Church Talk

Today I learned that it takes me about 14 minutes to deliver a 2300 word talk.

The King and I

Adam and I went out on a date tonight. We went to Thai Orchid Cafe for dinner then watched Thor - The Dark World. At the restaurant I learned that the movie The King and I is banned in Thailand and that they don't use the seeds of chilies in Thai food. I also learned that Kalyn is better at putting the kids to bed than Michelle is. :)

Hovding

Today I learned that two women in Sweden (I think it was Sweden...) designed what they are marketing as an "invisible helmet". It's a collar that inflates into a helmet in the case of an accident. I think it's pretty awesome and would totally use it. Adam is more skeptical.

Introverts as Leaders

Today I learned that for many things, particularly in business, being an extrovert is expected and being an introvert can be a bit of a handicap. It brings me back to college interviews and how awkwardly shy I was, and gosh, no wonder I didn't get into Brown or Harvard!

However, just because introverts are quiet does not mean they are poor leaders. The book cites a few studies, though the area has not been thoroughly researched, showing that introverted leaders have better outcomes than extroverted leaders when their employees are extroverts, and vice versa.

Cain also went on at length about evangelical Christianity and the overwhelming expectation of extroversion. I think that's one reason I always felt supremely awkward at the few big box Christian churches I've been to. I just didn't fit in. She uses an example of an introverted pastor who questioned his faith because, if all the other people are so enthusiastic, maybe they really believe more than he does. Malarkey!

She also used an example of an exercise done at Harvard Business School where the incoming class is split up into groups and told that they are handicapped in a subarctic climate. They're supposed to individually rank the importance of 13 items they were able to salvage. They rank them first individually and then as a group. The group succeeds if the group ranking is more correct than any individual's, and likewise lose if any of the individuals had a higher score than the group. This exercise tends to reveal that the big extroverted take charge personalities overwhelm good ideas from quiet people. I know for myself that I've held my tongue and gone ahead with sub-par ideas in academic settings just to get it over with and to make people just STOP TALKING.

I also learned that I really ought to write my learning blog on the correct day, because I've been letting things pile up and then trying to remember what I learned and it's much more difficult to remember things even one day later.

King Blah

Today (I'm going to count 2am on Thursday as being Wednesday, because, really, 2am!) I learned that eating King Wah's chinese might have given me a touch of food poisoning. Luckily I'm not too bad off, but I'm definitely not feeling great.

The Holy Temple Part Two

Today I finished reading The Holy Temple. Again, most of the stuff I knew pretty well. I did learn that at some point members of the church were instructed to keep and write the story of their lives, to gather important documents and whatnot about themselves, and that this is also a good way to start thinking about family history work.

I also got my temple recommend renewed today.

The Holy Temple

Today I read the first half of The Holy Temple by Boyd K. Packer. I already knew a lot of the stuff in there but I thought there was some interesting discussion about continuing revelation particularly in regard to temple work.

Nerds

Today I learned that eating nerds makes my mouth raw

Quiet

I just started reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain. So far it's pretty interesting. I don't remember a lot of the details, but around the 1920s there was a big shift from the culture of character to the culture of personality, where how you present your self and how exciting you are has become more important than your moral or ethical being. In the culture of personality, extroversion reigns king. Introversion is seen as something to fix in children and adult introverts are misunderstood and less likely to be accepted into schools or hired as employees. It disgusts me. Also, it is one of the reasons I'm considering homeschooling my children. I can't tell yet whether they're introverts or extroverts at heart but I don't want them to grow up feeling like being extroverted is the right way to be. I don't want them feeling guilty or ashamed if they'd rather read a book or are quiet. On the other hand, any introverted children I may have need to learn to live and thrive in an extroverted world.

I thought it was interested that Cain says that the United States is one of the more extroverted countries of the world. She says it stems from the fact that the country was founded by immigrants and extroverts are far more likely to emigrate than introverts are, and that they will then pass on those extroverted traits to their children. Makes sense to me.

I also like the distinction between shy (or anxious) and introversion. You can be an anxious or not anxious introvert, and likewise you can be an anxious or not anxious extrovert. I happened to be shy and introverted as a child, but as an adult I've overcome a lot of the shyness, but I'm still definitely an introvert.

The Nez Perce Surrender

The Nez Perce Surrendered. Several hundred of the people did indeed make it to Canada, but the Nez Perces ended up without horses and with no clear means of escape, despite by all means winning the initial battle when they were attacked by surprise. The sad thing is that hundreds of Nez Perce went on to die in captivity. When Chief Joseph surrendered, he was told they would go back to Idaho. That didn't happen for EIGHT more years. They were stuck in a malarial swamp with insufficient medicine and supplies. Most of their children died. How much does that suck? Promises broken over and over and over again, and the near destruction of a generation of Nez Perces. Chief Joseph worked the system the best he could (pretty masterfully) to eventually get his people sent back to Idaho, but it still took eight years.

Halloween

Happy Halloween! Lydia was a sheep and Henry was a cow and they were pretty cute even though I carried Henry the whole way since he doesn't like to walk. I learned that Lydia will say trick or treat very quietly but "thank you" at a normal volume. I don't know why. She is also far too much like me in that she hates repeating herself and typically refuses to try something again if she fails the first time. I don't know how to teach her to try, try again, but I really want to be able to. Giving up too easily is something that has hounded me and I don't want her to have the same problems I do.

Shedding Sheep

Today I learned that the sheep costume I made for Lydia sheds cotton balls all over the place. I also learned that if the church program says the trunk or treat starts at 5:30, I shouldn't show up until 6:00 (grumble grumble).

The Nez Perce stop short

Ahhhhh! The Nez Perces were ahead of Howard by 150 miles! They had only 70ish left to go before they reached the Canadian border. Instead of maintaining their grueling pace and getting to safety, they oust their current leader in favor of one who wants to take it easy, to relax and rejuvenate because they don't believe Howard will catch up to them. Little do they know someone else is on their way! This astonishingly terrible choice baffles me. Get to safety first! Don't go back to the leader who had you go slow and relaxedly the LAST time you got caught and had a bunch of people get killed. Dah! Right now they're about 25 miles from the Canadian border. The end is at hand.

