Eruptions in History

In honor of the awesomeness of Iceland's baby volcanoe raining on everyones parade I give you this article from the Christian Science Monitor.
Most interesting to LDS is the following:

"Tambora
April 10, 1815

The Tambora eruption was the largest in modern history. According to the Global Volcanism Program, it was the only eruption in at least 1,000 years to rate a VEI 7.

The eruption of Mt. Tambora in what is now Indonesia cast a veil of ash around the world, lowering global temperatures by more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit. The result was the "year without a summer" in 1816. A foot of snow fell in Quebec City, Quebec, in June. Crops failed worldwide in what historian John Post called "the last great subsistence crisis of the Western world."

The eruption is also tangentially credited with the invention of the bicycle, as the cost of maintaining horses rose, both because of the cost of oats and the death of many horses."


1816 was the same year that the Smith family was forced to move to New York due to the bad harvest. So a geological event half way around the world directly contributed to Joseph being in Palmayra.

Cool right?

Groove Your Bum

Does this count as shaking the baby??

Coach

i started to coach youth sports two years ago. I have coached soccer (indoor and outdoor), basketball and t-ball. It is a fun way for me to be involved with the community. Plus I think learning how to control twelve 4-5 year olds for an hour is a great exercise in patience. With my job it can sometimes be difficult to squeeze it all in. I am not a very technical coach but I am very enthusiastic.
Sometimes after a long practice or game i am left wondering what I was thinking signing up to be a coach. The kids run circles around me and i struggle to teach them just one thing about the sport.
Today's t-ball game was a prime example. Most of the kids spent more time kicking up dirt then paying attention and a few kept fighting over the ball. Completely spent, I was relieved when it was all over. The kids were all running off with their parents and I was stuffing helmets and bats into my bag. Then one of my cutest, sweetest little 4 year old girls ran up to me. I looked at her expecting that she had lost something. But instead she threw her arms around me and gave me the cutest little hug. When I pulled away too quickly she lifted her head and gave me a little kiss before running back to her parents.

Suddenly I remembered why I coach.

Pandora

I have been a huge fan of Pandora radio since college. Long before the iPhone app really made it take off. In fact one of the main factors of me buying a iTouch was that I could stream Pandora. I have tried to turn lots of people on to it and so here I am attempting again!!

This is a decent video that describes Pandora. The cool part is seeing a songs musical genome get created. If you have been living under a rock and don't know what pandora is you need to check it out.

Love on the Train

So this video is a perfect metaphor for how I feel about my love life.

Once you watch it I think you will see what I mean.

Getting To Know You

My mother, who of course reads this blog (that is what mothers are for no?), told me that there is nothing personal in it. I think she came expecting pictures and antidotes of my life. Which is the type of blog she is used to reading. For me this blog is not about sharing or over-sharing about me; it is about sharing ideas and concepts that I find interesting.

That being said let me get a bit personal.

I have been with Harold for the last four years. We met at an auto auction and it was love at first sight. It has been a mutually beneficial relationship. Harry takes care of me and I take care of him. However for the last 8 months things have fallen apart. Harry needs more attention. He baffles me with his mood swings and temperamental-ness. I realized that despite the time together I do not know much about how he works. So I talked to some guy friends and last night we popped the hood and I finally really got to know Harry.

Harold is of course my 2001 Jeep Cherokee. You may laugh but, besides family, Harry has been my one constant in a period of vast change and learning. He is important to me. Yet despite that I know very little about how he works and what he needs to stay "happy". I have been content to ride along, not asking questions until a serious issue came up.

Now I know he is inanimate object that his anthropomorphism is all in my head. But I can't help but parallel how little I know about Harry with how little I tend to know about my friends. While I am all about creating deep and meaningful friendships, often to my torment, I don't often have them. I think that is because I never look under the hood.

I don't like to pry.

"Why did your parents get divorced?"

"Why don't you attend church anymore?"

"Why do you dislike that guy?"

Those are questions I would never ask. I let people tell me things on their own. If they don't tell me then I assume they don't want me to know. This probably looks like I am not concerned or curious about them. I see it as respecting their privacy. But this has resulted in me rooming with someone or being friends with them for years and never really learning about what makes them run.

Now I never thought this was a bad thing. But recently a good friend of mine, that I have known for over a year, completely surprised me. To the point that I wonder if I really understand this person. If I even want to maintain our close friendship. I have been surprised by friends before but this one really hit me different.

Maybe I need to change my behavior. Maybe before I get so emotionally invested in a person I should learn more about their personality. Their past, their dreams, their family life. Because I now feel faced with an emotionally frustrating decision.

But then would I start limiting myself to only certain types of people and therefore miss out on some of the wonderful and varied friendships I have?

I don't know the answer. But I wished I did.