to where I am now, a member of the Parkland Wind Ensemble, a community group run through Parkland Community College.

I was also encouraged in my desires to join choirs. I started in high school with the Prep Chorus and then became a member of the Concert Choir. I auditioned for the show choir a couple of times, but never made it in. I have been a member of many church-based choirs, as well. Throughout high school, as I delivered newspapers in the early hours of the morning, I practiced my choir pieces and sang songs that I loved. I didn't know until after I left the newspaper business that many of my customers heard me singing, and, fortunately, looked forward to it.

One of the greatest things about music is simply how powerful it is. It is amazing how varied the sources are that inspire us. My friend Gary hates orchestral music, but he says that he has never felt closer to God when listening to the vocal skills of Mariah Carey than at any other time. While I certainly don't hold to his opinion, I do recognise the power found within music. I still remember the day that I first heard Tim Morrison perform on the trumpet (or at least when I recognised him). While I did not write about him specifically in my journal, I did write about the experience:

"Today (tonite [sic]) is the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics. It's the 100th Anniversary. The only way to describe the opening ceremonies is to say it is an over-powering experience. I will never again have a feeling such as this is."

I was watching the opening ceremonies with my baby sister. I was writing during the performance of John Williams' "Summon the Heroes"--a piece that continues to stand as one of my all-time favourites.

I am not just inspired by orchestral music, though. Nor am I only inspired by music that is overtly devotional, although I find much inspiration in hymns and anthems. I find inspiration in all types of music. And I know I am not the only one. M. Norbert Kilmer, a contributor to the LDS-themed blog "By Common Consent" recently wrote about how we can have a groovier Sabbath. Many others on the blog have shared their own contributions to music which was written/performed by a primarily-secular musician, but still devotional in nature. I would go further to say that there is much to be found in the secular world of music that is unintentionally devotional.

I admit that I love listening to music purely for entertainment, as well. There is something absolutely wonderful to me about the parodies by Weird Al Yankovic, the intentionally-awful covers by Me First and the Gimme-Gimmes, and the songs by dozens of secular musicians that are simply enjoyable. I love listening to Metallica when I am working, as the heavy chords and fast drumbeats help me work faster. I recently learned that my mother also loves working to loud music, although I would be willing to bet that, for her, the loudness is in volume, not substance. Turning up the music while cleaning the house is definitely an inherited trait. Many years ago, I spent the summer watching my baby sister. She and I established a routine for the day: we would watch the VH1 Top Ten Countdown in the morning. Then I would put in the complete soundtrack to the musical "Les Miserables" and we would clean the house, with the music blasting throughout all the rooms. Then we would watch movies until everyone got home.

At the end of the day, I guess I can summarise my love for music in this way: Music allows me to communicate on a level that I cannot communicate through the written or spoken word. I love the written and spoken word, but I also love the unwritten, unspoken word that comes through music. Thomas Carlyle once wrote that "music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It is brings us near to the infinite." I would carry this one step further, and say that music allows us to connect to one another, as well.

So whether it be for inspiring others, inspiring ourselves, expressing our devotion, our love, and our passions, quietly reflecting, seeking entertaining diversion, or for any other reasons that I may not have listed, I hope all of us will take time to make a joyful noise through the wonders that are music!

LIFTB 17

2010-05-27T14:05:00.001-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

LIFTB 16

2010-05-20T13:56:00.002-05:00

All LIFTB comics can be found at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

Blinded From The Truth

2010-05-18T12:53:00.004-05:00

7 It is an imperative duty that we owe to God, to angels, with whom we shall be brought to stand, and also to ourselves, to our wives and children, who have been made to bow down with grief, sorrow, and care, under themost damning hand of murder, tyranny, and oppression, supported and urged on and upheld by the influence of that spirit which hath so strongly riveted the creeds of the fathers, who have inherited lies, upon the hearts ofthe children, and filled the world with confusion, and has been growing stronger and stronger, and is now the very mainspring of all corruption, and the whole earth groans under the weight of its iniquity.