Cleaning

Today I learned that if I'm feeling a little depressed, cleaning helps.

The race is on

In this part of the book I really just feel bad for the Nez Perce. They fought a bunch in Idaho and outmaneuvered the whites, managing to escape through to Montana. When they finally got into Montana, they assumed they were free and clear. They had no qualms with the whites there and assumed they would be able to live peacefully. It displays a total lack of understanding of the scope and nature of the US Army, as well as a poor understanding of the capabilities of the telegraph system. In fact, they were allowed to move peacefully across the plains, purchasing goods from local whites, and it wasn't until they were in the next mountain range that they were attacked, losing many of their women and children. They decided then that all whites must be against them and did not treat civilians kindly thereafter (though they still refrained from killing women and children, I think).

My first 5K

Today I ran my first 5K. I learned that if I'm going to run a 5K I should prepare in advance. I have literally gone running twice since having Henry, most recently about 3 weeks ago. I got carsick on the way there. The course was an out-and-back course and was alllll uphill on the way out and all downhill on the way back. I felt pretty okay for the first 1/3, slow because of the hill, but not too bad, but then I started feeling super sick, like carsick again and it was not the most pleasant thing I've ever done. In the end I finished in 37:52, 22/48 in my age group (19-29). Not a great time (a 12:12 mile pace), but it's good to get my first one done, and I've got a decidedly beatable first time.

Kings

Today I learned that kings are really powerful pieces in the endgame and you should often try to get them centralized.

The Promise of Star Dust Book Club

Today the book club met to discuss the book "The Promise of Star Dust". I didn't read the book, but the gist was that a woman had a living will that said she never wanted to be put on life support in the case of an accident, but when she got in an accident, it was discovered that she was pregnant (8 weeks) so the book is about the battle between her husband, who wants to keep her alive to bring the  baby to term, and her mother, who is her power of attorney, who is trying to uphold the living will which states that she does not want life support. In the end, I think the husband wins the battle and the baby survives, but it's an interesting debate. On the one hand, there's a baby in there! She would never want to kill her baby! On the other hand, the odds of that baby surviving and coming out without complications are very very slim, and the cost of keeping her alive for months is astronomical. The discussion brought up a few things. One of the debates was about whether life starts at conception. I have mixed feelings about that and don't really know what I think, but there was a split in our book club group. One perspective that I thought was really interesting from a religious perspective, came from a woman who had a miscarriage. She later had another baby, and she said that she felt her miscarriage was a body that wasn't working for the spirit that was her daughter, which came down in the next body she made. She said it better, but I thought that was very interesting. It also came out that most of the people in the predominantly-LDS book club group were vaguely pro-choice, but anti-abortion. By that I mean, they don't want to legislate to make abortion illegal, but they don't think people should get abortions in the majority of cases (and most certainly that women should not think of abortion as birth control).

Rooks

Today I learned that rooks should be placed on an open file (well, I already knew that part), that they are strongest when doubled or tripled, and that a queen behind two rooks on an open file is named after Alekhine because he did it in a game once. I also learned that getting both rooks on the 7th rank is super strong and often leads to victory.

Dreams

Today I learned that it is very hard to get myself out of bed when I have been dreaming about putting my children to bed only to be rudely awakened what seems to be minutes after they fall asleep.

Book club

Today I learned that book club, which was scheduled for last Thursday, was moved to this Thursday. I guess that means it's good that I couldn't find he house last week. Hopefully this week I don't have any trouble.

Gold!

The Nez Perce were living peacefully on the reservation when somebody found gold. Immediately, a flood of settlers moved onto the reservation. The government made some small effort at the beginning to stop people but there were too many people and too little military in the area to keep people out, and so they flooded in. Though public and government opinion agreed that the miners were there illegally, instead of trying to get them to move out, they decided instead that the old treaty was untenable and that they would have to renegotiate and force the Nez Perce onto a smaller reservation. If this doesn't sound like a recipe for war, I don't know what would.

Crater Lake, again

Today we went back to Crater Lake again! Now that the government shutdown has ended, the national parks have been reopened. I learned that, in addition to wizard island, there is a second volcano under the surface of the lake. Pretty neat. Also, Lydia had a lot of fun playing in the snow.

Treaties

I was reading more of the Nez Perce story and it is bothersome how the US government made treaties that were understood so differently between the two groups. In one case, they got a chief to sign a treaty and took it to mean that a bunch of tribes were bound to the treaty, when the chief in question was most likely just binding himself and his immediate family. The government continuously tried to impose their own structure on cultures that were vastly different.

After the signing of major treaties that were supposed to relocate the natives to reservations, there was a very irresponsible article that opened the lands for white settlement, despite the fact that the government had not yet ratified the treaties (it took four years for them to do that) and precipitated war with several of the tribes in the area. There was some serious fighting and then a new man was put in charge of the military, and he took a stance that moved the white settlers out and left the natives alone since the treaties weren't ratified. There was over a year of peace while he was in charge, and yet he was ostracized in Washington for his pro-native rights stance. To think we could have actually ended up with peace instead of wars and found an acceptable way to live together. Too bad that didn't last.

Directions

Today, I reconfirmed that I really dislike not knowing where I'm going. I tried to go to book club but couldn't find the house it was supposed to be at and it annoyed me. Also, the next time I buy a house, I'm going to make sure the house numbers are clearly visible from the street, and if people are planning on coming to my house at night, my outside light will be on.

Bishops

Today I learned that there are good bishops, bad bishops, and active bishops (which can be either good or bad). A good bishop is one that has open diagonals, a bad bishop is one that is blocked by pawns, and an active bishop is simply one that is playing an active role in the game, putting pressure on an important space. To turn a bad bishop to a good bishop you can either open up the diagonals by moving your other pawns or pieces, or by maneuvering the bishop so that it is outside the pawn chain. Also, since bishops are the only pieces on the board that can access only one color square, they work best in pairs, and it's possible to end in a stalemate with a bishop and a rook-pawn.

