Garden of Eden - Week 7

The yard/gardens are all looking great. We had rain and hail on Friday, but no real damage occured, and then we had more rain on Saturday which soaked everything really well.

This week we picked a few more strawberries and even a jalepeno. Almost all of the tomatoe plants have either tomatoes or blooms on them. The green beans have even begun to bloom and we expect to have green bean in a few weeks.

Last we Phoenix and I started new okra and new eggplant seedlings using Jiffy pellets. Hopefully we can get them in the ground here in the next few weeks. Today we are going to start some strawberry seeds off from scratch to replant in the strawberry patch. It looks as though the strawberries I planted over a month ago are not going to grow.


The fruit trees are all doing well. The peach tree in the front yard is down to two peaches and the peach tree on the side of the house has about six peaches and some of them are starting to show some red in them. If the birds and kids don't get to them first we may have a peach or two to eat. The pears are not doing as well but the pear tree in the back yard still has two very small pears on it.









BLM

Project 600

My latest household project is Project 600 which is a sub-project of the "De clutter the Morgan Household Project." Which is part of the larger project "Why do I collect so much crap project?"

Actually, Project 600, is our attempt to make our 600 CD collection (which some of you have helped move three or more times), which takes up about six file sized boxes, into a virtual collection which will all fit on our computer hard drive and an MP3 player. Then once the CDs are ripped I planned on selling the CDs to purchase an MP3 player and a small stereo with MP3 docking station. I guesstimated that I could figure on one dollar per CD for a total of 600 greenbacks.

This all started because our home stereo system which was 10 years old went on the fritz about a year ago and when I tried to get it fixed, I was told it was not worth the cost. I have since donated the old stereo to Goodwill. This left us with 600 CDs that the only way we could listen to them was to play them through our televisions. This is not a good option with HD DLP televisions. (You only get about 6000 hours per bulb ($300 per bulb) and there is no way to turn on the television without turning on the bulb.) So when Tara and I started investigating getting a new stereo system, I wanted something that would allow me to have access to all of the music we owned in the house, on the road, and anywhere I could remotely connect to my computer. During the Christmas season I had seen a stereo by Phillips with Blue tooth technology that would allow a stereo to pick up all of the music on your hard drive. When we went to Best Buy last month, they said they no longer carried that model because all of the new stereos were coming out with docking stations for MP3 players (90% of the models we have viewed have docking stations only for the IPOD (yuck)! ).

A sub project to Project 600 was to catalog all of the CDs in the hopes that I could market and sell them lock, stock and barrell to one buyer without having to carry them around with me. I found a great database for cataloging your CDs, DVD, books, and games. It is freeware you can find at: http://www.download.com/Libra/3000-2131_4-10715967.html?tag=lst-0-2&cdlPid=10740013. If you are visual person like me you will love this database. It is easy to use and it even allows you to track items you have loaned to other people.

Now some of you might be wondering why in the heck do they have so many CDs. It all started back in the 80's. This was the time I liked to dress like Don Johnson from Miami Vice. My CD collection grew and my clothes changed, but I continued living with the "vice" in my life. My drinking was spiraling out of control. By the late 80's I had about 1000 CDs, but as my drinking increased so did my trips to pawn shop to feed my addiction. By the time that I quit drinking in 1994, I only owned a handful of CDs. I resolved that I would try and replace most of the pawned CDs. In order to replace my collection faster, I decided that CDs that I could not replace I would purchase greatest hits titles. So that is where we are today 14 years sober and 600 CDs.

I started two weeks ago, and so far I have ripped 204. Hopefully phase one of this project will be completed by the end of May.

I am fretting over several decisions.

#1. About 50 percent of the CDs we own are brand new and still in the shrink wrap. I can't decide whether I should open the new CDs to rip them, or should they remain unopened so that I can sell them for a premium (greater than a $1).

#2. I can't seem to decide whether to purchase an IPOD or ZUNE. Each model will hold 80G which is more than enough to handle all of our music. The ZUNE is moderately less expensive and uses Windows technology with which I am familiar, but the IPOD has a crazy amount more accessories and third party periphrials.

