3 October 2017
Today was very hectic. I was working with our inventory guy to find a crate as I was waiting for a guy to bring an iPad to set up that our foreman bought. Setting up the iPad Pro, I found that it was more complicated than expected, and I was running out of time to get today's data for my daily report. I text the foreman to send me their daily construction reports for yesterday, but I realized that I needed to go to the field and make things happen. Things were a mess at the field. The mess was mainly with that one guy that is overwhelmed by his first task of the time sheets.
The self-reliance class today taught us about the importance of balance in life. Don't work too much. Be willing to analyze your expenses. Are you spending money unnecessarily? Are your spending habits balanced and under control?
4 October 2017
I am trying to get back to what I am supposed to do at work, which is to record the daily progress; however, Red wants me to set up his iPad. In the morning, since I could not email the documents to the device, I thought that I could rotate the sheets on Bluebeam Vu on the iPad. I accidentally digitally printed the sheets vertically, and the iPad is naturally horizontal. The issue seems insignificant as I write it, but you can't just turn the device counter-clockwise. Vu would not rotate it, so I needed to download Google Drive on the iPad to transfer it from the computer because iPads can't exchange files through USB. The ram capacity of the iPad was too low to transfer the files well without having the feeling of it being a hassle.
When I got home, I snacked a little before getting to house work. Mom gave me some Teriyaki sauce to make Chow Mien. After cleaning up, I started cooking a Teriyaki stir fry. I like the sauce because it is milder than the Americanized Teriyaki dishes. I was worried that I spilt too much in the pan, but it was good.
6 October 2017
Yesterday morning I dropped off Jessica at the airport for her flight to Portland for Wesley Ledesma's wedding.
Last week Jessica and I were invited to speak in church on the perfect example of Jesus Christ. Jessica was stressing about providing a personal depiction of applying Christ's example. Thinking about how I have applied his example in my life, I told her about how I served as an ordinance worker in the temple. He always visited the temple. I studied the New Testament in the past, and Jesus always testified of his father. I think that many people understand Christ and his mercy, but we forget God the Father, his Priesthood authority, and the necessary covenants that we need to make with him to obtain the blessings of salvation and exaltation, which he so wishes to grant us. He is a just man though, and he will only execute mercy through the atonement of his son.
8 October 2017
Today is Sunday, a fasting Sabbath. Since Jessica was gone, I visited my family for the weekend. I arrived on Friday night just in time to pick up Trevor from work. My timing seems to be on this weekend because I arrived just in time to pick up Jessica from the airport too.
Since Trevor works at Best Buy, we were at the location for films and shows. Trevor a couple weeks ago asked me if I wanted to watch a movie with him. Looking at the films, we considered the Studio Ghibli films, but the two recent re-released films appeared to be chick flicks. We decided to buy the first season of "My Hero Academia" despite the high recommended Rurouni Kenshin films. Trevor and I watched about 5 episodes. They were quick without advertisements, theme songs, and credits; feeling shorter than ten minutes each. I think that the character development in "My Hero Academia" is slow, but it is good because the character development of the students at school is almost unnecessary, since their presence is random.
I was hoping to do stuff with the family on Saturday, but everyone was so busy with chores and personal things. I couldn't expect much. Mom gave me a haircut, and she invited me to wash my and her car. My father drove in exactly as I finished washing my car, washing all three of our cars. I pondered childhood as I washed the cars because I am going to transcribe my physical journals. I thought of a metaphor for the steps of washing a car. It felt nice to serve the family and myself. I have not washed my car yet; although, I have owned it for a couple years. I like the random and frequent rains of Oregon and Idaho because I did not have to wash my car. Trevor did eventually give me time to choose to go on a jog or watch more "My Hero Academia." I chose "My Hero Academia." Mickey and Ben came over because they shopped for the Ocean YSA Branch Sabbath Supper.
We played Machi Koro, and my participation was meaningless like last time. The opportunities of choices when we play the rules, where ten cards are set out, are limited so much that I can't thrive well, but Mickey thrives on probability and statics as it is his field of study. He seems to only like to play games that he has an advantage in.
The metaphor of washing the car goes like this. In California, we have adapted because it is kind of a no-no to wash cars the stereotypical way with a hose, rinsing the car with water. Some people including my family fills buckets with the cold water from the shower as we wait for the water to warm. I had a bucket for soap water and a bucket for rinsing water. I relate the soap water stage of washing the car to the telestial state of the earth. It is filthy, but the cleansing agent has been introduced. The rinsing stage is the terrestrial stage of the earth or the Millennium. It is cleansed of filth, but the cleansing is not complete. The cleansing is complete after the Millennium, judgment, and resurrections; the stage in washing the car, drying it with a rag, leading to the Celestial Glory of the earth. Questions may come.
Why do we have to be defiled and endure the filth of the world? What is the stage of the Terrestrial Earth for? We need endure the filth of this world because we need to choose what kingdom that we want to live in for eternity, living in each stage. Do we want to live without God's presence (Telestial), with his presence occasionally (Terrestrial), or in his presence (Celestial)? Some people love the world, not desiring eternal families nor to return to live in Heavenly Father’s kingdom. What Kingdom of Glory do you want to live in? There are many philosophies of man mingled with scripture that will land you in the Telestial and Terrestrial Kingdoms, but there is only one way to Celestial Glory in God's Kingdom. This Gospel path begins with obtaining assurances by revelation that God has restored his kingdom on earth, calling it the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Repentance is the next step because God sets standards that we can claim worthiness to partake in covenants. Covenants need to be performed properly and by the authority that he has given to man to do his work. Covenants are two way promises. God grants blessings according to our obedience to the covenants. These covenants will eventually bless men with eternal life. Another reason that we live on this earth is to obtain a physical body as the earth is tangible. We were all spirit children, dwelling in God's Kingdom before our lives in mortality.
When we arrived home from the airport, we caught up on the wedding.
Today I received a calling to be a secretary of the Elders' Quorum Presidency. One way that I think that the calling is from God is that the Elders' Quorum needs to get on top of reporting the data for home teaching. My job at Columbia Stone Inc is basically the same thing. I got to report to management the productivity of each crew at work. The probability of this calling and my job basically being the same cannot be a coincidence. The Elders' Quorum President did not know my job.
One thing that I would like to say about myself for people to know is that I have a good sense of humor. I don't mean that I tell good jokes. I laugh at people's humor, which people appreciate. I try to only laugh to humor devoid of malice, but I am not perfect. After watching "My Hero Academia" on Friday evening, dad wanted to show mom the Jimmy Fallon video where Melissa McCarthy did a lip sync battle with the song "Colors of the Wind." I am not a fan of her work, but I saw the humor more in her performance, since dad liked it. People enjoy my laughter for some reason. I have not cracked up in a long time, but after watching a few lip sync battle videos we ended by watching Tom Cruise's one. Mom likes Tom Cruise, so I knew that she would appreciate it. I forgot the contents or the video, but I cracked up, tearing up with laughter, when Jimmy Fallon made the silly faces to sing the very high passionate notes in his duet with Tom Cruise.
At church, I saw someone with an iPhone X. I covertly took a picture of it, sending it to Trevor, because it has not been released to the public. He thought that it looked better in person. I could not get a good picture. It does look good, but one thing that I noticed is that some apps have a digital bezel. I hope that the apps are optimized better to the phone before they sell it to the public.