8 It is an iron yoke, it is a strong band; they are the very handcuffs, and chains, and shackles, and fetters of hell.

9 Therefore it is an imperative duty that we owe, not only to our own wives and children, but to the widows and fatherless, whose husbands and fathers have been murdered under its iron hand;

10 Which dark and blackening deeds are enough to make hell itself shudder, and to stand aghast and pale, and the hands of the very devil to tremble and palsy.

11 And also it is an imperative duty that we owe to all the rising generation, and to all the pure in heart—

12 For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it—

13 Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven—

14 These should then be attended to with great earnestness.

15 Let no man count them as small things; for there is much which lieth in futurity, pertaining to the saints, which depends upon these things.

16 You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves.

17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

This passage is often used by Latter-day Saints to discuss the need to go out and share the Gospel with people all over the world. More particularly, it discusses how there are many people in the world who don't know the truth simply because they don't know where to look. However, after a recent teaching experience, I have begun to take a broader approach to what this passage may mean. In short, I think that all of us are kept from truth because we are blinded by the subtle craftiness of other people. Further, I believe it is our imperative duty to do all we can to overcome this problem.

This problem is especially apparent within the realm of partisan rhetoric. I'm not just talking about political partisanship, either. I am thinking of partisanship in general. The idea of "Us" versus "Them". In social psychology, it is the "In Group" versus the "Out Group". We work so hard at constructing a rhetoric that says, "We are Right and they are Wrong." As we get older, we tend to filter out the rhetoric, or, at least, pretend that we do so. We talk about being unbiased. In reality, one can never be unbiased, because biases are what we use to make sense of the world around us, much like we use generalisations and stereotypes. Of course, biases can be taken to extremes, and cause such things as the fundamental attribution error (switching from social to cognitive psychology). This is the idea that we approach shortcomings in others as saying it is a long-term, internal behavioural problem, whereas our own shortcomings are temporary, external problems. So we say that we don't have a problem, but they do. We are right, and whenever we make mistakes, it is because of something else. But whenever they make mistakes, well they are wrong anyway, so therefore the mistakes are because of them. However, life is not so black and white. There are shades of grey all around us. Trying to divide the world into two categories leads to all sorts of harmful rhetoric--harmful rhetoric that we may not even recognise as harmful until it is too late.

The other day when I was teaching, we were discussing two different presidential addresses. One was delivered on 12 March 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was explaining to the American people why he and Congress had declared a banking holiday after a major break-down of the financial institution. The president also explained the rationale behind the first major law to be passed as part of the New Deal. The second address we read was delivered on the evening of 11 September 2001 by President George W. Bush. This was, of course, the address to the American people discussing the attacks on the World Trade Center. Two very different presidents dealing with two very different problems addressing the American people at two very different times. One of the purposes of this lesson was to discuss the purpose of addressing the American people, and whether or not this purpose was met.

This was when I realised that there was a problem. None of these 5th graders were old enough to understand much about the Great Depression (even though they then were learning about it). They certainly hadn't grown up listening to their parents debating the successes, the failures, the effectiveness, and/or the ineffectiveness of the president. Not so with President Bush. Despite the fact that these kids were barely alive when it happened, and despite the fact that they had, at this point, barely entered into their second decades of being on earth, they all have strong feelings about the president, both the current one and his immediate predecessor. This is because they have grown up listening to their parents spouting out harsh partisan rhetoric. But when we use the party lines, we forget that others don't understand all of the qualifiers that go with it. All they hear are the words. And, children especially, take them at face value. So when we say negative things about the figurehead of the opposition, we may mean the opposition in general, but those who are less aware just hear you talking about the figurehead. Thus, one of the children in the class stated that she "hated President Bush" and therefore didn't even want to read his speech. She completely missed the point of the entire exercise of comparing two speeches by two very different presidents. Then a classmate of hers said, "Oh, yeah? Well I hate Obama!" This didn't have anyhting to do with the lesson, but the rhetoric was already there as the stimulus, and conditioned response manifested itself, just as surely as Pavlov's dogs would salivate at the sound of a bell.