Your comments are welcome.

Byron Lynn

Dissertation

Sometimes we need to report on something just to keep ourselves honest, focused, and on track. My dissertation is one of those things.

I finished collecting the data for my dissertation back on November 12, 2007. Tara had Zion on November 16, 2007 and so I decided to take eight weeks off from both work and my dissertation. Well eight weeks turned into 12 and the next thing I knew I was getting a call from my one of my co-chairs asking how much progress I had made. The answer was a big fat: NADA!

So in February 2008 I started working on my dissertation again and now, three months later, I can truly say that I am deep into the analysis and feel like I am getting somewhere. The data has been cleaned up, transformed, and summated. Additionally, I have had to re-read many of my texts and articles to just "bone-up" on many elementary statistical terms and definitions in preparation for what comes next. The greatest help as been Statistics in Plain English by Timothy C. Urban, 2001.

Last Friday I took time off from work to attend a seminar by my co-chair, Dr. Brian Miller, on the focal point of my analysis: mediated moderation, a form of multiple regression. Mediated moderation will allow me to examine the practical and statistical significance of the interaction of my independent variables (e.g., credit card attitude, locus of control, parental involvement) with my moderator (personal credit literacy), and my mediator (total credit card debt) with outcomes such as stress, hours worked, risk aversion, relationship conflict, and withdrawls from school. After the seminar Dr. Miller and I examined my work thus far and it seems as though I am actually beginning to understand a little of what I am attempting to analyze.

Well that's all for now, Zion is crying and Phoenix is jumping on the bed. Hopefully I will be able to report more on my progress as time goes on. Just to let you all know, I plan on defending my dissertation in late summer or early fall, if all goes well.

Much Love and Respect, BLM

Sin

Tag you're it!!

I have never "tagged" but I guess I fill out the questions, post them, then tag some peeps to do the same. I tag: Brandi, Jeni, and Chrissta (everyone else I can think of has already posted one of these on their blog!) You guys copy these questions, answer them, and post them on your blog pretty please I'd love to hear your answers if you get a second.


10 YEARS AGO:
I was a nanny to three kiddos in Oregon.


FIVE PLACES I HAVE VISITED:
1. Mexico
2. Honduras
3. Utah
4. Corsicana
5. Seattle


FIVE THINGS ON MY TO DO LIST:
1. Take Zion for his 5 month pictures (yes I am a little obsessive)
2. Clean my house (never ending)
3. EXERCISE!
4. Take Phoenix to the park
5. Laundry


LIFETIME GOALS:
1. Finish School ( I never thought I would say that!!)
2. Enjoy the “Little Things”
3. Become a healthier person
4. Be more patient
5. Always be a good friend


THREE BAD HABITS:
1. Forgetfulness
2. Saying I'll be on time but never can be
3. Procrastinating



FIVE THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME...
1. I have the WORST sense of direction (unfortunately Chrissta know this all too well)
2. I HATE bugs….and Texas has alot
3. I have a weekly subscription to People magazine
4. I HATE any amusement park ride!!5. I was in a patriotic singing group as a teenager (yeah that’s right sequenced flag vest…..Can you even picture it??)

A++

My wife just sent me a text to let me know what her grade was on test number two; she made a 102%. I am just flabbergasted at watching her excel at math (I don't remember ever getting a 102% of anything while in college). Words cannot express how proud I am of her and her achievements.

Last week after listening to conference and hearing the apostle Boyd K. Packer express how women should continue to learn and have time for themselves, it just further confirms that Tara's decision to start college was the right one.

Since starting college she has:

Gained confidence and self-esteem,
Made new friends outside the church,
Learned math comes from hard work and discipline,
Had time to concentrate on herself,
Started to become a lover of math.

I am sure that there are other benefits, but these are just a the few that standout in my mind and ones that I am sure Heavenly Father would be proud.

She has another test this coming week. Let's pray for her continued success.

