Ha, I'm married!!!

So it has finally come, the turning point in my life, one could even say the turning point in eternity for me. From now on and forever I will be a married man, SWEET!!!!!

The wedding was fantastic, it really was an emotional roller coaster of a weekend. But more on that later.

This post will be mostly pictures with a few explanations. This first picture was right when we came out of the temple. The next four are pretty self explanatory.








































































Here is my favorite pic of Staci.
Here are some of our great friends, starting on the left going clockwise, Stephanie Calton, Jed Brown (also our photographer), Dave McMullin, Brian McMullin, Scotty West.And of course our parents, notice the missionary name tags on my parents. They had just arrived that day from Chile, we were very blessed to have them there with us for when we were sealed.

It's been a while

Because it has been such a long time since I last posted a blog I am going to have a very random compilation of thoughts, not the masterpiece that I usually post.

First on my mind was something that I saw on TV, Ben Stein was being interviewed about the upcoming Obama presidency and he said "Now that he (Obama) is elected I hope he's the best president we have ever had." He has a very good perspective on how we should view our political leaders. These past four years have been lined with how critical so many people have been of President Bush, so many people have been so quick to point out that he has one of the lowest approval ratings in history (yet they gloss over the fact that Congress has an ever lower approval rating). Because of this animosity towards a Republican president many republicans have mentioned how they are looking forward to opposing Obama to show the same animosity towards him as a sort of payback. I admit that I have had similar thoughts, looking with an almost longing to see the country turn to pot, figuratively of course, and then in four years we would be able to say that it was the biggest mistake to elect Barack Obama. But after further consideration, and hearing what Ben Stein said, I've come to realize that it is foolish, selfish, and prideful to hope for a bad presidency just to see someone fail who doesn't have the same political persuasions as you. So this is my official declaration that I support Barack Obama for the presidency so far as him helping improve the country, strengthening the economy through sound principles, strengthening the family through good social principles but more importantly through his example of how he treats his family, and keeping our country safe from terrorists, oh and of course through all of this I expect him to uphold the constitution and support our inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Instead of keeping this in cue for who knows how long I will post it now although I was originally planning on writing a lot more. Actually I want to get a couple things off my chest.

Why is it that Roland Burris is so adamant about becoming instated as the fill-in Senator for Obama's seat as soon as possible. Does he not understand why everyone is so concerned about making him a senator when he was named by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich right after he was accused by the FBI of corruption by trying to sale the senate seat to the highest bidder? True Burris has not been implicated with any involvement in the scandal but why not slow down and allow the Democratic Congressional leadership become more comfortable over the appointment. Is he worried that no one else will see him as a good pick, from all I've seen on him, and admittedly it's not much, he is an adequate choice. Just calm down and let Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi get more comfortable. And what's with Caroline Kennedy being seen as a great pick to fill Hilary Clinton's seat, all I've heard about her is she has tried to stay out of politics as much as possible, and that makes her a good choice to become senator, why, because her last name is Kennedy? That's ridiculous.

What a wonderful life

Dear Santa,

I am having a hard time deciding what I really want for Christmas this year, usually there are a couple large items on my list that I would most likely buy myself if I didn't get them from someone else (something I've done for the past couple years and has resulted in some nice stuff). This year, however, I don't seem to want too much and although there are some expensive items that would be sweet to get such as a mountain bike, a snowboard and snowboarding boots, another gun (you never know when we'll loose a lot of the choices due to government legislation and regulation), and a surround sound system to complete my basic home entertainment system, these items aren't as appealing to me due to recent changes in my life.

As I'm sure you are aware, I have finally found the woman of my dreams, the love of my life, my "one and only", and because she has agreed to be sealed to me for time and all eternity I am finding all of the customary things I ask for are appealing less and less to me when compared to Staci Wilcock (soon to be Staci Andelin)

I have been thinking of a literary character to whom I could compare my soon-to-be bride and I think Desdemona from the Shakespearian play Othello will suffice. Desdemona is known for her beauty, purity and devotion to her husband; Staci fits those comparisons very well. Now Santa don't misundersand me, I am not comparing myself to Othello and fortunately there is no Iago in our relationship (except that one tempter, Satan, who tries to destroy everything good and beautiful), and I am certainly not suggesting that Staci will have a similar fate to Desdemona, I am merely comparing Staci to Desdemona due to her beauty, loyalty, and above all her purity. I love her so much; I have gone two days without seeing her amd my life has felt empty in those two days. She makes me happy, she keeps me laughing, she helps me grow spiritually and helps me see new perspectives to life, she takes care of me when I'm sick and loves to have fun when I'm well, she keeps me healthy by motivating me to eat healthy (and she usually generously prepares the food herself) and by encouraging me to exercise regularly through her example (something I am needing more and more with a desk job). She gives me direction, motivation, and above all she gives my life so much more meaing. I had a realization the other day that from now on all of my decisions will effect her; I am humbled at the trust she is placing in me and I hope and pray that I can live up to that trust.

