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. 

11 April 2018

ThermaLeaf is a fire retardant artificial plant distributor. The website shows their desire to be specified regularly by designers. They approached me to do a neutral review. Don't want to do this just for fun. They offered me a payment of thirty dollars for each of my writing colleagues that publish neutral review content. I believe that they choose me because I have networked with many bloggers. I also have some network with designers.
 
Thursday 12 April 2018
 
This week has been my first week working on the site of the Multnomah County Central Courthouse project. I enjoyed networking with Hoffman as I made arrangements for our first scissor lift rental here.
I work in the historic and original Multnomah County Courthouse. It was at one time the substation for all of Portland, being the first building to have rebar in the concrete here too. Although the building is old, it looks modern inside. The floor that I work in is very open with windows surrounding me. The new Multnomah County Central Courthouse will wrap this building, so only two sides of it get sunlight soon.
Last night was Jessica's first day serving the Cub Scouts. I worked on preparing my talk. There is not much content yet on ministering.lds.org;
 
Sunday 15 April 2018
 
I spoke in Sacrament today. After the second speech finished, I realized that I spoke too long. The third speaker spoke, starting at 10:00 AM, and the fourth started speaking at 10:05 AM. Sacrament usually finishes at 10:05. I said the following words:
 
Good morning. I am Alex Hicken. I moved to Oregon permanently about two month ago. Since I ride my bike to work, I learned that the rain is not so dreadful. I graduated from BYU Idaho with a degree in Design and Construction Management. Last year I lived in Hillsboro during the winter off track semester for an internship with a mechanical contractor named Apollo Mechanical at the Intel campus, and the winter before in 2016 I lived in Aloha, attending the Beaverton Ward, because I was engaged to Jessica Ledesma. I have yet to see a summer here.     
I am humbled because I have been chosen to speak to you concerning one of the most momentous General Conference in the past few decades. My speech will attempt bring a more clarity to you with the changes.  
I will start by expounding on a quote from last week's first presidency letter to the church. "The separate programs of home teaching and visiting teaching are now a coordinated effort referred to as 'ministering,' overseen by the elders quorum and Relief Society presidencies under the direction of the bishop. Ministering is Christlike caring for others and helping meet their spiritual and temporal needs. Ministering may include Laurels and Mia Maids as companions to Relief Society sisters, and priests and teachers continue as companions to Melchizedek Priesthood holders."   
I would first like to address what ministering is. It is Christlike caring for others and helping meet their spiritual and temporal needs.
David Bednar taught that meekness is the root of Christ like attributes, quoting Moroni chapter seven. "And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope? And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise. Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope. And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart. If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity." Elder Bednar explains that "The Christlike quality of meekness often is misunderstood in our contemporary world. Meekness is strong, not weak; active, not passive; courageous, not timid; restrained, not excessive; modest, not self-aggrandizing; and gracious, not brash. A meek person is not easily provoked, pretentious, or overbearing and readily acknowledges the accomplishments of others." "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." I believe that meek people have a close relationship with the Holy Ghost, seeking for that which is good for other people. Meek people have the courage to bless others, when they are prompted by the spirit.
Jesus Christ always looked to personal revelation from his Heaven Father and guidance of the Holy Ghost for understanding of how to act. I enjoyed a quote from Larry Wilson's talk in the conference. "Being spiritually self-reliant is hearing the Lord’s voice through His Spirit for one’s own life." Self-reliance enables us to minister to people's spiritual and temporal needs. I feel like the revelations to change the structure and ministry of the Church is enabling us to be more united with each other as ward members, families, and in our companionships with the Holy Ghost. President Nelson spoke on receiving personal revelation. He said. "Nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work." Our revelations will increase our faith to minister. If we receive a prompting to do something from the Holy Ghost, we can act upon it with confidence that God will sustain us. Although home teaching and visiting teaching has been retired, and ministering will still be overseen by the Elders Quorum and Relief Society presidencies under the direction of the bishop, we should not be afraid to have our own personal ministry, having the Holy Ghost as a close companion.
The Elders Quorum have become like the Relief Society, having most of the Melchizedek Priesthood holders meet in the third hour, and the Relief Society has become more like Elders Quorum, where the Young Women can be ministering companions with the Relief Society sisters. Now every member above the age of fourteen can be in a ministering companionship. This unity among the church members can greatly expand and simplify the work's efforts and fruits. We can have greater confidence working within our ward and family councils to reach out to individuals that are struggling.
Neal L Anderson spoke to BYU Provo last week about ministering, quoting Matthew twenty. "But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." The prophets are enabling the church quorums, councils, and individuals to minister. Elder Andersen shared the following example of a university student's ministry: "I was going through a really rough time. One day I was really struggling, and on the verge of tears. I pleaded and prayed silently for strength to continue. In that exact moment, my roommate sent me a text, expressing her love for me. She shared a scripture, and bore testimony. It brought me so much strength, and comfort, and hope in that moment of despair." In my experience, trying to minister, I learned that I need to learn how to be straight forward with people. Andersen said. “To minister spiritually can begin with baking cookies or playing a basketball game, but eventually this holier way of ministering requires opening your heart and your faith, taking courage in encouraging the positive growth you are seeing in a friend or in expressing concerns about things you see and feel that are not consistent with discipleship.”
Many people are struggling, and we should be there to help them. I quote again from the BYU Devotional. “Unlike changing a flat tire, one experience rarely fixes a spiritual problem. It takes time, conversations and encouraging experiences that will help rebuild faith,” "It comes more like the dew from heaven than a one-time blast from a firehose. You have to minister again and again, as you help someone turn back to God, again relying on the Savior and his atonement.”
 
