Memorial Day Weekend

29 May 2018

I tweeted a cycling story last week, and I have two more. They are both similar because a cyclist passes me, and I sit on them. Since I have a fixed gear bicycle, I feel my competitive capacity is limited. I don't want to pass these people just to be passed back and die.

The first story involves a guy decked out in odd spandex. I tend to poke fun at cycle wear. I let him pass me, but he didn't leave me quick enough. I sped up to cycle with him because he is apparently faster than me. The chase was easy. We biked for a long time together. He even went on a shortcut that Google showed me. After the shortcut, we went our separate ways; however, as I cycled up a hill toward Multnomah Village, stopping before the left turn, I saw the guy that I was sitting on behind me. We may have biked together longer than I realize.

The second story involves a gal decked out in odd spandex. She passed me heading down towards Cook Park. I chased after her, cycling through the lush half mile trail. There was a stop sign, and two in a row are practically useless; plus, there was a third one before the street. I stopped at all three, and the lady did not. Seeing that she was cycling on my path, I chased again, being about 100 yards behind her. I caught up pretty quickly. (On the Friday that I was inspired to write about the life of a cyclist, this lady actually waved at me at the stoplight, having a déjà vu race in Cook Park.)

30 May 2018

I actually have a third story similar to the previous two. I am not a fast cyclist. I only have one gear, and I don't feel that racing with my bike is natural for me. My cycling form was painful before I cycled to Portland. I choose only to push the torque on my leg by a downward motion. Doing my thing, I was cycling up the hills of Terwilliger. Practically all my stories come from this road. My form is slow especially biking up hill. An old lady passed me. I sat on her pathetically for a while; then, a gorgeously competitive girl passed me with a couple other fast guys, surpassing all three of us. I was tired of being pathetic, sitting on an old lady, so I chased after the girl. When I saw that she was cycling with a fixed gear too, I continued to feel pathetic.

I seem to have been so busy last week, having plenty of time given to watch YouTube, that I did not start writing this entry until yesterday.

Jessica has taken me to and taken out food from a local Mexican place three times already, including today. The place is called "Muchos Gracias.'' My first experience was spicy. I tried all four of their salsas, and they were all very spicy. I liked them though because they all had good flavor. I don't like spicy food that doesn't have flavor. One thing, which was confusing, was that my burrito was very spicy too. The flavor was like cup of noodles with shrimp. I ate cabaza there the second time. The meat's texture felt seedy occasionally, which was a little disturbing. Jessica bought us vegetarian burritos today. She likes using the one dollar off coupons from Safeway.

I tried to video my Multnomah Village Apartment featuring the bicycle lounge film, but my videographer didn't feel like it. Jessica said that I should just make a blog post. One thing that I realized is that a YouTube channel is better than a website because a website has millions of competitors while Youtubers just compete against themselves. YouTube is the second most used search engine. I believe in going down paths with less traffic, meaning less competition. I did write a blog post though. I also reorganized my website, posting my many restaurant reviews with my Multnomah Village Apartments post for more Multnomah Village content.

I took my first PTO hours off; leaving for Capitola, California on Friday. The drive down was so-so. Driving would be so much less stressful, if its culture drove the speed limit strictly. It is nice that Jessica and I are united in this. One experience made the road trip miserable for a long time. We were driving in the right lane. When I saw two semi-trucks that were merging, I turned into the left lane. A guy was driving behind me. If he was driving the speed limit, he would not have had an issue, but he was speeding. According to them, I cut them off. Most people would think that I am stupid; I assume. Jessica and I complain of the "crazy" people that tailgate us, driving over the speed limit, all day long. Even I drive over the speed limit by five miles an hour, but most people drive passed me like I am a slowpoke. Jessica and I did have some good times; although, the guy that I "cut off" passed me in a rage splashed mud all over the car. We were lucky that it was raining.

We ate at Elmers in Eugene for breakfast. I knew that they burnt their food from the pictures of their German Pancakes, so I didn't choose it; however, the hash browns of my meal were too crispy.

Although the road trip was stressful, one good thing that resulted was that we helped a couple who needed some money for gas at a gas station, asking Jessica for help. This is one fruit of taking our road trip budget out with cash.

31 May 2018

Jessica and I were happy that we arrived in Capitola, California exactly at 6 pm. We planned to arrive in the 5 o' clock hour.

Mom prepared finger food for dinner including sticky rice and sausage. There were some vegetable stir fry, but it was not finger food.

Thomas' sister-in-law was staying with my family for the evening, and she goes by Ashley. My little brother got a Google Home Max. When I said that Ashley can have it to play any song that she likes, she asked it to play BTS, a Korean boy band. She loves the band so much that she went off talking about it for the rest of the night. Jessica was good at showing interest, but I left after dinner. Dad came to talk with me to catch up.

Trevor watched the Han Solo movie on the evening that we arrived. Jessica and I did not budget for it neither were we interested. Trevor arrived late wanting to start playing a game at 10:30 pm. Jessica & I went to sleep without the game; although, eleven at night is already late. We were going to drive home Monday. We were planning to play a game the next day with dad, but he went shopping.

Trevor, Jessica, and I played Machi Koro. Jessica won because Trevor and I were distracted by Youtube.

4 June 2018

On Saturday of Memorial Day weekend my parents took Jessica and I out for lunch at Taqueria Vallarta. I had a vegetarian burrito because we had been eating way too much meat. We went to Pop Eye's for lunch the previous day, and I felt like a savage, eating only fried chicken with their five dollar meal.

Afterward we walked to the end of pleasure point. It was about a mile and a half walk out. Walks are a family tradition. We walked to the Capitola beach on Sunday.

I asked my mom for a haircut. No one complimented me or my mom on my haircut until yesterday, when we were having dinner with my in-laws.

5 June 2018

I tend to be a DJ, when I am visiting my parents, playing their favorite music. I did this, and Trevor was out again, coming home late. We basically hung out all that evening on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend.

On Sunday, I went to church with the Capitola Ward. It was good to see everyone. Even Craig Muirhead spoke to me. I don't think that I ever spoke to him my entire life. Ray Pike wanted to catch up, but he is serving in the young single adult branch.

Jessica & I walked to the Capitola beach as Trevor attended the Ocean YSA Branch. I wanted to nap because I had stayed up late the previous two nights. Sitting on a bench before the beach, my mother actually fell asleep on my father's shoulder as I was complaining about wanting to nap.

Many young single adults tried to sneak by us as I woke up. I could not fit in with them until after dinner we played Apples to Apples. I almost won, but Trevor won two times in a row, winning eight rounds easily.

After most of the young single adults left, Trevor asked Jessica and I whether we wanted to play Machi Koro at 10 PM with Racer and Isaiah. Trevor likes to explore bold risky strategies, getting two mines early in the game. I countered his strategy by having a tax office. I don't know how to explain how I won, but I did with many other people close to winning.

We decided to leave about 6 AM the next day, planning to arrive late in the evening in Oregon. I had little sleep, so I slept in as much as I can. I also had to take a nap on the road.

Emma is from Eugene, and she married Wesley Ledesma recently. I had Jessica contact Wesley, her cousin for tips on where we should eat for dinner. He recommended BJ’s, and I didn't realize until we arrived that I already ate at one in Hillsboro for my Apollo Mechanical Internship Review. The one in Eugene had a very different feel. Hillsboro's felt a lot more intimate. Eugene's was a lot larger, feeling like a gigantic sports bar. I got a legume & ancient grain soup in a bread bowl. When I received the dish. I was delighted to see the bread bowl top buttered & baked. I wished that it was garlic bread. After consuming that quickly, I ate the soup in less than a minute, feeling like they did not use the volume of the bread bowl well; then, I cut the bread bowl up like a pizza, and ate that. I wasn't full after, so Jessica and I shared a Pizookie. They are not as creative or original as they sound. It is just ice cream and a freshly baked cookie.