Henry and Headaches

Henry is 11 months old today! I can't believe he's almost ONE!

In unrelated news, I learned that it's frustrating to lie down with a headache and then have to answer Lydia's questions 20 million times and have to help her with starfall five times.

Poop

Today I learned that as a treatment for c. diff they sometimes give poop enemas (to help get good intestinal bacteria up there, but kinda gross, huh?)

Ironing

Today I learned that it is difficult to iron a shirt (something I very rarely do) with Henry around because he's very tall and strong enough to move my ironing board All around. On a related note, I learned that storing the ironing board near the furnace and laundry leads to a lint-covered and dusty board.

Firefighters and Pot Pie

Today we went to an open house for the new local fire station. It was like 3.5 million dollars and was a government award and built by fema. It's a nice building. I learned that firefighters (here, at least) work for 48 hours then get 4 days off.

I also learned that Chicken Pot Pie is labor intensive, but yummy (I used Mindy's recipe and it came out really good).

Firefighter Alarms

Today I learned that firefighters have motion detectors and if they don't move for 30 seconds, they set off an alarm so that the other firefighters can find the one who is not moving. Kinda cool.

waiting and waiting and waiting

Today I learned, again, that it's annoying to wait for the mail to come, or in this case, the UPS truck. It almost always comes to our house at like 8:00 at night so I end up waiting all day long.

Nez Perce and the White Missionaries

Today I learned that the expedition that went to St. Louis was really comprised of 3 Nez Perce and 1 half-blood Nez Perce/Flathead (Salish). They most likely went to St. Louis with dual purposes of opening trade opportunities and acquiring copies of the bible and/or a missionary to teach them. However, the meeting was popularized and spread as four wise men from the west coming to be converted to Christianity and ready to abandon their "heathen" ways. Needless to say, when the missionaries actually came, things didn't go as expected. Whitman and Spalding came down, and the Whitmans ended up settling among the Cayuse while the Spaldings settled among the Nez Perces. The missionaries had some small successes... the natives came to the school and attended some religious services, but they had problems because the missionaries expected the natives to pretty much adopt the culture of the white men. They were expected to learn English, to give up hunting in favor of farming, to move closer to the missions, and basically adopt all the laws and customs of the Americans. They also expected the natives to come to an understanding that they are sinful creatures and are inherently bad without the redemption of Christ. The Nez Perce viewed themselves as essentially good and so this notion of going to hell without Christ's atonement was completely foreign and frankly unacceptable. They did have a few baptisms but it's hard to say if they had any true converts. The Nez Perce held beliefs about spirit animals and a person's successes and failures were linked to their spirit animal (which they discovered on a quest when they were 8-10 years old). Power was linked to spirits and they were probably trying to find additional spiritual power from Christianity to add to their religion, rather than to replace it.

Serious problems didn't come up until Whitman led the first big group of settlers into the Oregon territory. It comprised approximately 125 settlers and thousands of livestock. The author estimated that the group of settlers was about a third of the current Nez Perce population. Within a few years there were thousands. They weren't settling in Nez Perce country, preferring instead the comfortable Willamette valley, but the numbers must have been disconcerting. Also, they brought the measles, and, as I think I said in another post, the white missionaries were blamed for the outbreaks. The Whitmans were eventually massacred and the Spaldings were lucky to escape with their lives. What I didn't realize before was that the missionaries were providing medical aid but since the native populations were so much more susceptible to the diseases, their children were killed in droves while the missionaries were much more successful in helping white children (and adults). I can see how the natives could think it was purposeful.

Clarinet

Today I learned that, after nearly ten years of idleness, when I play clarinet my ombochure only lasts a few minutes and my tone quality is far too breathy. Grrrrr. However, it's good to have my clarinet fixed and cleaned, though the guy missed a few spots. 

Nez Perce meet the white men

Today I learned that Lewis and Clark were the first white men that the Nez Perce met. Of course they had heard of them and had long since acquired and bred horses. They already had six guns though no powder or shot to use with them. They debated between friendship and enmity and chose friendship. They developed good relations with Lewis and Clark and expected a mutually beneficial, amicable relationship between equals. The next people to come were from the group headed for Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia. They would only trade for beaver pelts, which the Nez Perce did not want to collect, and were generally unfriendly. Finally, settlers started to arrive and with them came a government sub-agent named White who was appointed to deal with the Natives in the Pacific Northwest, despite the fact that "ownership" of the territory had not yet been decided between the Americans and the British. White and the settlers again set up friendly and beneficial trade relations but White imposed a bunch of rules on the Indians, primarily designed to protect white settlers, though nominally intended to also protect the Natives. He also wanted the Nez Perce to elect a Head Chief, which is an idea that doesn't fit into their social hierarchy at all. They named a young headman as the so-called "Head Chief" and it's probable that they saw the appointment as for a liaison to meet and talk with the whites, since they chose a young man who had spent time in Canada and spoke passable English.

Cotton Balls and Glue

Today I learned that elmer's glue will bond cotton balls to white knit fabric but it will take forever to dry and it will make the fabric oddly stiff. Hot glue works much better, and faster. It turns out it takes hours to glue over 600 cotton balls onto a (handmade) 4T onesie. Lydia has a little lamb costume now for halloween.

Cows, Pumpkins, Subway, and General Conference

Today I learned that cows really like pumpkins, that if I feed Henry subway he will vomit all over the kitchen floor when I get home (hopefully he's not really sick!) and that it's really hard to watch or listen to general conference with two small children running or crawling around the house and vying for attention.

Polish Star

Today I learned how to do the polish star stitch pattern. I am working on a Christmas gift for someone who shall, for the moment, remain nameless, but I think it will also make a really cute headband and/or scarf pattern for my etsy shop.

Nez Perce

Today I started reading The Last Indian War by Elliot West which is one book in a series called Pivotal Moments in American History. I'm only a chapter in so far but it is much better than the Pacific Northwest Indian Wars, which was entirely too dry. Today I learned that Nez Perce is pronounced "Nezz Purse" and that the tribe traveled over 1500 miles during the course of the war. They were trying to make it to Canada but were finally stopped just 40 miles shy of the border. I don't know why we didn't just let them go. I am really interested to read this story because everything I've read about the Pacific Northwest tribes to date has painted the Nez Perce as very cooperative with whites and very peaceful.