I felt bad for limiting the time of the last two speakers, but many people expressed their thanks to my prepared words.
I finally got my bike a tune up. A ball bearing on the crank felt broken, and the balls burst throughout the bike shop, when the guy opened it.
Nursery was great today. A boy that I made out of order because I embraced his silly personality last week was calm today. Brother Keith Kuhn has been called to serve with me in the Nursery. He is a humble man. I was able to talk to him, helping him feel comfortable with the children. Keith actually came to my wedding reception. When I asked if he did, he complained about how loud it was. Keith is a family friend of the Ledesma's. I believe that he is Jessica's primary teacher in her childhood.
Jasmine and Lucas came over for dinner last Friday. We ministered with each other, going out for frozen yogurt afterwards. The local stores at Multnomah Village are expensive, but the experience is convenient, since it is close. We went to Nectar. There was only one good frozen yogurt flavor as the others were ice cream type flavors. The honey lavender flavor was interesting.
 

31 March 2018

After the second session of conference John, my father-in-law, invited me to go to a member of his branch's house for Priesthood Session. When I realized that they will watch the session in Spanish, I concluded that I should see Lucas' plans to watch it, since they were going to come for dinner. He came a little earlier, and we watched the session together.
It was mind blowing. On the first priesthood session that President Nelson presided over. He restructured the priesthood quorum organizations. The high priest groups have been desolved.
We are staying up late tonight because Mercedes wants to make pumpkin spice cupcakes. I should get to sleep as soon as possible, since the cupcakes will not be baked tonight. I don't want to nap during any of the general conference sessions tomorrow.

April 1, 2018

One thing that I forgot to write about is a movie that Jessica and I watched. It is called "Leap!". Jessica was avoiding PG-13 movies that night. I have wanted to quit watching PG-13 a while back. The "Strictly Dancing" movie is PG, yet it still had disturbingly suggestive scenes. Movie ratings can't be trusted.
"Leap!" is a new favorite films. It is up there with "Meet the Robinsons" and "Ratatouille." I don't like to watch movies multiple times. The motion pictures mentioned previously are animated movies that made me laugh a lot. I loved the pure humor of these films.
Today's sessions of general conference were as mind blowing yesterday because home and visiting teaching has been canceled church wide to unite the newly expanded elders quorum with the Relief Society.
President Russell M Nelson's speech was so impressive that I think that I should base my talk on it. He taught how to receive revelation. There were a few talks about revelation. Larry Wilson spoke about the same thing. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is member of the Godhead to guide, comfort, and teach. It is called a constant companionship for those that are confirmed with the gift at baptism. We were taught how to have a more intimate and productive companion with the Holy Ghost. Larry spoke about a Navy chaplain, watching the ship for the night, during a typhoon. The boat had three engines. The first was not working, the second was at half power, and third was working.
The captain asked the chaplin, who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a former missionary, to pray for the safety of the crew. The chaplin could have just prayed for the safety of the crews, but he prayed to know what to do. After a series of prayers, communications, or revelations, he learned that the fully functioning engine is being overused, and he proposed to the captain to reduce the load of the fully functioning engine; although, other crew members advised opposite. The proposal was heeded to, and the engine endured the night, and they made it out of the storm. The fully functioning crew did quit working when the waters were safe, and the ship puttered to a harbor with the engine with half strength. This is a example of how someone can be of service to man with the constant companionship. God loves everyone in that ship because they are his children, but only one had the Gift of the Holy Ghost, having the God's companionship. The chaplin's intimate work with the Holy Ghost gave him the guidance of the all-knowing Father in Heaven for the situation. President Nelson wants us all to engage their stewardships in a personal ministry with the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost; being worthy, prayerful, loving, and obedient. His speech and the new program of the Church are instructions for all saints to be fruitful servants of God as the chaplin.
Mercedes was able to make the Pumpkin Cupcakes that she was planning to make yesterday. They were so great that I ate my share of four cupcakes all in a row.
Last week or so, the church released a digital rendering of the new temple that will be built in Bangkok, Thailand. I downloaded the picture, putting it on my work computer's wallpaper. Two of my coworkers asked about the building, asking about the stone of the plans. They said that Columbia Stone Inc would like to help build the temple. I wish that I could live in Thailand, and help manage the construction. I am too weak to speak up. My voice would probably prove unfruitful. Our company has bid for several of projects of the church and Utah with near success, but none were rewarded.