This is when I decided to pause in the lesson to discuss the difference between the message and the messenger. I explained that we were not discussing the president--we were discussing his message to the people of the United States. Unfortunately, the strong feelings about the man sitting in the Oval Office have come from parents who have inadvertently blinded their children from recognising truth when it comes before them. I will be forever grateful for a phrase that is deeply embedded in my being: "Look for, and appreciate, truth wherever you can find it." I am sure this isn't exactly what my mum said, but she said things like this so often that this is how it has come to be expressed in my mind and to others. I see the diamonds in the rough. I see the nuggets of truth. I am always looking for those things that will enlighten and enlarge my understanding.

The truth, as Fox Mulder's poster so succinctly stated, is out there. "If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." Surely this is the best way to approach our conversations with others and our understanding of the world. Let's look for the best, and stop being blinded, and blinding others, from the truth of the message simply because we dislike the messenger.

LIFTB 15

2010-05-13T19:32:00.003-05:00

Life is for the Birds can be found online at lifeisforthebirds.com

LIFTB 14

2010-05-08T13:39:00.001-05:00

The Ubiquitous Middle Initial

2010-05-07T12:20:00.002-05:00

My name is Alex T. Valencic. I don't know exactly when this started, but I am fairly confident that, at lest by the time I was in the fourth grade, I had been writing my name in this format. My best friend would write his name is a similar format: first name, middle initial, last name. For me, the middle initial has become part of my identity.

When I introduce myself in person, it is as either Alex or Alex Valencic. I rarely speak my middle initial. But if I am writing, I find it looks weird without that ubiquitous capitalised letter and period between my first given name and my surname. I have almost succeeded in this endeavour. There are still a few places where the T is left out, most notably on the programs for the Parkland Wind Ensemble. Each semester I request that my name be printed as Alex T. Valencic, and each semester I am disappointed. Some day, though, I will be victorious.

The strange thing is that I am so used to writing my name as Alex T. Valencic that I never think about it being odd. I would like to think it is a family thing, but I don't think that is absolutely true. At least two in my immediate family growing up went by their middle names (but they initialised thee first name, so maybe that counts). I think that at least one of my brothers uses his middle initial almost as often as me. And I am pretty certain both of my sisters do so on occasion. I am not sure how often my other brothers do it. I may be the only one who always uses the initial. Apparently it is an oddity, though. However, the oddity has become part of the fun. Friends always ask what the middle initial stands for, and I rarely tell. I am not embarrassed by my middle name (even if it has become an extremely popular name for girls in recent years). I just think it is fun to keep people guessing. It is also fun to have them guess my brothers' middle names instead. Thomas? Nope. Travis? Uh-uh. Timothy! Try again. Tiberius? Awesome middle name, but no. Keep guessing.

Sharing my initials with my siblings is a large part of the reason for why I am so adamant about using my middle initial. My parents named their first son after my dad. My second brother happened to be given the same initials. I am not sure, but I think number three was also coincidental. I know that by number four, my parents had decided that all of their children would have the same initials. They may have made this decision considerably earlier. I am notorious for blurring the family history. One of the reasons why I am going to set Dad up with a blog the next time I visit. But I digress. Eight children, all proudly carrying the same initials. (If you feel you really must know my siblings' names, ask. I may tell you. Or I may not. It depends on how well I know you and how much I trust you.)

In a very real sense, I consider my middle initial as much a part of my family name as I do my, well, family name. I am not just Alex Valencic. I am Alex T. Valencic. One of ten A. T. Valencics in this world (including my mum, who adopts my dad's name for the purposes of being one of the ten). And thus, it will be a rare instance in which you see me write my name without my middle initial.

An Unfortunate Event

2010-05-05T20:16:00.002-05:00

Dear Family and Friends,

I regret to be the bearer of bad news, but I am confident that I will not be an emotional mess as I write this. On April 22 Alex and I found out that I was pregnant. After almost a year of trying and mentally preparing for a child we were lucky enough to find out this joyous news. We had suspected that I was pregnant more than two weeks before, but were excited to see the evidence from the pregnancy test.

