The Last Lions
At times, one may wonder if the funny cat videos will ever end on the Internet. But we wanted to share a serious cat (big cat) video we found on CNN that highlights a problem that has me concerned about our world.
50 Years ago there were 450,000 lions; today, there are around 20,000.
To put it in perspective, that’s like the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida reduced to half the audience of an NBA basketball game in one generation. We’d be concerned if it happened to us…
From the article transcript:
As Beverly points out in the TED talk, the death of one male lion can have drastic effects on the whole pride. A new male comes into the area and takes over the pride, killing all the cubs and possibly some of the females defending their cubs.
So we’ve estimated that from 20 to 30 lions are killed when one lion is hanging on a wall somewhere in a far-off place.
Below is the video from the TED talks. The video shows the couple getting stuck in the swamp lands of Africa, experiencing a leopard jumping in their jeep, and watching as a leopard interacts with a baby baboon…
Here’s the same video in case you have trouble viewing the first:
Read More2010 Year in Review
Sometimes you have those little experiences that end up making a big difference in your life. Experiences that change the way you think, act, or even believe. This year, we were fortunate to experience a week of those types of moments as we made a trip overseas to Israel.
It began with sleeping at the airport because the plane was missing a part (it was an adventure for sure especially when a few passengers got a little upset). We saw the walls of Canaan (or rather walls built by the Canaanites), the River Jordan, Capernaum, Bethlehem, Hezekiah’s Tunnel, the Dead Sea, Masada, and a Live Archaeological Excavation. We saw the Garden of Gethsemane, Golgotha, and the Garden Tomb. We saw the ancient Temple Mount and much, much more.
Throughout the trip, I thought, you don’t need to see Jerusalem the city to know that what transpired there really took place, but it sure was amazing to stand on the remnants of the Temple Mount and know that not even 2,000 years ago, the Savior stood there, proclaiming it his Father’s house, then His house, then “your house” which was left desolate and destroyed.
Our posts about the trip have more details that you can read if you desire.
Leading up to the trip, we attended a passover dinner put on annually by BYU which was incredibly insightful. To participate in the tradition, and the meal, that Israel has been commanded to keep and that the Savior kept with his apostles the night of the Real Passover was fascinating.
It’s been a wonderful year of growth for us, in many regards. One of our growth experiences has come from working very hard to find healing for Angie with her Rheumatoid Arthritis. We’re pleased to announce that she’s been medication free for about 8+ weeks. We’ve explored and have begun a new way of eating which is nothing more than just plain eating healthy with a very cautious approach to foods that might affect the Rheumatoid Arthritis. Of all the things we’ve read or heard, two of the most beneficial have been the Word of Wisdom and a talk given by Elder Dallin Oaks entitled “Healing the Sick” given in April of 2010. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s very enlightening.
The kids have been fantastic this year, and await a new addition to the family. We feel blessed, not because we have no trials, but through our trials and work great things have happened.
Perhaps the words by Victor Hugo from his masterpiece Les Misérables (one of my favorite books) captures the essence of it all as Jean Valjean, battered, exhausted, and lost is trying to find his way escaping the battle of armies above by sloshing through the sewers beneath Paris:
The pupil is dilated at night and eventually finds daylight in it, in the same way as the soul is dilated in misfortune [or challenges] and eventually finds God in it.
- Annual Updates -
Books Angie Read
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- The Help
- 7 Miracles That Saved America
- Kingdom and the Crown: Fishers of Men
- Kingdom and the Crown: Come Unto Me
- Kingdom and the Crown: Behold the Man
- Jesus Christ and the World of the New Testament
- Conquering Arthritis
- The pH Miracle: balance your diet, reclaim your health
- The Total Money Maker Over by Dave Ramsey
- The 4 hour work week
- Aiming at Amazon
- Ivy and Bean (with the kids)
- Pippy Longstockings (with the kids)
Books Thomas Read
- Starting an iPhone Application Business for Dummies
- Treat me Like a Customer
- Jesus Christ and The World of the New Testament
- Aspire: Discovering Your Purpose Through the Power of Words
- Jehovah and the World of the Old Testament
- LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls
- The Total Money Maker Over by Dave Ramsey
- Deduct It!
- The 48 Laws of Power
- Aiming at Amazon
- POD for Profit
- Elements of Style
- Thru the Wringer: 9 Secrets of Survival and Success in a hard World
- Smart Pricing: How Google, Priceline, and Leading Businesses Use Pricing Innovation for Profitability
- The 4 hour work week
- Marketing to the Affluent
- The New Psycho-cybernetics
- The pH Miracle : balance your diet, reclaim your health
- Conquering Arthritis
- Driven: An Autobiography by Larry Miller
- Alkalize or Die
- Excerpts from lots of other health books
New Media we Enjoyed
- The Annoying Orange
- Star Wars the Clone Wars Series
- The Eternal Christ – DVD (2010) by Truman G. Madsen
- Toy Story 3
- Disney’s A Christmas Carol
World Events
- 1/12/2010 A terrible earthquake kills an estimated 220,000 in Haiti
- 3/21/2010 – A massive volcanic eruption in Iceland disrupts air travel over the Atlantic
- 4/20/2010 – An explosion of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico causes one of the worst man-caused environmental disasters in history.
- 7/25/2010 – WikiLeaks posts to the Internet “leaked” US government documents and secrets.