The Nez Perce lived in a vast area that encompassed part of southeastern Washington, northeastern Oregon, and Idaho all the way to the Bitterroot Mountains. They lived in villages and primarily fished, gathered, and hunted with stunning bows. They became excellent horsemen and horse breeders. There was a cool Origin story about how some great monster came and ate up all the people (animals) that lived on the land and the coyote thought that was messed up so he brought in knives and cut out the monster's heart so that it died, then he scattered bits all around and it made up the surrounding tribes (the Cayuse, Palouse, Wallowas, etc, etc), and the Nez Perce were the tribe that ended up at the heart of the monster, small, but powerful.

Etsy Changes

I think I actually learned this yesterday, but oh well. Etsy is making changes to their shop policies for handmade items. Sellers have always been able to hire help or have shops with multiple crafters, but now Etsy is allowing sellers to use outside shipping services and manufacturing companies. I'm totally okay with the shipping changes, but I am wary of the manufacturing. I worry that the market will end up flooded by factory merchandise and one-at-a-time makers like me will be lost in the crowd even more than we are. They say sellers have to list everyone involved in their process on their "about" page but I don't think that will help very much. I think if a business gets big enough that they need outside manufacturing, then Etsy isn't the right place for them to sell anymore, but I guess that's just me.

Modoc War

I'm still reading "Pacific Northwest Indian Wars" but have found it excruciatingly dry, so I skipped ahead to the chapter about the Modoc war and will not read any of the rest of it. Today I learned that the Modocs twice attempted to live on the Klamath reservation with the Klamath tribe but the Klamaths kept stealing their timber and taunting them and their appeals to the government were not handled effectively. The Klamaths and Modocs used to be the same tribe but had a war and broke apart so they really don't get along very well. We're just about to start the real fighting and Captain Jack is retreating to the lava beds. dun dun dun.

Government Shutdown

Today was the deadline for congress to pass a budget and avoid a government shutdown. They didn't manage to come to an agreement, so shutdown it is. The senate is currently controlled by the Democrats, and the House is controlled by the Republicans. The house approved budgets that had stipulations about obamacare - either that it would be delayed by a year, or that the medical equipment tax would be removed from the plan. The senate is not willing to change obamacare at all, and so they are at an impasse. The last time a budget was not passed on time was in 2011, but it was passed within a day of the deadline and so there was no real government shutdown. Prior to that, it happened in 1995, and the government shutdown lasted for 21 days. I think that "government shutdown" isn't really an appropriate term, since all "essential personnel" will still be working. Essential personnel are most of the employees of the federal government. The National Parks will be closed, passport offices and permit stuff will come to a stop or at least a slowdown. The change of most impact immediately is probably the fact that military personnel won't (or may not? I'm not entirely sure) get paid. That bites for those families.

Hairpin Lace

Today I learned how to link two strands of hairpin lace to make a scarf.

Relief Society General Broadcast

Today I went to a Relief Society activity. They did a few crafts, which I did not participate in since I don't need more random crap in my house. Instead I re-learned how to do hairpin lace to make a scarf for Christmas for a friend. After the crafts, they had a dinner. I learned that chicken salad made with cream cheese is pretty darn good. The talks were good. In brief, we should keep our covenants, go to the temple, and pray.

Shipping

Today I learned that it costs over NINE dollars to mail something to Canada. That's absurd! It means that I basically sold a pair of rather nice legwarmers for 10 bucks. That customer got a serious steal of a deal!

Birth Control

Today at book club someone (a doctor) was saying that women in Europe don't have periods when they're on birth control and that there is no medical reason why a woman needs to have a period, contrary to popular belief in the United States. I thought it was interesting and is something I should maybe look up one day.

Knights

Today I learned that a knight is powerful when it has a secure, protected post in the middle of the board. If a pawn can challenge the knight's position, it is not a secure post. Find a good spot for the knight!

Basketball

Today I learned that I usually do a decent job defending against Kristi when she's posting up, because I don't get too close to her so she can't easily pivot around me.

Tires

Today I learned that it bugs me a lot when I am waiting in a lobby with two small children waiting for new tires to be put on my car and I see three employees standing in the garage nearish to my car chatting instead of working. Luckily the kids were pretty well behaved for the hour I was there.

Elder Hinckley

Today I was reading more of the biography of Gordon B. Hinckley. He served over the South American mission for only two years when he was assigned instead to the European mission. He served on an absurd number of committees and boards of directors, and went through two reorganization s of the first presidency in relatively short succession. He visited the holy land with president Harold b. lee, who was the first president of the church to go there during this dispensation. There were also a few good quotes about families and raising children. One of them compared children to a tree. It is easy to correct the growth of a tree when it is young and supple, but if neglected in its youth, it will take more serious measures at will undoubtedly leave scars. (A friend for every child, improvement era).

Crater Lake

Today I learned that Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States at 1,943 feet (I think). I may have known that already, but it's all good. We drove up to see the lake with my Sister and her family. Unfortunately, the tires on my car are bald bald bald and the ranger lady said that it was snowing up on the rim, so I decided to take Henry and go home, but Adam piled into Heather and Thomas's van and went out to the rim. It was super foggy so they couldn't see the lake, and it was freezing. Thankfully, the fog cleared for a few minutes so they could get one good view.

I also learned that there are spiky things along the lava flow area that are fossilized steam. When steam escaped through the earth after the lava flow through fumaroles, it hardened and fossilized along the path that the steam traveled through the ground. As the ground eroded, the fossilized steam remained as cool looking spires.

Heather

Today I learned that my sister and her family are not very good at getting out of the house in the morning. They drove down to visit us today and didn't end up leaving their house until noon, getting in here at about 9pm.

Vomit

Today I learned that it is difficult to get anything else done when you have a vomiting 10-month-old in the house. Also, ham chunks can last in a baby's belly for quite a while.

