17 December 2017

12 December 2017

Last night Jessica and I finally had a Family Home Evening that Jessica appreciated. We are still working on reading Alma 36 from the sister missionaries' commitment weeks ago. We spoke deeply about parts of the verses that we read just as I write deeply about verses that impress me. I would ask her questions following her responses, and her input would guide the discussion.

One thing that I forgot to write that happened on Sunday is that I home teach the Campbell family, and the mother has been giving Reed Chavez the run around. I met this family during the Christmas party. It seems that Reed was able to connect with the last family, and I was able to connect with this family. The son loves reading and other normal things like sleep, and the mother loves art. I look forward to asking her about her projects. The father was at the party, but he came late, and I was unable to get to know him well. We thought that Wednesday might be a good day, and I suggested 6:30 PM for a quick meeting, which was agreed upon.

Today I seem to have a full day of work, but I finished my report last week two hours early. It seems like it will be the new daily routine. I am thinking that I could help coordinate the countertop installation because it has been very inefficient, but they finished most everything. Brad told me to start tracking the countertop progress, but that did not require much work to figure out.

13 December 2017

Yesterday I said that I was going to look into the activity that I planned to do for the last two hours of the day, but our superintendent said that he was going to do it. I spoke to Brad about my idea to help the countertop crews. I started working on it, trying to figure out what is going on, asking the general contractor to copy me in all the countertop emails. I asked Steve Franckiewicz our superintendent what I can do, and he said to report delays to the general contractor. I asked around to learn of the issues in the stone installation. I spoke to the crews working on the counters, and they explained to me what is going on. I also spoke to the general foreman.

During lunch I got a text, saying that I can come witness what happened when the countertop crews are called. They were rushed for a meeting at 12. I got the message about 11:50 during lunch. I decided to run out to start my participation in the countertop meetings. I am writing the experience in my Columbia Stone Inc journal to report to the general contractor. I think that I saved the company some money because our crew was summoned, but they were not ready. They waited for more than thirty minutes.

14 December 2017

I have been able to jump in helping the countertop installation well. The general contractor's stone superintendent is hooking me up with contacts, and my crew is great.

My home teaching appointment fell through last night. The family was sick.

We did our Christmas shopping instead because the website Package Free was concluding their discount, saying unless you shop today, your gifts will not arrive on time. Package Free is a zero waste online store. We have been getting into eliminating our waste more. We have practiced a lot of the basics for a while, but slowly we are getting to do it universally.

15 December 2017

I think that running to the field may have trigger shin splints. I was walking early back to the office today, and my feet started hurting.

17 December 2017

I missed writing in my journal yesterday because I was resting and transcribing my grandfather's StoryWorth recordings. We watched Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 last night too. Jessica asked me concerning my thoughts of the movie, and I said that the message about family does not justify how messed up the story is. The themes are very deep into the Marvel universe.

On Friday I finally got the contact information for the assistant superintendents that I need to work with. I called one. I have been exploring the possibilities of coordinating the installation of the countertops, asking the general foreman, if I could have some stone delivered, when the situation is ideal. He ran with the idea, asking when it needs to be prepared. I called the assistant superintendent. At first it was confusing because a girl answered. I met the superintendent, and he is a guy. She turned out to be his secretary. We spoke, and Nick, the assistant superintendent, said that they will work on getting the floors ready on Monday. I proposed that we can start setting the counters on Wednesday. Afterwards I emailed two other assistant superintendent, my project manager warned me that general contractors will keep us to what we say that we can do, if we talk dates.

Another thing that we did is have the sister missionaries over for dinner on Friday. Jessica also had a movie night with the young women, so things were tight. I did waste my night watching YouTube videos while Jessica was at the movie night.

I was riding my bike home Friday evening, and I got a call from the sister missionaries. It is a good thing that I bought the Bluetooth headset. They said that they need a ride, since they share their car, or we need to reschedule the dinner appointment. We had an appointment at 5:30, and we picked them up at 5:30, purchasing a couple pizzas along the way. Our conversation over dinner was good. They didn't follow up on their previous commitment.

I finished listening to the audio book "When Panic Attacks" for the third time. Anxiety limits our life. Some people, who are shy, may think that there is a wonderful life reserved for the beautiful people, and they are different leagues of people that people cannot be associated with. I have felt this before; however, this is not true. Any person with a refined personality can associate with any class of people, if there are classes of people. Rich people can be poorer than people with low income. Beautiful successful people can have debilitating anxiety, fears, obsessions, and depression. No one is out of your league, if you want to associate with a type of people. A shy person would need to overcome their self-defeating beliefs and practice people skills; then, they can associate with any type of people that they desire.
At Apollo Mechanical, "lessons learned" emails are usually about injuries, but in my correspondence, working with the general contractors, I pointed out two common errors preparing the counters. I was surprised that my email was labeled a "lessons learned" email for the other assistant superintendents.