So as you can see, my life is so much better with Staci in it. But that is not all that is going well for me; I also have been blessed with a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love my Savior so much; I am reminded of one of my favorite lines from a fantastic movie, "Amazing Grace"; the priest who was a former slave ship captian says a very profound yet simple line towards the end of the movie (and his life) "I can remember two things, that I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior". Sometimes I wonder why He is so merciful towards me; the scripture in D&C 18:10 comes to mind, "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God", I am humbled to realize that the worth of my sould is also great in the sight of God.

So as you can see, my life is very good right now and I foresee it only getting better regardless of what I get or don't get for Christmas this year. I hope you don't take that the wrong way; I really do enjoy receiving gifts and I really appreciate the effort you go through to get the right gifts for the right people, but my happiness is not related to my material possessions (but they're still nice). To show that I appreciate receiving gifts as a simple gesture of friendship and love (I say simple because it is just one of the many ways to show these things and it is not necessary either) I will attempt to right down some smaller items that would be nice to receive on December 25, 2008.

I realized the other day that I don't have very many whit Sunday shirts; I would prefer nicer shirts, with some texture, French cuffs (not necessary), and a wide European collar (pretty important). I don't want any ties though, I am a little too picky with my ties and I don't want you to feel bad because you bought me a tie that I won't enjoy wearing.

Some how I have lost most of my black socks that I received last year for Christmas; I'm not sure how that happened but it did and again this I could use some black socks, I prefer the thick kind.

I am a fan of Church books; Hugh Nibley books are good as well as books written by Apostles, but no LDS fiction.

I think Batman: The Dark Knight is coming out soon on Blu-ray, I would absolutely love to receive that.

That is about it, if you come up with something that you think I'd like then I'm sure I will enjoy it, you have bben doing this for a long time and I trust your judgment. Oh, I just remember that next to my fiance the other great gift I have already received is for my parents to be able to come to our wedding. Those two things have made my life great.

Merry Christmas

PS. I trust I'll be getting the customary orange in my stocking right? :)

Dang, We look good!

Here are our pics,
Tell us what you think
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Many thanks to Jed Brown and Stephanie Calton for helping make these pictures look so great.

Election Day

I have been thinking about politics and the future of America a lot recently, as I'm sure a lot of people have been. I thought I would write down a few of my thoughts before elections are finalized.

First off I want to say that I really don't want an Obama presidency; I do not hate everything about him but there is a lot of his views that I totally disagree with. I do have to admit that there are some things that are admirable about him, first and foremost is he seems to be a genuine family man. He cares about his wife, daughters, mother, and grandmother (who just passed away today, which is unfortunate that she passed away at an already stressful time for Obama). It is true, however, that he has a half brother living in poverty in Kenya although admittedly I don't know all details about that.

Another thing that is admirable about Obama is his ability to get young people excited about politics. I have seen a couple interesting youth groups singing songs and praising Obama, one was a steppin routine done based on exerpts from some of Obama's speeches with the teenagers starting out by chanting "Alpha and Omega" over and over, that I found a bit disturbing. I have read a lot of criticism comparing these youth groups to Hitler's youth groups in Nazi Germany. That is a bit unfair though because even those youth groups were based on community service and serving the public good, they were all just so completely deceived about their leader's intentions.

Then I have to ask the question, what are Obama's motives? I don't know but there are a number of disturbing patterns about his life and associations. He has repeatedly associated himself with the extremists of society, including domestic terrorists, Palestinian terrorist sympathizers, and racist religious leaders. It may be true that these men are not involved in his administration but I see these as signs to what his personal views are, and with a man so inexperienced we have very little to judge him with so why not use all the information we can gather. I am very concerned about what will happen to this country if Barack Obama is elected the next president and with the most recent Fox News poll showing Obama with 50% and McCain with only 43% it is looking more and more likely that Obama will win.