- 8/31/2010 – President Obama announces that the combat mission in Iraq is finally over.
- 10/13/2010 33 Miners were trapped over a thousand feet below the earth’s surface in Chile. All are rescued
Latch Fix for Honda Pilot Made Easy
Well, we made it sort of easy. The locking mechanism on our tailgait seemed to never get a really good latch when closing, and today, it would close, but the open tailgait light came on after trying to close the tailgate door.
The door was loose when we would pull on it.
Oh boy, this means an expensive trip to the dealership…or does it?
The locking mechanism was loose when we opened the tailgate, so we hoped something just needed to be tightened.
We didn’t really find an specific instruction online, but found a few general guidelines that indicated we would need to remove the whole interior rear trim.
But we found another way. By removing the grab rail and the two small clips and screws by the locking mechanism, we could pull back the plastic trim enough to see the problem.
There are three blots with flat heads that hold the lock in place. Two of the blots were completely out of their fitting. The bolts looked so short it seemed like they may have broken and come out but were in tact after we took a better look at it. There was no rattling from the loose bolts because there is foam padding around the trim.
Three Bolts now in Place & Secured
By pulling back on the trim, we were able to secure the bolts in place.
The tailgate door now latches much better.
Our dealership probably would have charged at least $45-90 to fix it. Recently we replaced the Main Relay on our Honda Accord by ourselves which saved us a bundle too.
Read MoreHow Prepared are You? Creating an Emergency Fund for when Disaster Strikes.
We’ve been reading the book The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness
Ramsey takes a revolutionary approach to financial fitness…get out of debt.
Wow! Who-da-thunk?
Simple, straightforward…get out of debt. It’s unfortunate that we have a society that places value on buying things without having the means to do so. Let’s hope that we don’t take part.
Payments on Pizzas
Hypothetically, would you go to Pizza Hut and before ordering ask if they have a payment plan to finance your order?
Crazy, no?
Yet that’s exactly what happens when someone carries a balance on their credit card month after month. They’re making payments on pizzas (and a lot of other things like toothpicks)!
Sunk but Looking Good
Credit card payments may signify payments on pizzas but what about auto loans, are they better?
Nope, they’re worse.
Of course with loan for an automobile you may obtain a lower interest than a credit card but when you look at the dollar amounts involved, it’s insane!
People pay thousands and thousands extra above the original purchase price due to interest for a vehicle that will lose value faster than equity is gained.
Save for a car, then buy it, period.
Home Ownership
If you’re a home owner, have you ever wondered what life would be like without a house payment? Have you imagined the types of things you could do with that money?
Someone commented once, well if you make extra payments on a home and then lose your home, you lose the extra money you put into it. The answer to that is…put yourself in a position where losing your home would be very hard to do.
How do you not lose a home?
Have a large emergency fund saved up that will get you through difficult times (something we could all work on).
Risks of Borrowing
Some may think that for cash flow reasons, it’s a better choice to put things on credit…ah, hasn’t the recessions taught us anything? Anything at all? How many foreclosed homes and cars are out there?
Does buying “things” on credit really sound fiscally responsible?
How many people would have been better off to purchase a car they could afford and take the money they would have had as payments and put it into an emergency fund?
Once their emergency fund was, ahem, funded, they could take that money and invest it.
“I just don’t have enough to make ends meet.” If that’s the case, read Dave’s book, and you might find yourself inspired to make things happen so you do have enough to make ends meet.
Creating an Emergency Fund, the First Step
Create an emergency fund – a fund separate from all your other accounts reserved for emergencies.
We’ve enjoyed reading Dave’s book, which strongly encourages as the very first step to freedom the creation of an emergency fund and offers plans on building a fund.
The stories in the book are inspiring about people that sacrificed so that they could live debt free and create security.
Budgeting is an important part of getting control and creating an emergency fund. Mint.com (owned by Intuit) is easy to use and ties into your accounts so you can categorize expenditures and create budgets.
There are many savings accounts you can use to create an emergency fund.
Keeping an emergency fund account separate from your bank that has your checking account might be a good way to preserve the fund for real emergencies.
ING Direct (“Orange Savings” online) has a deal right now that if you are referred by a friend and open a savings account with $250, you get $25 and the referring friend gets $10, so if you’re interested in a referral link, let us know. (The ING offers and amounts change from time to time).
Whatever you choose to do, make sure you (and your spouse if married) are the one(s) choosing where the money goes rather than the money choosing where you go. And you can take that to the bank.
Read MoreWho do you think you are?
Just who do you think you are?
A familiar question, one that is usually asked when you’re in trouble. However, this time, it takes a different meaning. Seven celebrities embark on a quest to answer the question, “Who do you think you are?” in a new television series on NBC. Of course, Ancestry.com on of the largest Genealogy Websites is helping out.
The show starts Friday Evening, March 5th and continues each Friday.
Ancestry.com offers a Free Trial to new signups.
Give a Day Get a Disney Day
On News Year Day, we signed up for the Give a Day Get a Disney Day program, and it’s been fun.
Below is a video explaining a little bit about it.
Basically, for a day of service (with a qualifying organization), Disney will give you one free ticket into Disneyland or Disneyworld. I think there’s around 1.2 million spots, so the sooner you sign up and do your service, the better. Once your service is complete, you get a voucher that you can redeem at the park.
For more info or to sign up, visit www.GiveADayGetADisneyDay.com
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