December 11, 2017

27 November 2017

My day so far has gone smoothly, but my legs are aching. I got a permit to go into two areas of the building, and that allowed me to record the progress of six sections of the building.

This morning I finished emailing all of the home teaching companionships. Now I have to follow up with companionships that I emailed last week.

28 November 2017

Yesterday evening at home was distracted by the Miss Universe Contest. Jessica liked how Thailand, Colombia, and Jamaica got top five. If you don't know why those countries are meaningful to me. My mom is from Thailand. My mother-in-law is Colombian, and I served my mission in Jamaica.

Today has gone smoothly at work. I have been thinking about how I can participate in my company as a more influential manager. R&S got a Project Engineer to fulfill a role similar to me, and he has been trying to influence the progress of our work. There is a lot of work to be done in two areas. Maybe the smaller extra work should be done when it slows down. Would that be procrastinating?

I finished reading Jacob chapter five. A verse that impressed me in chapter six is number four, saying "as many as will not harden their hearts shall be saved in the kingdom of God." God knows the heart of every man. He will not condemn them, if they are willing to accept the gospel in mortality and not had an opportunity to accept it. If people do harden their hearts, they will not be forced to live the lifestyle of salvation; therefore, they will remain in a Terrestrial World like ours after the resurrection. People need to work out their salvation.

29 November 2017

Today has not gone smoothly. People's badges were not scanning, and a foreman's daily report was not delivered. I need to go back to get the reports after lunch. Another foreman wanted me to put his company email on his IPhone, delaying my work by a half hour. I hope that I can finish today on time.

Yesterday evening I was packing up on time to leave work, but I forgot my lunch box on site. I had to walk back out, and I was able to find it.

After work Jessica and I went to our self-reliance class. Today's class is not about debt, and it was inspiring. It taught the importance of mentors and a goal oriented lifestyle, teaching that evaluating the purpose of goals and establishing mission statements. My goal is to be a great leader in my family, career, church, and community. I made a plan to start talking to Brad Aird, my Project Manager, about being a mentor. I asked him what I can do to practice management. He told me that I can help by enforcing safety, and tracking extra work and equipment. We don't want to do work without getting paid for it, which is easy to do in construction, and we don't want to have too much equipment on site. I attended our first safety meeting today, and that delayed my work today too. Audriana asked if I could help her get around campus, but I was having too many delays in my day to help her. Pete did not prepare the reports for me yet, so I am waiting for him.

I ran into Diego, and I realized that I could invite him to the Creche event of Palo Alto. I have not seen Robert all week, so I invited Diego today with the invitation that the sister missionaries gave me. Diego is the man that I invited to general conference and see me speak in Sacrament.

30 November 2017

Today is going well at work. I already been through four areas, and I got three more.

I got lucky yesterday because I had two areas to record, and the security told me that I did not have the right permit to enter, so I was able to finish my report on time.

At home Jessica has preparing for moving on her mind. She had me talk to management about ending our lease early.

I started reading chapter seven of Jacob today. Chapter six is powerful. I already wrote about a section of one verse. Pondering about people who will not harden their hearts, I recall that God has said that "there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it." I also hear of people diligently seeking truth; however, an assumption of mine is that God is subtlety calling to all his children. Jacob writes in chapter 6.

"Yea, today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts; for why will ye die? For behold, after ye have been nourished by the good word of God all the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit, that ye must be hewn down and cast into the fire? Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you?"

There are many gospel allusions in these verses. Why would we die, if we do not hearken to the voice of God? We all will be resurrected. Spiritual death is life without the physical presence of God. We are all spiritually dead on earth, and Terrestrial life will always be spiritually dead.

Let us listen to the word of God as given to up by modern and ancient prophets. The modern prophets of God lead the kingdom of God, and it is called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. God the Father and his Son called upon Joseph Smith Jr to restore the Kingdom of God, since their kingdom was destroyed due to the apostasy of man, martyring all of the disciples, after the death of Christ.

1 December 2017

Last night Jessica and I kind of had family council about our finances. I was actually behind updating my expenses and income tracker, so I caught up to start the month well with a new budget next week.

Work today was chill too. My superintendent wanted four hours today to retrieve some supplies, but I couldn't make the sacrifice.

I concluded reading chapter seven of Jacob today. When I read the chapter previously, I imagined the meeting with Sherem and Jacob to be a more extravagant setting like Sherem, approaching Jacob at a throne after waiting a lot for an appointment with him. Reading it again, I expect that the moment was more happenstance, and the visit lasted less than five minutes. Jacob dealt with his confrontation easily. Sherem's stature in society and God, striking him down, made the situation more momentous because the Nephite nation needed to nurse him for a while. Why did God strike a man down for confronting the prophet? The man was the leader of an anti-Christ movement, seeking to destroy the faith of all men including the prophet. Sherem eventually did confess to the people who followed him that Christ will come to prepare the way to salvation of all mankind by resurrecting and performing the atonement. In the end of his speech, he died, confounding the audience.

