Rights

So tomorrow is the big day. I’ve sent in my absentee ballot. I’ve made a ton of phone calls. Now I am writing on my blog.

My favorite phone calls about Prop 8 were the ones where when I asked them how they were voting they would say, “Oh I am definitely voting yes, my granddaughter is a lesbian and we support her in all that we do.” Then I would respond “well that is great!”  There were those other ones. I would politely ask if they were going to vote yes on prop 8 and they would get really mad. As they talked about rights I would get all excited and would want to tell them why they were wrong, but what I eventually learned on my mission would kick in and I would simply respond, “Well have a nice day”.

It seems to me the most common reason given against Prop 8 is to allow equal rights. This frustrates me because I don’t see this having anything to do with allowing rights to homosexual couples. Every homosexual couple has access to any and all rights afforded to those who are married under a civil union. This is about forcing social acceptance.

Rights is a word that is just thrown around way to often for me. I don’t know how many people this is common knowledge for but, the Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments to the constitution. Meaning they were not in the original constitution but were added after the the document was complete. The reason why they were not originally included was not because the founders had forgotten about them, preserving rights was at the forefront of there mind. They did not want to include a list of rights because they were afraid that if they were to enumerate (specify) rights then it would be assumed that rights would be constrained to those listed. On the other hand they wanted to limit the government itself. From this bit of history we understand that there is no finite list of rights afforded to persons as far as the founders were concerned. So then the question arises were do ones rights end, for surely people do not have the right to do certain things(i.e. killing, stealing, ect…).  From phrases in the constitution like that which says we have the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness “, I come to the following conclusion. That my rights end were someone else’s begin. For example: I may have the right to free speech, but I do not have the right to an audience.

It may appear that what I have just written would be against Prop 8, but it is just the contrary. Let’s examine this “right to marry”. As far as the government is concerned marriage is a legal contract between two individuals that awards them certain benefits and places certain obligations upon those two individuals. Some of these benefits are only applicable to those who are able to independently bear children. What has already happened is that the government in California has awarded all those same contractual obligations and benefits to civil unions despite the lack of applicability of many of those rights and obligations, opposed to hand picking what is applicable and what is not. As a result as far as those two individuals are concerned they have the same rights. So why does it appear in some instances that these unions are not equally regarded? Because organizations independent of the actual contract choose to regard these contracts differently, by choice. By including homosexual unions under the umbrella of marriage this no longer permits organizations the right to treat these two different contracts as different, when they technically are. So whose rights are under attack?

As a disclaimer I would like to note that all day I study, physics, math, structural analysis, and other things, but never political science. As a result the statements and claims previously mentioned are not cited and supported the way in which I would prefer. It also is not an exhaustive discussion of why I feel prop 8 needs to pass it is just part of one aspect of how I see things.

Follow-up

So I wanted to say something about Prop 8, but I suppose I have to at least address why I haven’t  followed up on what I said last time. I had no idea agreeing with Barak Obama on one issue would bring so much familial controversy. I was afraid of what would happen if I actually said what I agreed with him on.  So just to set the record straight I would like to say why I support John McCain. It actually has more to do with fundamentally disagreeing with Barak Obama than really liking John McCain.

Obama is liberal, very liberal. He believes in big government and lots of government spending, I don’t. I believe government’s role is to perform tasks for the people that could not be performed individually as effectively. For example, I want the road to my home to be maintained. Certainly not badly enough to rent a machine and crew to resurface the pavement myself. Thus it is the government’s responsibility to see to it that the road is improved so that all that benefit from it can contribute to its improvement. It is similar in items such as law enforcement and national security. Then comes the problem. Individuals in the government do not own that which they care for.  As a result some become careless and are not concerned for the performance of what they are responsible for, rather their own personal convenience and comfort(Note: I said some not all). In contrast when an individual who owns a business they are deeply concerned with the performance of that business, because it is their performance that determines there quality of life. If they perform they make money, if they don’t, well then they don’t make money. So I want government to only perform the essentials, and leave the rest to private owners.

Now it is the government’s responsibility to regulate commerce, which is a fine line to walk. Too much regulation and it’s tough for people to get their business done and too little  regulation and you get our current financial crisis.

Barak Obama has said that he wants to “invest in Americas families”, this is actually a code for he wants to increase government spending. He doesn’t want to invest his money he wants to invest my money( I can actually say that now that I have seen a good chunk of my check going to taxes).  And you now I would rather keep more of my check and invest it myself. John McCain has said he will balance the budget. I don’t think he will (especially with a congress like the one we have now) but at least he wants to. Obama doesn’t even want to try. So with increased government spending that requires that money to come from somewhere eventually. If it is not in increased taxes now it will be in the future, so that means we are only taking a loan out from future generations, which sounds rather irresponsible to me.

