On October 24th, I took a day of vacation, and P and I went to Millie's Pancake Haus for breakfast, then to the temple, then to Bill Johnson's for dinner, then to the Penny's outlet, then we went home on the old highway. It took a little longer but it was a nice drive compared with the freeway.

The following day, S, P, and I went and cleaned the Church. Hurrying home, P and I returned to the stake baptism where I presided for our ward's portion. We had to be on time because I was giving the opening prayer. It was a very nice service with about 40 people associated with A T, who was baptized.

Then I went up to Camp Zion to our Youth Retreat. It was a good time to be there with the youth.

At work, they're locking down the server to only fix the “have to” defects and trying to stabilize it.

I finished Robinson Crusoe. It was an interesting story. It tells the story of a young man who trusted in his own strength and wits to survive on an island, but over time he comes to understand that there was a kind God watching over him and blessing him. He also learned that no matter how difficult the situation that comes to him, the Lord has a hand in it, and it can turn to his benefit if approached with faith.

I read Our Town by Thorton Wilder. How quickly do our lives pass away, and we let them go without paying attention to those people who mean the most to us.

J was reading Common Sense by Thomas Paine. I reserved what I thought was his book, but it was a biography of him. It was quite interesting. He was born in Thetford, England, and I remember that there was a plaque dedicated to him on a wall in Thetford when I lived there. He worked for social justice.

He was instrumental he in rallying popular support from the colonists in the Revolutionary War. When he exposed some members of the Continental Congress who were stealing funds, he became an outcast. But even then towards the end of the war, he secured about two million dollars of aid from France which allowed us to win the war. Curiously, this loan was a significant contributing factor in the financial collapse of the French government and paved the way for the French Revolution.

Paine went to France during this period, but when the revolutionists behaved as brutally as the previous government, he spoke out firmly against their atrocities, and was subsequently arrested and condemned to death—this was only prevented by a clerical error. The United States then granted him citizenship, and he returned here to live out his life.

I read 2000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Vern. How often do some brilliant people continue to pursue a cause long after the time has expired. And what a loss to the rest of the world are these misdirected efforts.

Mom gave me a copy of William Zimmerman Terry's missionary journal. He was in Germany in 1896. It has been very interesting reading.

At work, M H focused on getting the temp table support done, and I took all the defects which had to do with hangs and crashes. Examining cores, I could tell that we had some thread which had an exclusive lock on a latch, but I couldn't figure out who it was. M A helped me, using the AIX operating system source code, analyzed the core, and we figured it out. Two other defects had to do with some hangs in DB2, but now I'm waiting on the tester to obtain some additional DB2 trace information.

On November 7 was stake temple day, and we went and did a session, then a sealing session, then an initiatory session.

On November 8, we took C, K, L, and D to the zoo, and we had a nice time. They especially enjoyed the children's water activity, where they push a button and water squirts out.

On election day, and we elected the first black President of the United States. The marriage amendments in three states: Florida, Arizona, and California also passed. I was pleased, and almost surprised that it passed in California.

On November 21, I went with the teachers and priests, and we camped near Peppersauce Cave, and the following day, we went through the cave. It was good to be there with the young men.

The Supreme Court, in a major setback to the Bush Administration, ruled that a certain number of men detained as terrorists needed to be released, that detaining people for seven years without proving their being terrorists was wrong. I was pleased to hear that our government just can't lock up people they don't like.

Mom brought me a typewritten copy of William Zimmerman Terry's missionary journal. He served in Germany in 1896.

