State of the Blog

January is the month to learn the "State of the (...city, county, state, union, blog, etc.)". I just thought I would join in on the fun before my chance passed me by.

The last few months have had a lot of blog-worthy events.

During the months of July, August and September I taught a series of 9 courses on managing your finances. I kept a blog where I posted information for the class including the handouts, slides and other course materials. While the blog hasn't been updated since I taught my last class, there is still a bunch of good information available there. The classes that I taught (using liberally the slides, handouts and information from the fantastic websites http://personalfinance.byu.edu and http://www.thesimpledollar.com) were the following:

1. Perspectives on Wealth and Setting Personal Goals
2. Creating a Personal/Family Budget
3. Understanding Credit
4. Understanding Debt
5. The Time Value of Money
6. Beginning Investing
7. Insurance
8. Money in Marriage
9. Frugality Tips and tricks

What managing your finances really comes down to though, is one thing, which is summed up in the following Saturday Night Live skit:


This fall I upgraded my work laptop and our home computer to Windows 7 and couldn't be more pleased. While I had very few problems with Windows Vista (on my work laptop) I have found Windows 7 to be extremely easy to use. My two favorite features is the auto-update of programs and drivers and the new taskbar. Every piece of hardware that I have connected to my computer has worked without fail once the software updates everything automatically. The new taskbar setup saves time by allowing me to place my most used programs and links across the bottom of the screen.

This fall I also got a new Palm Pre which I have also become very fond of. I most like that the phone is open source and can be hacked as needed. While not without its problems, the capabilities of the phone are essentially greater than the new Apple iPad in that it has multitasking, GPS, video and editing, full flash support and can handle programs written in C, C++ or using the Palm developer's kit.

Thanksgiving and Christmas were nice. It is always fun to spend so much time with family as we enjoy the various activities of the season.

Work is great. Have I mentioned recently how much I enjoy my job? Because I do. I'm working on interesting and challenging projects and am lucky to have work here with the state of the economy and construction industry in the state.

I have been serving as Elder's Quorum President in my ward here for the last two months or so and have enjoyed getting to know the members of our ward. It has taken an extra effort to organize my time and priorities, but is well worth it.

In other words, even though the glory days of this here blog may be behind us, there is still a lot going on in life and I hope to continue posting about the good things in life. As is usually the case, Alison has continued to update her blog with pictures, stories and information about our last few months.

A Favorite Thing

We had Stake Conference at the Bountiful Regional Center this weekend and it was fantastic. Elder Bednar was the presiding authority and spoke for 1 hour on Saturday and 35-40 minutes on Sunday. Our stake presidency (of 9 years) was reorganized and it was standing room only. We ended up sitting in an overflow room in the back trying to watch the speaker on a little 20" TV. We expect our stake to be split soon as well. There are 15 wards and we're going to be holding our stake conferences at the Tabernacle if we keep growing...

As I mentioned, a new stake presidency was sustained. One of my very favorite things is gaining a testimony that a newly called leader has been called by prophecy and is the person that the Lord wants in a particular calling. In the last year, I have sustained a new Prophet, 2 new Stake Presidents, a new Bishop and a new Elder's Quorum President (among other leaders, but these are the leaders with Priesthood keys). Each time a new leader is called and sustained, I love to hear them speak for the first time. This is usually when the Spirit will testify to me that they have been called of God. It is an incredible experience, one that uplifts, strengthens and motivates. This is the experience that I had yesterday as newly-called President Coleman bore his testimony. I urge everybody to gain that same testimony of all your religious leaders. It is one you will not forget.

Proposition #8

(Following is an e-mail that I sent out just a little bit ago. Indulge me for a bit...)

Hi Everybody!

It's not often that I send out mass mailings, but this is something that I feel very strongly about. Everybody has heard about proposition 8 in California. This proposition contains the same language that was approved by 61% of voters in 2000. Four San Francisco judges overruled the voice of the people and called the previous proposition unconstitutional. Proposition 8 simply reaffirms the previous vote and adds a constitutional amendment in order to force the judges to comply.

