What I Am Liking

Instead of paying for TV, having a gym membership with access to a full-length, five-lane salt water pool that never has anyone in it from 9-10pm. I look over my right shoulder while swimming and see 4 crystal calm lanes and a full moon through the glass walls. Yes- every night please.

Convincing the landlord to paint the entire condo at his expense. Thank you, sir.

Signing up for credit cards to get free flights, then canceling them. Take me to Poipu first, please. Next up, United, US Airways, Frontier, American Airlines, & Continental. Good credit means rewards worth over $4,000 for husband and wife.

Dentists that offer free teeth whitening for new patients. Do you have an early morning appointment?

U-M Health Insurance. I flipped open the pamphlet and ran my finger down the page and didn't see one line that didn't say "covered in full." Jenn, you are amazing.

Commuting to work and seeing a traffic jam every morning coming into Ann Arbor. Then coming home and seeing the exodus.

Jenn's baked s'mores dessert, blueberry soy smoothies, and pasta sauce.

Jenn.

Bikes and Fall in Michigan.



The sure knowledge that we are most definitely all soaring through space on a giant rock that looks like this (click photo to enlarge) from 114 million miles away. This picture is now my wallpaper on my work computer and whenever I get stressed or concerned about anything at all I look at it- and it gives me peace. Then I think, damn- I'm freaking small-and I shake my head. I do this a couple times a day.

Peace be with you my friends.

PS. I enjoy this song and video.

No preguntes cosas que no se. Yo no se.
Yo no se lo que es eterno, no me pidas algo que es del tiempo
yo no se mañana,Si estaremos juntos, si se acaba el mundo
Todo lo que ves es lo que soy, no me pidas mas de lo que doy
Esta vida es igual a un libro
Solo este momento es realidad
Ahora lo que vivimos es algo realmente lindo

Is It Possible?

The other day Jenn showed me a post on Feminist Mormon Housewives where everyone opened up to debate whether or not it is possible to be truly satisfied with the person you have chosen to spend the rest of your life with. We enjoyed reading through them and, as you can imagine, comments were all over the map. There were a lot of comments- more than 200.

Without over-analyzing the subject too much, I will say that the following two videos sum up what is very possible in marriage.

So, in short, yes.

Real Estate, Religion, & Credit Unions

In the 1830's shortly after Joseph Smith founded the Church of the Latter-day Saints, he moved the young church to Kirtland, OH. Arguably the greatest undertaking of the members of the church of this time was in building the first temple of the Latter-day Saint movement.

The city of Kirtland tripled in size in just 6 years. Since I am a master economist (I took Econ 110 so, you know...) I can tell you that this probably did wonders for the price of land in Kirtland. In fact. It did. The price of land rose from approximately $7/acre in 1832 to $44/acre in 1837.

With the church in deep debt from temple building and prices too high for many of the early church members to buy land, the church found itself in a special place. So, Joseph Smith called for the creation of a financial institution similar to the structure of modern day credit unions. This all, of course, in an effort to help fix these 2 big problems.

Zoom out now to the macro-economy. Wait too far. Okay - good. Banks started issuing paper money no longer backed by bullion (precious metals). Money supply up. Demand is up. Guess what happened to the price of land. Up. Up. Up. Speculators (buy-and- flip folks) started to drive the price of land up even further creating a juicy real estate bubble. (I know what you are thinking - you are right).

POP. The Panic of 1837 results in those Kirtland land prices dropping from their $44 dollar per acre prices to $17.50. This, and other causes directly led to the failure of the Kirtland Credit Union (Kirtland Safety Society) and 343 of the nations 850 banks. Massive unemployment and a 5-year depression ensued.

Joseph Smith and other church leaders flee Kirtland as internal dissension and external persecution reach a climax. Approximately 30% of church leadership defects and the church is nearly in shambles.

My old boss back in college was not only an earnest Latter-day Saint, but he also founded his own credit union. Where he drew his inspiration, I know not. But he shared a similar fate when his credit union went under recently, in a similar fashion as those of 1837. This time the bubble was not caused so much by new non-bullion backed money, but by, of course, sub-prime lending (primarily).

Spared the "fallen prophet" title and allowed to stay in his own home, emotions were not running quite as high thanks to that ever important NCUA insurance for bankrupt credit unions. But I just wonder sometimes. During all the bedtime prayers. Did the thought just ever come to mind: "Kirtland Safety Society."

Who knows though - maybe it did. He probably just didn't have his spiritual ears on that night. Then again, neither did the rest of us of course. Well...except for Peter Schiff.

Or maybe we should just brush up on our history.

The Fantastic Sams next to Mancinos Pizza and Grinders

Mom used to take me to Fantastic Sams to get my hair cut. I knew it was going to be a great month when I was lucky enough to land Linda. She always cut it just right. She wasn't overly nice, just serious about her work. Sometimes I would get someone else and not like what was going down. I would glance over to see Linda's chair occupied by someone else, then look in the mirror at this high school drop-out while she looked like she was expertly trying to cut that last tooth in the pumpkins mouth before Halloween.

When I was 16 I could drive, and by then I figured out how to make sure I got Linda every time. Why leave these things to chance, I thought? With all those pretty girls in class. This is a month defining moment - I don't take these decisions lightly.

Then the divorce happened at 17. In fact, I remember Dad took us kids to Mancino's Pizza and Grinders to break the news. It was fall, and dark outside. I didn't think about it at the time, I mean I don't obsess over these things. But I'm sure Linda was next door, cutting hair - in that same spot.

So it was off to Utah. Finish up high school. Meet new people. Start a new life.

Then it was off to North Carolina. 2 years there. I met everyone from Jose fresh from the border to wealthy employers of Jose and his friends. I saved souls and ate a lot of Boston Market. Sometimes I skipped scripture study to daydream of Lake Powell and cliff jumping.

College is next. A new world. History, Business, Religion, Philosophy, a whole new world of intellectual thinking opened up to me. Incredible.

I met the most amazing person in the world and now have the pleasure of spending my life with her.

We graduated and have been working and starting life, and moved again - back to MI.

Tonight we went up to Brighton to borrow bikes from Dad and Kristi and decided to stop at Mancino's for a medium cheese pizza first. It's only $8.50.

There was Linda in the window cleaning her area after another day of cutting hair. Everyday of every adventure I have been on the past 8 years - Linda has been in that booth cutting hair. She looked the same, a little older - a little more tired.

Sometimes in life I feel like my biggest fear is to be stuck cutting hair everyday while the world is moving around me. Unexplored by my body- and economy-caged spirit. I save money as if I am working to buy my own freedom.

Yet, isn't it simple and safe. Cutting hair everyday. Doing something nice for somebody else - having them appreciate your trade. I think, maybe yes.

I cut my own hair now, though. I was thinking about letting Linda know, but I don't think she would remember me anyway.