I read A House Divided by Pearl Buck. It followed a young man Yuan as he departed from his father's house, a cruel warlord, in who's footsteps he refused to follow. But he went to live in with a relative, who was financially supported by the family. His debt became greater as they bribed the government to release him from from prison and certain execution, and financed his studies in the United States. It spoke of traditions and prejudices, how people in the United States would ask him if they ate rats in China, and when he explained that they did not and what they did eat, how they immediately forgot what he had said and clung to their previous thought. There were characters who illustrated how people deal with change: some who will suffer any injustice as long as they can get a few coins; others who live for pleasure; and others who are always angry with how things are, and plot to overthrow it, but when they do, they become like those they opposed in the previous regime. Yuan could not determine who he wanted to be given the roles around him. And because he did not know who he was, he couldn't understand those who really tried to help him and his people. So rather than seeing his benefactors in their true light, he misunderstood them and their motives and became more isolated than before. He began to believe an idealized version of his heritage and defended it, but when he returned home to China, he was faced with the conflict with his idealized version and the China as it really was. He made two trips to see his father, one shortly after he returned to China, and he reacted with anger and annoyance as he came to understand that the country was not as he believed. But later when he returned to nurse his dying father, he was more accepting of what he saw. The ending of the story would be termed a “happy ending,” but it seemed abrupt and inconsistent, as if Buck decided that she needed to finish the book and did so.

W received his calling to serve in the Ogden, Utah, Mission starting December 31st. I was very pleased with the assignment.

S, S, and J came down for Thanksgiving, and we had a good time with them. We got our first good fall rain on Thanksgiving day. We had the entire family here on Thanksgiving day, and on Friday we went hiking up to Seven Falls. P and L and K stayed back when the baby became fussy, and when we were about a mile from the falls, it became evident that C would need to be carried the rest of the way, than I headed back with him. But the others went up and enjoyed the falls. This morning we arose and took family pictures, and they left about noon to drive to Las Vegas to stay the night. They plan to drive to Saint George tomorrow, attend church, then head into Provo.

I've been trying to catch the packrat, but he's just too wary to disturb the trap mechanism, but he does get the bait. The good news, though, is that the three surviving pepper plants are growing peppers, and the tomato plants are flowering.

19 October 2008

There has come an extreme financial disaster in our country in the last year or so, where so many people have mortgages that they cannot pay. Many banks and financial institutions are failing, and the US Government finally passed a $700 Billion bailout plan. At the heart of the matter is gross dishonesty—lenders who didn't require that the minimum requirements for obtaining these loans were met; people who obtained mortgages that they couldn't afford; people who were too optimistic thinking that they'd refinance later; other financial institutions which purchased the loan notes without verifying that the requirements were followed, etc. And I'm sure that there's some outright blatant dishonesty going on in the mix there. Who knows what will happen now that we've saddled our country with a horrendous new debt? I don't think we've seen the worse yet.

I finished The Brothers Karamasov. It shows how contradictory we as humans are and how our strong emotions lead us into so much trouble. But it also shows that with proper leadership, people can choose paths that bring happiness and meaning to their lives, but unfortunately many choose not to follow proper leadership. It also talks about the willfulness of mankind, that even when they know a decision will bring heart ache, they will often make that decision anyway because it's their decision. It also shows how when people make poor decisions, they'll often get blamed for bad things they didn't do. Human nature is shown in how jealous people are of each other, how they'll hurt the very people that they love, and how these same people, at the same time, can be very generous to people outside their immediate circle.

The garden is still alive. The peppers put on new leaves, but there's something eating up the new pea plants and eating, especially, the leaves of the banana pepper plant. I replanted the empty places and they have come up but each morning I see little holes where the old plans used to be. I suspect it's a pack rat, but I've been unable to catch him. He very gingerly eats some of the bait, and leaves. The last bait I put out involved putting honey on a graham cracker and peanut butter on the other side. I was hoping he'd try to pull the cracker off, but he just licked the peanut butter off. What they really need is another TV show called Are You Smarter Than a Pack Rat.

Last weekend, on Thursday after work, S, D, P, and I drove to a town north of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The following day S toured the campus of the College of Santa Fe. The rest of us toured the International Folklore Museum, which was very nice.

There was one diorama in which there were skeletons playing instruments. I asked D what this represented. He didn't know, and I replied that it was the Orchestra on Temple Square, on Fast Sunday.

That evening we drove to Socorro, where we spent the night. We ate at a Mexican restaurant there, and savored the New Mexican type of Mexican food there. It's different than that of Tucson, but also very good.

The following morning we drove to Silver City and saw the Western University of New Mexico campus, then drove home.

At work, we're pretty much to the end of the system test cycle, and the performance isn't where it needs to be and there are many, many defects that need fixing. We're now to the point of determining which defects will be fixed now, and which will be fixed in the next release or service pack. It's time to stabilize what we have and ship it.