There are numerous reasons why this vote will set a precedent for better or worse for the whole United States. Other states have similar issues on the ballot, but no other state is pushing the envelope on moral issues like California. Religious organizations are not immune from the consequences that will ensue if proposition 8 fails. While the full ramifications are not fully known, the Church's ability to perform marriage ceremonies in the temple may be compromised (unless they forfeit their tax exempt status or perform same-sex marriages), clergy that preach against same-sex marriage can be sued for hate crimes and adoption services that will not place children in homes of same-sex couples will be ineligible for government benefits (and may face lawsuits).

Let me be clear that I actually support rights for civil unions (which may differ from many of you). I like the registry that Salt Lake City has created (which allows couples, same-sex or otherwise) to share benefits and legal rights. I find a system like this to be a good compromise.

I don't know too many people that live in California. Because of this, my opportunities to support proposition 8 are limited. I have, however, donated to www.protectmarriage.com (an interfaith coalition in support of proposition 8). I urge anybody with the resources, to also donate. An interfaith fast will also be taking place on November 3rd beginning at 10:00 AM for 24 hours. I will be fasting and hope that you will join me.

I take no issue with those that feel differently on this issue than me. I sincerely believe that this is a deeply personal issue and that decisions in support or opposition should come from the heart. If you are unsure how you feel about these issues, take the time to ponder, pray and connect with your spirit in order to make this decision.

Thanks for listening,
Tyler

Under the Banner of Heaven

Last night I posted a review of the book Under the Banner of Heaven - a Story of Violent Faith on my book review blog. I'd be interested in hearing what everyone else thinks about this particular book (if you've read it) or your general impressions.

One of my favorite quotes from the book helps describe why those of us that didn't grow up in Utah county (or have never lived there, member and non-member alike) always feel a little awkward down there:

"(p. 77) For a person accustomed to the multiethnic commotion of Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York, or even Denver, walking across the BYU campus can be a jarring experience. One sees no graffiti, not a speck of litter. More than 99 percent of the thirty thousand students are white. Each of the young Mormons one encounters is astonishingly well groomed and neatly dressed. Beards, tattoos, and pierced ears (or other body parts) are strictly forbidden for men. Immodest attire and more than a single piercing per ear are forbidden among women. Smoking, using profane language, and drinking alcohol or even coffee are likewise banned. Heeding the dictum "Cougars don't cut corners," students keep to the sidewalks as they hurry to make it to class on time; nobody would think of attempting to shave a few precious seconds by treading on the manicured grass. Everyone is cheerful, friendly, and unfailingly polite.

Most non-Mormons think of Salt Lake City as the geographic heart of Mormonism, but in fact half the population of Salt Lake is Gentile, and many Mormons regard the city as a sinful, iniquitous place that's been corrupted by outsiders. To the Saints themselves, the true Mormon heartland is here in Provo and surrounding Utah County--the site of chaste little towns like Highland, American Fork, Orem, Payson and Salem--where the population is nearly 90 percent LDS. The Sabbath is taken seriously in these parts. Almost all businesses close on Sundays, as do public swimming pools, even on the hottest days of the summer months.

This part of the state is demographically notable in other aspects, as well. The LDS Church forbids abortions, frowns on contraception, and teaches that Mormon couples have a sacred duty to give birth to as many children as they can support--which goes a long way toward explaining why Utah County has the highest birth rate in the United States; it is higher, in fact, than the birth rate in Bangladesh. This also happens to be the most Republican county in the most Republican state in the nation. Not coincidentally, Utah County is a stronghold not only of Mormonism but also Mormon Fundamentalism."

New Hotmail Ad

Check out the new ad that appeared at the top of my hotmail inbox earlier tonight (click on the picture if you want to see a bigger version). Now I remember why I use hotmail and not yahoo or gmail as my primary account. The Church is true!