We arrived home later than we expected. By the way the Buick Century 2005 model is incredibly uncomfortable in any position. I am waiting for my wife in the car as she is at Cub Scouts, wearing a white church shirt. I wish that I can lay on the grass outside, but I don't want to stain my shirt.

The following week was highlighted by cycling behind people because I was afraid to pass people since I only have one gear. This week I am more willing to pass people. I tended to sit on girl cyclists because they don't pass as powerfully. I kind of felt like I wronged a girl. She was an avid cyclist, but she was not decked out in cycling gear. She wore soft clothing, and I could see her bony spine. People could probably see my bony spine if all I wore as a top was a soft clothed T shirt. It reminded me of running on my distance running team behind shirtless guys. I could see their spine moving like a wave. I was surprised the young woman's spine didn't. The wave motion of the spine seemed natural. After sitting on her for a while she showed fear by looking back at me a couple times. I turned up the Google's "shortcut," letting her relax.

On Friday I biked to Tualatin, and a couple young deer was trying to make their way through the town of Tigard. One almost jumped in front of me. A similar situation happened driving on Highway 17 on our way to Oregon, but these two deer in were majestic. The people in their cars at the traffic light were mesmerized, a sight that I could proudly look back to admire.

This past weekend the Maplewood Ward commemorated the restoration of the Priesthood with a barbeque. I volunteered to buy all the food. I shared the responsibility with Milo Nimori. We bought lettuce & tomatoes, which required more work than I realized. I could not assume that other people were going to wash and cut them, which was good judgment. I cut and washed the lettuce on the morning of the barbeque. We wondered if anyone else was assigned to wash and prepare everything. We almost did not bring knives and a cutting board to prepare the tomatoes. No one came with utensils, so we cut the tomatoes at the park.

After bringing all the food and preparing the vegetables, I saw that there were plenty of leaders around. I wanted to go enjoy the barbeque. I mainly wanted to swing with Jessica at the park. The swings were popular, and we were unable to get to them until after eating the food. We did go to the park before the meal. McKella, a Valiant 8 student in my class, called me Brother Hicken, which is rare for me. After walking back to the barbeque, I was approached by Mckella with another girl, asking if I would like to run a foot-race around a loop. I won of course. The path was not marked will. One of McKella's sister told me to run down a shortcut with her. She enjoyed the thrill of the race, running down the path. McKella claimed the race ended at the third corner of the loop. McKella's sister blocked me from the finish as the other girl, finished "second" exhausted. Walking back to the barbeque with them, I revealed to them that I won BYU-Idaho's cross country championship race at one time.

The barbeque was set up well, when I returned. We had prepared a good amount of vegetables. Milo ate with us, and we met another couple.

When Jessica and I were finally able to use the swings, Jessica thought how we started swinging was hilarious because we raced to see who can get to swing the highest. Starting without momentum made her laugh.

They had a pie eating contest after. Some rounds were done in like five seconds, which blew my mind. There was a couples round, which I did not want to do because I was too full. I am not a dessert person anyways. I walked away because I did not want to be pressured into it, but Jessica gave in. The bishop said that Jessica wanted to do it, and I did not have to eat any; therefore, I joined her. I sat next to her as she participated, but I did not eat any.

After the barbeque, I prepared my primary lesson for the Valiant 8 students. I taught about the birth and calling of Moses. The manual wanted the purpose of the lesson to teach them that God has a life mission that he has prepared for them. I wanted to continue emphasizing that Moses' life is in similitude of the mortal life of Jesus Christ.

Moses 1:6 "And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten; and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior, for he is full of grace and truth; but there is no God beside me, and all things are present with me, for I know them all."  

I taught the mandate to drown all the Hebrews male children was similar Jesus Christ. The Romans killed all of the children his age, seeking to kill Christ.

I read the following Brigham Young quote: “There is neither man nor woman in this Church who is not on a mission. That mission will last as long as they live, and it is to do good, to promote righteousness, to teach the principles of truth, and to prevail upon themselves and everybody around them to live those principles that they may obtain eternal life” (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [1941], p. 322).  

I wanted to review Article of Faith 5. "We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof."

One activity that the lesson recommended me to do is have a child try to hold a loop of yarn in a shape impossible to do alone; then, other children are allowed to help make the shape. This activity showed that the church can't be led by one person. I didn't have yarn, so I had drew a dot on the board; one for each person. I instructed the children to connect the dots with chalk, restricting them from moving around by walking, jumping, or transportation. I taught that each person comes from various situations, and one person cannot connect all the dots alone. The shape represents the Kingdom of God. Everyone has a mission to fulfill within the church.

Tuesday June 12, 2018

I seem to always be a week behind. I want to catch up and publish this.

Last Monday, not yesterday, considering my budget, I realized that I could not afford to pay the year's GoDaddy service all at once. Somehow I got the idea that I could have my website hosted for free at blogger. I think that it is interesting how I could not find any free website hosting options while I research previously. I was hoping to transfer the website to Blogger, but GoDaddy said that I need to own it for more than sixty days according to the rules of the "Internet." This got me stuck with GoDaddy for another month. I called their customer service to switch my payment method to monthly rather than yearly. There is a free website hosting with Blogger, and GoDaddy will supposedly make the transfer for me.

We are running out of rice, and our budget is not ready to buy a whole twenty-five pound bag. Jessica also wants to make sandwiches for herself. I have a thing against modern loaves of bread. Jessica bought one loaf of bread, and I made myself lunch with it. One slice of bread is only one hundred calories; therefore, I had to have at least three sandwiches to have a good meal. We had sandwiches for dinner, and I finished the loaf. If we ate bread as the main source of sustenance, we would have to buy one loaf a day. Bread would become the highest expense in the food budget; however, I do believe in a high carb diet as grains are the staff of life. Doctrine and Covenants 89:14 says "All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life,'' I will say that brown rice’s energy count lasts a lot longer than wheat flour.

When I lived with my grandparents to work between semesters at BYUI, I learned that my grandpa was experimenting with a bread machine. A roommate of mine was actually making bread for himself as his main source of food without a machine. I have had a bread machine ever since. If one buys the ingredients for the bread in bulk, one can have bread for weeks. One thing about making bread that is nice is that an individual is not subjected to 100 calorie slices. A slice of bread can be 300 calories. The bread machine that I use is produced by Hamilton Beach.

13 June 2018

Last week I got over my fear of passing someone with a gear bike. I was sitting on a guy, and he was coming up on a slow cyclist. I didn't want to get stuck behind both of them, so I passed the two of them. One thing that I recall about a Friday is that I wanted to write about the life of a cyclist. I want to write a quote that was written on a custom shirt that my cross country team used. "Beware of x country Spartans. They tend to stampede, chase, and sit on cyclists, runners, and pedestrians."

As I have biked in Oregon, I have come to believe that cycling keeps us sane. What is the life of a cyclist like? It is more human. Fellow cyclists actually wave at you as though you are part of the community. One might want to hold a pleasant conversation with you. There is practically no traffic. There is no road rage, honking and yelling at each other, or annoying tailgating. Cycling helps relieve stress. Budgets for car gasoline are lower; and car insurance too. I use Metromile. A cyclist can bike as fast as they want, ignoring car speed limits.

