21 March 2018
Monday was Jessica and I's two year wedding anniversary. We had Colombian food for our wedding reception, and Mercedes, my mother-in-law, rarely cooks it; therefore, we had Colombian food for dinner, since there was a food cart with food of the country a couple blocks away from our apartments.
The appetizer and Jessica's dish had overly fried plantain, which Jessica knows is not the style of Colombia. The food cart is called "Hey Stella's Cocina." It turns out that they cook a lot more food than Colombian. They are from Venezuela. They claim to cook Jamaican food. Jessica got the food, so I don't remember all of the different cuisine that they cook. We had Colombian sandwiches. Mine was made with a flat bread, and Jessica's food was sandwiched between very large fried plantain. My sandwich had tomato, pulled pork, and beans in it. I don't remember the ingredients of Jessica's sandwich.
22 March 2018
The Relief Society had an anniversary party or something like that on Tuesday. Jessica went at 5:30 to help prepare. Since I didn't have anyone waiting for me at home, I explored a little on my way home. A furniture store named after Broadway advertises a cabinet bed on its windows. The cabinet bed would be ideal for our studio apartment. A cabinet bed is a bed that rolls out of a cabinet, and it can be put away when unused. My new shelf is about the same height of it. I asked Jessica to guess the price, and she said 500 dollars. When I walked in the store, the cabinet bed was to the right of the door. The price was 2000 dollars, and that price was sliced.
The store claims to be on a 2017 inventory blow out sale, but their prices are very high. I checked the expensive website a couple weekends ago, and I thought that the store might be different. It wasn't.
My next visit was Dairy Queen because I heard that they were giving out free ice cream cones from my coworkers. A sister with a bike was friendly enough to watch my bicycle. It felt weird to ask for a free cone of ice cream from the counter, but it worked. The sister was not friendly enough for a conversation after watching my bicycle. I walked a little with my ice cream cone until I finished it; then, I rode my bike up the road towards my house.
There is a condominium complex, selling and leasing, along my path that I have been thinking about checking out. It is affordable, but the location is not walkable. I checked the complex and a real estate place. In Portland urban sprawl, condominiums cost about a quarter million dollars, and land with houses cost about 400,000 dollars. I saw another advertisement for a condominium complex, walking around yesterday, the 24th of March. It said that the HOA fees were 420 dollars a month. I don't want to deal with HOA fees. It's basically rent.
25 March 2018
Today is Sunday, and I received a calling today to teach primary. Jessica was serving in the nursery, and she received a calling to serve as a cub scout leader. We were also asked whether one of us would speak about the speeches of the latest conference next week at the following Sacrament meeting. I will be preparing that.
Last Thursday, my Elders Quorum had manrichment night. The Elder that hosted it has a calling with the young men, and he wants to Elders to be more connected with the young men. They were invited to join us, but only one came as eleven Elders came. We played "minute to win it" games. Two teams were assigned. Each person played two games. The young man was very skilled. I played a game, moving M&Ms to another plate by straw and bouncing ping pong balls into a cup. The duel was against the young man when I played the M&M game, and he got about double the result of me. I moved seventeen in one minute. I didn't do well, bouncing ping pong in a cup. My presence was introverted as usual.
On Friday evening we had Jasmine and Lucas for dinner and games. When I arrived home, expecting company, I was leery, since no one welcomed me, when I opened the door. Were they going to surprise me? I usually walk in to where the bike rake to take off my cycling gear, but I did it in front of the door. After preparing my gear, I did not seem to spoil their scheme. Sneaking up to look around the corner, my suspension was proven illogical. No one was in the apartment other than me.
I decided to lay and read Yotsuba&, the manga, as I waited for them. I bought the Yotsuba& and Prince of Tennis many years ago. I completely forgot the story of the Yotsuba Manga. It is suggestive as I have said before about movies, making it mainstream.
Lucas, Jasmine, and Jessica arrived with three pizzas including a vegan one from Dominos. Jessica protested "why do the vegan pizzas have to be so thin?"