Unfortunately God has other plans for our child. As of last Friday I started threatening miscarriage of the baby at six weeks or so into the pregnancy. On Monday we went to the emergency to see if the baby was all right. The tests and the ultrasound were all inconclusive. Today we went back to the doctor's office for another blood test and eight hours later got a call that I was miscarrying or had miscarried the baby.

I am pretty sure that at this time, I have miscarried the baby, but I have not yet recovered from doing so. I am still in immense pain physically, but am at peace mentally. I have found comfort in my own thoughts and reflections. Please, as a courtesy, do not call me (you can text me) as I recover from this event physically and mentally. If you wish to contact me for any reason, please call Alex instead or just comment on this blog. Your thoughts and prayers, will be appreciated.

LIFTB 13

2010-05-01T17:01:00.001-05:00

Oops!

2010-04-28T09:58:00.005-05:00

For those who receive blog updates in their emails, I think there may have been a formatting error with my most recent post. If it appeared as one giant paragraph, I apologise. I think I have fixed the problem. If you would like to read the post without straining your eyes, you can do so here:

http://alexandgretch.blogspot.com/2010/04/honouring-law.html

If you read the blog online anyway, you probably won't have noticed. If that is the case, please carry on.

Honouring the Law

2010-04-28T09:01:00.004-05:00

The 12th Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims that

"We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, magistrates, in honoring, sustaining, and obeying the law."

The 134th Section of the Doctrine & Covenants further outlines some of the basic beliefs of the LDS Church concerning government and laws in general. Of particular interest to me right now are these verses:

1 WE believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, both in making laws and administering them, for the good and safety of society.
2 We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life.
3 We believe that all governments necessarily require civil officers and magistrates to enforce the laws of the same; and that such as will administer the law in equity and justice should be sought for and upheld by the voice of the people if a republic, or the will of the sovereign.
5 We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished accordingly; and that all governments have a right to enact such laws as in their own judgments are best calculated to secure the public interest; at the same time, however, holding sacred the freedom of conscience.
6 We believe that every man should be honored in his station, rulers and magistrates as such, being placed for the protection of the innocent and the punishment of the guilty; and that to the laws all men show respect and deference, as without them peace and harmony would be supplanted by anarchy and terror; human laws being instituted for the express purpose of regulating our interests as individuals and nations, between man and man; and divine laws given of heaven, prescribing rules on spiritual concerns, for faith and worship, both to be answered by man to his Maker.
8 We believe that the commission of crime should be punished according to the nature of the offense; that murder, treason, robbery, theft, and the breach of the general peace, in all respects, should be punished according to their criminality and their tendency to evil among men, by the laws of that government in which the offense is committed; and for the public peace and tranquility all men should step forward and use their ability in bringing offenders against good laws to punishment.

As a Latter-day Saints, I believe in following this inspired counsel. I agree with the teachings that governments serve an important role in our lives, and we should be willing to be subject to the laws of the land. As a member of the Boys Scouts of America, I was taught the importance of citizenship. in the community, in the nation, and in the world. I understand that a world without rules is a world of chaos.

Recently, there has been much discussion about a law recently passed in Arizona that makes it a state criminal offense to be in the state without legal sanction. This is another way of saying that it is now against the law to be an illegal alien or, to put it even more obviously, it is now illegal to do something that is illegal. I have found this law to be somewhat ridiculous, due in large part to the fact that if something is illegal, there is no need to make another law stating the fact.

I understand that there are certain extenuating circumstances that lead to illegal immigration and also to suddenly finding oneself in the country without legal authorisation. There are always extenuating circumstances. A good friend of mine from Japan was married to an American, they had children who were American citizens, but it took years for her to get her citizenship. For a good portion of her time here, she was an illegal alien. Another good friend of mine, an American citizen, recently got married to a Canadian. They were living in Canada until her visa expired and she got kicked out of the country. She is now staying with friends while trying to get her visa renewed and her citizenship application approved. Despite the touching stories, it is still a crime to be in a country contrary to the laws of the land.