But I must remind myself not to fall into the liberal mentality of the past 8 years where bad news for America was good news for liberals because they could pass the blame onto the Bush administration. (This very well could have been the mentality of conservatives during the Clinton years but I don't remember and I certainly hope it wasn't). I will not become an America hater just because I don't agree with the current administration. I will still pray for my elected officials that they will be able to make good decisions for the great country and that we can stay protected from our enemies and that the wars we are involved in can end as soon as possible with the best possible results for us.

God Bless the USA

Staci and Jamon sittin in a tree...

Well, I am finally getting around to making this blog entry after a week; I'm sorry for the wait but in perspective it really isn't that long to wait.

I am so happy to able to write this, I AM GOING TO MARRY STACI WILCOCK!!!!! YIPEE!!!

My proposal was simple but it did come at a cost. I had already purchased the ring and talked to her dad Saturday morning and I was long boarding on my way over to propose and thinking about this very large step in my life when KABLAM I crashed on my longboard breaking my elbow. I was able to finish riding to her place, some may think it was foolish of me to continue on my long board but I figured it would get myself there quicker and also I was feeling a little light headed and almost fainted, I'm not sure I would have been able to walk over there. Another side story is there was a guy and a girl getting into a parked car right behind me and they didn't see if I was alright, they must have seen at least some part of the crash and yet not even a quick "you all right?" I would have told them I was fine anyway but I would have appreciated the concern. Back to the important story.

I got over to Staci's place, she doctored me up, and we went to the insta-care. I was really worried because although I left the ring in my jacket at her place I did have a card in my wallet with the ring info on it and she needed to pull out my medical insurance card; I was really worried she would see it but luckily she didn't. The entire time while at the doctors I was either thinking this really hurts or I should be engaged already. It was especially annoying when after putting Staci's name down as my emergeny contact info the nurse asked our relationship and I had to say girlfriend and not fiance.

Afterwards we watched the BYU vs New Mexico game at Tyson's apartment with the ring in my jacket pocket while Staci used it as a blanket, that made me especially nervous. After the game we watched a movie then went back to her place and finally about 11 hours behind schedule I proposed. For more, and different details check out my fiance's website :-) http://stacethespace.blogspot.com/

We just spent the weekend in Houston visiting her sister and bro-in-law, the only family members I hadn't met yet. It was a lot of fun and really nice weather. We even tried to take some engagement photos but none of them really turned out very well.

We are getting married Feb. 7, 2009 in the St. George temple, a reception will be in Enoch, UT (right next to Cedar City) that night, an open house will be in Provo, UT on Thursday Feb 12 and then another one in Sparks, NV on Valentine's day; I know, a bit cheesy but Staci really wanted to have it that night. Actually it just works that way even though Staci doesn't want to have it on Valentine's Day, it could be the 13th but only if the 14th absolutely won't work.

We are really happy and are enjoying the engaged life and are eagerly awaiting married life.

A Temple in Rome!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so happy right now, I almost hesitate to write about this because I don't think I'll adequately describe my feelings. I can tell you that when the announcement was made I raised my arms up in joy, everyone in the room looked at me (because I predicted they would announce a Rome temple) and I was speechless, one of the few times in my life that I've been speechless. And I would be lying if I said my eyes stayed dry.

Rome has a very rich history (just call me Captain Obvious) and was the center of the Western world for over a thousand years when you consider the reign of the Caesars and the Popes. Italy was the center of the Renaissance and was therefore instrumental in coming out of the dark ages. It is home to some of the great artists, musicians, and thinkers of the past two millennia. And yet Italy has a brighter future than past. There are a number of prophecies made by modern prophets about Italy and its place in the church. Lorenzo Snow dedicated the land for the preaching of the Gospel and after WWII Ezra Taft Benson rededicated the land for the preaching of the Gospel and in both prayers marvelous blessings were promised.