3 December 2017

Yesterday was very busy. My parents took Jessica and I grocery shopping at our favorite Asian store. It was good to commune with them. My dad found an Asian buffet like Tatami that we are going to try for our Mission Dental Lab Christmas Party. It is called Tomi.

After Jessica and I went to a Mexican restaurant and bought a new tire for my bicycle. Last Friday I noticed that my tire is getting worn.

We went early to help prepare the food for the ward Christmas party because Jessica and I are on the Food Committee.

A cool thing that happened on Friday night after coming home from serving the Food Committee is that Robert finally added me on Facebook. He hailed me up, and I said that I was carrying an invitation for him all week to see the Creche displays at Palo Alto, missing him. He started a video chat, showing me that he was eating peanuts with his daughter. We talked, and it was good to see him.

As I served on the Food Committee, I was asked to put water in pots for the Rice Pilaf. I was slightly worried that I didn't put the water in the pots accurately because we were cooking nine boxes for everyone. I also worked on setting up baskets full of rolls with Jessica.

We met the Campbell family during the Christmas party. I was bummed that we did not get a great seat for the program, but I left to invite my family to join us to see the 350 Creche displays from 50 countries.

It was enjoyable to see all of the creative ways that the nativity scene is depicted. The abstract versions were most fun. It is interesting that there are great traditions in the Silicon Valley, but I have never heard of them; although, I grew up in Capitola, which is less than thirty miles away. My parents thoroughly enjoyed the event. It was last minute, but it worked out. Trevor came too.

Sunday classes at church were a rebuking telling us that to get our house in order and fast better.

4 December 2017

Today is my birthday, and I caught up with a couple friends messaging each other.

5 December 2017

Yesterday evening at work I was feeling rushed, and my stress was making me inefficient and late. Audriana said "Shouldn't you be leaving?" It's your birthday. I asked her to compose my report, so I can leave. I bought a luxury pair of ear plugs, and Jessica and I went to Five Guys last night for dinner. The burger's taste was too mild, but the milkshake and Cajun fries were excellent; although, Jessica thought that the fries were too spicy.

I did get cake on my birthday. Dave, a Mason, gave some cake randomly to the foreman, and the foreman shared it with me. It was very tasty chocolate cake, being homemade and made from scratch by Dave's wife. I was telling Jessica that 99.99% of cake is lousy, but this one was excellent.

This morning an odd thing happened. Jessica woke up early with me at 4 am. She said that she finally caught up on sleep.

7 December 2017

I have missed writing in my journal the past couple days because Jessica has been calling me during lunch.

8 December 2017

Last night I went home teaching. It was a miracle because my companion's daughter has a friend that lives at the apartment complex, and we home taught the friend's father. Reed Chavez is my home teaching companion, and he has not met the father yet. This was a great connection for us.

I have been finishing my reports early for the past week, so I was consulting with colleagues about what more that I can do. My project manager told me to start tracking the counters.

Cycling has been so cold in the morning that I had to start wearing gloves. It has been 37° in the morning for a while and.

On Wednesday night, I practiced my bicycle mechanic skills, trying to replace my tire. The tube was too big, so I brought my bike to the shop, and they ran into the same problem, popping the tube. They were impressed with how much the tire was worn. They said that they were replace the tube for free. I offered to pay for the liner that they replaced, but they said to keep them in mind next time, not requiring to pay. The bike shop is Silva Cycles.

I have been wanting to buy these ear plugs that look more mainstream than normal orange ones. They are called Isolate from, a UK company, Flare.. They told me to wait for a couple weeks on Wednesday for its shipment, and later that day they said that it will arrive the next day, which was yesterday. I am wearing them for the first time now, and I put them on early this morning to see how they would block the sound at home. They are good, but I don't think that they are better than normal orange ear plugs. I think that it is weird to walk around public with orange throw away ear plugs, but the design makes me feel comfortable wearing them. There are aluminum and titanium options, and I chose titanium. Their increased density raises their efficiency.

Normal ear plugs only lasts a few days, but Flare's Earfoam lasts up to eight weeks. Jessica and I are practicing more zero waste principles, and throwing out Earfoam every eight weeks would be better that throwing away ear plugs at least once every few days.

At work some people commented that they look weird. I was worried that they may look vane, but people think of them as earplugs; although, they can be seen as an ear accessory. I don't believe that hearing protection is an accessory. It helps me focus more. It's kind of late the blurring skill of photography. You can blur out the sound that you don't care to hear.