On Saturday Jessica and I got around to putting the house together because we were having company over. We invited Lucas and Jasmine over to eat with the missionaries, who were our company.  I cleaned up the kitchen and bathroom as Jessica worked on the laundry and apartment reorganization. We drove up from California with a lot of stuff that we had in storage. The house was a mess.

At dinner the sister missionaries revealed to us that stake conference had a session on Saturday evening; however, we invited Lucas and Jasmine to play games. It felt rude to change plans on them.

We played Settlers of Catan. Since I was the oldest, I was able to choose the region of most probable success. My strategy's success was slow as probability did not favor me, but I got the longest road and largest army, almost having a monopoly on brick.

The challenge of the stake conference the next day was humbling. We were committed to have a gospel centered conversation with someone who is not a member of our church weekly. The member of the quorum of the seventy said that seeking to have a gospel centered conversation weekly evolved into a goal of daily talks for him personally. One week he was lead to speak to a less active return missionary at a line of a fast food restaurant, seeking to have his seventh daily conversation for the week. His palpable joy of life was an instant testament of his faith. His straight forward inquiry of religion led to a lifelong relationship that did not bear fruit immediately. This reminded me of my final day as a missionary. I flew home early because my visa ended before the transfer ended. On the flights, I engaged in conversation with everyone around me. I did not preach to a group as I have done previously. Most conversations were wholesome. One asked me for my contact information, but I was too dumb to give it. I didn't give my contact information to anyone on my mission; however, I had more than ten conversations on my flights home. I even had lunch with a missionary finishing her mission with the Jehovah Witness Church. Being a shameless missionary is wonderful, but it is hard to regain that attribute. I feel weak. I want to be a mighty disciple of Christ, but I need to work at it.

One pretty cool thing that Jessica's mother did is bake a bowl of chocolate beneath a layer of marshmallows. It turns out that one doesn't need fire to roast marshmallows.

16 June 2018

This week was a little stressful at work. I will not go into the details. I was ignoring general contractor correspondence emails, letting my project manager deal with it; however, my project manager quit, and my new project manager is figuring out my position. I also asked my operations manager whether I should I be looking into GC correspondence. I have started.

General Contractor correspondence is formal, but subcontractor correspondence is informal. A couple times issues have come up, and they are not fully explained until the last moment or after the fact. This creates unnecessary drama.

I learned that when issues are informally introduced to not consult every party and their engineers. Engineers only are consulted through the contractor.

The general contractor also said that I am not qualified to do Quality Control. That messed with my head for a couple days. They want a foreman to do it. I know that he won't, so I still need to do my Quality Control work. My role was only questioned because we are having a transition of project management.

One passive income that I have started doing is Foap. It is like the Uber of stock images. They say that a user will be paid five dollars for each of their photos that they sell. One interesting things is that each user doesn't have to have a unique portfolio. Users can add other people's pictures into their collections for more complete portfolios. If people sell photos that they don't own, they are paid 25 cents while the owner is paid 5 dollars. I don't know how much people pay for the photograph in total. I have great reviews of my pictures, but no sales.

On Thursday evening Jessica went to the Portland temple for an interview to be a volunteer. I told an apartment manager about it, since she asked about my evening plans. Maybe that counts as a gospel conversation. I also talked to someone else about BYUI if that counts. I need to raise my standard more, but it is a start.

Since Jessica was in the interview, I went to do work for a distant relative. FamilySearch recommends me to do ordinance work for people that they find as an opportunity for me in my family tree. This is my first time printing out my own relative's worksheet. I feel a special connection with this person; although, he is my fourth cousin three times removed. It is better than doing ordinance work for a random person.

I will expand ordinance work at this time. There are two Christian beliefs that are seemly contradictory without the fullness of the gospel restored.

"We believe that through the [A]tonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. We believe that these ordinances¹ [the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel]¹ are: 1st [first], Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; 2d[second], Repentance; 3d [third], Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; 4th[fourth], Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Christ is mighty to save all man through his atonement, but everyone must receive these ordinances. The Catholic Church baptizes children at birth to help with this. Their records are great, but what about all the people that are not part of the covenants/ordinances of the gospel who have died without any relationship with the church and Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is seeking to connect every child of Heavenly Father, which is all mankind, in the history of the earth to the family tree; for Eve is the mother of all man. These records will allow us to connect the two seemingly contradictory doctrines by performing ordinances for the dead in temples. This will be man's main work in the millennium. It may seem impossible, but the millennium is a thousand years, and it is prophesied that angels will help. We can surely figure this out in one thousand years.

Last night, which was a Friday, Jessica & I went to Scappoose, OR to see the Incredibles 2 with Jasmine and Lucas. My review is this. It is a great movie, but the story is illogical. I didn't leave feeling inspired. Simple.

This morning Trevor, my little brother, called me, and we spoke for a couple hours. Last time my little brother got into a relationship. I documented it controversially in my blog, but I won't this time. I met his girlfriend in California during our Memorial Day weekend trip.

When Mickey left, the game night crew fell apart, and Hannah revived the game night crew with Kayla. I knew that Hannah had to have an intention, showing interest in Trevor, doing so. Many times girls don't hang out just for fun. I told my dad this on the first night that I visited California. About a week ago I told Trevor this, saying if you don't act boldly you will lose a great friend.

I finally caught up.

I have one last cycling story. Most of them are on Terwilliger Boulevard. I passed a cyclist early in the path. Cycling a good pace for a while, I thought that I left him in the dust, giving into the fatigue. An interesting thing happened when I slowed down. Three cyclists passed me including the slow guy that I passed early on; so much for passing gear cyclists sufficiently. I might have let them pass because I learned not to look back in a race. It shows fear. Steve Prefontaine is famous for this.

Another reason that I may not have heard the three cyclists behind me is because I like to wear my Titanium Flare Earplugs. They are a safety personal protective equipment at work on the construction site that I purchased for my last birthday. I like to wear them, biking, on the road to muffle the street noises and to events like loud dances and movies. The earplugs are also a zero waste product because most earplugs are worn once and thrown away; however, my single pair has worked for me for about six months.

17 June 2018

Speaking of my earplugs, I forgot them on Friday in a shirt that I wore the previous day. I use free Wi-Fi calling and texting with Google Voice to save on my phone bill. The three dollar a month prepaid plan with T-mobile doesn't make much sense to me currently. I only had to pay one dollar to fulfill the minimum service balance on my last bill, but they require a minimum payment of ten dollars. It is not a big deal, but I have to figure this out. Will I have to pay ten dollars once every few months or every month? That was a recent hassle with T-mobile; however, Google Voice has been giving me a hassle too.

Google Voice thought that I was abusing their service. I am assuming this because they did not tell me why they blocked me from texting and calling Jessica, my wife. I saw in an article that Google Voice has an algorithm to monitor abuse. This has been the situation for a few months. I was all packed nearly ready to start my bike ride to work, when I realized that I forgot my earplugs. I tried my luck, calling Jessica; although, it has not been working. It worked! I tried the next day to text her, and that worked to. It seems Google Voice is giving me a second chance.

Today is Father's day and Sunday. I just got done talking to my parents. Pie was served to the patriarchs at our ward. The choice for me was easy, when I saw strawberry cheesecake. Strawberries are my favorite food and has been for my entire life.

On Monday we continued to put together our Ikea dresser. We realized that we assembled the drawers wrong, when they were missing holes, so we had to make a lot of noise, disassembling them with our hammer and mallet. We were able to reassemble the three drawers.