Saturday 7 April 2018

Today we prepared red curry for the ward sister missionaries' dinner.

Sunday 8 April 2018

The sister missionaries came at 2:30 PM because they were heading to the temple to serve at the visitor center. We were unable to host them as we have tried to last time. We followed the recipe very accurately; although, I could have measured the paste on a scale. I looked at a cook's conversion table online. My in-laws, which we hosted for dinner later, thought that the curry was excessively spicy. I tried it, and it was not spicy. I doubled the recipe because we were serving double the people. It is apparent that red curry is much more spicy than yellow curry. I put a third cup of paste in my first batch of yellow curry, feeding four people, which were Jasmine, Lucas, Jessica, and I. No one complained. I put a half cup of red curry paste, following the recipe with precision, and everyone except the sisters and I, which we spoke to today, expressed their pain and displeasure greatly. I was not ashamed because I Iived through the same experience, when my mother cooked cowsoy soup for the first time. I wondered about why one of the sister missionaries said that yellow curry is her favorite. Does she actually know the different curry flavors?
Last week a sister on Facebook waved to my profile of the Mormon YSA Blog Spot. I have spoke to her previously. She asked me where she could find a group of young single adults in northern Washington. I understood her difficulty when she told me where she lived. It was remote. I followed up, when she greeted me again, asking if she found a group of young single adults. She affirmed that she did; plus, she has a boyfriend now. I am happy that I was able to help her. I have served as an administrator of the social media pages of the Mormon YSA Blog Spot for years, and it is nice to hear a fruit of my efforts.
The Mormon YSA Blog Spot has actually been growing a lot lately. Most posts have clicks now where as posts rarely would have clicks before.
One thing that I got me thinking about the foundation of people's lives. People should be careful about the foundation that they choose for their lives. Opportunities are given to individuals based on their previous experience. I was given the task of making the cut tickets for the Kingspan insulation panels of the Multnomah County Central Courthouse project. This experience directly related to the experience that I had during my internship with Delta Stone Products to draft cut tickets for the stone. My internship with Delta Stone Products is a surprisingly important foundation of my life. At the time of the experience, the internship was questioned whether it qualifies.
I started my third period of service in a nursery. Jessica served with me today; although, she was sustained to serve a calling to serve in the Cub Scouts today. I built a house out of a toy, putting a windmill on the house. A boy named Desmond caught on to the word windmill, repeating it several times. I tried to talk to him about the wind and the electricity that windmills can produce, but the children barely speak. I asked a girl her name, and I thought that she said Gabriela. Another nursery leader said that her name is Lily. Lily is a common name based on my experience serving in the nursery. The children seem to mumble around me, but I have heard them speak well to people that they are familiar with.

11 April 2018

A company asked me to participate in their blogging marketing campaign, but I have been quiet about it because I thought that it might be a scam. They would reply to email once a week, which I thought was odd. The company's name is ThermaLeaf. I will write about it more later. I want to get this posted.

21 March 2018

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. 

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.