10 December 2017

Today is a Sunday, and I am waiting for Jessica at the church as she is in her education self-reliance class. The StoryWorth questions that my grandfather are answering are good. I need to find time to record them. I listened to grandpa's two recordings that I have not transposed yet because I accidentally asked him to answer a question that will be asked this coming week; however, he did not directly answer the question. I love hearing my grandfather talk about the church and his love for the gospel.

This weekend was very busy because I celebrated my birthday with my family. We played many games: at least two rounds of Tokaido, a couple rounds of Uno, and one round of Machi Koro. Thomas and Ashley came, and we played a round of Tokaido and the couple rounds of Uno with them until they had to leave to sleep early. I only won one round of the many games. My Tokaido career is no longer a winning one. After a second game of Tokaido, we watched, the movie, Your Name. Ashley one the first game of Tokaido with a strategy that is not typical for us. She mainly went straight to the encounters. Trevor and Jessica tied in the second game Tokaido; although, we realized that Jessica was playing the game wrong. Trevor should be the sole winner.

"Your Name" is an odd movie. I think that it is inspired by interstellar. The art is great. The story is not developed well, neither are the characters; although, they devoted a lot time to them. I give the move a seven out of ten for story and character development. The science fiction is weak.

We did not get to sleep until about two in the morning, and we planned to leave for a free admission day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium the next day at nine on the morning. I was surprised that we went through the long line of the aquarium entrance fairly quickly. I asked each individual of the party what their favorite sea animal was, and we were able to see a real one if the following favorites: sea otter, sea turtle, and seahorse. We were unable to see a real-life dolphin; although, it was Jessica's favorite. We met some new animals that I never heard of like the garden eel. The sea turtle was too fast for me to get a picture of. Afterward we went to Phil's Seafood Market restaurant for lunch.

I got a Ciopino. It was so big. I was surprised that I ate it. I shared some of the crab. I would probably get full if I opened up the crab. It was served in a bread bowl, and it was over served with plenty of seafood and broth. A second bowl was needed to keep the dish manageable.

We picked up Trevor on our way home at work. At home we played Machi Koro. Jessica, Trevor, and I were all pretty close to winning. Jessica looked like she was going to win at first, but somehow I caught up and won.

We had to take a break from the game to go to the Stake Christmas party. The Duran family seemed to be the host. We ate tamales, rice, and beans. I spoke to Trevor about my theory that Apple is trying to take on all the technology companies, making their products compatible only with their own products. Apple cords, Apple Bluetooth, Apple Wi-Fi, Apple Watch, and so forth only works with Apple products. Trevor explained that none only Apple is trying to monopolize technology. Samsung, LG, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and other companies are developing ecosystems of products.

Today at church I was too exhausted to stay conscious for the Ward Christmas program, napping on Jessica's shoulders. Life at home in Santa Cruz is exhausting. I did have a good experience during sacrament, reading 3 Nephi. I pondered my life in the Gospel.

After sacrament, I took Jessica to the door of the secretary to decide what appointment time that we should do tithing settlement. We did that this afternoon.

The bishop taught us about the widow's mite. Most everyone that day that Jesus was observing the offering were not giving of their substance in the attitude of the law of consecration, giving only part of their wealth, but the widow gave everything that she had, defining the law by her example. The bishop showed us a real mite from thousands of years ago, and he gave both of us a newly fabricated mite. Let us dedicate our lives and everything that we own to the building up the kingdom of God.

 11 December 2017

This morning at work I got a dust mask from our field office. I have been thinking about getting a respirator mask for a while, but I didn't want to buy them. There is so much dust from so many different sources from insulation, wood, metal, stone, plastic, paint, and more. I don't want to breathe this in regularly.

26 November 2017

14 November 2017

Last week I said that I am going to cover five areas at work, and the fifth area did not start until yesterday.

15 November 2017

This morning I worked on my secretary calling after publishing a Storify post, and before making my food for the day. The Elders Quorum President wanted me to record the productivity of our home teaching companionships. Doesn't this sound similar to my Project Engineer job, recording the productivity of the mason crews? The president knew that there were more home teaching done than recorded. Since my job has a form that the foreman fill out for his crews, I made a form for the home teaching companionships to use. I decided to make a personal excel sheet for each companionship with their assignments. I want to make the tool require the least amount of work for them to be most effective. I started the process. I basically duplicated the file multiple times. I should be able to send them out to each home teacher by the end of next week. I don't work very long. I just worked about twenty minutes or so. Things will work out little by little, one by one.

This week I started studying Jacob 5, quoting the prophet Zenos. In the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees, I was surprised that the Lord of the Vineyard said "it mattereth not that if it so be that the root of this tree perish, I may preserve the fruit thereof unto myself." This is in verse 8. He doesn't have an attachment to the tree. All he cares about is the fruit of the tame olive tree. What is the fruit of the tame olive tree symbolic of? It may be revealed to me as I continue reading the chapter. I think that it symbolizes righteous people, obtaining salvation. What are the roots of the tree?