Mispronunciations

Today I learned that Adam pronounces Tillamook "Till-a-moooooook", my sister pronounces it "Till-a-muck", and I pronounce it Tillamook, like it's supposed to be said.

I also learned that it takes me about 40 minutes to walk/jog 3 miles. Some friends want me to do a 5k in just over a month. I think I could probably do it, so long as my knees hold up. I don't know why but it's so much harder to muster the will power to keep running than it is to keep rowing.

Posting Up and Layups

Today after basketball I had Cathy Peterson stay behind and give me a quickie basketball lesson. I kinda get the basics of posting up and layups but never really try to do them. She was having me post up on the hoop side to get passes up over the head of the defender and get an easy shot. I really want to be able to post up on the other side and turn and shoot but I just can't do it. As far as layups go, I was almost starting to get the hang of it. I made like five in a row and then I had Cathy halfway guard me (like two feet away, not anywhere near close enough to actually get the ball), and I missed every time. D'oh.

Birds

Today I learned that birds are kinda creepy. We went to Lake Ewauna to feed the birds after I was done rowing and they were seriously swarming all around us. We steered clear of the geese, because they're always mean and way too big, and went to feed the ducks. The ducks were pretty bold but the worst were these other birds. I think they might be a type of gull but they looked like they had really sharp beaks. A few of them got kicked for getting too close. I now agree that "The Birds" might be a scary movie.

Teaching

Today I learned that I can teach a decent relief society lesson on short notice. I was asked a week ago to teach and then forgot all about it until we pulled into the church. Thankfully I had time during the first two meetings to prepare a little bit, and our RS ladies are good at contributing to the discussion.

Communication

I learned that Adam is very bad at talking with English-speaking Asians. He can never understand what they say. He'll have to work on that if we're going to live in the NW.

Colonel Gilliam

Today I learned that Colonel Gilliam died during the Cayuse War when a harness or lead rope caught on the trigger of a pistol and caused him to get shot and die.

Chess

Today I learned that, if I manage to get a material advantage in chess, I need to consolidate my position rather than attacking.

Colonel Cornelius Gilliam

Colonel Gilliam served in both the Black Hawk and Seminole Indian wars on the East Coast, was a captain of State Militia of Missouri when they tried to expel the Mormons from the state, and then went on to fight the Cayuse war (and maybe more, I don't know yet) in Oregon territory. He was super anti-any-religion-except-his-own and was prepared to blame the Catholics for the Indian war, and even to go up against the Hudson's Bay Company, even though only one of their main leaders was Catholic.

Henry, Basketball, and Adam

Today I learned that Henry is much cuter after he has a bath, and that I don't like it when lots of people show up to basketball because it's too crowded. I also learned that Adam can, on occasion, get up before 6am.

Vegans

Today I watched a documentary called Vegucated. It was about three people in new york who went on a vegan diet for six weeks and also were given some educational information about the meat and dairy industries and health impacts associated with veganism. I learned that vegans, as well as not eating any animal products, do not use any animal products, including wool and silk and leather. It's renewing my desire to start cutting out some of our meat, but I just don't know very many vegetarian meals that are filling and delicious. Gotta work on that.

President Hinckley

Today I learned that President Hinckley was assigned, I'm 1970 something, to oversee the work in South America, and was thus released from his duties to oversee the work in Asia. He will have the whole world covered before too long at this rate.

Lava Beds National Monument

Today we went to the fair in Tulelake, CA and then visited Lava Beds National Monument. I learned that Medicine Lake Shield Volcano is as tall as Mt St Helens but so broad and flat that you hardly notice that it's a mountain, let alone a volcano. There are multiple sites in the area that have erupted in the past and the lava beds are a bunch of lava tubes and caves that were formed when lava ran down the land. As it started to cool, the top formed a crust while the inside was still molten lava. When the eruption ceased, the lava slowly drained out, leaving a hollow tube with neat looking drippy hardened lava icicles and things. There are something like 600 caves at lava beds though only, I think, 22 are developed. We went in Mushpot, a very easy and short cave with some informational signs about the lava tubes, Valentine, which was pretty challenging to do while carrying Henry because of the low ceilings so we didn't go all the way, and Scull Cave, which was really neat because it has a huge high cavernous opening at the entrance and it's very steep and goes all the way down to an ice floor. They used to let people walk on the ice and go all the way into scull cave but it's gotten so much dirt and stuff that it's messed with the clarity and quality of the ice so they blocked it off. Scull cave was named because they pulled out a whole bunch of bones from the bottom of it, and it was important as one of only a few reliable water sources in the area. There is no river coming into it or anything. The ice forms when cold winter air gets trapped in the bottom of the cave and condenses, then freezes. Pretty neat. There are some places where the lava tubes have multiple levels, either because a second lava flow ran on top of a previous tube, or because a second crust formed partway through the cooling process. It's neat to go through the caves in part because we're so used to walking around on dirt floors and this is all rock rock and more rock. You definitely need knee pads and gloves if you do some of the harder caves. I think it would be nice to come back to lava beds sometime with a group of adults and do some of the slightly more challenging caves, though I'm not sure if I'd be up for some of the really serious ones (12-inch high ceiling? So complex you can easily get lost? I dunno about that...).

Baseball, Scripture Mastery, and Rowing

Today I learned that Jackie Robinson was the first black man to play major league baseball. I vaguely knew that he was a baseball player but I didn't realize that he was the first. His number, 42, was also the only number retired from all of baseball. Once a year, everyone wears 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson. His wife, Rachel, runs a foundation that provides scholarships. I learned all this from the movie 42.

I also learned that the LDS church changed their scripture mastery selections. For the most part, I think this is a good thing, but it's frustrating since I was almost done with all of the new testament scripture masteries and now will have a bunch of new ones to learn. I suppose I should be glad that one of the ones they replaced was the one I didn't have memorized yet. I hope they update the scripture mastery app soon since that's what I've been using to learn them. Maybe I'll switch to the articles of faith in the meantime.

