Friday, April 25, 2008
Korver
Great article from the SL Trib about Kyle Korver. I didn't know any of this stuff about him. What an awesome person and example. I'm even more excited now to keep watching him drop 3s throughout the playoffs.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Culinary Dreaming
One of my top five dream vacations to take with my sweet wife is to take our bikes and appetites to the Napa Valley for a week of biking by day and dining by night. Neither one of us drinks, but the Valley is so full of restaurants I'd like to enjoy that I don't really care. Vineyards make beautiful scenery for biking.
The top places I'd like to visit are Terra, Mustards Grill and the French Laundry. These are some of my favorite cookbooks. We cook from Mustard's Grill a lot. The French Laundry takes way too much time to cook from - Bryn gave me that one year because she figured they'd have great French toast. The only downside of the Napa Valley is that I'd really like Jean-Georges to be there, but his best restaurants really require a trip to NYC.
That said, he's now given me another reason to want to go to Istanbul (was once Constantinople).
The top places I'd like to visit are Terra, Mustards Grill and the French Laundry. These are some of my favorite cookbooks. We cook from Mustard's Grill a lot. The French Laundry takes way too much time to cook from - Bryn gave me that one year because she figured they'd have great French toast. The only downside of the Napa Valley is that I'd really like Jean-Georges to be there, but his best restaurants really require a trip to NYC.
That said, he's now given me another reason to want to go to Istanbul (was once Constantinople).
Monday, April 21, 2008
Another perspective on FLDS
Being a Mormon in Texas, I'm a bit closer to this FLDS thing than I care to be. I have to admit (sorrowfully) that my reaction for the most part has been to keep my head low and hope it will pass without disgracing me and mine. Not very Christlike.
I've read a blog or two lately that have made me rethink this a bit. Undoubtedly a polygamist compound is at least eery and probably criminal in some regards. There's unquestionably abusive, illegal and unconscionable behavior. However, does this mean that the children should be taken from their moms? The moms are widely viewed as too young and too weak, but I don't think anyone thinks the moms have been abusive. So why are they removed from their children, or their children from them? Thousands of kids were abused by thousands of their Catholic priests. Did this mean they should be taken from their moms?
I'm more than a bit worried that when the government concludes that a religion is "cult" it can then remove human rights so readily. Will they come for my kids when they realize I have food storage and don't watch rated R movies? If I ever do something horrible and they associate this with my religion, will they take the kiddos from Katie? The logic here is disturbing to say the least.
We may cringe at the philosophical or religious beliefs of another, but holy cow it seems to me we have to be careful that such an aversion doesn't lead to blatant discriminatory behavior. Who will history judge as the most abusive - the FLDS men or the State of Texas?
That said, could we get the FLDS to change their name once more? Perhaps something more clear like "We're Not Mormons"?
I've read a blog or two lately that have made me rethink this a bit. Undoubtedly a polygamist compound is at least eery and probably criminal in some regards. There's unquestionably abusive, illegal and unconscionable behavior. However, does this mean that the children should be taken from their moms? The moms are widely viewed as too young and too weak, but I don't think anyone thinks the moms have been abusive. So why are they removed from their children, or their children from them? Thousands of kids were abused by thousands of their Catholic priests. Did this mean they should be taken from their moms?
I'm more than a bit worried that when the government concludes that a religion is "cult" it can then remove human rights so readily. Will they come for my kids when they realize I have food storage and don't watch rated R movies? If I ever do something horrible and they associate this with my religion, will they take the kiddos from Katie? The logic here is disturbing to say the least.
We may cringe at the philosophical or religious beliefs of another, but holy cow it seems to me we have to be careful that such an aversion doesn't lead to blatant discriminatory behavior. Who will history judge as the most abusive - the FLDS men or the State of Texas?
That said, could we get the FLDS to change their name once more? Perhaps something more clear like "We're Not Mormons"?