The tree is getting old, beginning to decay and perish; although, trees are rarely thought of as getting old. It is not like they start to grow white hair and their body's functions worsen.

The Lord of the Vineyard seems to know the tree very well, and he is fond of the fruit of the olive tree characterized as tame. Tame means that it has been produced by cultivation. The Lord of the Vineyard looks for a specific taste of the fruit that he desires. I would be making assumption, if I were to describe the taste and the texture of the olives. He is looking for a particular type of flavor. One may want to look to the scriptures to learn of the nature that the Lord wants in his people. Think of the type of people that God wants. The nature is so dynamic, and I think that the word that best describes his people is meekness.

During Mutual, I transcribed grandpa's StoryWorth entry. He answered three questions in one recording.

19 November 2017

The fifteenth of November was a Wednesday, and Thursday and Friday was busy; Saturday too. On Thursday I had my three month review. I was supposed to have a lunch with the CEO at 11:30 AM, but they got caught up in something in the field. We ended up eating dinner about five pm together. The dinner was my first time communing with people drinking at a bar. I got water and a Thai noodle dish. They said that my effort is above average, but I need to be more assertive. The three month review is confidential, but I can teach a principle that Mike Twiss taught about the management side of the contractor's business. Project engineers should be aware of the difference between monitoring and managing. He did not go too much into the principle, so I don't remember much. Monitoring is not management. It is more like watching the work, and not putting your input in the project. Management is the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. This is a definition from Google. I would act like I am not a manager, just reporting numbers before. I have done minimal management influence on the project.

20 November 2017

I arrived home late after the three month review because I started eating about 5, and I wanted to spend time with the CEO and my project manager in a social setting. Jessica and my mother wanted to hear about the three month review. I seem to have made it a big deal for me because it was my first corporate review.

On Friday, I did not have time during lunch to write in my journal for some odd reason.

The seventeenth became a big day for me. First of all, Trevor gave me the new Pokémon Ultra Moon, which came out on Friday. The new Apple Visitor Center that Columbia Stone Inc worked on opened on the 17th, and the movie, Justice League, came out last Friday too. I wanted to have an evening with Trevor at the Apple Visitor Center. Nick Chao and Sarah Welch were interested in coming, but they didn't make it. I wanted Trevor to meet me right as I got off work, but I was informed that he was still playing Yu-Gi-Oh, when I called him after work. He arrived just barely before the visitor center closed. I bought a hat because Apollo Mechanical got me into hats. A lot of people at Apollo Mechanical would wear hats, and I got like four Apollo hats. I also got an Intel hat, when I worked with Apollo Mechanical. The Apple hat cost forty dollars. I guessed that it would. Trevor bought a shirt for forty dollars too, but there was nothing too special about the shirt. It just has their logo on it. It was nice walking around, seeing the completed project. Trevor appreciated the stairs. The stone is pretty plain. There is a balcony type story on the top. The wood flooring looks rushed. The view is not that good because there are trees blocking the scene of the main campus building.

We had pizza for dinner, and we decided to go to Capitola for the movie because Nick and friends were there. The November 17th celebration went as I hoped; although, it was not formally planned. I wish Nick and Sarah came to the Apple Visitor Center.

A lot of people were knocking the Justice League movie, but I don't understand their perspective. I loved the character development; however, the villain was lacking.

Trevor bought me a new 3DS for Pokémon Ultra Moon. We went a unique Best Buy that Trevor wanted to visit; although, we didn't plan to go. The Best Buy had a section devoted to start ups. I decided to have a team full of baby Pokémon. It makes the game more difficult and fun.

23 November 2017

Today is Thanksgiving, and I am currently waiting in line at Best Buy to by a Google Home. Trevor said that they are only 30 dollars. I was trying to recall why I have not written in my journal recently. It is mainly because I am have been distracted by the Pokémon game. I was trying to catch a Munchlax, and I finally caught one last night just before my first duel with Trevor. We played the game about the same amount of time, so the battle was fair. I couldn't only find three baby Pokémon before the first grand trial; however, I found four baby Pokémon within the last hour or so before I battled Trevor. I was able to defeat Trevor in our first battle, catching a Munchlax just before battling him. Snorlax is my favorite Pokémon.

On Tuesday night Jessica and I went out to dinner to celebrate our twentieth month anniversary. We still have ice-cream. We went to Dairy Queen for a quick meal. We got into the car; then, we realized that it is only a couple blocks away, so I drove around the parking lot to park it again. It was nice to walk.

24 November 2017

This morning my dad and I woke up early to go to the temple. I was worried that I would sleep a lot during the endowment session, but I did pretty well. I learned and pondered about things.