I would like to inform everyone about the very first Italian and most likely Roman Catholic convert. His name was Giuseppe Taranto and he was born in Cagliari, Sardegna (I've been there) and moved to Sicily when he was young. His family was very poor and so he left home to become a sailor in order to provide better for his family (he wasn't married). He came to America and decided to start a business in Boston providing fresh produce to merchant ships in the harbor, sort of like a boat to boat produce salesman. He was very succesful at this and was able to save a substantial amount of money. He met missionaries and accepted the Gospel but didn't join the saints in Nauvoo but stayed in Boston. Oh and before he accepted the Gospel he had a dream one night in which he was told to give his gold to the prophet, Brigham. After the martydom and an accident in the harbor when he almost lost his life (he never learned to swim) he decided to join the saints in Nauvoo. At this time the Church was very strapped for cash and was having a very hard time coming up with the financial means to continue building the temple. Brigham Young called a meeting and announced that they would have to cease work on the temple unless the Church could come up with more money. This was the same day that Giuseppe Taranto arrived in Nauvoo; upon hearing that announcement he then understood his dream he had years ago and saught an audience with Brigham Young during which he gave the Church his life savings of about $6000 in gold. These funds were enough to keep the Church going and able to finish the temple which allowed so many of the saints to receive their endowments.

And now more than a hundred and fifty years later Italy will be getting a temple.

There is more I would like to write but I need to get this posted.

Rosh Hashanah Woes

So yesterday was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year (Sept. 30). For this holiday it is custom to focus on cleansing one's life of sin in preparation for Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). In institute last night (where I was reminded of these things) my teacher mentioned how Christians and Jews have many similarities and because of this it can be benefitial to be aware of Jewish customs. I find it fascinating the way other people worship and I try to learn as much as possible from other cultures; however, this is not why I titled this entry "Rosh Hashanah Woes".

My complaint is with Congress for having the nerve to take a day of vacation right in the midst of the greatest financial crisis the nation has faced since the great depression, and possibly the second greatest financial crisis in the history of the US. I don't just think they should have worked because it was just a Jewish holiday, if this was in December I would expect them to work on Christmas also (maybe not Christmas morning though). The are the leaders of this nation and they were elected and are paid by our money to serve the people, why then are they taking a couple days off for a holiday that most of them probably don't even understand let alone recognize themselves. They should be working non stop until this issue is resolved. Although perhaps the best thing for them to do is to leave Washington and do nothing, the current Congress doesn't exactly instill confidence and hasn't really accomplished anything of note in the past four years, and what's more, who's to say that their "answer" won't cause more problems.

Another thing that annoys me is how even now members of Congress are playing politics. John McCain suspended his campaign to try to help in Washington by doing his job and working out a solution to this problem (I don't think he had to announce to the world he was 'suspending his campaign', if it was purely altruisticly motivated and not to look more presidential to get a boost in the poles why didn't he just go and not announce it, perhaps there are logistical intricacies that I don't understand). The Democratic Congress then announced that they had an agreed upon bill that would pass the vote when in reality they didn't. The vote came and failed by about 20 votes (which could have easily been covered by Democrats in Congress if they all agreed on their pork-filled bill) and the Democrats and the media lumped the blame on McCain for getting in the way while trying to be some cowboy riding in to save the day.

These elections are really starting to bug.

Go BYU!!!! (ranked 8th in the nation)

The US of A socialist style?

So Congress is voting on a financial bailout plan that has been written in the past week in attempts to avert the economic collapse that has been charging towards us. This plan is on top of the other legislation that has been passed in the past month including a bailout for mortgage holders (providing means for people foolish enough to buy houses they couldn't afford to stay in them), a bail out for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (providing them the loan up to some huge amount and of course they took the maximum amount), nationalizing Lehman Brothers Inc. (or something like that) (correction; Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were fully nationalized whereas previously they were only partially controlled by the goverment, Lehman Brothers just went bankrupt) which I only thought happened to oil companies in communist countries (nationalize meaning the government takes over the company), and I think I heard about some $30 billion loan to companies not even in the US that was decided on over night without the common public finding out until after the fact. The most recent bail out plan being voted on today is for $700 billion, and some people are saying the funds won't stop there. Glenn Beck (a staunch conservative prone to far right views I concede) said on his radio show that his contacts are suggesting that this legislation could cost easily up to $1.3 trillion. The legislation is designed to buy high risk debt from the institutions that currently hold them. This includes mortgages, credit card debt, and car debt. Then the government will collect on that money. Obviously the tax payer will be hit hard for this legislation but I wonder what the government will do will the debt the do succeed in collecting on, or maybe only debt deemed as uncollectable will be purchased. (It should be obvious that I have not studied extensively on this but I just wanted to get some of my thoughts on paper, so to speak, I'll continue).