CrossFit
For the last couple of years I've been studying a workout regimen and lurking on sites that talk about it. Since we moved to Dallas we've bought a lot of the equipment required and I've started fitting in a workout a few times a week. Here's a shot of my little garage gym. Here's hoping that after a month or two of it I won't feel like I'm going to die by the end of the workout. After a few years of mostly cardio workouts, these more varied workouts are kicking me.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Wear Your Helmet
Mason got hit by a car this morning on the way to school. He's ok.
You can see in the picture a few things - the crumpled handlebars, the pieces of his shirt on his brakes, and the smashed bike helmet. He wasn't wearing the helmet - it was on his handlebars.
Wear your helmet!
Monday, April 07, 2008
Life as a paradox
I have been struck lately by a paradox we all live with every day and that because of my genetics I am very keenly aware of this more than most.
On one hand, we should live each day as if it is our last. Seize the day. Carpe diem. Dead Poets. My dad got sick when he was 27 and spent the next 27 years dying, eventually passing away at 54. I can't tell you how relieved I was to celebrate my 28th birthday in good health - definitely my favorite birthday (even if Mason spoiled the surprise! :-) ). Growing up in a convalescent center, I was always cognizant of the need to live each day as though it could be my last.
On the other hand, I was born into one of the more frugal families that's ever lived. My dad was perhaps the greatest miser known to man, but my mom has also been very good with a dollar and now my brother has shown a keen ability as well. It's our family's unique talent. Why do we do this? If we should live for today, why bother? Well, the reality is that we might not die today. In fact, odds are we won't. Odds are we'll live for a long time.
So each day we're faced with a set of choices and depending upon our mindset we'll behave differently.
* Save or spend?
* Eat or diet?
* Study or play?
* Work or golf?
* Chase your dreams or be responsible?
The carpe diems of the world are now in foreclosure. Others live to regret all that time they spent at the office. Either way the temptation is to some day live with regret.
Everyone has to come to their own conclusions, but when all is said and done I've chosen to live each day as though it won't be my last. In fact, I'd like to believe that there is no 'last', which is why I celebrate Easter. Either way, since regret is inherent in the paradox, it seems worth setting aside as much as possible and replaceing it with joy in the good choices made.
Seize the day, that you might enjoy the next, and the next, and the next.
On one hand, we should live each day as if it is our last. Seize the day. Carpe diem. Dead Poets. My dad got sick when he was 27 and spent the next 27 years dying, eventually passing away at 54. I can't tell you how relieved I was to celebrate my 28th birthday in good health - definitely my favorite birthday (even if Mason spoiled the surprise! :-) ). Growing up in a convalescent center, I was always cognizant of the need to live each day as though it could be my last.
On the other hand, I was born into one of the more frugal families that's ever lived. My dad was perhaps the greatest miser known to man, but my mom has also been very good with a dollar and now my brother has shown a keen ability as well. It's our family's unique talent. Why do we do this? If we should live for today, why bother? Well, the reality is that we might not die today. In fact, odds are we won't. Odds are we'll live for a long time.
So each day we're faced with a set of choices and depending upon our mindset we'll behave differently.
* Save or spend?
* Eat or diet?
* Study or play?
* Work or golf?
* Chase your dreams or be responsible?
The carpe diems of the world are now in foreclosure. Others live to regret all that time they spent at the office. Either way the temptation is to some day live with regret.
Everyone has to come to their own conclusions, but when all is said and done I've chosen to live each day as though it won't be my last. In fact, I'd like to believe that there is no 'last', which is why I celebrate Easter. Either way, since regret is inherent in the paradox, it seems worth setting aside as much as possible and replaceing it with joy in the good choices made.
Seize the day, that you might enjoy the next, and the next, and the next.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
A Tax Fable
Suppose that everyday 10 men go to PJ's for lunch. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If it were paid the way we pay our taxes, the first four men would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1; the sixth would pay $3; the seventh $7; the eighth $12; the ninth $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59. The 10 men ate lunch in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until the owner threw them a curve.
"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." Now lunch for the 10 would cost only $80. The first four are unaffected. They still eat for free. Can you figure out how to divvy up the $20 savings between the remaining six so that everyone gets his fair share?