Nauvoo, IL

Monday May 12th, 2008
Monday morning we rented a car (a white Hyundai Sonata) and headed out to Nauvoo. On the way there we took a bit of a detour through Indiana so Alison could say that she's been there. It's about a 5 hour drive, but we took our time stopping a few times and it took most of the day. When we arrived in Nauvoo around 5:00 PM the city was empty. We checked in to our hotel (Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites) and aside from a little hanky panky going on in the pool (ask Alison about it, but we both refused to set foot in the water) everything went very well. The only restaurant that was open was the one in our hotel (a buffet, not recommended) and it seemed like we were the only people on the street.

We went down to the river's edge off of Parley street and let Ada touch the water of the mighty Mississippi. We also stopped at a couple of other monuments and memorials.

Joseph and Brigham looking out across the Mississippi:
A few pics on the banks of the Mississippi

A sunstone near the quarry:
In the hotel room (where we lived off of pizza flavored goldfish):

Tuesday May 13th, 2008
Tuesday was our one big day in Nauvoo. We went down to the Church's visitor center and then through a small handful of restored houses. Ada wasn't loving the houses, but she did love the little Pioneer Heritage play area. She didn't want to leave. We visited the Printing Office, Post Office/General Store, Bakery (with the free cookie), Seventies Building and Blacksmith's Shop (with the nail ring that Al so desperately wanted).
At the Pioneer Heritage children's area:

Touching the ox that pulled our wagon:

After visiting all of the historic homes that we wanted to see we went to see where Joseph and Hyrum were buried. It's on a historical site owned by the Community of Christ Church. We took a few pictures at the gravesites (which are right on the banks of the Mississippi) and stopped to take pictures at the Nauvoo Temple as well (To see a collection of all the pictures that we took of the Nauvoo Temple see this post).

At the gravesites of Joseph, Emma and Hyrum Smith:
Looking out across the Mississippi:

The tulips were in bloom all across Illinois:
Joseph and Hyrum's last ride:

We next made the beautiful drive to Carthage and went through the tour at the Carthage jail. It is amazing how much of the original building is still there. It's not hard to imagine that God preserved it all for us. After Carthage we crossed the river into Iowa (and made a quick side drive to Missouri as well). We had a picnic at a park in Keokuk where Ada had a blast playing on the playground. We stopped to watch a humongous barge pass through the locks and then we drove up the Iowa side of the river to see the Nauvoo Temple lit up from across the river. I tried to get a picture of it (because it was beautiful) but we would have needed a tripod, which we didn't have.

In front of the Carthage jail:
Phyllis pushing a bunch of barges:

Wednesday May 14th, 2008
Today was a travel day. We had to drive back to Chicago, return our car and then fly home and we were pretty nervous about how Ada would do. As you may recall, she was an absolute terror on the flight here and neither Alison nor I were ready for another flight like that. Before we left Nauvoo we said a little prayer and then I gave Ada a blessing that she would travel well. As it turned out, she was such an angel on the flight. She's not the type that will just sit on your lap and play but on the flight home she watched movies, read her books, sang songs and just had an all-around good time with us. We got a bunch of comments about how good of traveler she was. Little did they know...

It was nice to come home. We were both ready to get back into the swing of things and I was excited to start my job full-time. The first few days after being back home Ada was so good. All of her toys were like new to her so she just had so much to do and play with. It was a great trip and we thank everybody (especially Hyrum and Angie) that made it possible for us to go (including the government for our $900 stimulus payment).