9 May 2018

When I stepped out of my apartment to bike to work, I saw two cyclists up the way. Passing them was easy; then, I heard the second guy’s chains, changing to another gear, and he left me. That didn't bother me. His reaction and acceleration was impressive especially since we were cycling up hill. Cruising along, I stopped at a traffic light. Rolling down a long hill, I saw the competitive guy, accelerating from stopping at a light too. I charged to pass him a second time, going uphill again. Both hills tired me, but I almost finished it. The competitive guy came on my left, pointing that he was going to turn right, and he passed me again.

Today I have time to write my full review of ThermaLeaf, since Jessica is at Cub Scouts. Yesterday the church announced that the church will no longer encourage the youth to do Boy Scouts after this year. The church is too international to continue to endorse a program most youth can't do.

Mothers' Day, 13 May 2018

Early last week we received the news that our tradition of eating dinner with their Ledesma family was going to be broken for mothers' day to give her rest. Jessica was thinking of preparing burritos. Her mother said that we could make spaghetti. When we called to see what we should purchase, we received word from Mercedes that she wanted hamburgers. Yesterday I went to Safeway with the grocery list. After I got everything on the list, I went to the checkout line. I went to the Coinstar machine to get rid of the coins that Jessica has been collecting. I collected my Coinstar money voucher just before the two customers before me finished.

The total expense came out about fifty-six dollars. I knew that I only had about fifty dollars from our remaining of our budget. The Safeway customer loyalty card cut the total down to nearly fifty dollars. I gave the cashier all of our food budget money, saying that it was not enough. You might think that I may be a jerk, but I was slow to pull out my debit card. When the cashier saw that the remaining balance was eighty-one cents, she paid the remainder with a dollar bill. I was hoping the buy flowers, but the barbeque meal consumed the entire budget.

On Thursday, the sister missionaries visited us spontaneously, since they were in the area. They got to know us. Jessica and I told our story, and the sister missionaries gave us a bookmark, laying out the ward mission plan.

15 May 2018

On Sunday the cheeseburger dinner was a success.

Oh, talking about food. During the week Jessica texted me a link from lds.org, saying grains should not be a man's sole source of protein. On Saturday Jessica and I counseled about how we should get beans in our diet. As we looked into the issue, we found that grains have amino acids in its composition, but it doesn't have all of the necessary ones. Legumes oftentimes have the complementary amino acids. Looking through lists of options, I realized that we don't get our protein solely with grain. Soy milk is made with soy beans; therefore, we should be safe.

After the cheeseburger dinner, Lucas and Jasmine came by. I spoke about how pearls are made are a metaphor to Joseph, the son of Jacob. Pearls are made when sand gets in the shell of an oyster. Since the oyster can't spit it out, it covers the irritant with a shiny hard substance, making it smooth. Joseph made his trials a pearl. I didn't know how pearls were made before Sunday. When I shared this, John Ledesma had a video to share, a Judaic perspective on Joseph's life.

While watching the video, I grew to be not fond of the rabbi's instruction. John Ledesma said that Judaism doesn't have modern prophets, but rabbis make commentaries on the Torah. https://www.chabad.org/3872739Mendel Kaplan was the instructor. My opinion of the instruction would make people think that I am intolerant. There has been commentaries made by Mormon scholars on the Book of Mormon. We have been told not to believe what they teach. The study of scriptural commentary requires the spirit of discernment. Prophets are the chosen people to give us the true interpretation of scripture as revealed by God. Scholars don't have the authority to interpret scriptures. The Kingdom of God ought to run by Jesus Christ as revealed to his prophets. Religions should not be run by man without revelation from God.

17 May 2018

Late last week my trainer from my mission asked if I would like to carpool with him. My trainer is named Daniel Garcia. Jessica and I decided to go. Alex Boyd, my second companion, recommended the catered food. I hope that there is good Jerk Chicken. I have never had good Jamaican food in the United States except for one dish at a Jamaican restaurant in my hometown. The dish was stew oxtail.

One coincidental thing about my new website is that this week is Bike to Work week. The website is a lifestyle blog, teaching thrift. Biking to work is a practice of frugal living. Friends on Facebook don't seem to be supportive. My last journal entry got a lot of views, but no one on Facebook liked it. Maybe people think that I am trying to be self-reliant; therefore, he doesn't need our support. Do you recall how long it took for the Mormon YSA Blog Spot to achieve a consistent audience? It took several years. Many people supported me. I recall a girl liked every post that I shared, when I started the media outlet.

19 May 2018

Today is the twenty-sixth month celebration of Jessica and I's marriage. We should be on the road to Spanish Fork, Utah for the missionary reunion, but Dan Garcia is an hour late. I am writing as we are waiting. I wonder if his Facebook account was hacked because he called Elder Lott's first name as Elton when it is Shawn. That is like me forgetting the name of my elementary school, a very personal historical thing. Elder Lott was his companion.

20 May 2018

I am not an ultra-intelligent person. Maybe I am use to be informed of things the week before. The missionary reunion is actually next week. I don't follow the mission reunion updates on Facebook. Dan Garcia called me, and I didn't recognize his voice. It has been almost ten years since we served closely, so his voice didn't prove that he was not hacked. I am not the brightest or sharpest. A lot of people can tell you how weak that I am. I just try the best with what I have. Dan described our service together by my request. I am missing the missionary reunion because I made plans to visit my family in California for Memorial Day weekend.

My journal entries don't seem to be organized well. I am going to listen to what I wrote already, noting everything that I want to address.

I have been able to figure out how to cook rice. On Tuesday, I transcribed a story by grandpa from StoryWorth. I signed up for Teespring. I wrote a couple articles for my website last week, signing up for the Amazon Affiliate Program. I finally got a response from Ikea. This weekend Jessica and I went out a couple times. Saturday I got up early. When we realized that Elder Garcia is not coming, I made preparations for my Sunday school lesson; although, I got a substitute. Last Sunday at choir, I learned that today was the last time that we were going to perform until we start rehearsal until the fall, and I wanted to sing in the choir, and we were able to. My lesson went well.  

A lid for the pot did solve the “water boiling out too quick” issue; however, at first, the rice seem to come out like mashed rice. I have learned to make rice better.

Teespring is a profitable business that I signed up for. I think that I have an audience for my products, but an audience is required in my belief. Jessica came in as I almost completed a design. I think my original idea is good for a design, but Jessica thought it might be a humorous quote. My first attempt at a quote was not humorous, so I didn’t go through with it. I don’t think that my idea is supposed to be humorous; although, my first attempt tried to adopt some humor. I am still working on the design.

Since last week was ‘bike to work’ week, I wrote with beginner cyclists in mind. I was a beginner cyclist, so I know some of their thoughts. Fun fact about me: I was thinking of being a bicycle mechanic at one time. I have explored so many career options. I think that it is ironic that I have started a cycling and lifestyle blog. Signing up for the affiliate program of Amazon, I think that it is a good opportunity, but I am still developing my audience with my website. I got nineteen clicks on the affiliate links, but no sales yet. My website is not designed well. I still need to work on that.

Ikea’s costumer service for delivering missing parts is really slow. I requested the missing part on May fifth, and they did not respond until May eighteenth. Their original email said that it would take them five days to respond. Their respond said that they started the process of delivering the missing parts, which will require a few days to ship it; then, seven to ten days for it to arrive.

Since we were supposed on the road on Saturday, Jessica and I celebrated our twenty-sixth month of our marriage on Friday; although, Friday was the eighteenth. I asked a coworker for a suggestion of where to eat, since she lived near Multnomah Village. She recommended the Village Hut for their seafood. I think that it is weird that restaurants don’t serve to fill you in Multnomah Village. My coworker did say that Marco’s Café is not good for dinner, so I was not off on my review. I got Ahi fish because I did not know what it was (of course.) I love exploring food. Ahi was a sashimi type dish over rice, a bento. I enjoyed it.