I also finished reading The Boys in the Boat. Despite their stroke seat being ill to the point of having lost almost 20 pounds and nearly passing out while rowing, and despite the fact that the US team had the best qualifying time (breaking an Olympic record and a course record), they were given the worst lane assignment, which put them in a position that was estimated to be the equivalent of starting about two boat lengths behind, and despite the fact that the race was started so abruptly that the US and British teams did not even hear the start so they were behind by about a stroke and a half at the start of the race, they pulled off an astounding come from behind victory. It was so close that none of the spectators knew who had won and most of them were still shouting for the Germans (who came in third, Italy came in second) until the announcer broadcasted the results. The Germans won every other rowing event in that Olympics. I'd kind of like to watch the movie that Leni Riefenstahl (sp?) made about the Olympics that year. I think it was called Olympia.

Purse Clasp, 1936 Rowing

Today I learned how to attach a magnetic purse clasp and also figured out how to line a crochet purse I made.

I also learned that the 1936 Men's rowing team learned after they won the Olympic bid, that they would have to finance their own passage. They were given a week to raise 5000 dollars. The people of Washington came through with the money in just two days, despite the fact that they had recently raised money to send the team to Poughkeepsie and Princeton for the national championships and the Olympic trials, respectively.

Exercise

Today I learned, again, that if I don't exercise when I have the motivation, it is very hard to find the motivation later.

Crochet

Today .i learned (or relearned) how to do a popcorn stitch. I'm currently working on a purse pattern that uses it.

Rowing

Today I learned that in the 1930s freshman crew raced two miles, JV raced three miles, and varsity raced four miles. The official Olympic rowing distance was 2k (less than 2 miles). When I was in college the race distances were 5k (3.1miles) and 2k.

Yellowstone

Today I learned from a national geographic series on Netflix, that Yellowstone is a super volcano that is due to blow anytime and could wipe us all out or mostly wipe us out by having ridiculous amounts of ash and gasses that would make acid rain that would kill all the vegetation on earth.

Rowing

I just started reading "The Boys in the Boat" by Daniel James Brown.  It's about the University of Washington crew that wins the Olympic gold in Berlin in 1936.  Mostly so far it's just making me really wish I hadn't quit crew in college but here's an interesting tidbit. "A well-conditioned oarsman... must be able to take in and consume as much as eight liters of oxygen per minute; an average male is capable of taking in roughly four or five liters at most. Pound for pound, Olympic oarsmen may take in and process as much oxygen as a thoroughbred racehorse."

I just rowed at a not very vigorous pace for an hour and burned, according to my rowing machine, 612 calories. That's more than a seventh of a pound. Just think about how much college rowers would need to eat!

Mind control and Dinosaurs

Today I learned that researchers at the university of Washington (or maybe Washington university) successfully used mind control. They had themselves hooked up to EEG and magnetic something or others and, from across campus, one scientist made the other one involuntarily press a trigger button while playing a video game. The transmitted the signal over the internet. Pretty small stuff, but cool.

I also learned, from a children's book, that's the Jurassic period was earlier than the Cretaceous period, that the Diplodocus ate rocks to help digest leaves rather than chewing them before swallowing, that the Sauroposeidon (this thing has gotta have something to do with water, right?) was as tall as a six-story building, that the Apatosaurus was formerly known as the Brontosaurus, and that the Argentinosaurus was one of the largest land animals to have ever lived, at about 130 feet long and 200,000 pounds.

Chess and taxes

Today we finished reading "play winning chess". I learned not to weaken my kings position.

I also learned that taxes are calculated differently based on what time of business structure a business has. I already knew that someone with a sole proprietorship has to claim all of the company profits on his personal taxes in the year they were earned, but I learned that for some types of companies, you can choose whether profits are claimed on personal taxes or by the business as a separate entity.

Water

I want to look up this study to read for myself, but I learned that drinking water can curb snack cravings, particularly at night, and that a relatively large portion if the US population is at least mildly dehydrated. I love water!

Also, BMI is crazy. I could way anywhere from 125 to 168 and still be in a healthy BMI range. That's a huge spread! 43 pounds! Also, I was technically obese right before I had Henry and it's good o be back to pre-pregnancy weight, even if I do still have a serious pooch.

Basketball and Reese's Pieces

Today I learned that sometimes I still really don't like basketball but that I'm much better than I was when I started playing here in Klamath Falls. Granted, I started out pretty bad so that's not saying much. I'm thankful for a very nice group of women here that I typically feel comfortable playing with despite my poor skills.

I also learned that one serving of Reese's Pieces is 190 calories for 52 pieces. You may think that 52 pieces is a lot, but I assure you it is a surprisingly small volume, especially for a candyoholic like me.

Communists in Washington

Today I learned that the communists purposefully settled in several towns in Washington. All of them failed. I had some other interesting things about this that I learned from Farthest Reach, which I just finished, but I don't remember anymore.

Modoc wars

Today I learned that the fighting with the Modoc Indians was some of the fiercest in the northwest. Apparently the Modocs were put on a reservation with an enemy tribe and were understandably unhappy about the situation so they rebelled. They ended up waging battle over in the lava beds.

Grand Coulee Dam and Mount Rainier

Today I learned that Grand Coulee Dam, in addition to having the highest output of any dam in the United States, is three times the size of the largest Egyptian pyramid, and has enough concrete to make two four-lane transcontinental highways.

I also learned that The Supreme Court (I think?) ruled that Mount Rainier's name should be changed back to Tacoma in 1924, but the change got held up bureaucratically and never actually happened.

Blueberries

Today I learned that Henry loves blueberries. One of these days I'm going to put a grape and a blueberry on his tray to see which one wins.

Shoulders, naps, and weddings

Today I learned that my Dad has, as Adam says, "symptoms consistent with bicipital tendinitis". It looks like I got my shoulders from my Dad, along with my knees.

I learned that Lydia and Henry are both cuckoo crazy if they don't get good naps.

I learned that my Dad has officiated five weddings and would like to do more.

Rowing

Today I learned that Lake Ewauna can go from beautifully calm to ridiculously windy with rolling waves and whitecaps very quickly. Not so good when I'm out in a double wherry with a beginner rower.