Last night dad was able to convince mom to play Tokaido with us, which is a rare occasion. I lost for the first time in the game. We played two games yesterday, a game Machi Koro and Tokaido, and Jessica won both games. Jessica says that she has a secret strategy for Machi Koro, and Jessica threw off the competition from the usual game-play of Tokaido by donating all her initial money to the temple. She was most risky, and it paid off.

Thanksgiving yesterday was great. There was a little drama with the Turkey. It leaked grease, igniting, when my dad opened the oven. Grease smoke filled the condominium. I hung out in the well ventilated space while Jessica was wanting to put the couch bed away. The situation resolved quickly by the wisdom of mother.

Trevor had to work from 5:00 pm to 1:00 am, so we had an early Thanksgiving. The meal was great. Trevor got a picture. Maybe I will upload it. I am not into describing all of the food. Jessica, Trevor, and I peeled and cut potatoes for the mashed potatoes. I also helped make the fruit salad a little.

Work this past week was chill. I only needed to work Monday through Wednesday.

I have not finished reading Jacob 5, but my thought about the Lord of the Olive Tree vineyard, not caring about the tree, was spoken too early because he said multiple times that it grieves him that he might lose the tree.

26 November 2017

On Thursday evening dad was able to convince mom to try the new game Tokaido. Mom had never really been interested in board games, but this game persuaded her of how board games are a wholesome activity. We tried to play another game last night, but Trevor left to hang out with Nick and friends for Allison's birthday. I believe. Mom likes the game because it has time to shop for souvenirs and dishes at a restaurant.

Thomas' family joined us for a second Thanksgiving last night too. We had a good time.

One thing that I wanted to say is that last weekend. We had the sister missionaries over for dinner. They gave me an invitation to a nativity scene event. I was planning to give the invitation to Robert, the guy who saved the old lady from a fire in San Jose. I basically had one day to invite him, and Satan put thoughts in my mind to cut corners in my work. There are two areas with very few stones to set, so I would just checked those areas. I usually check every corner every day; therefore, I would see Robert every day. Since I skipped checking every area, I most likely missed the opportunity to invite Robert to the event. Satan has very subtle tricks to hold back the work of God.

I got a new story from grandpa to transcribe.

14 November 2017

7 November 2017

I skipped what I wrote Monday because I had negative thoughts in the morning. It is at the end of this entry, if you want to read a review of my apartment experience with Sequoia at La Valencia Apartments in Campbell, CA.

Jessica and I had a good family home evening last night. We completed the sister missionaries' commitment. Jesus Christ’s first words with the Nephite nation is a display of the importance of the church, baptism, repentance, and covenants because after introducing himself. He instructed on the proper method and doctrine of baptism after giving the priesthood authority to his disciples.

I think that I am getting sick again. I have a runny nose today.

I finally started doing something officially for my calling, contacting a district leader. I am going to begin scheduling appointments for personal priesthood interviews. The district leader confirmed that he would like a personal priesthood interview on Sunday.

Work is getting busy. An additional three areas are going to be added to my report. I reported on an additional areas this morning. I have to cover five areas now. I walked around for six hours yesterday. I only had to report on two area the past week or so. It has been chill.

I met another unique person. His name is Huitzilin. I think that he pronounced it as "we-it-ceiling". He is Mexican, but he changed his name to Huitzilin because he has Aztec ancestry. It is an Aztec name. We talked about returning to our roots, saying that I was considering moving to Thailand, but my parents thought that was crazy to give up our standard of living in the United States. Huitzilin said that he had a girlfriend that changed her name to an Aztec name too, and she oddly changed it back to her original name, when she got married to another guy. She changed her name for him apparently and not the principle of embracing ancestry.

8 November 2017

Last night Jessica and I went to the personal finance self-reliance class. We spoke about how to tackle debt with the snowball effect. In order to pay off debt, you need to live within your means first. The manual recommended to pay one hundred dollars more than the minimum payment. Choose between the account with the highest interest rate and the account with the lowest amount. You will save a lot more money if you pay off the higher interest rate first. Elder Holland recommends cutting up your credit cards. This effort to eliminate debt requires diligence and perseverance.

Yesterday I finished listening to "When Panic Attacks". It talks about the recovery process. Guess the probability that a depressed or anxiety person will relapse. It is a 100% chance. This should not be disappointing. It is a sign that we are human. The greater thing is that the cognitive therapy method that an individual overcomes anxiety and depression the first time will work during the relapse. The individual will feel worse than ever being convinced that the therapy was a fluke. The author recommends that you prepare ahead of time because the situation is predictable. What is a relapse? Feeling anxious or depressed for an hour, hours, and days? It is not a period of time that defines it. It is the return of the anxiety and depression, and it will not go away after a month or so. Why wait for a month though? Just get over it as soon as possible. People can be on guard of their thoughts and situations.