Much Love,

Byron Lynn

P.S. We make the bed each day not because we have to, but because it is there to be made.....BLM

Unwanted Catalogs

If you have been receiving unwanted catalogs at your home and you would like to save a tree or two, please check out this site.

http://www.catalogchoice.org/

I became aware of the site on the Today show on NBC and then visited the site for my Social Responsibilities of Business class this semester. Tara and I set up an account as part of family home evening several weeks ago.

It is all a part of efforts to be more GREEN.

Visit by Angels

Last night when I got home from school last night, the phone rang about 8:45 and a family from our ward called to ask if they could stop by. They got to the house at about five til nine and they came bearing a gift. Some very yummy cake with lots-o-chocolate in it. What was so nice, was the fact was it was one of those random acts of kindness that just brings tears to your eyes.

We all have people in our lives that we can count on, but when someone who you don't normally commune with on a daily basis shows up at your door at nine at night bearing gifts, it is truly a visit by an angel.

May we all be visited by angels here on earth.

Much Love and Respect,

Byron Lynn

Garden of Eden-Week 4

Exciting news this week!

The Moonglow pear tree which had shown no signs of growth since being planted, bloomed this week.

This means the only plants let on the dormant list are the two blueberry bushes in the backyard. I did have a chance to talk to a landscaper who told me they were waiting for theirs to do something from last year. So we will continue to pray and hope that one day we will have a blueberry harvest at the Morgans.

I also sprayed the front yard with the crabgrass treatment again and this time I upped the concentration of treatment to water and it looks like it had its intended effect. The crabgrass is dying and the Bermuda is coming in nicely. There is one small spot in the front yard that I think I am going to purchase a few pieces of sod to fill it in.

Tara and I examined all of the trees, and we have fruit on two of peach trees and one of the pears trees. The figs trees don't have fruit, but the leaves are large and healthy.

Starting to see more and more blooms on the tomatoes in the back and one of the strawberries is starting to turn red.

Looks like I am going to have to try again on the okra and the eggplant. Neither is doing well at all.

BLM

Black Mormons

One of my mom's cousins came for a visit last week and she brought me a recent article from the The Oakland Tribune titled, "Filmmakers chronicle black Mormon's lives."

Darius Gray, whom I met three years ago, and Margaret Young have produced a documentary titled, "Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons."

The article and the film discuss the good and bad of black Mormons in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The movie is still be shopped for distribution, but you can see a trailer at the following link:

http://www.untoldstoryofblackmormons.com/

History shows that the under the leadership of Prophet Joseph Smith, blacks held FULL membership in the faith and that it was under the leadership of the Brigham Young did that policy change. Of note that I believe all should remember and know is that Elijah Abel was ordained to the priesthood in 1832. He was BLACK!

Whenever I am questioned by my black brothers as to why I belong to a church who did not allow blacks to hold the priesthood until the 1970's, I politely remind them that we DID hold the priesthood much earlier in church history, and we hold it ever so dearly and strongly now. Then I remind them that the institution that I work for now, Texas State University-San Marcos, did not allow blacks to attend the college until 1969, and I have been teaching for them as an adjunct professor for over eight years. If blacks were to take an attitude of I am not participaing, joining or involving myself with any institutions which were negative to blacks in their past, I wouldn't get out to do much.

It's great to be alive in this dispensation!

Much Love and Respect,

Byron Lynn

Little Black Corvette....

Xander decided the other day he was ready to drive Phoenix's corvette. The first time we tried this it ended in a complete meltdown of histeria from Xander. This time started like that but quickly changed and off they were. They pulled out of the garage and it was pure joy for about 45 min. At one point Chrissta and I decided Xander had pretty good control over the car and we let them drive a little further, once Phoenix relized this he was thrilled. Phoenix turned around and looked at us, then turned back around to Xander and with his finger poited straight ahead started chanting....."Keep Going, Keep Going, Keep Going!!" We busted up laughing, let them go a little further and then called to them to turn around!!