Nauvoo Temple

Numbers

• Last week during the Priesthood Session of General Conference, I volunteered to help clean. I wasn't sure what to expect and when I got there I was assigned to an employee and we were in charge of keeping a few bathrooms on the balcony floor clean and stocked during the session. Because only men are invited to the Priesthood Session, they change many of the women's bathrooms to men's for the session. After initially stocking the bathrooms, we spent a big chunk of the rest of the remaining time emptying the 'female waste receptacles' in each of the stalls. At least I was wearing a pair of gloves, the dude I was working with had no shame and went glove free. Most of the bathrooms had 24-28 stalls. The last bathroom we worked on had 46 stalls! Not what I expected to be doing during Priesthood Session...
• I love my job. I've been working around 30 hours/week because I'd much prefer to be working than at school. I can't wait to start full-time. What's most exciting is that there is so much to learn. I've been working on some energy calculations for the newly remodeled Utah State Capitol. In the capitol there are 4,679 light fixtures (of which around 750 are incandescent). There is almost 1/2 MW of lighting in the capitol!
• We went to the Bees game on Saturday (which they won 11-10 over the Portland Beavers). They are now 10-1 and on track for a pretty decent season. The biggest problem about the minor leagues, though, is that the better you are the more often your parent club will call up your players. I love baseball.
• To prepare myself for a hike that I'm going on later this week (I'll give a full report later, don't sweat), I walked home from the Bees game in my new hiking boots. While walking on pavement doesn't compare too well with with hiking over rocks and dirt, the 4.2 miles I walked should help my body to be ready.
• I've only got 3 tests left before I graduate.
• I've only got 3 days of school left before I graduate (because I'll be gone most of this week on my little trip to Supai, AZ).

The Phone Call

Today I was sitting at work when my cell phone rang. I answered it and the person on the other end introduced himself, "This is Russell M. Nelson..." I had called his office a while before trying to track down the owner of a journal that was left on the stand after our stake conference a couple of weeks ago. I expected his secretary to check with him and his wife sometime and then to call me back. It was pretty cool to have an apostle calling me (and I wasn't worried about some overwhelming calling). I described the journal to him and his wife on speakerphone and they let me know that it wasn't theirs - so now into the lost and found it goes.

Temple Runaround

Our stake conference is this weekend and earlier in the week there was a coinciding temple night. Alison and I made some last minute plans to go to the chapel session and then the temple session afterwards. We got to the temple and went into the chapel and were surprised by how many people were there. We took our seats and waited for the meeting to start when we were told that the temple had made a scheduling mistake and scheduled two stakes for the same night. They informed us that we would hold our session in the baptistery chapel.

There were more of us than usual because our stake presidency is being released this weekend and we made quite the scene traipsing through the tunnels. Rather than walk straight through the temple to the baptistery we went down into the tunnels on the east and south sides of the temple. It was quickly apparent that the room was nowhere near big enough (it probably seats 25 people comfortably, we had more than 100). Eventually a decision was made that we would have to meet elsewhere.

The second counselor's wife in our stake presidency is the first counselor in the young women's general presidency (and our stake president's wife is on the general board) and they were able to work something out which allowed us to have our wonderful chapel session in the Church Relief Society Building. This led to another adventure because anybody that was dressed in white had to change and then we all walked through the tunnels once again from the temple to the Relief Society Building.

The original plans were to attend the 8:00 PM temple session but that's about what time the chapel session finally started at (and I had decided earlier that there was no way I would be able to stay awake for a whole session). It was fun to see parts of the temple/tunnels that we wouldn't normally see and it made the simple chapel session especially special. We're now looking forward to our stake conference with Elder Nelson.

A Hero

Most of you have probably heard (it's the top news story on every big news site) that President Hinckley passed away earlier tonight. I'm sure that for the majority of the Church members of my generation, he was our favorite prophet. He was never afraid to meet or be interviewed by anyone and really moved the Church into the public eye. Both Alison and I agree that it feels like you are losing a friend - although both of us have only been in his presence a couple of times.