On Saturday, the nineteenth, Jessica took me out to the Wafflicious Food Cart near Multnomah Village, since the nineteen of March is the day of our marriage, and I got the sausage and mushroom entrée, since I love exploring food (of course.) It tasted good. The flavor was not bold. I barely tasted the waffle, mushroom, and cheese. The sausage seemed to overwhelm the other flavors, but I liked it.

Today was Ward Conference for Beaverton Stake’s Maplewood Ward. I looked sitting in the stand next to the organ as a choir. I feel that our choir contributed a lot to the sacrament meeting. The first song that we sang sounded a little off, but we made it through it.

The Sunday school lesson that I prepared was based on the doctrine that many ancient prophets are types of Christ that we may learn of him. I taught from the life of Joseph’s life, teaching about Christ at the same time as his life is a similitude. The following list are some of the ways that Joseph is a type of Jesus Christ: I got this list from a student manual. The apostle Bruce McConkie taught these similitudes.

1.       Joseph was the favored son of his father; so was Jesus (see Genesis 37:3; Matthew 3:17).

2.       Joseph was rejected by his brothers, the Israelites, as was Jesus (see Genesis 37:4; John 1:11; Isaiah 53:3; 1 Nephi 19:13–14).

3.       Joseph was sold by his brothers into the hands of the Gentiles, just as Jesus was (see Genesis 37:25–27; Matthew 20:19).

4.       Judah, the head of the tribe of Judah, proposed the sale of Joseph. Certain leaders of the Jews in Jesus’ day turned Jesus over to the Romans. Judas (the Greek spelling of Judah) was the one who actually sold Jesus. (See Genesis 37:26; Matthew 27:3.)

5.       Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver, the price of a slave his age. Christ was sold for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave His age. (See Genesis 37:28; Matthew 27:3; Exodus 21:32; Leviticus 27:5.)

6.       In their very attempt to destroy Joseph, his brothers actually set up the conditions that would bring about their eventual temporal salvation—that is, Joseph, by virtue of being sold, would become their deliverer. Jesus, by His being given into the hands of the Gentiles, was crucified and completed the atoning sacrifice, becoming the Deliverer for all mankind.

7.       Joseph began his mission of preparing salvation for Israel at age thirty, just as Jesus began His ministry of preparing salvation for the world at age thirty (see Genesis 41:46; Luke 3:23).

8.       When Joseph was finally raised to his exalted position in Egypt, all bowed the knee to him. All will eventually bow the knee to Jesus. (See Genesis 41:43; D&C 88:104.)

9.       Joseph provided bread for Israel and saved them from death, all without cost. Jesus, the Bread of Life, did the same for all men. (See Genesis 42:35; John 6:48–57; 2 Nephi 9:50.)

I expounded on Joseph’s life in Egypt as the slave of Potiphar, observing his character, which led to him ascending to obtaining stewardships over Potiphar’s house, prison, and Egypt. We practiced the thirteen articles of faith, and I taught that Joseph lived the thirteenth well.

“We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul— We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”

I transition to teach about Joseph’s experiences with Potiphar’s wife by discussing the definition of, the word, chaste. I taught more about Joseph’s character, reviewing the seventh article of faith, since he interpreted the dreams of the Pharaoh’s chief butler and baker in prison. “We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.” Joseph’s benevolent nature was revealed in the record of Genesis chapter forty.

“6 And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad. 7 And he asked Pharaoh’s officers that were with him in the ward of his lord’s house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to day? 8 And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.”

His character was a bold testimony of God as everyone recognized that he communed with their spirit. I concluded my lesson with the last two types of Christ. The lesson went well.
I brought the children Goldfish by their request.

Cinco de Mayo 2018

Today is Saturday. Last night we attended a first celebration of Cinco de Mayo. Our apartment complex hosted a margarita and taco evening. It was more like a taco salad.

6 May 2018

The event was very Americanized; at least, we met a neighbor, who is completely Mexican. She actually just got back from a vacation at Thailand, visiting the exact same places that I did two years ago with my family; Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, and even Phi Phi Island. She moved up her for work like us in February. I hope that Jessica tries to be her friend because they exchanged phone numbers.

After the party I felt out of it for an odd reason. Jessica and I were going to watch a movie, but I was not feeling it. Jessica actually chose a few movies, which doesn't come easily. One sounded interesting. It was one of Robert Downing Jr's first movies. The film is named "Hearts and Souls". It had an inspiring message, but my theory of how directors add suggestive or perverted scenes, making the film mainstream, applied to this film. It shows the acting skills a Robert Downing Jr. I like films that highlight skill & talent. I did not realize until just before going to sleep why I felt out of it. It is because I am an introvert. The socializing drained my soul's energy.

This week was chill. I did not do start my cycling blog yet because I have a lesson to teach about Jacob and his family.

One thing that I realized lately is that Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob lived pretty normal lives. They did not convert thousands of people unto Christ like the great examples in the Book of Mormon. I want to start the lesson by explaining my realization. Abraham did the works of a normal man, but he was given a unique covenant because he desired it. Abraham had great desires. They were the first thing that he explained in his book, writing:

"In the land of the Chaldeans, at the residence of my fathers, I, Abraham, saw that it was needful for me to obtain another place of residence; And, finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers.

It was conferred upon me from the fathers; it came down from the fathers, from the beginning of time, yea, even from the beginning, or before the foundation of the earth, down to the present time, even the right of the firstborn, or the first man, who is Adam, or first father, through the fathers unto me. I sought for mine appointment unto the Priesthood according to the appointment of God unto the fathers concerning the seed."

Ancient prophet's lives were in similitude of God. Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac is symbolic of Heavenly Father's sacrifice of his only begotten son Jesus Christ; other than that, Abraham seemed to be a nomad shepherd driven around by famine and lack of food for his livestock.

This week I was trying to develop a passive income business strategy. It is interesting that the YouTube videos don't talk about anything that my father-in-law does. He has a lot of passive income businesses.

I am thinking about making merchandise for the Mormon YSA Blog Spot. I found a way to do it without needing money to manufacture and inventorying products. It is through Teespring. Teespring is a website that will do everything except designing the logos.

I am thinking about making an online business with a theme of a frugal cyclist and my lifestyle. This will include waste free products, selling products that I use with affiliate marketing links with Amazon.

On Thursday I recalled my old sci-fi story to Jessica because Amazon Kindle publishing is a great opportunity. Jessica did not get the vision of the story at first, but she thought it developed into a very interesting story. I can complete this story and sell it.

Clickbank is another opportunity. Clickbank gives you high commission rates to sell educational courses. I always pick on people's running form. This is a hobby of an avid runner. I can sell or make course content that teaches people to run. I am a runner at heart; although, I ride my bike to work. Udemy or Teachable might be better affiliate marketing education websites.

I have a lot of projects that I can do, but I want to develop a wholesome lifestyle about it rather that an overbearing salesman that worships his business. Since I teach every other week, I will try to do one or two projects every other week. I still plan to make the video about my apartment's bike lounge, being a cyclist's treasure in Portland.

My Primary lesson went well; although, the students were a little distracted with stickers. We were moved to another class; plus, Brother Kuhn came late, so my lesson was cut short.