This morning I got an email of appreciation from the general contractor's stone project manager. Since I have been continually expanding my abilities. He was impressed when I reported the progress and remaining work to do on the entire building, which he has not been able to do with his project engineers. If my job does not work out with Columbia Stone Inc, I might be able to talk to him.

I am wondering about my runny nose. If a common cold is an infection of the throat, is a runny nose an infection in the nose?

9 November 2017

I decided to listen to "When Panic Attacks" until Jessica gets over her anxiety and depression.

I finished my rounds in the building early this morning. I am usually eating lunch on campus, but I am back at the jobsite trailer. I have a meeting at 2 pm, so I go out early to not get rushed.

This morning scripture study was profound. My favorite Book of Mormon prophet is Jacob. Jacob chapter four verse eight was the impressive scripture. "Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God." We can't know the fullness of truth without a relationship with God. He will tell you what is true, if you ask with a sincere heart and real intent to live up to the truth that you know. At stake conference a goal of life was explained. We have knowledge of truth and our personal standards. There is a gap between what we know that we should do and what we do. Each day we should seek to reduce that gap.

10 November 2017

Last night Jessica and I decided on our new budget for November.

I write during my lunch break as you may recall, but I have been procrastinating to fill out my self-evaluation form for my lunch with Mike Twiss next week. I should fill it out instead of writing in my journal now.

11 November 2017

Yesterday we started installing veneer in a new section of the building, and it messed up my day. I didn't start counting the remaining stone to install until 3:30 PM. I have to count the remaining stones to install in four sections. I did not leave until 5:30 PM. The conclusion of my day felt off. Fridays are usually chill.

We are visiting my parents because I wanted a haircut before my lunch with Mike Twiss. I looked shaggy on Friday because I didn't give myself time to shave the past few days, and my hair was long. I need to maintain my integrity as a clean shaven man better. For you to know how busy that I was in the morning yesterday, I made a Storify post, breakfast, and lunch. I also read scriptures after cooking rice and bread for Jessica and I. Sometimes I let my hair go ragged. One time, when I was on my internship with Delta Stone Products, I found a coupon for a haircut in a pay-stub. I believe that they were saying that I need a haircut. At the end of the work day yesterday, I told Audriana about my concerns, feeling about my appointment with Mike Twiss is like a job interview. I wrote about my concern on Monday, which I put at the end of the post, expressing the feeling that my job could easily be discontinued; however, Audriana said that three month reviews are chill, and I should not be concerned for my employment.

12 November 2017

Mom has been trying to give the property of their sons from their youth back to them, so her residence is not so cluttered. This includes intellectual property. One intellectual property that I have been trying to express to Jessica for a long time is a child development theory. I forgot the name of the theory, and I could only explain it partially. I understand the theory, but I could not explain it with validity without the citing the source of the theory. The theorist is Erik Erikson. It teaches that child rearing can indicate the psychological path of the individual. This is not completely random. It has to do with the book of "When Panic Attacks" and my study of depression and anxiety. This is not from the book though. I found a hand out from a long time ago in a mess of my old stuff, explaining the Erikson's child development theory. There is a negative path and a positive path in an individual's development from childhood. The foundations is trust and mistrust of humanity taught in the home in the many forms of education from speech, experience, and example. I believe that the trust and mistrust of humanity is the foundation of anxiety and depression too. Let's see the description of the two paths.

There are eight stages in most people's lives in this development, and their age ranges are the following: birth to one year, one year to three years, three years to six years, seven to eleven years, teenage years, young adult years, middle aged years, and older adult years.

People, who are taught the trust humanity and themselves, obtain autonomy, meaning that they are self-sufficient in their first few years of life. They take initiative in the next three years of their lives, seeking more abilities and activities. They are productive and busy between in age of seven and eleven. They feel an identity during their teenage years. In their young adult years, they have healthy intimate relationships. They maintain productivity throughout their middle ages. There life's efforts turns to a life of integrity.

When children are raised to mistrust themselves and humanity, they have negative thoughts, leading to feelings of shame and doubt during their first few years of life. They feel guilty because their parents may overreact to their actions. They think that they are inferior, not being able to do anything well in their pre-teen years. They struggle figuring out their role in life in their teenage years, leading to isolation in their young adult years. They are stagnant throughout their lives, feeling despair in their elderly years.

Can you see how anxiety is connected easily to this theory? Anxiety is not a mental illness; although, genetics may have part of it. Everyone can switch to the other path of development, if they learn to trust themselves and humanity. I am not saying that I am on the good side or the bad side of development. I probably leaned towards the bad side in my youth, and slightly on the good side currently. Parents should think about how they are raising their children from their infancy. Are they teaching them to be autonomous or dependent on them for comfort and other things? Are you teaching them to trust themselves or mistrust themselves? Are you teaching your children to trust or mistrust humanity?

