An Ode

I've had a lot of math homework lately, which means I've had lots of "I hate mathematics" moments-- which really means that I've had lots of alone time, lost in thought. Besides the 'not-actually-doing-math 'math time'', Emily has been away 11 of the past 19 days.

It's human nature to throw around superlatives. Stay with me.

Homie at the car wash tonight heard The Man Who Invented Soul coming from my open door, and, half-smiling, half-thuggin', said (twice, very fast) "You don't know about that."

No one knows Emily better than I do. This is to be expected; we're married.

This being true, I get to see how misunderstood she is by many people. Honestly, the first things I heard about her from others after we met were not positive. In their own way, these individuals sparked in me a retaliation against how I felt many people viewed me. I've always been partial to Brother Joseph's statement, "You don’t know me; you never knew my heart."

Nothing I can say will really change those who already have their mind made, but I want to give an affirmation of what I see from my perspective.

Emily is the least self-concerned person I know. She actively seeks those who need a friend.

Emily is perceptive and recognizes good opportunities.

Emily is forgiving, and a quick forgiver at that. She isn't interested in making a man an offender for a word, in scoring points for her ego, or gratifying pride, vain ambition, etc.

Emily cares about things that are important, and leaves no room for things that don't.

Emily is not a quick study. She masks this very well. The box to the game Othello I'd see in the closet growing up said something like "A minute to learn. A lifetime to master." Yeah.

Emily is a fast learner. I think she sometimes feels unknowledgeable, but I'll take her wisdom over any dude's info-fluffhead brain.

Emily would never tell you how stupid you are being, even when you deserve it.

Emily inately exemplifies the 13th Article of Faith.

Emily enjoys the simple, but isn't blind to complexity.

I could continue.

Emily is a beautiful woman. I'm lucky enough to know her very well, and invite you to as well.

A Question of Morals

I am a big fan of the internet. This medium affects my everyday life, much more than traditional radio, print media, or television ever has. It permits me to communicate easily. It allows me to manage a whole lot of information, from research to music to pictures. It enables me to learn about anything and everything. Whatever I do for a career, the internet will play a major role in it.

The internet has created some serious ethical concerns as well. Here's one from today.

In two weeks, I'll start a class called "The Economics of Discrimination". Though it's a required class (multicultural credit; sounded better than taking some dumb women's studies class), it looks pretty promising.

I went to UNLV's bookstore website where I can find all the books I'll need for a class. Turns out I'll need Freakonomics. Knowing that this is a pretty popular book, I immediately searched the UNLV library and the nearby Sahara library databases for its presence. Both databases showed that the book was available. They also showed that I could download an "electronic" version of the book.

For Christmas, I received an iPod touch. Love the thing. I maintain notes from gospel study when away from my notebooks, as well as scriptures, tons of PDF's (including many church manuals), a dictionary, my daily planner, and of course, music (really enjoying They Might Be Giant's Flood and parts of John Vanderslice's new record).

All kinds of companies employ some sort of digital rights management, or DRM. For the most part, this kind of protectionism is understandable, but the 'management' quickly becomes 'containment' or 'annoyance' or 'really, really dumb idea'. Like: I found Freakonomics on the Sahara library website, but can only read the book on my PC using Adobe software (can't print to a PDF either, tried that). Another instance is that the library will allow me to download the audio from the book, but it can only be played on the computer using the proprietary (Microsoft) .wma format, and if you try to convert it to mp3, it'll sound like children singing Disney songs underwater, recorded on cassette and glitched up by Autechre. The Man says: "You can only listen at home. No where else. Dude."

So at this point I google "Freakonomics pdf", and of course, find the book immediately.

I really like to carry very few things on my person. My iPod lets me carry a whole lot in a little package.

What would be wrong about downloading the PDF of Freakonomics and putting it on my iPod if the library will let me download the book for my PC? I'll even delete the book and buy a copy if it's good at the end of the class.

What would you do?

(By the way, E. Bednar's recent talk on digital media was excellent. I watched it on my iPod.)

Introducing...

We don't own a TV.

We've been given strange looks and really hilarious comments about that one ("So, what do you guys do?"). It certainly has been a matter of choice: we have been offered one, twice I think.

We aren't anti-TV, and may own one in the future. I'd like to create a set-top box, for which we'd need a screen or a projector.

Speaking for myself, I feel that there's so much more I can be doing with my time and my life than watching 24. I want to read great literature. I want to develop technical and practical skills. I want to strengthen my almost-not-there cooking skills. I want to be creative.

I don't mean to assume that folks who love their television are not and do not want the above.

We like our culture like we like our music- no genre excluded as long as it is constructive, clean, and inventive.