Jasmine and Lucas misplaced the games that t hey brought, so we decided to play with our face cards. Last time we played B.S. with Jasmine. I was thinking about playing canasta, since Jasmine and Lucas almost brought Phase 10, but the rules said that we needed two packs of cards. We ended playing golf upon the suggestion of Lucas. We had a blast. It was coincidental all of us won a game, so the fifth game decided the champion of the night. Jasmine won, and she thoroughly enjoyed it.
Golf is a game where each person is given six cards, and the card that an individual draws can replace another card to reduce the total value of the six cards.The player with the lowest total value with their six cards wins.
On Saturday, we only did grocery shopping. We went to an interesting burger joint for lunch. It is unique because the owner was an elderly man, who ran the joint alone. The prices were great. There was a two small burgers for two dollars deal. The walls were covered with pictures of customers and employees of the past.
The appetizer and Jessica's dish had overly fried plantain, which Jessica knows is not the style of Colombia. The food cart is called "Hey Stella's Cocina." It turns out that they cook a lot more food than Colombian. They are from Venezuela. They claim to cook Jamaican food. Jessica got the food, so I don't remember all of the different cuisine that they cook. We had Colombian sandwiches. Mine was made with a flat bread, and Jessica's food was sandwiched between very large fried plantain. My sandwich had tomato, pulled pork, and beans in it. I don't remember the ingredients of Jessica's sandwich.
22 March 2018
The Relief Society had an anniversary party or something like that on Tuesday. Jessica went at 5:30 to help prepare. Since I didn't have anyone waiting for me at home, I explored a little on my way home. A furniture store named after Broadway advertises a cabinet bed on its windows. The cabinet bed would be ideal for our studio apartment. A cabinet bed is a bed that rolls out of a cabinet, and it can be put away when unused. My new shelf is about the same height of it. I asked Jessica to guess the price, and she said 500 dollars. When I walked in the store, the cabinet bed was to the right of the door. The price was 2000 dollars, and that price was sliced.
The store claims to be on a 2017 inventory blow out sale, but their prices are very high. I checked the expensive website a couple weekends ago, and I thought that the store might be different. It wasn't.
My next visit was Dairy Queen because I heard that they were giving out free ice cream cones from my coworkers. A sister with a bike was friendly enough to watch my bicycle. It felt weird to ask for a free cone of ice cream from the counter, but it worked. The sister was not friendly enough for a conversation after watching my bicycle. I walked a little with my ice cream cone until I finished it; then, I rode my bike up the road towards my house.
There is a condominium complex, selling and leasing, along my path that I have been thinking about checking out. It is affordable, but the location is not walkable. I checked the complex and a real estate place. In Portland urban sprawl, condominiums cost about a quarter million dollars, and land with houses cost about 400,000 dollars. I saw another advertisement for a condominium complex, walking around yesterday, the 24th of March. It said that the HOA fees were 420 dollars a month. I don't want to deal with HOA fees. It's basically rent.
25 March 2018
Today is Sunday, and I received a calling today to teach primary. Jessica was serving in the nursery, and she received a calling to serve as a cub scout leader. We were also asked whether one of us would speak about the speeches of the latest conference next week at the following Sacrament meeting. I will be preparing that.
Last Thursday, my Elders Quorum had manrichment night. The Elder that hosted it has a calling with the young men, and he wants to Elders to be more connected with the young men. They were invited to join us, but only one came as eleven Elders came. We played "minute to win it" games. Two teams were assigned. Each person played two games. The young man was very skilled. I played a game, moving M&Ms to another plate by straw and bouncing ping pong balls into a cup. The duel was against the young man when I played the M&M game, and he got about double the result of me. I moved seventeen in one minute. I didn't do well, bouncing ping pong in a cup. My presence was introverted as usual.
On Friday evening we had Jasmine and Lucas for dinner and games. When I arrived home, expecting company, I was leery, since no one welcomed me, when I opened the door. Were they going to surprise me? I usually walk in to where the bike rake to take off my cycling gear, but I did it in front of the door. After preparing my gear, I did not seem to spoil their scheme. Sneaking up to look around the corner, my suspension was proven illogical. No one was in the apartment other than me.
I decided to lay and read Yotsuba&, the manga, as I waited for them. I bought the Yotsuba& and Prince of Tennis many years ago. I completely forgot the story of the Yotsuba Manga. It is suggestive as I have said before about movies, making it mainstream.