And all of this is happening because people have bought things they couldn't pay for. I remember in my Macro Economics class at BYU my professor said, when talking about how the economy grows, that people spending money grows the economy and people saving money shrinks the economy. The more money in circulation the better. Henry Ford understood this and started paying his employees more money so they could have enough money to purchase cars of their own thereby increasing revenue for Ford Company. This discussion was actually just after a CES fireside (or maybe a devotional or a talk in conference) by one of the Twelve, I want to say Elder Oaks in which he said we shouldn't be spending so much money, that we need to have an attitude of saving rather than spending. It was funny because he brought that up and said something like "now I'm not contradicting the Brethren, it is better to save in your personal lives, but for the economy is better to spend money; so you don't spend money but hope that everyone else does so the economy grows." The country at that time had a negative savings rate, meaning the nation as a whole was spending more money than they were making. Another factor was back in the Clinton administration there was a large push to put every American in a home. There was a lot of talk about how everyone deserved to own a home and there was legislation passed to require mortgage companies to fulfill quotas when giving mortages. In essence it was affirmative action for the housing market. Sub-prime mortgages came into existence as these companies greatly increased their high risk mortgages. People kept buying larger and larger houses with the intention of selling in a couple years and cashing in on huge earnings from a perpetual housing boom. Now that people have come to their senses and the housing boom has ended people are stuck with huge mortgages which will only get higher as their adjustable interest rates increase. With some many mortgages going into default mortgage companies and losing billions of dollars on bad debt.

Anyways, the question remains what needs to be done to fix the problem, if anything? Do we allow the goverment to step and make very socialist decisions in regards to the economy in order to try to curb the destruction of the economy? Or do we allow market forces to run their course and cleanse out the economy of these lenders and borrowers who made poor decisions? President Bush said that the cost of this bailout plan will in the end be less than if no action is taken and the economy collapses.

I guess in restrospect we should have had the forsite to realize that what is good for an individual is good for a nation and what is bad for an individual is bad for a nation.

In the end all I can think of is this Demotivator.
(30 minutes later)
So apparently it doesn't look good for the legislation to get pass Congress, I still don't know how I feel about it.

I was thinking more about how we got into this mess. I mentioned earlier that a lot of the problem is people living off of credit and getting into bad mortgages. A lot is being said about how this disaster is a result of "8 years of failed Bush economics". It seems to me that liberals and the media (the same thing most of the time) are just trying to place the blame on the easiest target, George W. After 9/11, the claim is that Bush urged everyone to start spending to save the economy; that is not how I remember it. I remember him urging everyone to live life the same way you have been, to not panic. (granted I was in Italy during that year, but still...)

Things are a mess but if we practice good financial principles, live conservatively and don't buy things on credit, we should be fine.

Cheating Olympics

If I had a choice to win a gold medal by cheating and never get caught I would not do it. There are a number of reasons why I would not cheat and the guilt factor is certainly one of them, as well as the honesty factor, the reason I want to bring up right now is the competition factor. I ask myself why would I be competing in the first place? A large part of why we compete is to pit our skill, preparation, and determination against the competition. That being the case then why would I want to alter the competition to give myself an unfair advantage? I just thought of one of my wrestling matches in high school. It was my sophomore year at the Sparks High School Invitational Tournament and I was got matched up with one of my friends on the team. He had beat me in the past and we were evenly matched in practice; however, about 30 minutes before the match he told me he would let me win that day and sure enough I won the match. Now I can't know for sure if he really let me win but I do know it was easier than I thought it would be and because of that doubt I didn't have the same amount of satisfaction from the victory than if I didn't have this uncertainty about the level of competition he brought.

Another example, albeit not from my personal experience, is when the referee is paid off and makes calls to allow a certain team to win. Now I have never been in that situation (although in the moment sometimes I felt like I was on the team the ref was trying to make lose) but I wonder how satisfied the other team could be with that win, I must admit that this is not as good of an example because the team still has to play good enough to win but the point is they had an unfair advantage.

If I used performance enhancing drugs and won a gold medal I would not get much satisfaction out of the victory because I didn't really win based on my own ability. I would not use performance enhancing drugs because to do so would undermine the spirit of the competition.

Ethical question

I have a question for everyone,

If you could cheat and win a gold medal in the Olympics and no one will ever find out would you do it?