President Hinckley visited Moscow, Russia just a couple of weeks before I came home. I entered the MTC on 13 of September but my choices for returning home were early August (which would have allowed me to attend my sister's wedding and start school a semester earlier) or early October. I chose the latter and long after my decision was made I found out that President Hinckley would be visiting the members in Moscow. I was in a city that was a 12 hour train ride from Moscow, but we were able to take a day trip to Moscow with some members to attend his visit. It was one of the most special experiences of my mission.

While the Church is in the public eye so much with Mitt Romney's campaign, it will be a special event as the leadership of the Church shows how smoothly the transfer of power goes. No colored smoke or uncertainty as to when and who a new prophet will be. God be with you Hinckley Family.

Ada's Blessing Day

Yesterday (Sunday, August 27, 2006) we blessed Ada in Church. She is still just the most adorable little girl that you have ever seen. Here she is in her blessing dress.

The blessing went well. My parents, Alison's parents, Jeff, Cheryce and girls, Rachelle and Shelby, Spencer, Korrin and Ella, Hyrum and Angie, Abby as well as my grandma and grandpa Squire, grandma and grandpa Dickson, grandpa bateman, grandma Bateman, Brett and Kim Hampton and Dan and his friend Jody were all there. It was quite a crowd, but it was sure fun to have family there for such a special occasion.

After the blessing everybody that could came up to our apartment and we had a little pot luck lunch in the grassy court area. Everything just went so well. Ada was such a good girl, during the blessing she was wide awake and just looking all around. I'm sure she knew that something special was going on.

Alison and I have also sent out announcements of Ada's birth. So far we have only sent them out to immediate family that was invited to her blessing but we will probably also send them out to our aunts and uncles as well. The announcement that we sent out is below.

We made the announcement in HP's Photosmart Premier software program. It has a photo collage option that we used and it sure made it easy to come up with the announcement. Alison and I were running short on time and we needed an announcement that could be made up quickly. I think that it turned out fantastic.

Well, school has now started. I will give a run-down of my new fall schedule in the days to come.

Camping at Pineview

This last weekend was a good one. We went camping at Pineview Resevoir (east of Ogden). It was our annual ward campout so the food and games/boats were provided by them. We had a beautiful campsite right on the water in the Anderson Cove campground which is on the south side of the lake. We were a little nervous about how well Alison would be able to sleep. She is eight months pregnant you know :). We had an air mattress, warm sleeping bag and every pillow we own, and it turns out that she slept pretty well. It got a little chilly during the night but otherwise the weather was absolutely perfect.
We spent our time playing volleyball, waterskiing, eating and playing other games. The waterskiing early Saturday morning was especially good. I was awake at 6:00 waiting for Bishop Moffat (our old Bishop - leaving soon to serve as mission president in England). He was there but the gate to the campground was locked until 7:00 bummer. The water was still pretty good at 7:00 am though. The Salt Lake Marathon was also today. A guy in our ward was running the marathon and his wife needed a ride home. We decided to leave a bit early to try and get her to the finish line in order to see her husband (DJ) cross. It just so happens that we got her there about 1 minute before he crossed - lucky day, eh?
Work has been going well. I am still doing the same thing that I have been doing almost the whole time that I have worked here. We are almost finished though and then we will start some different projects. I am looking forward to that. It will give me an oppurtunity to learn how to use a few more programs. It's a good job.

One week to Christmas...

So it was a pretty busy weekend.

On Saturday we were supposed to have a ward service project (provided by the Elders) but it was cancelled. I was then really looking forward to sleeping in. Alas, that wasn't to be because by 6:00 Saturday morning, I was done sleeping. I guess my body had acclimated itself to arising early because of Finals Week. At 10:00 we had the ward Christmas party at the Union building. We had the bowling alley rented out for 2 hours and had pizza. Bowling - went ok. I bowled an 85, 137 and 105. If only I were consistent.

After bowling we had a little bit of time before we went to watch the Utes play Arizona at the Huntsman Center. They pretty much got killed. The Utes are just too "soft" of a team this year. Within a year or two they will be pretty good (at least better than they are now). The AP article of the game is here.