A friend of mine recently opined that it is wrong to label illegal immigrants as criminals. I responded by pointing out that, the last time I checked, a criminal is someone who has committed a crime, and you commit a crime by violating a law. Entering the country illegally means you have violated federal immigration laws. Never mind that the laws are stupid and need to be completely re-written. They are still the laws and, since the US Supreme Court has not struck them down, we are supposed to honour the laws of the land. Basic civics right there. So I am amused at people protesting the assignation of illegal aliens as “criminals” – that is exactly what they are.

My friend's counter-response was that I needed to re-examine my definition of a criminal. He pointed out that people routinely break laws, such as speeding in their automobiles or jaywalking. I told him that it is his definition of a criminal that needs to be re-examined. We need to realise that all laws are not created equally. There is a difference between jaywalking, illegally entering (or staying in) a country, and committing murder. However, all laws should be honoured. If you violate a law, you should be willing to pay the consequences. Fortunately, we do not live under the Code of Hammurabi. The punishment for violating most laws is not death or dismemberment.

Sometimes we have laws that are pretty dumb. They were created by people who meant well, but the method of carrying out their intentions left much to be desired. I feel that the US immigration laws fall under this category. We don't need a reformation of immigration law. We need a re-creation. We need to figure out a system that works, for the benefit first of those already in this country, and second for the benefit of those who wish to come and be a part of the American Dream. What we don't need is to throw out all the laws and let anarchy take over. We need control. We need to govern. But we need to do it right.

In figuring out how to do it right, I think that the there are broader questions we should be asking ourselves. These questions relate to all aspects of governing, whether it be governing ourselves, our families, or our world. What do we have laws? What purpose do they serve? What should we do when the laws are unjust? How do we avoid tyranny, either of the majority over the minority or vice versa? Is it possible to make a difference? What are we doing to effect change? Where do we start? Where do we finish? What will be the results of our actions? Only when we ask ourselves these questions, and seek to honestly answer them, will we be able to govern with honour, promoting peace and harmony.

LIFTB 12

2010-04-26T17:00:00.001-05:00

A Million Meals for Haiti

2010-04-25T16:24:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I heard about this thing that the Salvation Army was doing in Champaign. The concept was pretty simple: A Million Meals for Haiti. The process was equally simple: Numana, Inc. had come up with a simple recipe that would provide basic nutrients for people in famine-like conditions. The Salvation Army and Numana would get the raw materials. Volunteers would make the finished product. The Salvation Army would get the meals delivered to Haiti by the end of the next week.

The meals would be packaged in bags that would contain six meals. Each package consisted of (approximately) a cup of ground soybeans, a cup of freeze-dried pinto beans, a teaspoon of multivitamins (powdered), and a cup of rice. (I am not sure of the exact measurements, but it was something like what I have stated.) Add six cups of water and you have enough food for six people for one meal. To prepare the dried goods, we were to form an assembly line with a team of 10-12 people who would package the meals, seal the bags, and box them up. Each team would work a two-hour shift. The entire event was scheduled to cover two days, with anywhere from 600-800 volunteers per shift.

This was the first time that Numana, Inc. and the Salvation Army tried a project of this size in a community as small as Champaign-Urbana. At the same time volunteers were working in Champaign, other volunteers would be working in San Francisco. It was a challenge of new proportions for our community, and I am pleased to say that Champaign-Urbana rose to the challenge. Word came to all of the local churches, and we heard about it. Someone sent an invite on facebook. I asked Gretchen if she wanted to volunteer, and she agreed. We registered online and planned on spending a couple of hours doing something. We weren't quite sure what we would be doing, but we were certain it'd be worthwhile.