The men realize that $20 divided by 6 is $3.33, but if they subtract that from everybody's share, then the fifth and the sixth man would end up being paid to eat their meal. The restaurant owner suggested that it would be only fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount that each paid and he started to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of $59. Outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man pointing to the tenth, "and he got $7!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!"
"That's true," shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks."
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor."
Note: I have not checked the math on this, but believe it is directionally correct. The numbers I've seen from the Congressional Budget Office show that the top two guys in this fable would actually pay $85 at the outset, not $77 (which is coincidentally $2 higher than it would have been before Bush's tax cuts "for the rich".
"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." Now lunch for the 10 would cost only $80. The first four are unaffected. They still eat for free. Can you figure out how to divvy up the $20 savings between the remaining six so that everyone gets his fair share?
The men realize that $20 divided by 6 is $3.33, but if they subtract that from everybody's share, then the fifth and the sixth man would end up being paid to eat their meal. The restaurant owner suggested that it would be only fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount that each paid and he started to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of $59. Outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man pointing to the tenth, "and he got $7!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!"
"That's true," shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks."
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor."
Note: I have not checked the math on this, but believe it is directionally correct. The numbers I've seen from the Congressional Budget Office show that the top two guys in this fable would actually pay $85 at the outset, not $77 (which is coincidentally $2 higher than it would have been before Bush's tax cuts "for the rich".
Best of October 2007
We're now under a week from a very relaxing and generally inspirational weekend in front of the TV. Six months ago I reviewed my highlights from April 2007. Here they are again this time around. Here are my top five discourses I will most want to remember and review as the years go by, in reverse order.
The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom Thou Hast Sent - Holland
"So any criticism that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not hold the contemporary Christian view of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost is not a comment about our commitment to Christ but rather a recognition (accurate, I might add) that our view of the Godhead breaks with post–New Testament Christian history and returns to the doctrine taught by Jesus Himself."
The Great Commandment - Wirthlin
"The most cherished and sacred moments of our lives are those filled with the spirit of love. The greater the measure of our love, the greater is our joy. In the end, the development of such love is the true measure of success in life."
God Helps the Faithful Priesthood Holder - Eyring
"But it is never going to be easy for you or for those you serve. There will always be pain in service and in the repentance necessary to bring the power of the Atonement to change hearts. That is in the nature of what you are called to do. Think of the Savior, whose service you are in. At what point in His mortal life can you see an instance when it was easy for Him? Did He ask easy things of His disciples then? Then why should it ever be easy in His service or for His disciples?"
O Remember, Remember - Eyring
"Tonight, and tomorrow night, you might pray and ponder, asking the questions: Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children? I will do that. And then I will find a way to preserve that memory for the day that I, and those that I love, will need to remember how much God loves us and how much we need Him. I testify that He loves us and blesses us, more than most of us have yet recognized. I know that is true, and it brings me joy to remember Him."
Slow to Anger - Hinckley
"I plead with you to control your tempers, to put a smile upon your faces, which will erase anger; speak out with words of love and peace, appreciation, and respect. If you will do this, your lives will be without regret. Your marriages and family relationships will be preserved. You will be much happier. You will do greater good. You will feel a sense of peace that will be wonderful."
Honorable Mentions
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart - Clayton
Mothers Who Know - Beck
Reflections:
Amazing how many of my favorites are from the Saturday evening session - is it because I pay closer attention or is it unfair to women?
Grateful to get more than one talk out of Eyring each time. I wish Holland and Bednar could also be in the First Presidency.
Grateful to be on this side of the ocean - Sunday afternoon had some great talks, given in the middle of the night in Joburg
I love talks that make me think - I think Beck wins this award for me and most.
It won't seem quite right without Pres. Hinckley behind the podium he grew and built, but I expect widows to be well taken care of during the next decade or so which is a good thing.
I'll go with H David Burton for $1200.
