Monday, May 30, 2011

Who was John Wooden? You probably already know that he was the head basketball coach at Indiana State University, and I think elsewhere, too. He was very successful as a coach and an adviser. I love John Wooden's "Pyramid of Success". I wish I knew how to cut and paste his pyramid onto our blog, maybe one of you can do it.

In a period of 14 years, John Wooden worked on his famous pyramid. He said, "The first two blocks of the pyramid are the two cornerstones because to be strong, you have to have a strong foundation. The cornerstones of success to me, in anything, are hard work and enjoy what you're doing. So, one cornerstone is industriousness and the other is enthusiasm. Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

It reminds me of the boy scout motto, but more for adults in the world of work and leadership.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Photo Art

So Amy and I pooled our Christmas money and purchased a used Canon DSLR, and I have been having a great time combining it with new photo techniques that were unavailable to me with our previous point and shoot Nikon. Here is a couple of links to some pictures I have taken and/or altered with GIMP.

You may have already been sent a link to these pics via email, but Picasa has been sending updates for some reason so here is a permanent link to the albums.





Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Here are a few health tips that are supposed to add years to your life!

1. Eat 12 walnuts or 24 almonds per day. They contain monounsaturated fats to keep arteries clear and boost your mood with serotonin. Adds 3.3 yrs. to your life for men, 4.4 yrs for women.

2. Eat 13-14 oz. of wild fish per week such as salmon, whitefish, tilapia, catfish, flounder, or mahi mahi. They contain artery-clearing omega-3 fatty acids. Be 2.8 years younger!

3. Eat 1 cup of soybeans per day for fiber, protein, and healthy fats. That's 0.4 years younger!

4. Drink 8 oz. of tomato juice or eat 1 cup of spaghetti sauce. They contain folate, lycopene, and other artery nutrients. You'll be at least 1 year younger!

5. Olive oil, nut oils, fish oils, flaxseed, and avocados should make up 25% of your daily calories. Be 3.4 years younger!

6. My favorite: Real cocoa-based chocolate increases dopamine release and provides flavonoids which keep arteries young. Eat one ounce per day to replace milk chocolate. 1.2 years younger!

Eat your way to health!
Lovin' your arteries~ Mom.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Dad is home for good, I think. No more 2 a.m. trips to the hospital. I think I broke the speed limit each time I took him to the emergency room. Naughty Nana~ Every day dad seems to feel just a little bit better and he is actually taking NO pain medication right now. Thank you to everyone for calling to check on him and visiting him in the hospital. I'm sure he felt better after each visit and call. He received a blessing Sunday assuring him that Heavenly Father loves him and is aware of him and to know that everything would be alright. So all is well. Thank you everyone! Our family is the best.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

In Response to J. B. S. Haldane, Possible Worlds Quote

In my opinion the "nature" vs "nurture" debate is proof that we have a spirit or no free will. The nature side says that we are genetically programmed to act a certain way, that we are who we are due to the organization of atoms in our cells, particularly in our DNA. The Nurture side says that we act the way we do as a response or due to influence of our surroundings. Both sides have plenty of evidence to show that one or the other is more influential.

Consider if only one was responsible for our decisions, say "nature" in that case all of our actions, thoughts etc. would be based on genetics. If this were true I think it would be safe to say that we have no free will but are slaves to our genetics.

Now consider "nurture" where all of our actions were in response to the integration of our surroundings, teachings, examples etc. Again no free will, instead slaves to our perception of the world.

Of course the simple solutions is that we are neither all of one or the other, but instead some of one and some of the other. Still, this does not leave room for free will, because the sum of both concepts leaves no room for free will. Therefore, there must be another factor in our decision making that originates with us but is only influenced by the other factors, or at the very least we can be an originating source of influence on which factor is more powerful at any given moment in our lives.

Interestingly, I presented this concept in a power point presentation to my Genetics class at CSUS with the last slide suggesting we must have a spirit. I don't think it went over very well with the professor, but a lot of the students commented on it positively.

Friday, February 4, 2011

The Other Miller Family



Since the Andrew Miller Family has monopolized these posts with their pictures, I thought I might add some quality pictures of our own. Here you will see Ryan installing our Water Filtration System! Just what I've always wanted! The boys were very helpful to him as you can see. Max assisted in true plumber style.

Berry Smoothie for the Whole Family






A few scoops of Apple Juice Concentrate (added for sweetness, so as much as you want)
Some yogurt (any kind)
Some honey (preferably from the guy Mom works with)
Lots of Frozen Berries (strawberries, blueberries, any mixture of berries)
Lots of Milk (water if you are lactose intolerant, just for you Dad!)

If you have seen other recipes like this it might say to add ice cubes, but don't!

It is really good and makes a lot, so the whole family can enjoy it. You can see that ours did!

For those in our family who don't need a lot of this smoothie, just substitute "A Little", where you see, "Lots."

ENJOY!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Fun with GIMP (Open Source Photoshop)

I took this picture in Hawaii and then used a free program called GIMP to edit it. I am learning how to edit things in GIMP and I will post more as I learn new techniques...

Saturday, January 15, 2011

journal

Here's an idea for writing in your personal journal, or just something to think about on your way to school, work, or the store. The hymn "More Holiness Give Me" has 3 verses with 8 phrases in each verse. That's 24 phrases in all. One year I tried using one phrase for every 2-week period as a writing prompt. The hymn is a sort of prayer, so it is easy to ponder the phrase and then try to think of ways during the coming 2 weeks to strive to seek what the phrase asks the Lord to give you.

For example: The first phrase is "more holiness give me". For 2 weeks, think about ways that we can be more holy. The next two weeks you can ponder how to have "more strivings within", and then "more patience in suffering", or "more sorrow for sin". It gave me a focus every day as to what I might do to become more holy, patient, hopeful, or meek.

Even if you don't have time to write about it in your journal, each phrase gives you something of real value to ponder and seek the Lord's help to improve.

Let's see, mathematically, that means the song would fill 48 weeks of the coming year with journal or thought prompts. We already missed the first two weeks of 2011, so we would now be pondering "more strivings within" from Jan 16 - Jan 31. The rest of the song will take us through the year until December, when we have just enough time to ponder the Savior's birth and enjoy the stories of Christmas. How fitting that the very last phrase of the song is "more Savior, like thee".

I love you all!
~Mom

The Strawberry-Orange Smoothie for Attractive People



2 cups plain or vanilla yogurt
1 bag (10 oz) Cascadian Farm® frozen organic strawberries
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon honey

Friday, January 7, 2011