Siberia

Today I learned that Siberia is not a country but rather a region covering much of Asia.

Rowing

Today I learned that rowing is very frustrating with beginners in a four (a four is four people with sweep oars, one oar per person, usually with a coxswain).

Hell's Canyon

Today I learned that Hell's Canyon, in Oregon, is deeper, at 2436meters, than the Grand Canyon (1737meters). I also learned that the Snake river, which runs through hells canyon, is one of the major tributaries of the Columbia river and that it is one of the largest rivers in the US, with only three rivers having a higher hydroelectric potential, one of which is the Columbia, and I forgot what the other two are.

Bend

Today I learned that at the time Farthest Reach was written (1941), Bend, Oregon, was expected to only have 10 more years worth of lumber. I wonder what they came up with to keep the city alive?

Vaccinations

Today I learned that Henry was given an unnecessary vaccine. I took him in for a 6 month well child visit shortly after we moved here. I later learned that the clinic I went to is out of network for our insurance so we got a bill for almost 1000 dollars. I have been trying to get the bill reduced but no luck. Today Henry had his 9 month visit (at a different clinic) and I was looking through his immunization records. In doing so, I discovered that they gave him a rotavirus vaccine that he didn't need at his 6 month visit. He had two doses of the rotavirus vaccine rotarix while we were in north carolina. Rotarix is a 2-dose series. They gave him a dose of Rotateq here in OR, which is normally a three-dose series, but that Henry did not need since he had the Rotarix. I am hoping that I can at least get them to remove the charge for rotateq virus and administration, which will save us about 160 bucks. Oy. I hate the health care system!

Soccer Balls

Today I learned that a classic black and white soccer ball has black pentagons surrounded by white hexagons, not black hexagons with white pentagons, as I was trying to do while creating a soccer ball hat pattern. D'oh.

Chess and Snakes

Today I learned that if I am behind in space during a chess match, I should trade some pieces, and, likewise, if I am ahead in space, I should avoid trades.

Also, Adam told me that it's illegal in Klamath Falls to kick the heads off of snakes on sidewalks here. Apparently they used to have wooden sidewalks with spaces where snakes would sometimes stick their heads up into the walkway. Weird. I wonder why they didn't want people to kick them?

Finding Dead Bodies

Today I learned that one of the ladies in my ward's mother has a job as a dead body finder. She dives and uses a little scanner thing that somehow finds the bodies, then she dives down and gets 'em out. Kinda creepy, and also kinda cool. Makes me wonder how the scanner thing works.

Happy birthday to me

Today I learned that it's much easier to not be upset about having nothing special about your birthday if you try to pretend it's just another regular day.

Scriptures, carrots, and Lydia

Today I learned two scriptures from Revelation, which takes me to the end of the New Testament 25 scriptures for scripture mastery. Unfortunately, I didn't reinforce the work I did the last two weeks so I have eight or nine to relearn before I move on to Old Testament.

I also learned that finely grating carrots takes a lot longer than coarsely grating carrots. I made myself a (quite delicious) carrot cake for my birthday, which is tomorrow.

This is older news too, but on Saturday Adam and I took the color code test for Lydia. We learned that she's a red-yellow, with 21 red, 13 yellow, 7 blue, and 4 white. Adam and I are both whites. I'm a white-red with some blue but only one yellow and he's a white... kinda evenish everything else. So, I get along with Lydia pretty well but that 13 yellow is a little hard for me to deal with, that's why it's so great when Adam comes home and they let their yellows out together.

Klamath Fair

Today I learned that Klamath Falls has crappy fair food. I tried three different treats in the hope to find something delicious and they all fell sort. Even the fudge, my go-to fair fare was mediocre at best. Grrrr.

Bedtime

Today I learned that my kids will be totally insane if a babysitter puts them down for the night. Lydia will make bedtime into a game (a hilarious, hilarious, game... I would try to tell you what happened but I wouldn't be able to do it justice) and Henry will scream his baby head off until he finally exhausts himself, then will somehow sleep through the rest of Lydia's crazy.

Also, I learned that there are some pretty good singers in Klamath Falls (we just saw their production of Les Mis), but that the local theater needs to work on their microphone volumes. My ears hurt a little bit. Also, if your only instruments are woodwinds and brass, would you still call it an orchestra?

Les Mis and Shoes

Today I learned that it occasionally pays (though not much) to guess random coupon codes when buying theater tickets. I saved five bucks by guessing "LESMIS" when purchasing tickets to the community production for tomorrow night.

I also learned that, should Adam happen to somehow mysteriously get his shoe on the roof, I should not ask him how it happened.

Rowing

I've started rowing again since moving to klamath falls... ere's a nice little rowing club on lake ewauna, less than two miles from my house so I bike down and row for an hourish then bike back home. I recently have had a lapse of about a month in my rowing because of a variety of factors (vacations, sickness, horribly smokey air from local forest fires) and had finally stopped really caring if I went at all. Today Adam called me from work to see if I was planning in rowing. I wasn't, but changed my plans and decided to go. I went and had a great time, despite getting quite soaked from large waves since the water was a little rough. Today I learned how easy it is to convince myself that I don't care to do an activity that I really like to do, and also how much I will enjoy formerly pleasurable activities if I can get myself off my lazy bum and moving again. 

Basketball

Today I learned (again) that if I don't exercise for two weeks and then try to play basketball, I will have a hard time running up and down the court a bajillion times. In other news, I'm thinking about trying to run a 5k next month and I am not a runner...