The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom Thou Hast Sent - Holland
"So any criticism that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not hold the contemporary Christian view of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost is not a comment about our commitment to Christ but rather a recognition (accurate, I might add) that our view of the Godhead breaks with post–New Testament Christian history and returns to the doctrine taught by Jesus Himself."
The Great Commandment - Wirthlin
"The most cherished and sacred moments of our lives are those filled with the spirit of love. The greater the measure of our love, the greater is our joy. In the end, the development of such love is the true measure of success in life."
God Helps the Faithful Priesthood Holder - Eyring
"But it is never going to be easy for you or for those you serve. There will always be pain in service and in the repentance necessary to bring the power of the Atonement to change hearts. That is in the nature of what you are called to do. Think of the Savior, whose service you are in. At what point in His mortal life can you see an instance when it was easy for Him? Did He ask easy things of His disciples then? Then why should it ever be easy in His service or for His disciples?"
O Remember, Remember - Eyring
"Tonight, and tomorrow night, you might pray and ponder, asking the questions: Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children? I will do that. And then I will find a way to preserve that memory for the day that I, and those that I love, will need to remember how much God loves us and how much we need Him. I testify that He loves us and blesses us, more than most of us have yet recognized. I know that is true, and it brings me joy to remember Him."
Slow to Anger - Hinckley
"I plead with you to control your tempers, to put a smile upon your faces, which will erase anger; speak out with words of love and peace, appreciation, and respect. If you will do this, your lives will be without regret. Your marriages and family relationships will be preserved. You will be much happier. You will do greater good. You will feel a sense of peace that will be wonderful."
Honorable Mentions
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart - Clayton
Mothers Who Know - Beck
Reflections:
Amazing how many of my favorites are from the Saturday evening session - is it because I pay closer attention or is it unfair to women?
Grateful to get more than one talk out of Eyring each time. I wish Holland and Bednar could also be in the First Presidency.
Grateful to be on this side of the ocean - Sunday afternoon had some great talks, given in the middle of the night in Joburg
I love talks that make me think - I think Beck wins this award for me and most.
It won't seem quite right without Pres. Hinckley behind the podium he grew and built, but I expect widows to be well taken care of during the next decade or so which is a good thing.
I'll go with H David Burton for $1200.
Dumb politics, on energy
Five executives from Big Oil are set to be grilled today by Congress on why it is that they are so greedy that even though they made record profits last year they still think they qualify for tax breaks of $18B.
Unquestionably, these are great times to be in the oil business. Sunk investments from the past are now reaping high rewards as the developing world has pushed oil prices over $100/barrel. However, let's think just a bit about what's really going on here.
Say you got a raise last year and made more money than you ever have. (By the way, the whole idea of things is that each year you try to make more money than last year since things just keeping getting more expensive, so one hopes that every year is a record year.) You did well last year, perhaps even collected a handsome bonus at the end of the year for your hard work. Now the IRS calls you in for an audit. They'd like to reneg on deducting your charitable donations and your mortgage interest. "Wait a minute," you say, "I played by the rules and was planning on those deductions. Without them I'm going to have a hefty income tax bill."
"Well, that's only fair. You made good money last year. You should pay more."
"But I did pay more. I pay a percent of my income, and that percent goes up as I make more."
"Yeah, but it's still not enough..."
Let's strip apart what Big Oil has really done.
If you held Exxon Mobil for the last five years, you'd be really happy. Their stock price was around $36/share five years ago and is now over $82/share - over a 100% increase over five years or 18% per year - that's very good.
However, if you'd held their stock for the previous five years you would have bought at $35/share - a $1 increase over five years. Pretty miserable. So in the most recent five years things went well, but over the entire ten year period you would have had a return of 9%, which is basically the market average.
And those record profits? Exxon Mobil made $39.5B last year!!! To calibrate that, you have to know they are the largest company in the world, with revenues of $377B, which means their net margin is 10%. AT&T made 12%. Kraft made 8%. Is 10% unreasonably high? Should they give some back?