We arrived on site and found a parking lot packed with cars, and people lined up outside, waiting to sign in and get to work. Once inside, we saw some friends of ours and we joined forces. We were given a quick training, and we took our stations. Phil would hold the empty packages. Jeremy would measure out the ground soybeans, Alan would measure out the pinto beans, I would measure out the vitamins, and Bob would measure of the rice. Phil would then put the package in a queue for weighing and quality control, being handled by Gretchen and Jane. Once the packages met the required weight, they were passed on to Becky and Odemaris, who sealed the bags. Jeff and Mary made sure the bags were properly sealed and airtight, and then two others girls (whose names I do not know) placed them in the boxes. Eleven packages to a small box. Four small boxes to a large box. Twenty-one total large boxes in a two-hour shift (our goal was twenty-three). 5,544 total meals packaged by our group. That was approximately 47 meals a minute.

The goal for the entire weekend was to provide 1,000,000 meals to be sent to Haiti to relieve the suffering of those still recovering from the devastating earthquake. By Saturday night, the Champaign volunteer corps had turned out 880,000 meals. I don't know how many meals were prepared in San Francisco, but I like to think that those of us working in Champaign totally surpassed those on the West Coast.

On Tolerance

2010-04-22T08:13:00.003-05:00

Some of you may know that I spend a bit of time floating around and posting on what is known somewhat officially as the Bloggernacle. This is the world of Mormon blogging. I was introduced to it initially by my dad, although it was before the concept really existed. One day he showed me a site called "The Cracked Planet of Jeff Lindsay". I went back occasionally, and I would randomly read his blog, Mormanity, which I keep linked on our sidebar on the blog site.

A couple of years ago, I was talking with my room-mate, Lars, and he told me about his conversations with folks on some of the Mormon blogs. I returned to Mormanity, and one day noticed some of the other sites he linked, including Times and Seasons and By Common Consent (also linked on our sidebar). One day I posted something, and my sister Amanda called me and said, "Hey, do you post on some Mormon blog or something?" It turns out that one of the contributors to the blog was in Amanda's ward when she was on her mission in San Diego. Then, making the small world even smaller, on another day I had a commenter ask me, "Are you related to Meredith?" Turns out that this commenter, Bridget Jack Meyers, or Jack, as she is known among friends and family, was my sister-in-law Meredith's room-mate at BYU. Crazy!

All of this blogging has introduced me to a lot of really awesome people who have a lot of really awesome viewpoints. Perhaps what makes it the best is that not everyone agrees. I love it when there is disagreement, because it forces us to discuss and interact. Cognitive dissonance isn't always overcome, but I believe that we can bridge the gap. An interesting side note is that even when we bridge a gap, the gap is still there. The bridge merely allows us to move beyond the gap. The question has recently been asked: What is the point of all this discussing, interacting, and attempting to bridge the gaps? This is my answer, adapted from what I had posted here.

I can't speak for all everyone. I probably can't even speak for just my household, since my wife is still asleep, but she would probably agree with me on what it is we want from discussing, interacting, and attempting to bridge gaps.

I speak from the personal experience of growing up with a group of extremely religiously and politically diverse friends. Catholic, Jew, Muslim, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Mennonite, Buddhist, Atheist, Agnostic, Jehovah's Witness, non-denominational Evangelical, First Assembly of God, and Mormon. Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Independents, liberals, conservatives, moderates, apathetics. We all hung out together. We talked about life. We talked about philosophy. We talked about the world's problems. We talked about the environment. We talked about how to fix the world. Imagine Marius Pontmercy and his friends discussing things around a table in the corner of a small cafe, and that was pretty much us, except our table was in the high school cafeteria or at places like Hardee's and Subway.

And, of course, we talked about religion and politics. A lot. Probably far more than most young people did and do. I have heard people say that the two topics they will never discuss with others are religion and politics, because such discussion only bring about discord. While this is often the case, it is not always the case. It certainly wasn't for my friends. Despite our differences, we are still friends. Many of us still get together at least once a year, usually around Christmas. Somehow, we found a way to be different and still be friends. So when someone asks me, "What is the point of all this?" My answer is, "The point is to see if we can have what my friends and I have."