Early in October was General Conference, and I was much inspired by the messages.

Lord Jim was an interesting novel. It started out very slow, and talks about how people deal with guilt, how some just escape the pain of it through various means, but others take it so seriously that there is no reconciliation for them. It's told from the point of view of an old captain who earnestly endeavors to help Jim. It got much more interesting after the inquiry was done, but it ended in tragedy as Jim exercised faith in human nature to do the kind thing, and was betrayed by several evil men. He took responsibility for all the evil which occurred, as if one man can control everything if he just makes the right decisions.

Yesterday I used the hedge trimmer I got for Father's Day and trimmed many of the plants in the front yard. I trimmed them down just leaving the stems, so that when we get rain, they'll grow again. I prefer that to pulling the entire plant out.

On Thursday night, I went out with the missionaries, and had a great time with them. They taught two discussions, and I was very impressed with how well they taught, and the maturity in the gospel that these young men have. I mentioned in Priesthood Executive Committee meeting today that if they had someone they thought they'd like the missionaries to meet, I would highly recommend this pair of missionaries.

Yesterday, I finished and mailed my early ballot, voting for Obama for president. I find it regretful to vote for someone who stands for some things that I oppose, but but I couldn't in good conscience vote for McCain whom I feel is only interested in protecting the unborn and the very rich.

When I went with the missionaries, the television was on when we arrived at one appointment, and both McCain and Obama were at some dinner, and Obama said, “I've been told that if I talk about the economy, I will win this election, so I'm going to talk about the economy.” Even McCain had to laugh with him on that one.

A week ago Friday, I went camping with the deacons. We went to a lake in the mountains and fished on Saturday. The young men started talking about the upcoming presidential election, and I was surprised at their reasons for their opposition to Democrat candidate Barach Obama. Their view is that Obama is the ultimate demon whose primary focus in life is the destruction of the unborn.

I find Obama's pro-choice position troubling, but McCain is running around saying that if he's elected things will change, when McCain has been a stanch supporter of Bush's policies for the last eight years, policies which are financially disastrous.

We caught six fish, most during a half-hour interval about 9:30 in the morning. My son D was having trouble with his fishing pole and I was trying to fix it and when trying to cast it, I caught his ear. It went in and came out. (So much for supporting the Brethren about no piercings.)

I'm still reading The Brothers Karamasov. It is a ponderous book. I checked out Cat on a Hit Tin Roof and read it in one evening. It was about people who talk and talk and talk, but never listen to or really care about anyone but themselves, and how miserable such people are and how they make everyone around them miserable.

There is a proposed amendment to the Constitution of Arizona which defines marriage as “one man, one woman.” Last Sunday, a member of the stake presidency came the third hour and asked people to register to vote, and indicated that the Brethren were in favor of the amendment, but that ultimately each person needed to choose how he would vote. The Church, on their website, has published a document entitled The Divine Institution of Marriage which explains very well why we feel the way we do and the need to keep marriage defined in the traditional way because of the safeguards it provides—primarily to prevent government interference in how our children are raised and limitations being placed on religious organizations who support traditional marriage. That website is: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-divine-institution-of-marriage

Yesterday, I attended the baptism for a young man in our ward. A Beehive-age girl played the piano. During the service a 10-year old girl came into the meeting and sat by me. While we were waiting for them to put on dry clothing, the pianist played hymns and the 10-year old hummed along with them. It was a choice experience to be there for that.

Afterwards, we went to the temple with J and L's family. It was a good day.

After our vacation we got quite a few banana peppers from our garden. The other pepper plants didn't fare so well. We've got a few tomatoes, but I think once it cools down, the plants will bear again. The plants looked reasonably healthy until a few days ago when they started wilting. We removed all the banana peppers which were ripe. I'm wondering if there's some fungus in the dirt or something like that. There was a zucchini almost ripe, and then it just withered, but the zucchini plant itself looks healthy.