Think about it, write in your diary about it, and if you want post a comment with your thoughts. I already know my answer and why I feel that way and I want to see what your thoughts are. I will post my answer as another blog entry in a couple days.

Oh and if you are uncomfortable sharing your true feelings then just post as 'anonymous'.

Obama vs. Bryant

So I have been loving the Olympics this year; I have thoroughly enjoyed watching all of the Phelps races, gymnastics, track (just getting under way), volleyball, and so many other events. One thing I was thinking about today, though, was an interview I saw of Kobe Bryant on what it is like for him to wear the USA jersey. The commentator asked him if it is no longer "cool" to be patriotic and proud about one's country, especially USA at this time and Byrant essentially said "it's cool to me". I find that very ironic when you compare his attitude to the attitude of the Democratic nominee for president, Barack Obama and his wife. They are repeatedly saying things that suggest America is a bad country, a down right mean country, and they are finally proud of their country because Obama may become president. All Olympic athletes place their hand on their heart during the national anthem and yet the "messiah", "God's gift to America (according to Nancy Pelosi), Barack Obama does not. Am I the only one who finds it ridiculous that the man running for president and has a very good possibility of being elected does so much to make people question whether he even likes America. He goes to Germany and instead of praising America he is critical of America, talking about all of her supposed problems.

Now back to Kobe Bryant, he cynic in me says he only said those things because he is trying to build up his public image both in American's eyes and Chinese eyes so that he will get bigger endorsement deals and make more money; but if that is true then how twisted is our society that we want our athletes to love our country and we want our politicians to hate our country. I can't be sure if Kobe was sincere or not when he expressed his love for our country but after watching the interview I was convinced and I certainly want to be optimistic about at least some things. Bryant certainly has issues and I don't always cheer for him (especially when he is playing the Jazz) but I don't like to have bitter feelings towards anyone and I have definitely found more to cheer Kobe for. GO USA!!!

Which one

This evening I decided to get rid of my goatee even though I only had it for a couple of weeks. So I decided to try out different facial hair styles. Please comment on which ones look the best on me, Staci thinks the long mustache is the best. She is trying to decide if she wants to say anything right now....still hasn't decided, she just is hoping it will be softer now (hint, hint) ;-)
The soul patch is her favorite, mine too.

Family Reunion

I was able to make it to the Andelin Reunion this week. I was fortunate enough to get my time off of work on Wednesday and Staci and I drove up to the reunion that evening.

We went on a fun hayride right after dinner that evening; it took a little longer than Uncle Kenny had planned for us to drive from the campground we were staying at to his family's ranch but it was a beautiful evening and I think everyone had a great time.

The next day we went horseback riding and four wheeling; Staci is really not a fan of riding horses but we were able to convince her to go on a short ride and she did very well. We had nine horses in the group, three of Uncle Brian's and six of Uncle Kenny's; having that many horses was pretty fun and much easier to keep the horses together.

We played this really fun game in the afternoon; everyone had a short length of 1/2 inch PVC pipe and a bad of small marshmallows and then we went outside and shot the marshmallows at each other using the pipe as blow guns. It got pretty gross because to shoot the mellows the best you had to get them wet by letting them soak in your mouth, then you could shoot them pretty far. But when you get hit the mellows stick to you. I was just glad I didn't have long hair because some of the girls got a lot of mellows stuck in their hair. Staci and I formed an alliance with Dan and Elise so we were able to stay much cleaner then most everyone else. Then again we did stay on the outskirts of the group and we would pick off people coming towards us. All in all it was a very fun game but I am pretty sick of the taste of marshmallows right now.

We had a short talent show during which I was reminded how talented my cousins are. I am more motivated to practice the piano now. It was funny because the first person to play was Jennis Andelin, a cousin who is about 10 maybe, and when she started playing I looked over at Staci and she had this look of amazement at how good she was. I just have to confess that I have a great family.

The reunion was a lot of fun and I am really glad that I was able to make it. It was well worth taking that day of comp time to go spend time with my family and my girl friend.

I need to post something

As the title indicates, I am feeling pretty lazy for not having written anything on my blog for a while. As a default posting I thought I would complain about politics.