Lucas, Jasmine, and Jessica arrived with three pizzas including a vegan one from Dominos. Jessica protested "why do the vegan pizzas have to be so thin?"
Jasmine and Lucas misplaced the games that t hey brought, so we decided to play with our face cards. Last time we played B.S. with Jasmine. I was thinking about playing canasta, since Jasmine and Lucas almost brought Phase 10, but the rules said that we needed two packs of cards. We ended playing golf upon the suggestion of Lucas. We had a blast. It was coincidental all of us won a game, so the fifth game decided the champion of the night. Jasmine won, and she thoroughly enjoyed it.
Golf is a game where each person is given six cards, and the card that an individual draws can replace another card to reduce the total value of the six cards.The player with the lowest total value with their six cards wins.
On Saturday, we only did grocery shopping. We went to an interesting burger joint for lunch. It is unique because the owner was an elderly man, who ran the joint alone. The prices were great. There was a two small burgers for two dollars deal. The walls were covered with pictures of customers and employees of the past.
During the week, I was asked by my Project Manager to go to Washington Square Mall. I have not been there for a while, thinking that it was Pioneer Square at Portland. Columbia Stone Inc set the original tile for the mall in 1994, and we did the remodel in 2003. Walking around the mall on work hours felt odd. Mall management offices are hidden pretty well. My PM said that I could get a snack at the food cart, since the offices were near it. I decided to drop by Helzberg Diamonds, since I got my wedding ring there, to get it cleaned and polished.
28 March 2018
Since I ride my bike around town, I tweeted my observations of other people's running form and my cycling form. My knees have been constantly sore, since I moved to Portland. I have been trying to figure out a better bicycling form. I can't figure out how. My path to work is mostly downhill, and mostly uphill returning. Cycling home has become a pain because the hills cause my cycling form to be unnatural.
30 March 2018
A second part the tweet was a declaration that I will invent a bicycle based on running form. Running is the most efficient and natural form of transportation. Thinking about this invention, I have realized that I could simplify my previous design, which requires odd stabilizing technology. We already have a technology that can stabilize the bicycle, adapting for changing situations, called a gyroscope. My design has evolved, yet it retains a cord pulled backwards with the stride of the athlete. I am wondering what happens to a human body within a magnetic field because, if the cord
had wires in it, going up and down both legs, the changing shape of the loop of wire could generate current in the wheels on both sides of the runner are magnets. It could power the bicycle's battery.
March 31, 2018
Jessica and I came over to the Ledesma's apartment for general conference. The Solemn Assembly Sustaining of the new first presidency and two new Apostles for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the first order of business of the conference. It is more unique than I recall in the previous Solemn Assembly that I lived through. There were three sustainings for the first presidency alone. I learned at a later speech that a sustanation is a covenant. The members of the first presidency covenanted to sustain each other at least three times. It felt special to stand beside my father-in-law in sustaining the new set of prophets. Jessica stood with the Relief Society in her signification of sustanation. After the young women sustained them, I heard Jessica said that we were all to stand up after her mother said something, but the video skipped the scene.
Trying to think about how I should process general conference, I am grateful that I have not missed any of the talks. I tried to go to sleep early, and I have prayed that I may apply the teachings well in my life as well as in the talk that I have to say next Sunday. Each talk felt meaningful.
Some talks that have been impressive to me is about forgiveness, mistakes, and sacrifice. A natural tendency to forgive gives people a greater capacity to lead. Forgiving others helps individuals and others learn from individual mistakes properly. Things are more meaningful when people sacrifice for a purpose. The most difficult thing that I have done is find my job; although, marriage has been very refining too. My job and wife are very meaningful to me because I have sacrificed a lot for the life that we have.
I like to look for doctrines of life to make my life make more sense, applying it in my philosophy and beliefs. Our actions and thoughts are based on our beliefs and philosophy. Applying things at the base may make the progress imperceptible. This is why people should be patient with one another because people do improve on their own time table. When we sacrifice for each other, they are more meaningful. We are most meaningful to Jesus Christ because he made the most comprehensive sacrifices to provide the way for everyone's forgiveness and resurrection.