Yesterday, I worked in the garden rebuilding the wells around the plants, fertilizing with Miracle Grow, and taking out the drip system. I will water by hand each day now. When I was about done, I saw a swarm of bees on the 2x4 support just a foot or two above where I was working. I'm glad I didn't straighten up too much and run into them. I put on a winter coat with a hood, and then sprayed the swarm with insect spray. About a ½ hour later, the swarm was gone, but I didn't see any carcasses under where I had sprayed.

I finished Les Miserables. It was a great book. Several years ago I read The Hunchback of Notre Dame and very much enjoyed that one, although it had a sad ending. Hugo wrote much about social injustice. I'm now reading The Brothers Karamazov. Ivan is speaking about the evils of religion via a story he tells. He talks about some atrocities committed in the name of religion, and this section seems really familiar to me. He speaks about Jesus returning to a town in Spain during the Inquisition, and how the Inquisitor has Him arrested, knowing who He was, and that Jesus would be executed like any other heretic. The three temptations of Jesus are discussed, and the notion of the work of the Church being committed unto man is described in a way different than what I had heard before. (No, I don't agree with how they are interpreted there.) And the story ends in an unexpected manner, that I won't tell here, so you can enjoy it when you read the story yourself.

I received an award for my contribution at work and I'm going to buy a lap-top computer, which I think will be real helpful when I'm away from home but have work to do.

For my birthday, we went went out for lunch at Chuy's, then to the church where I practiced the piano while Patrice practiced the organ, then to see the movie Prince Caspian, then to Sachico's for dinner. Then, we went to a wedding reception. It was a good day.

The Republicans had their convention last week. I found it curious that John McCain says he's looking to change things when he's been there so many years and voted for the decisions that the current government has made.

Mitt Romney was talking about the failings of a liberal government, which is fine. But I was greatly disappointed in this: “Is a Supreme Court decision liberal or conservative that awards Guantanamo terrorists with constitutional rights? It's liberal.”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/03/romney.transcript/index.html

I feel that any person detained by the U.S. Government has the right to a speedy, impartial trial; to have council; to be charged and tried according to the law; to be confronted with evidence and accusers, etc. The Bush administration has made a sham of justice by labeling a certain group of people “illegal combatants”, locking them up non-US soil for years without bringing charges against them, interrogating them endlessly; refusing them access to the Red Cross or another neutral group to ascertain that they are not being mistreated, etc. It harks back to the world that Hugo described in the Hunchback where people who have power wield it according to the vain imaginations of their own hearts.

“No, Mr Romney, holding a speedy, fair trial for the accused is not a characteristic of a liberal government, but rather a defining and necessary trait of any good government.”

In early August, we flew to Boston, and visited with Paul's family. We went to a nearby lake and swam, went to the Ecotarium museum, the Minuteman National Park, and the Freedom Trail in Boston. Paul and Catherine were wonderful hosts, and we enjoyed getting to know their daughters during the visit.

I had anticipated very hot, muggy days, like we had in New York, but the weather was very delightful. We got some rain on some of the days, but it didn't prevent our adventure.

On Sunday, we went to Church. I didn't know what city the chapel was in, and it was puzzling to hear, “Welcome to the Marlborough Ward,” because I'm used to Marlborough merely being a cigarette. During priesthood meeting they announced that the teacher's quorum was going canoing to some island and the priests quorum was holding fund raisers in order to do scuba diving in September. It was gratifying to hear of an active scout program for older scouts.

On Wednesday, Patrice and I flew to Chicago, and the children flew home. We saw all of Dad's siblings except Sis who lives in Florida, and several of the cousins. The family there is very interested in each other and supportive of each other. We had a good visit.

After we returned, we attended the Primary sacrament meeting program. The children sang with their hearts and spoke clearly. That has become one of my favorite meetings to attend.

Work continues at its relentless pace. But I love writing code and fixing bugs, so it's the place to be. I worked on the temporary table support, but then found that it needed to be extended to support multiple temporary tables open under one DB2 transaction.

In July I saw some solar window screens in the shed, and I ripped an old 2x4x12 and mounted them above the plants in the garden. That seemed to give new life to the garden. The sun is just too hot here. We now have some banana peppers just about ripe.

Today we celebrated Davy's birthday by going to Chinese restaurant for lunch. Daniel's family, Jared, and we went and had a nice lunch.