So now the government is not only bailing out homeowners who made poor decisions i.e. bought homes with no money down, a floating interest rate, and no income and now have to foreclose because they can't make the high mortgage payments from drastically increasing interest, but our "friends in Washington" have decided to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest financial institutions involved in mortgages. (I can't think of the term for them but I do know what they do, a bank supplies a mortgage to an individual and then the bank sells that mortgage to these other companies). The congress has moved to allow these two private companies to have an unlimited line of credit (temporary but no time specification on how long temporary will be) .... Actually I just decided to post a couple paragraphs from a conservative email I receive regularly that explains these issues much better than me.

On Wednesday, the House passed its housing bill by a 272-152 vote. The Senate will vote in coming days and send it to President George W. Bush, who has dropped his veto threat. The multi-provision bill became even more of an “emergency” because of trouble at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which, between the two, own or guarantee almost half of the nation’s mortgage market. Along with the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie and Freddie accounted for 90 percent of mortgages originated in the second quarter.

The Washington Post reports, “The measure would grant [Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson immediate but temporary authority to extend an unlimited line of credit to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or to buy their stock if their financial condition deteriorates sharply before December 2009.” Paulson will also have wide latitude in setting the terms of a bailout, though the bill’s primary author, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), cautions, “You have to protect the taxpayer.” Protect taxpayers by using their money to bail out irresponsible lenders and borrowers? That’s Democrat logic for you.

In line with that bit of fiscal irresponsibility, the bill raises the national debt ceiling by $800 billion to $10.6 trillion to make room for any bailout. The Post reports further, “In addition to the rescue plan for the mortgage-finance firms, the package includes a plan to rescue more than 400,000 homeowners at risk of foreclosure by helping them trade high-cost loans with rapidly rising monthly payments for more-affordable mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration.” That little gift will cost as much as $300 billion.

Furthermore, nearly $4 billion will go to local governments to purchase and restore foreclosed properties; $4.6 billion will go to tax credits for first-time homebuyers; and $5.3 billion will go toward more low-income housing. Concerning the overall cost of this boondoggle, The Wall Street Journal said it best: “Even conservative estimates by the Congressional Budget Office say the cost for this bailout will run to $41.7 billion, with $16.8 billion offset by higher taxes. No one has any idea of the real cost.” What was that about “protecting the taxpayer” again?

Of course, missing amid all the furor over this behemoth bill is one simple question: Is it constitutional? (compiled and written by Mark Alexander)

Honestly, what ever happened to individual (and corporate) responsibility for ones actions. These people made poor financial decisions, I don't want to have to pay higher taxes and have less savings to put toward a down payment on my first home so that some bum can stay in his $800,000 home subsidized by Uncle Sam. Let them lose their homes and move into an apartment, maybe they'll learn not to buy what they can't afford. Now if there are not-for-profit organizations willing to assist some people get through these hard times more power to them, that is a very laudable endeavor; but that is not the government's responsibility.

Another thing that is really bugging me is how certain members of congress don't seem to have any common sense when it comes to the energy crisis in America. One of the biggest arguments I have heard coming from capitol hill against drilling in ANWR and off shore is "it won't even produce any oil for 10 years". First of all, one of the main reasons it would take so long is all of the federal loopholes that oil companies would have to jump through to start drilling. Second, experts are saying the drilling could go much quicker; and third, even if it does take ten years then all that really means is we should hurry up and drill. Are these politicians really that dumb? They said the exact same thing 10 years ago, and do they not think we will need oil in ten years? If all farmers had the same mindset as politicians (not doing anything without an immediate payout) then we could say goodbye to our food industry; these politicians are like the man lost in the desert who came upon a pump that needed to be primed and he had just enough water to prime the pump but instead of investing the water in the pump to get an unlimited amount he drank the water and died. They must not understand the way the oil industry works, that the price of oil is driven by future expectations of the price. All of these companies involved in the oil trade buy and sell futures, which means they estimate that cost of oil in the future and then lock in that price for a given amount of time. If it is determined that there will be a large increase in oil production then futures prices will decrease. And yet our "friends in Washington" don't seem to understand that ever so simple principle. Now they are proposing an increase in the gas tax and guess why; with the increase in oil costs people are buying less oil and the government's precious tax revenue is decreasing. Instead of increasing taxes thereby increasing fuel costs and decreasing consumption why don't they work on increasing supply thereby decreasing cost. I swear, if they would all just go to an Economics 101 class they would learn these basic principles.

In conclusion, I must reaffirm my love for this country and my belief (albeit hard to remember at times) that there are good men and women working in the government who understand these problems and the solutions available through the constitution.