On Saturday the YSA missionaries came over for dinner. We finally got missionaries to come to eat at our residence. Jasmine & Lucas was going to visit, and help us complete assembling our dresser; however, they never came. The missionaries did help me with it until we realized that we were missing parts. We made them surprise sandwiches from last week. They committed me to follow up on a missionary opportunity on Monday.

“I'm trying out passive income opportunities, & @MobileXpression, which was recommended by a YouTuber, disabled my phone from receiving WiFi.” I went all out into passive income apps with my phone about a year ago. A lot of them require a consumerism lifestyle, so you are probably not gaining much from them.

The YouTuber also recommended Slidejoy. The apps that this YouTuber are suggesting are not a meaningful passive income stream; however, I used to use them. I used to use Slidejoy. It is an advertising app, giving you money for using your phone. The advertisements are only on your lock screen not randomly. I used like seven of these apps at once, but it drained my phone battery. My little brother asked me what the best one was, and I said that S'more is. My little brother use to buy toys for himself with this side income. They actually give you a comprehendable amount of money each day. The minimum that they give you is ten cents a day. Other apps give an incomprehendably small amount of money each day. I started using S'more again. You can make more money each day with other opportunities in the app. The following link will take you to the app: https://goo.gl/x7wb8c .

Another app that I found a long time ago that does not disable my phone's Wi-Fi, but does the same thing as MobileXpression is called Mobile Performance Meter. This app also gives ten cents a day. MobileXpression takes your phone anonymous usage data, making business out of it. I obviously don't recommend MobileXpression because it did not work for me. Mobile Performance Meter is better. Go to https://www.embeepay.com/mpm/bin/invite/8312950611/8ea5to check out this opportunity. I use to get ten cents a day, but I get five now.

Another app that I came across randomly is McMoney. The company is trying to upgrade the international texting (SMS) service. They will text you randomly, and you don't have to do anything. I think that it is funny that they said that they can pay me up to six dollars a month, but I only pay three dollars a month for my phone bill. Most of these apps will give you virtual gift cards, and I actually got one when I was into it a while ago. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cmtelecom.texter

7 May 2018

I came into work today, and a guy from BMCW mechanical firm recognized me, asking if I went to Western Oregon University. When I said that I worked at Apollo Mechanical, he realized that I helped him with his tablet at Intel, when he was a foreman there. Our conversation initially started by him, asking me about cycling to work. After our conversation he determined that he was going to ride his bike to work. This was not a spontaneous decision. He had considered it previously, mapping out the path from his residence.

Today I was a little distracted because I am thinking of making a new Twitter account for my new lifestyle passive income blog. I knew that I had an email address with iCloud, and I would rather recover an old email address than make a new one. Apple makes life really difficult, but I figured it out. I created the account, yet I don't know why. Maybe I should just rebrand my Twitter account. I want my new Twitter username to be @alexycles. I deactivated the account, trying to rebrand my Twitter account, but I already made the account. The transition could not be that fast.

8 May 2018

Today I invested more into myself. I even purchased a website domain. I posted an article on the website, but it is not ready yet to share. It is the following essay:

"I have wanted to be an entrepreneur for years; however, I have had a realization recently. If one is going to invest in a company or a startup, one should invest in your own personal business. The yield will be much greater than giving money to a company, and greater control of the decisions in the business will be the owner’s. The risk and the actions of the company are their decision too.

I have made an investment of purchasing a domain name. My first article will be my review of the experience with that. I considered SquareSpace and Wix. I did not visit SquareSpace because I expect their rates of maintaining and establishing their websites are comparable. When I signed up for Wix, my first URL was goofy. (alexnhicken.wixsite.com/alexycles) I didn't want that to me by business website to start.

I wanted a beautiful website with my business name, alexycles. I checked out GoDaddy because I knew that they sold domain names. Their rate was not monthly at first. I saw their affordable rate for a domain name. When I got to the template part of the website development, I was shown the following options for website: Personal Blog (six dollars a month), Business (ten dollars a month), Business plus (probably twelve dollars a month), and Online Store (fourteen dollars a month). This was after purchasing the domain name. I felt like I was stuck in a trap.

Looking back at Wix's rates, I saw that they offered a seven dollars a month rate that would be ideal for my business; plus, the domain name would be free. They also give advertising and SEO features. I tried to get the seven dollar monthly rate, but I was denied the opportunity for an unknown reason. It was a fifty percent off deal for a year.

GoDaddy makes everything too raw, selling you on features that should be a given. I applied for an option with GoDaddy because I was denied service at Wix. They claimed to give a free custom email address with my website, which I found out will be sixty dollars a year after choosing a rate. I called GoDaddy because the email situation with the account was very confusing. The guy on the phone was trying to sell me on a backup service of theirs, which will allow me to recover emails that I accidentally deleted permanently.

My experience was a mess. I wish that I chose Wix. I seem to be making decisions too quickly. I finally got my own domain name!

This website is called alexycles because I bike to work. It is pronounced as ‘Alex cycles.’ That is my main hobby right now. I am trying to make a business based on many passive income ideas, hoping to combine them into my life well. I have a Twitter account @alexycles, but my personal one is @A_NielsonHicken. I post about technology, writing, cycling, running, frugal living, and many other things. I hope to make @alexycles an extension of my lifestyle, applying it to a passive income source.

Last week I told Jessica about a Science Fiction Novel that I am writing. I started writing it years ago, but I was able recite my story to her. Jessica is my wife by the way. I never realized the wisdom of a paperback writer until last week. Free publishing with Amazon Kindle is a great opportunity. I have many ideas and projects to do. Let's get to work."

This morning our rice cooker broke. I realized that I don’t know how to cook rice. Jessica thinks that a pot lid is the key. My rice for lunch and dinner was not normal. The rice cooker only lasted less than six months. It is called Aroma Professional plus.

April 24, 2018

On Sunday, Sacrament meeting was special for Jessica and I because we performed a musical number with the ward choir. Most of the sopranos were missing, so Jessica joined them. Them ended up being only one soprano. She felt needed, since she would have a soloist without her. As Sacrament meeting started I was asked if I would like to serve the sacrament with the youth. I fit in the service without confusion. I love serving the sacrament.

Sunday, 29 April 2018

This week was busy too, but I didn't have as much to write about as last week. On Tuesday Jessica filmed me unboxing my bamboo tree from ThermaLeaf. The film, introducing the unboxing part, was not good, so I had to redo it Thursday evening. I think that it is interesting how much better the second session of film than the first. I think that the tree looks good.
On Wendesday we babysat a couple of the Mitchell children. On Friday night I felt it eating something fatty & filling. Our diet is so simple. We only have the following three types of food that we eat: oatmeal, sandwiches, and stir fry. We went to Bellagios' Pizza. After we watched Dispicable Me 3. The next day Jessica and I fulfilled assignment to clean our local chapel. It was Lucas' birthday on Thursday, and I invited him over for a surprise lunch since he was going to help me put our new dresser together. After we watched Avengers: Infinity War. Today I had my first experience, teaching the Valiant 8. They are truly valient. Brother Kuhn is an  exceptional teacher. I was personally asked to bless the sacrament today, and I went out with a Mitchell boy to serve the sacrament to a bed-ridden sister after church. Afterward Jessica & I practiced with the choir.  Now I am riding in my journal. This paragraph was a summary, and now I will expound on each part.
The unboxing Youtube video was not successful, but it doesn't matter. I was only able to convince one person to click on it. I enjoy Unbox Therapy, the YouTube channel. The channel unboxed a technology that I wanted to invent. Do you remember the idea where a mechanical system can harvest water from the moisture in the air? EcoloBlue has the technology, but not my vision. I have put my unboxing video of ThermaLeaf's bamboo tree below. I was able to convince two bloggers to join me, but we will see if they follow through. 