Mom and Dad came over to our apartment afterwards to wrap some presents. They gave us a ride to Chuck-a-Rama where the Squire Christmas party was held this year. Alysia, Kevin and Ellie were there. This was the first time that we got to see them since they arrived. After dinner we sang a few Christmas songs before Alison and I had to leave to get to the U2 concert at the Delta Center.

I bought tickets to watch U2 on ebay last week with some leftover birthday money. It was an awesome concert with an amazing stage and sound. Our original tickets were "rear view" but when we got to our seats somebody was already sititng in them and they offered to trade us tickets. We traded and the new seats were loads better than our originals. There were more than 26,000 people at the concert (the D.C. seats 19,911 for Jazz games) and it sold out in under 2 hours. Well worth the money. Here is a website with lots of good photos of this tour (unfortunately no photos of Salt Lake City, but they're all the same). Here are a few photos of the show in Salt Lake by the Deseret News from the article here.

After the concert I had to write a talk for sacrament meeting. It was on Christmas and the Savior (not a tough topic). It was part of the choir program, but I was the concluding speaker and it's always hard to know how long to prepare for.

On Sunday morning at 7:30 there was a Stake General Priesthood meeting. It wasn't too bad. It was followed immediately by Ward Council and then by choir practice. The choir program in sacrament was ok. It didn't turn out quite as well as we hoped (the singing that is). My talk went well. I had to give the short version because there were only a couple of minutes left when it was my turn to speak. It was my first day conductin in Elders Quorum. I am still the executive secretary as well because a replacement hasn't been called yet. I am looking farward to when they do.

After church I had a PPI with President Hunter and the rest of my presidency. It was the first time that we have met together and it went well. We have a lot to do. Bishop Moffat also had an open house for the ward today. He invited everybody over for farewell style food. He is a great bishop and we will miss him when he is released. (He an his wife announced last week in sacrament that they have been called to serve as mission presidents).

Dinner tonite at Mom and Dads was nice. It's always fun to see the nieces. I e-mailed Jordan today for permission to post his letters to a blog and it was granted. If you are interested, visit http://eldersquire.blogspot.com.

Jazz beat Pistons?!

Today I had my first Final. It was in ECE 3500 Signals and Systems. I'll be honest. It was probably the worst test that I have ever taken. I knew how to do about half of the test and the rest... well it was a dropping curveball and I only hit fastballs. I'm praying that the curve will bend in my favor, but somebody's got to be at the bottom and it may as well be me, right? Interested in this class? Check out the class website http://www.ece.utah.edu/~ee3500/.

We got a letter from Jordan today. It sounds like he is doing well. I think that I might make a blog of his mission for people to view and access. We'll see. I don't have too much time to spare so if I do, it needs to be low maintenance. I think that I can make it so that it will only need a few minutes of attention each week.

I've enjoyed learning how to create and maintain this blog. I see that there is a lot that can be done so I have a lot to learn.

Yesterday (Sunday Dec. 11) I was sustained and set apart as the new Elder's Quorum President. I have 2 wonderful counselors in Adam Jensen and Matt Chandler. I think that we will be able to get the things done that need to be gotten done and hopefully, we can keep things running as smoothly as they have been. I don't know either of the lads too well but I look forward to working more with them.

Tonite I went with Dude (Alison's brother), George (father-in-law) and Hyrum (brother-in-law) to the Jazz game. The Jazz have been horrible at home this year and we expected them to get creamed by the Detroit Pistons (15-2), 10-1 on the road. The Jazz were done by 13 at half and we expected the game to be over, but the Pistons only scored 27 points in the second half and the Jazz won by 14. It was an awesome game. Read about it http://www.nba.com/games/20051212/DETUTA/recap.html (with video highlights as well).

Looks like it's about time to feed the fish.

This is me!