I did get a haircut from mom. Trevor turned on My Hero Academia while I was getting my haircut. I was surprised at the content of the arc because previous to that time there was no gore or suggestive scenes, but the arc where the villains seek to kill All Might in the USJ was gory and suggestive with some nudity. I have some experience with anime and manga. Authors usually have a consistent moral standard, and sometimes it changes. I don't like authors where their moral standards are not constant because we are subjected to view their imagination. A good imagination can be appreciated, but a perverse imagination should not be tolerated according to my integrity. I will not watch the next season because the author's moral standard is lowering in the first season; therefore, I can't trust it.

Another thing that I grabbed from the house is my old pair of nunchucks. I thought that my mom threw them away. I heard more of the story why I was given the pair. Justin Reimers gave me the pair of nunchucks. He was a martial arts instructor, and I believe that he currently is. Justin use to teach my youth’s priesthood class. I mentioned once that I wanted a pair to learn the discipline. Dad said that it was to be encouraging at one time, and yesterday he said that it was a reward for accomplishing something.

We hosted the missionaries to dinner, and my mother revealed more about the nature of my father. She said that he had troubles continuing lessons with the missionaries because they wanted him to quit drinking and smoking, and Chanai, the name of my grandfather, encouraged her to take his place in the appointments. She thought that the lessons were strange when she first listened to them, but she accepted the invitation to learn English from the missionaries one day a week. She was attending English classes in the evening, and that was the reason that she never witnessed him in the missionary lessons; however, she did receive the gospel. I suspect that Chanai was humble enough to listen to many of the lessons of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but he did not have the motivation to live the Word of Wisdom. I love my grandpa because he inspired me to join the industry of construction, since he was an architect; although, I never met him.

6 November 2017

I woke up to a cold morning. I did not just wake up once. The insulation of my apartment does not seem to retain heat well. I had to rewrite this paragraph because negative thoughts have messed up my morning. I have been feeling off. We have stayed in a Sequoia apartment complex before, and the previous one is designed well with quality finishes.

My apartment currently was recently remodeled, and it does not take a construction eye to see that the remodel was lousy. The paint job is bad. The new quartz counters are not level, and water slides off it. The doors look like they have been through a murder scene in the apartment as the framing were broken through where the locks are. We recently got a notice for bed bugs, and you may recall that termites were confirmed to be in our wall. When we first were taking showers orange stuff would come out of the walls because the caulking was not done well. Our bathroom doesn't even have a fan. The apartment is very dark too. We need to buy a lamp for our bedroom because there is no lights in the room. I was going to not write about the negative things about the apartment, but I did. This is what Sequoia can offer me for $2461 per month in Campbell, CA; plus, there is a few extra expenses that I have never had to pay for previously that goes a long with the rent. That is my review of La Valencia Apartments in Campbell, CA. We went with it mainly because we needed to find an apartment. Looking through it at first, I knew that it was going to be dark, but a lot more issues have come up.

I was trained to paint apartments during my first winter in Oregon, and I was told not to worry about quality. Just make sure to cover all the surfaces, and don't make a mess. If an individual paints fast, he can paint three apartments in one day, earning about 400 dollars each apartment.

I think that the negative thoughts came from having a hard time sleeping and the instability of my job. I feel like I am going to have another job interview with Columbia Stone Inc, and they might let me go because they don't need me.

13 November 2017

Yesterday after church I had an Elders Quorum Presidency Meeting. It is a little weird to be in the meeting, not being part of the presidency as a counselor. I have heard of powerful secretaries. I have been sending some emails to accomplish what I need to, and they seem to be effective. I made a form for the home teaching companionships to fill out. A companionship filled one out already. I only sent it to one companionship, so email has a 100% return rate.

I finished my rounds very quickly this morning at work. Walking back to the job site trailer, I ran into a crew, eating lunch, and one named Oswaldo gave me a Coca-Cola from Mexico. I was a little leery of the ingredients, but I found that they are more natural than the American Coca-Cola because it has sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

A QAQC guy from Prime Electric is my next door neighbor at my apartments and the job site trailer, sitting right behind me. His name is Derek. I have inspired him to ride a bike to work, and he finally purchased one recently. He bought it used. It sounds like an assembly kit because it is very old. He needs to reassemble it. The person selling it to him said that it is a uniquely quality bicycle because it was made in Japan. It is a Fuji bike, and the company started manufacturing their bikes in Taiwan supposedly thirty years ago.

I looked into finding the pdf for "When Panic Attacks", the book. I could not find it anywhere, so I ended up emailing the author. In the self-reliance class last week, we pondered the idea of taking responsibility for yourself, so I reminded her of that, asking her to take responsibility for overcoming her own anxiety and depression.

I also started practicing nunchucks last night. I am a cardiovascular exercise guy, I have thought that the practice of nunchaku can be a cardiovascular experience of the upper body. I started watching some YouTube tutorial videos. It is interesting, and it is not has hard as people think.