We babysat Luke & Peter Mitchell. Jessica helped Luke with homework as I played basketball with Peter. He wanted to play one on one, but I was to tired & lazy. We played pig and around the world. I lost of course. Peter finished the around the world game in two attempts. We were expected to put them to sleep at 7:30. As we waited for sister Mitchell to return with her daughter, I spoke to Trevor, my little brother, on the phone; then, Jessica and I played the Spot It! card game. I am not good at quick reflex and thinking games, so after losing several games in matter of seconds. I changed the rules instead of finding the match between to cards. I put out ten; then, sixteen cards. Whoever found the most of one symbol after one minute wins. Jessica found five in the first round; however, since she pulled them out before the time ended, and I can see them; we tied. We tied the second round too since we can only spot sets of three. When sister Mitchell arrived, we caught up, hanging out for a little bit. She knows Jessica from her youth.
Bellagios Pizza was amazing; much better than Marco's Cafe. Their 19 dollar service filled Jessica and I rather than Marco's 19 dollar dish filled my stomach thirty percent. We ordered the Mother Earth by phone; then, we walked there as they baked it. The first bold flavor was the mozzarella cheese. Since the cheese was unique, the taste was incredible. The mozzarella cheese made the first slice so delightful that I didn't taste any of the other ingredients. I was grateful for three more slices to enjoy the artichoke. Jessica underestimated the artichoke, but we loved it. The creative options of Bellagios Pizza makes it my favorite pizza joint.
We watched Despicable Me 3 after. I loved the story and the humor, but Jessica was over it after about ten minutes or less. I would not say that it is as good as Leap!, Ratatouille, or Meet the Robinson's because the content was not uplifting and inspiring.
Since I am writing about movies, I will write about Avengers: Infinity War. I had low expectations, since the hype has been for so long that I didn't care. I don't care for movies anyways. I wish that film makers should quit making the 'must see' movies because I never finish the movie feeling inspired. I wish that I could quit watching them, but my wife loves cinematics too much. The story is not creative or compelling. Thanos is still a shallow character. Brute strength and overbearance doesn't lead to success. Humor and emotions don't make a good movie. I think that people love the movie because it is telling the story of Marvel Comics. What are they going to decide on? ...
The lunch that Jessica and I prepared for Jasmine and Lucas prior to the movie and assembling  our dresser did surprise Lucas & Jasmine; although, I said that we are having a surprise lunch for them. We made them my favorite sandwiches with our homemade bread. Jessica is the avocado master, and she thinks her avocado spread made it mind blowing. Lucas said that it was surprisingly as satisfying as a meat dish. We never plan cook ourselves meat. The large heavy bread was the first impressive feature of the sandwich. I showed him that the bread is so dense that you can squish the slice of bread, and it would not be ruined.
Lucas brought his tools, and we were able to get most of our new Ikea dresser put together. It was nice to work together. I was able to practice leadership.
Brother Kuhn and I did not know what was going in Primary today, since I have not been in Primary for years. I asked for guidance as I saw Brother Kuhn sit himself in the junior singing and sharing time. When we met the Valiant 8 children, we introduced ourselves. One named Ari is in Jessica's Cub Scout Pack. Skye is the daughter of the Elders Quorum member that I spoke to at the Mitchell's new member occasion. McKelle is the sister of Syndie, the little girl who I played with at the Mitchell's. McKelle & Syndie are the daughters of the Taylors. A while ago I said the Sister Taylor served with my brother in Ecuador. Ari, Skye, & Mckell were in Brother Kuhn and l's first class. Brother Kuhn had a charm of humor as he told of Jacob and Esau, which was engaging.
Although Jessica & I arrived a minute late for sacrament, I was still asked to bless the sacrament. I have not blessed the sacrament in a long time. The act of breaking the bread was symbolic of Christ's body. His broken flesh & suffering was part of his atoning sacrifice. I blessed the water, representing Christ's blood. Jesus taught his disciples that we would be blessed, if we ate his flesh and drank his blood. He was alluding to the sacrament, a most sacred ordinance. Ordinances most of the time are covenants. Covenants need performed to be performed with the Priesthood in order to be in force; for this reason, Jesus went to John the Baptist to be baptized. Jesus said to him. "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." The baptism that he took upon himself is a covenant, creating a contractual relationship with Heavenly Father. The covenant is that you will be given eternal life, if you are obedient to his commandments as he reveals to his prophets. Heavenly Father's lifestyle is eternal life, and he loves us as his children so much that he desires to give us all that he has. Eternal life is life in his presence for eternity as well as our children with us like father like son unto all our future and previous generation, a way for his children to return home. Jesus Christ had to covenant with Heavenly Father in order to return to his kingdom too. The sacrament is the most important ordinance because it renews all of one's covenants.

2 May 2018

Today is Wednesday. On Tuesday I made my first cycling friend. We rode the elevator down to Portland a previous time, so I introduced myself to her. I spoke to another sister, but I didn't introduce myself because I did not know her from a previous occasion. She was a resident doctor at a hospital. The girl that I meet yesterday is named Cara. She is also a medical student, learning physical therapy. When I left to conversation, cycling toward Portland, we both stopped at a stop light. I didn't know that she was behind me, but she bid me farwell by name a she departed on a different path.
Last night I double checked whether I am consuming enough protein, since I don't cook myself meat. I learned that I need grams of protein equal to 36% of my body mass in pounds. It calculates to almost 50 grams. I get about 13.5 grams of protein per cup that I eat of oats, 14.3 for each cup of brown rice, and 9 per serving of soy milk. My calculation comes out to be almost sixty grams with 1.5 cups of oats, 2 cups of brown rice, & a serving of soy milk.
My dad revealed that he was the one person that watched my ThermaLeaf video an Sunday. He gave me the honest opinion that it was not interesting. I did not attempt to make it interesting because the subject is not interesting. I commented on my Twitter post on Facebook that my father is my best supporter, inspiring eleven other people to view it. Aaron McKinnon commented on the post "Keep at it! Super cool." He probably helped too.
I have been thinking of making a lifestyle/cycling video blog as a passive income. I asked my apartment manager if I would get credit for referral to the apartment. I am thinking about doing a video about my favorite part of the complex, the bike lounge. It is very nice.

April 18, 2018

On Sunday the bishop invited us over for a gathering with the saints at his house. It was a way to enable the saints to fellowship with the newer people in the ward. I spoke with a guy from the Elders Quorum, the primary president, and a former nursery worker. I didn't see many opportunities to meet people, so I played with Sydnie. Sydnie attends nursery. I like being a primary worker. It gives me an excuse to play with children. The Mitchells had a toy, which had two square rods attached. The two wooden rods were attached to a wood board. The toy came with many shapes that the shapes, which had a square hole, enabled children to practice hand eye coordination and logic. Children love to practice and experience life over and over, so I had a stack of these shapes, and I just gave her another shape after she placed one on the toy, doing this over and over until she got over it. Sydnie did the activity for several minutes.

20 April 2018

The past few evenings Jessica and I have been busy. Jessica had a Relief Society meeting on Tuesday, and she had Cub Scouts on Wednesday. We celebrated our monthly anniversary on Thursday.

Sunday 22 April 2018

On Monday evening we folded laundry because we were still catching up from me, doing nearly ten loads the previous Saturday. Our closet is too small to fit everything, so we bought a dresser yesterday at Ikea. Every weekend I seem to do something to set our house in order. We read D&C 119 & 120. 