Love. Respect. Patience. A desire to understand one another. Taking the best of what we each had to offer and sharing willingly. Recognising that we are all individuals, and none of us deserve to be painted with the broad brush-strokes of stereotypes. The acknowledgement that, while our various faith traditions may ultimately be at odds with one another, there is no reason for us to be at odds with with one another. And, perhaps at the very end of the day, I want everyone to realise that we don't need to be fighting. Dare I quote Paul? I do. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

That's what I want. Let's stop accusing each other of being the evil rulers of darkness. Let's work together. Yes, we have differences. I proselytize my friends when I tell them about my Mormon beliefs. They proselytize me when they tells me about their Evangelical beliefs. If we choose not to accept each other's beliefs, so be it. It really isn't the end of the world. My life is not solely focused on convincing everyone that I am right and they are wrong. I am pretty certain that this isn't the case for others, either.

I am reminded of the wisdom shared by a good friend of mine in passing. He is a liberal, and tends to vote for Democrats. I am a conservative, and tend to vote for Republicans. This is not always the case, but it is the tendency we each have. He once said, "You know, Alex, you and I both have the same goals. We just approach them from different angles." How true that is! Tolerance, understanding, and bridging isn't about proving who is right and who is wrong. It is about recognising that we have the same goal in mind. We won't always agree. In fact, we may end up disagreeing more than not. But there is never a good reason to be disagreeable. And at the very end of the day, when all is said and done, what I want is more civility.

LIFTB 11

2010-04-19T12:14:00.002-05:00

No Regrets

2010-04-16T07:40:00.004-05:00

I've often heard the advice given that you should try to live your life in such a way that you can look back and have no regrets. As I look back on my life, I would like to say that, when it comes to things that are important, I have followed this advice. I don't have any regrets about any major decisions I have made.

I am not sure what the earliest important decision I ever made was. Perhaps it was becoming friends with a boy in my kindergarten class. We were in the same class from kindergarten through third grade. I believe we were in the same class in fifth grade, as well. And we had most of the same classes from 6th grade on through high school. We went through some rough patches, and there was a good three-year period in which we were more associates than friends (at least from my point of view) but, all these years later, we are still friends. And our friendship shaped our friendships with others.

Baptism was definitely an important decision, and it is one I will never regret. Being baptised and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints set me firmly on a path that has brought about only good in my life. Friendships, learning, teaching, personal growth, and an understanding of myself and of God's plan for me have all been a result of this decision I made when I was eight years old.

I don't regret participating in a single extracurricular activity in school. I do regret not being able to do more than I did, but I did as much as I could. I have had opportunities to discover and develop many interests and hobbies that I still follow today. There is an old saying, often spoken in a disparaging way, that proclaims, "Those who can't, teach." I will be forever glad that I actually read one of the required books for my education courses at the U of Illinois, "Educating Esme", because, at the end of this book, Esme explains that this saying is true. I am interested in everything, but I know that I really can't do it all. So I will teach others who will. However, this isn't going to stop me from doing as much as I can as often as I can. Extracurriculars taught me that.

Attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was absolutely the right thing for me to do. If I had not done this, I would never have met the awesome people I now know in and around the Champaign-Urbana area. I would never have traveled to Australia for five and a half months to study as part of an exchange program. I would never have met, let alone married, Gretch. I would never have started working for Simply Spotless, Inc. as a summer job, only to find myself the owner of the company a year later. Some may argue that none of these statements are absolutes, but I am fairly confident in making them.

The list goes on and on and on. I do admit to at least one regret, though. I regret not making a certain purchase when I had the opportunity. In fact, this missed opportunity was the inspiration for this post. I am glad that I at least snapped a picture of the potential purchase, though. I am also glad that, in the hierarchy of life decisions, this is pretty close to the bottom. But I regret, nonetheless, not purchasing a Little Dreams Baby Doll from the Champaign Wal-Mart on 20 December 2008. Why? Look closely at this picture.

Yes, dear friends and family, that is a baby doll with a plastic bag over its head. Some opportunities should never be missed. May we all seek to live our lives with no regrets!

LIFTB 10

2010-04-12T12:01:00.001-05:00

Setting Boundaries

2010-04-08T08:29:00.004-05:00

This post is all Gretchen's fault. Just so you all know.

And before I get to the meat of it, I need to explain a few things.