What have you been enjoying lately? Books, music, movies, games, whatever.

Here it is.

Hello all! I should be dutifully planning for next week, but who wants to do that?! So here I am writing on our blog. I think I can count all of the times I have posted on half of one hand...sorry. I don't know what it is, but I don't like to write publicly. Hopefully, you will still be excited when news does come and still check in on us Dixon's every once in a while. (Yes, this is Emily talking.)

I am still teaching in 3rd grade...but not for long. School is almost out and I can't wait!! The kids are wild and I'm just ready for a fresh start. Well, I'm going to get one. My principal came to me on the playground a few weeks ago and after our brief conversation about some children playing silent ball, just came out and said, "I'm moving you to 1st grade." I was in complete shock as it was out of nowhere and only March. I had no idea that next year's changes were already in the works. Ultimately, I am excited. I think that I have more to give the younger kids of this world. I feel that my personality is better suited for that age. I hope that I can figure it out and do a good job. 1st grade is a big year. I will say I am a little nervous to teach them how to read.

What else can I say...I have the greatest husband. I don't know how I got so lucky, but Cameron is wonderful at helping me do the dishes. I make dinner and he cleans up the kitchen. I can't express how much that means to me. Cooking is actually something I enjoy and doing dishes is not my favorite, so I got the best deal!

This morning we had the opportunity to help a couple move. It might seem crazy, but I love to serve. I would much rather worry about someone else than to worry about what I have going on. I love to make people happy and lighten their load. The couple was moved to tears to see the help that turned out to assist them during their time of need. I'm just glad I could help.

I don't want to get too long and bore someone, so that is what I will say. Leave me a comment so I can see that there really are people who visit our blog.

We're glad you're our friends!

Spring Broke

I started an online scripture journal to bring together all of my notebooks into one ready place, but that's not why I'm writing today. I feel some thoughts from James and brief quotes from my studies might summarize our spring break:

James 1:2-3

2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

"Adversity is a gift from God, offered to help me grow."

James 5:10

10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

"I'm in good company when called to suffer."

1. Emily's car's A/C died. The shop said it would cost 2k to fix. Obviously we felt slight hesitation about this, and probably because...

2. The same day we took her car in, my car died. Probably a fuel pump problem, says Dad Powell. It is currently in the shop thanks to a tow from Dad Dixon.

3. We borrowed Hayddawg's Corolla for a few days. It died because of battery failure. Thanks to Dad Powell teaching me on the van a few months ago, I pulled out the old battery and installed a new one.

4. Because of car problems, Cameron was forced to call in to work both his scheduled days.

OK, the last one wasn't disheartening.

Tapes

I recently sent out a request to various older, established members of my family for any cassette tapes of general conference. I was looking particularly for October 1983-84. Two talks that have come to mean a lot to me were there: Boyd K. Packer's "The Pattern of Our Parentage" and Bruce R. McConkie's "What Think Ye of the Book of Mormon?" The latter I read at least once a transfer with every missionary companion. It, to me, was exactly what Okies/Arkies/Missourians needed to hear. I stole E. McConkie's one-liner's frequently:

"Sir, what can I do for you to read the Book of Mormon yourself and not simply believe what other people have to say about it?"

"Why drink downsteam from the muddy, roily, poison-filled waters when you can drink from the source itself?"

"Either the Book of Mormon came from heaven or from hell. It is either true or it is false. There is no middle ground."

"The more you know about the Bible, the greater you'll appreciate the Book of Mormon."

"As you're reading, I want you to ask yourself 'Could any man have written this book?'."

/close paraphrase

Well, I got no response from the fam-damily.

I recently, and kind of wantonly, found the tapes at the institute building at UNLV. I'm rarely nearby, but had forgot my lunch that day, and my stomach brought me to the student union building. I felt to stop by the institute building, mainly because I had to use the facilities. Leaving the bathroom, I noticed a room on the far end of the hall that had large bookshelves. They had it all! A real gospel library there, including all the old general conference tapes.

The lady (as opposed to 'sister') missionaries were slightly weirded to the fact that I wanted to check out these old tapes. "Nobody's ever done that before. I don't even think we are supposed to loan these." I filled out some 3x5 with my biography, got hassled for my Temple recommend number (I think they were kidding), and to my computer the tapes went.

When you're led by nature, you'll often not know beforehand the things you will find.

Elder Packers' has a similar amount of quotables.

MP3: Elder Bruce R. McConkie - "What Think Ye of the Book of Mormon?" (Right-click to save)

MP3: Elder Boyd K. Packer - "The Pattern of Our Parentage" (Right-click to save)

"We're gonna be in the Hudson"

Listen to what Hudson-landing pilot said and watch a re-creation. Amazing.