Midges

Someone warned me that midges in Klamath Falls are really bad in the summer. Today I had my first run-in with the nasty blighters. They don't bite, so I suppose as far as bugs go they're really not too bad, but they swarm like crazy around Upper Klamath Lake. Today we went to lower Moore park after dinner, which, of course, is prime time for bugs of all sorts. There were so many midges outside our car when we got there I almost drove back home, but this was the first time we'd taken Lydia to the park since she got her cast off. They were thankfully not too thick around the swings so that's where I spent most of my time. They are little green bugs that apparently hatch in the lake and come up to mate in big swarms. They can be found all over the northwest but are particularly plentiful here in Klamath Falls. The scientific name for this type of midge is Chironomus utahensis, as it is also found it Utah, where it was first named. They're known to clog car radiators and people who live in their region often have big piles of dead midges that they need to sweep off their porches every DAY. Yuck, yuck, and yuck. Unfortunately, I also learned that they will most likely be around until September. The internet tells me I should be thankful for the midges since the larvae are fed on by a variety of fish and contribute to the food chain for trophy trout, which Klamath lake is apparently famous for. I'm not convinced that it's worth it. (note: midges were native here, they were not introduced to compete with mosquitos... this picture was taken from a true or false page of the klamath county museum website)

chess and scriptures

Today I learned how to get a checkmate if I have a queen and a king versus a king and if I have a rook and a king versus a king. Since I tend to lose endgames very very badly, this will be helpful in my chess endeavors. I need to learn more checkmates but it's a good start.

Also, since it's Sunday, I've been working on memorizing scriptures. The LDS church has what we call scripture mastery. Church leaders picked out 25 scriptures each from the old testament, new testament, book of mormon, and doctrine and covenants. LDS youth who go through seminary in high school learn all 100 scripture masteries. Since I never went through seminary, I never learned them, and have decided to learn a few each week during church, since, honestly, I barely ever pay attention to the lessons in Sunday school or relief society anyway. I only have a few more in the new testament section, though I need to work on solidifying some of the ones I've already learned. After that, I'm moving on to the old testament. My goal is to learn all 100 by the end of the year.

Snotty Boy and Square

So today I learned that when Henry, who usually falls asleep with hardly a peep, has a completely stuffed up nose that prevents him from sucking his thumb, he will scream his little boy head off for hours before falling asleep, then repeatedly wake up throughout the night. I ended up bringing him to bed with me since he and Lydia share a room and I didn't want him waking her up. It was a good choice for him, but not for me. Woo, I'm tired.

I also learned that I can take credit cards using my iPad with a free square reader. The downside is that I don't have a data plan for my iPad so I'm not sure if I can use it if I don't have a wifi connection. I signed up to go to a small scale community sale on the 17th so hopefully I'll get to try it out then. If it works well we may use it when Adam opens his clinic, until he figures out a more permanent solution.

Pee

Today I learned that if I'm debating making my daughter try to use the potty I should always go with my gut, which usually involves making her pee, instead of listening to her when she says she doesn't have to pee and instead allowing myself to get distracted by reading an article about why I shouldn't be reading an article about Kate Middleton's post baby belly. The result of my folly was urine all over the kitchen, hallway, and bathroom, where I finally found Lydia standing near the potty.

The Settling of Oregon

I just finished the book "Adventurers of Oregon" by Constance Lindsay Skinner. It's an interesting narrative and includes details mostly of the fur trade in early America. The parts that I have found thought provoking are the start of the vast American settler influx and e role of alcohol in trading with the native Americans.

After the war of 1812 the British controlled much of the Oregon territory through the Hudson Bay company, lead at the time by one McLaughlin. he ruled the area much as a feudal lord and was respected by white and native alike. He was strong and fair. The natives called him chief white eagle and everyone lived fairly peaceably. some farming was established by retired traders. Then one of the native tribes, the Salish, sent some men to find Clark (from Lewis and Clark), to ask him to give them a bible and to send a missionary to teach them. Clark did not do so, but word of the expedition got out and interest in Oregon rose once again. After this a flood of missionaries and settlers began to head for Oregon. The natives became uneasy about their lands being taken. McLaughlin was deposed as the Americans were against the Hudson's bay company (despite being treated fairly and generously), and the natives began to rise up. I don't doubt that settlers would eventually have come to Oregon, but I can't help but wonder how long it would have taken had the Salish not sent to Clark in search of the Bible.

The use of alcohol in trading with the native Americans was a controversial practice. Some trading companies provided alcohol liberally and some forbade the practice of trading with alcohol. I am a little torn on the topic. On the one hand I commend The companies that did not allow alcohol because they seem much more honest and concerned for the well-being of their fellow men, but on the other hand, I believe that the natives should have been able to withstand the temptation. Having lived near an Indian reservation, I have seen first-hand the hold that alcohol still has on many of the people. It makes me wonder if there is some genetic predisposition toward alcoholism or perhaps some historical reason why the natives would be likely to become abusers of alcohol. Is it because it was so new? Who knows. I do think it contributed to the decline of the natives and their defeat by the Americans. I was also surprised at how much the tribes warred against each other and it made me a little sad every time a tribe was kind and helpful to the whites. Part of me wishes I could warn them that they are facilitating their own downfall through their kindness. Who knows, but we may never have discovered the mouth of the Columbia at all without their help.

Chess and forgetting

Today I learned something that would've made a great blog post and then forgot about it, so I guess I should say I've learned to write things down right away. 

On the chess front, I learned that I can almost lose a game when I am astonishingly ahead (I had two rooks, two knights, and a bishop left, the computer only had a knight) and I also learned a little about the history of chess. It used to be more boring until they spiced things up, giving the queen much more power, introducing castling, en passant, and the pawn trade rule, and changing how the bishop moves. The Italians called the newly improved queen "furioso" and called the game "rabid chess" because it was so much faster. Considering that tournament games are still several hours long, I would have hated to see chess back in the day,

Chess, chess, and more chess

Adam and I pick a new activity to try every year. So far we've done golf,  cake decorating, fencing, and drawing. We alternate who gets to pick each year (and I bet you can guess which years I was pregnant) and this year it was Adam's turn to pick. He picked chess. Historically speaking, every time we play chess I end up in tears so I am giving myself mucho credit for not vetoing his choice. Today I learned that I like playing chess on the computer even less than I like playing it in person, but such is life. The plan is to play online and get ranked so that we will be playing people of our own skill level so that I might enjoy it more. I think the only way I will learn to like chess is if I get really good at it and that, my friends, would take a lot of study.... A lot of study that I'm not sure I have the will or the time to do.