"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God; That your incomings may be in the name of the Lord; that your outgoings may be in the name of the Lord; that all your salutations may be in the name of the Lord, with uplifted hands unto the Most High."

We did not understand how to dedicate our incomings and outgoings to the name of the Lord.

On Tuesday & Wednesday, waiting for Jessica to complete her activities, I transcribed two StoryWorth audio recordings from my grandpa.

On Thursday, we went to Marco's Cafe in Multnomah Village. I forgot the name of my dish because it was a fancy Italian word; probably for wide noodles. They had an option for a half or a full size. I asked for the full size with the astonishing price of nineteen dollars. I set my expectations high, since the price was so high. I could make a feast with twenty dollars. My minimum expectation is that I will be full. I didn't care so much for the taste. I chose the dish because I love to explore unknown and exotic dishes. When I received the dish, I knew that it would not be filling. My face sunk in disappointment instantly. About a minute later, the waitress came to ask about the quality of the food. I didn't say anything because restaurants only have one opportunity to serve their food. This is their standard size for their full size. I said to Jessica that the dish was a quarter of the size that it should be. The flavor was a little bland. It had a little citrusy flavor on the first bite. The experience was a bad start to the date. I was grateful that we have a tradition to go out for ice cream. If the waitress was truly attempting to remedy the situation, she should have. I was not silent about my disappointment. I couldn't ask for seconds or thirds. They would have charged me sixty dollars. One odd ingredient in the dish was green peas. Peas don't match pasta well. I don't belief that I should be an exception. If a restaurant is going to serve quality food that satisfies a customer, I should not have to make a special request for them to fulfill their business. I learned in accounting that revenue represents the successful transaction of satisfying service. If customers are not satisfied, they will not return. Jessica and I will certainly not return to Marco's Cafe because we were not satisfied. I tweeted "I am grateful that @nectarfroyo let Jessica and I keep our monthly anniversary tradition bright after an unsatisfactory dinner at @MarcosCafePDX."

We traditionally get ice cream on the nineteenth of each month because we were married on that day of March 2016. There is no ice cream place in Multnomah Village. We went to Nectar Frozen Yogurt. Many of their flavors are ice cream flavors. That puzzled me when we first went there with Jasmine & Lucas. On the nineteenth, I put Dutch chocolate on the bottom of the cup with Pecan Praline. I put a lot of nuts in those flavors of frozen yogurt; then, l put a waffle bowl on top, where I put Eurotart frozen yogurt in with my favorite strawberries and frosting covered animal crackers.  The rich chocolate tasted refreshingly not creamy, since it was not ice cream. The frozen yogurt saved the evening from my disappointing dinner.

When we were walking back to the apartment to watch a film, a guy asked me to film him. I held his camera where he asked me, not knowing exactly what he will do. He ran, jumping up on a concrete structure. After hopping to the other side of it, he jumped about ten feet, attaching himself onto a square pillar about five feet wide. He then jumped back to the concrete structure, hopping to the other side again. Finishing his stunt, he did some sort of flip. I don't think that he did a front or backflip. He did it in three attempts, twisting his ankle on his first attempt, but he rubbed out the pain. After filming him, I was asked if he was disturbing my walk with Jessica. I said that he wasn't because we were already home. When he realized that I lived where he trained, he asked if I wanted to train with him. He could train me.  He told me about local gyms, which were actually pretty far. I think that he said Gresham has the closest one. I did not straight forward say that I shouldn't, not knowing how to express myself.

We decide to watch the Emoji movie after. It was not as bad as people made it out to be. I liked the simplicity of the story. I enjoyed the humor and the movie better than most movies that I watched recently.

On Friday evening we checked out Xfinity because "I found out that we can have free texting and calling with @Xfinity, since we pay for internet services through them." After the visit we decided that "The free unlimited phone & text service with @Xfinity is not a good deal for me because I need an iPhone to retain my phone number & pay a minimum a $12 for data monthly. It would take years until I actually save money after purchasing iPhones."

This weekend we bought a lot of food. The total probably weighed over 120 pounds; buying fifty pounds of wheat, twenty-five pounds of rice, and twenty-five pounds of oats. We practically ran out of everything. We are finally going to make bread again.

On Saturday morning, I planned my nursery lesson. I wanted to teach the children that they are children of God. God misses them dearly, and looks forward to them returning to live in his presence. I prayed that they know that their Heavenly Father loves them. The children's participation was weak mainly because I was a weak teacher. I read from Psalms 82:6, saying "All of you are children of [God]" This knowledge is important in order for the children to know their divine nature, capacity, destiny, origination, and ancestry.

Brother Kuhn play the children ukulele during snack-time and entertained them with juggling after.

I have had some cycling adventures this week. "Before turning on to the hilly Terwilliger Blvd, I found myself at a stoplight with two other cyclists, who were decked out in odd spandex. At green I took a wide turn to go to our lane, placing myself last. It was not long, going up the hill, before the second place person broke away from the pack, passing the leader. I decided to chase after him. I used a technique of riding without hands to have more torque in my effort. Since this was my first race in Portland, I didn't want to be too cocky and pass him, so I sat on him. I was only able to stay with him for a minute before I could not keep up. It didn't help to get off the seat. I still pushed though keeping within fifty yards of him. Cycling has been more enjoyable in Portland compared to Tualatin."

"I learned in X-country to not look back when someone is following you in a race because it shows weakness. Cycling up toward Terwilliger again, a girl was following me. The fast ride home let me catch up with @jraynium, waiting at a bus stop. I coached him on my BYUI X-country team." @jraynium is Josh Ray. He transferred to PSU to study computer science. He helped me prepare for my internship with Intel at Hillsboro because his father worked at the same location that I interned at. He followed up on my experience. I said that we loved living at Orenco Station, being close to Winco. Cortland Village Apartments had walk-in closet, which Jessica always brings up.

After church Brother Kuhn and I were asked if we were willing to teach Valiant 8. I think that this is unique because Jessica works with the same age of boys in Cub Scouts.

23 April 2018

Last night we had dinner at the Ledesma's. Mercedes cooked the carne Colombian style. We have good times, laughing.

I finally finished a bottle of Teriyaki sauce, which I wanted to review. It took about a month to finish, and I bought it because I knew that it would. One thing that made it last longer is that it required oil to be add to the stir fry; therefore, if you want a good tasting Teriyaki sauce that will last a long time, the Kikkoman: Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce might be for you. I would like to expound on the nature of this sauce. The ingredients are not natural. The ingredients are the following: SOY SAUCE (WATER, WHEAT, SOYBEANS, SALT), WINE, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WATER, VINEGAR, SALT, SPICES, ONION POWDER, SUCCINIC ACID, GARLIC POWDER, SODIUM BENZOATE: LESS THAN 1/10 OF 1% AS A PRESERVATIVE. I don't know how I overlooked the wine, but the high fructose corn syrup is the main ingredient that we had an issue with. When cooking with it, the flavors very inconsistent without oil. When I poured it in my wok, it smelt like word chemicals. I will not buy it again.

I have not spoken about my work lately. There is an architecture firm that works in the save open office room as us. I asked them about a detail that I thought that might make a cold joint, and an architect that cycles to work like me said that they debated it for a while. Do you remember Morrison Hershfield, the exterior cladding consultants? I interviewed with them, and they didn’t continue talking to me. I got an email from them because Columbia Stone’s scope is the construction of exterior cladding of the Multnomah County Central Courthouse. They gave me a quality control check list for a few items. I think that is coincidental. I have been given the task of do a quantity take off of the entire shell of the building. It has been taking me weeks.