First, my wife is a closet Trekkie. Well, not much of a closet one, as she will talk about it at times but, by and large, her love for many things Star Trek is kept pretty quiet. She is quite open about her desire to acquire all of Star Trek Voyager on DVD, though, but that's about it.

Second, my best friends way back when I was in fourth and fifth grade were huge Trekkies. I pretended to be one, but inasmuch as Star Trek always aired (and still does, actually), late at night, I never watched the show much. I knew about all the various versions (Star Trek, ST: The Next Generation, ST: Deep Space Nine, ST: Voyager, and the way-awesome-but-ill-fated Enterprise). I have never seen a single one of the TNG movies. I have seen a couple of the Original Series movies. And I have seen the newest installment. So I am a wannabe Trekkie. Which is, now that I think about it, kind of lame. But, hey, that's me.

Third, Gretch has insomnia. Kind of. Her sleep cycle is all sorts of crazy, so she'll be awake until 1 or 2 in the morning, and then get up around 10 or 11 am. She has tried to go to bed earlier, and she finds herself lying there not sleeping. So, in an effort to be productive in her sleeplessness, Gretch will go downstairs and watch late-night TV while working on various art projects.

All of these things came together last night when, for various reasons, mostly relating to our business, I actually stayed up and watched TV with her. And, of course, her closet Trekkie comes out at late night, so we were watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. More specifically, we watched the episode called "Imaginary Friend" that originally aired in 1992. I know this because we looked it up. And we looked it up because, for all of its shortcomings (if any there be), TNG stars Patrick Stewart, and he is full of awesomeness. And the writers gave him an awesome monologue. A monologue, in fact, that I am going to quote here in its entirety, thanks to the wonders of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb for those wishing to know).

As adults we don't always stop to consider how everything we say and do shapes the impressions of young people. But if you're judging us, as a people, by the way we treat our children - and I think there can be no better criterion - then you must understand how deeply we care for them. When our children are young, they don't understand what might be dangerous. Our rules are to keep them from harm, real or imagined. And that's part of the continuity of our human species. When [our children grow] up [they] will make rules for [their] children, to protect them - as we protect [ours].

I found this to be an excellent way to explain why we set boundaries and have rules. And I love that it points out that harm can be real or imagined. Imaginary or not, harm still hurts. Finally, I appreciate that implicit in this statement is the thought that as we grow and mature, we are able to set boundaries for ourselves. Do we, and should we, allow children to start making the rules, or do we try to maintain iron-fisted control of their lives for as long as possible? I try to take the former approach whenever possible. I am not perfect in this, and I have a lot to learn about setting boundaries, but I think that this will help me in the process.

Life is for the Birds 09

2010-04-05T11:45:00.002-05:00

For those of you who don't know Life is for the birds is online at www.lifeisforthebirds.com

Well, It Was Bound To Happen One Day...

2010-03-29T22:27:00.002-05:00

Gretch has finally posted twice in a row. I think this may be a first.

Granted, she has all of her comics scheduled to post, so I really should have just snuck something in first but... wait, what the heck... according to the browser spell-check, "snuck" is not a word... I am so confused right now... Okay, I just checked with Merriam-Webster, and they say that snuck is the past participle form of sneak, but is more commonly used in the US and Canada than in Great Britain and Australia. So this is probably a result of me using the English (UK) language setting.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. Gretch finally double posted because I was lazy. I suppose I could point out that I've had a rather nasty cold the past few days, which I thought was a sinus cold, but since Gretch now has it, apparently it was just a cold. And now that I've bothered to do some research on the subject (read: I went to WebMD to see what they had to say on the subject), I have discovered there is no such thing as a sinus cold. There are colds, and there is sinusitis, and sometimes the former will cause the latter. Therefore, I conclude that I had a nasty cold that gave me a bout of sinusitis and now is just making both Gretch and me somewhat miserable.

On the plus side, I am getting a lot of sleep these days. Which, speaking of, is what I am going to do now.

Life is for the Birds 08

2010-03-29T11:44:00.001-05:00