My concern with these profit witch hunts that happen from time to time is that they undermine one of the things I like about capitalism and that is that it basically follows the law of the harvest. That which you sow, so shall you reap. Or better said in this case, as you explore and drill, so shall you pump and refine. If you take away later returns, you stifle earlier investment. As (yet another) aside, this is precisely the logic that comes down from time to time when a pharma company makes huge profits off a blockbuster drugs. After billions of dollars of R&D and ten years of regulatory hoops, they hit the jack pot and then everyone gets mad, often even those whose lives and lifestyles they are improving.
So Congress would apparently like Big Oil to do one of two things (in the name of Big Government):
1) Give money back to the government, give up on the tax breaks. All of you that would decide to give a little something extra to the government if you get a good bonus this year, please raise your hands. Anyone? How about $18B? Where's the love? Where's the gratitude?
2) Cut price and give money back to the people. Supply and demand are balanced by price. If you cut price you increase consumption. Do we need to consume more oil? Is higher consumption something we want to encourage?
I do agree with one assumption underpinning this procedure. If someone wastes the people's money - they should give it back. After wasting all this time and money, shouldn't members of Congress take a pay cut? And as long as we're at it, I feel they should void their pensions after their baseball steroids probe.
Unquestionably, these are great times to be in the oil business. Sunk investments from the past are now reaping high rewards as the developing world has pushed oil prices over $100/barrel. However, let's think just a bit about what's really going on here.
Say you got a raise last year and made more money than you ever have. (By the way, the whole idea of things is that each year you try to make more money than last year since things just keeping getting more expensive, so one hopes that every year is a record year.) You did well last year, perhaps even collected a handsome bonus at the end of the year for your hard work. Now the IRS calls you in for an audit. They'd like to reneg on deducting your charitable donations and your mortgage interest. "Wait a minute," you say, "I played by the rules and was planning on those deductions. Without them I'm going to have a hefty income tax bill."
"Well, that's only fair. You made good money last year. You should pay more."
"But I did pay more. I pay a percent of my income, and that percent goes up as I make more."
"Yeah, but it's still not enough..."
Let's strip apart what Big Oil has really done.
If you held Exxon Mobil for the last five years, you'd be really happy. Their stock price was around $36/share five years ago and is now over $82/share - over a 100% increase over five years or 18% per year - that's very good.
However, if you'd held their stock for the previous five years you would have bought at $35/share - a $1 increase over five years. Pretty miserable. So in the most recent five years things went well, but over the entire ten year period you would have had a return of 9%, which is basically the market average.
And those record profits? Exxon Mobil made $39.5B last year!!! To calibrate that, you have to know they are the largest company in the world, with revenues of $377B, which means their net margin is 10%. AT&T made 12%. Kraft made 8%. Is 10% unreasonably high? Should they give some back?
My concern with these profit witch hunts that happen from time to time is that they undermine one of the things I like about capitalism and that is that it basically follows the law of the harvest. That which you sow, so shall you reap. Or better said in this case, as you explore and drill, so shall you pump and refine. If you take away later returns, you stifle earlier investment. As (yet another) aside, this is precisely the logic that comes down from time to time when a pharma company makes huge profits off a blockbuster drugs. After billions of dollars of R&D and ten years of regulatory hoops, they hit the jack pot and then everyone gets mad, often even those whose lives and lifestyles they are improving.
So Congress would apparently like Big Oil to do one of two things (in the name of Big Government):
1) Give money back to the government, give up on the tax breaks. All of you that would decide to give a little something extra to the government if you get a good bonus this year, please raise your hands. Anyone? How about $18B? Where's the love? Where's the gratitude?
2) Cut price and give money back to the people. Supply and demand are balanced by price. If you cut price you increase consumption. Do we need to consume more oil? Is higher consumption something we want to encourage?
I do agree with one assumption underpinning this procedure. If someone wastes the people's money - they should give it back. After wasting all this time and money, shouldn't members of Congress take a pay cut? And as long as we're at it, I feel they should void their pensions after their baseball steroids probe.
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