Wow am I exhausted… and that was just one issue. I know there is a lot more to that issue than can be said in a couple paragraphs and there are a lot more issues than government spending. Maybe I will talk about other issues later, we will see what the reaction is to this. Please remember I may insinuate something unintentionally, so don’t get to excited if I say something you don’t agree with.

Most of you wont like this post, sorry

Well it is my bedtime pretty soon but I just wanted to say a few things before I forget them and go another couple of months without updating my blog. Firstly, I would like to explain why I haven’t been updating my blog very often. It is most certainly rooted in the fact that I don’t exactly lead the life that inspires interesting things to write about, or that provides much extra time. I work at an engineering firm and I tend to plan on working about 11 hours a day. Some days like today and yesterday I get busy and lose track of time and end up working closer to 13 hours. I really need to work less and work on my independent study class, but oddly enough I don’t make very much money studying statistics so it is hard to make time for that. Actually I just got a threat from the Civil Engineering department that if I don’t finish that class by Aug 14th then they will drop me from my class that I am registered for that requires statistics.

Well anyways, one thing that I would enjoy writing about is the upcoming presidential election. I can’t say I can think of any readers of my blog that are terribly interested in my political opinions, I think most of them are just reading with the thought that if actually do go on a date, I may mention it here (ie Mom, Maria, Katie, Whitney). So with the risk of loosing my entire readership, I am planning on writing about the one area that I actually agree with Barak Obama nearly 100 percent on, and I am pretty excited about it to be perfectly honest.

So what do you do for fun? - Fly Kites

I have been so envious lately of the people I see flying kites. My dad always had a hobby or two that he would get really into, one of which was kite flying. Now I am not talking about your typical kite that you buy at Wal-mart. My Dad has hundreds of two and four string kites. At first I wasn't that interested in kite flying myself, I was perfectly content getting my little one string parachute kite in the air and then watch my dad with all his tricks. I eventually graduated to the two string kites. Figuring out how to control the kite was really hard for a long while. My Dad would get those kites in the air with ease, but for me it was a different story. When I would finally get the kite in the air I wanted to do all the cool tricks my dad could do. And I did some pretty cool tricks myself only after the kite would flip around really cool the trick would end by the kite zooming to the ground. My dad got pretty good a fixing kites.
My Freshman year of college I brought some kites to school with me. The couple of times it wasn't freezing cold and I was able to tear myself away from the library I had a lot of fun flying those kites. When I went on my mission those kites rejoined my fathers collection, and in the 30 seconds I have been at my house since I haven't thought to grab some kites. The absence of having kites has made me so sad the couple of windy days that I had some spare time. I am ashamed to admit even a one string kite has caused me to experience jealous. But the jealousy is soon to be reversed
I just asked my mom do bring me some kites with her when she comes up for Women's Conference and I cant wait for a windy Saturday to come, it is going to be great.
Then when people ask me (like my new roommates just did) “what do you do for fun”? I can answer “fly kites”, of course with a subsequent explanation of the difference between one and two string kites.

French Toast

So I love French toast, it is in a competition with omelets as my favorite breakfast food. My Mom would make a tasty breakfast on Saturday Mornings and my favorite was the classic french toast. She would generally use the bread that she was afraid was about to go bad, dip it in a simple mixture of eggs and milk and let it cook on the skillet. It was very important to me to be close by at this time to ensure that the butter got spread while it was hot, otherwise if the butter did not melt it wouldn't quite hit the mark.

Also I recall the camp outs where one of my amazing priesthood leaders Brother Seamons would make his special recipe of french toast. His recipe included several particular ingredients like nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, french bread from Albertsons sliced at about a 30 degree angle and his secret ingredient of sour cream (if I recall correctly). Even though I worked hard to not let it show, I loved those mornings where despite sleeping in a tent we had one of my favorite meals for breakfast (as long as the toast got the butter on it in time).

My next significant experience with French toast came living with Maria and Scott. They would also make french toast in a simple manner like my moms only using the Delicious white bread they buy (a tad more expensive than the 1.32$ bread I buy from Wal-mart) . Up to this point I was perfectly content with my French Toast Experience, I was confidant in my knowledge of the varieties and more importantly how to make it to my satisfaction. Then my understanding of the french toast world was altered in a way that will never allow me to look at it the same way as before.

I was quite excited when I heard that the closing social for my student ward would be a French Toast Breakfast. I should probably mention at least half of the excitement came from the knowledge that I would be getting free food, I in no way anticipated that the main course would please my taste buds like they did. To make a long story short after wondering how the french toast could possibly become so good I called one of my friends that was in charge of the Activity and the secret was Kneaders Cinnamon bread with the simple egg and milk mixture. For those who are so fortunate as to have a Kneaders Bakery close by, I hope you would allow yourself to have the same experience I did, if not I will let you know if I can find a less expensive Wal-mart alternative that will improve the taste to cost ratio.

My New Computer

So somehow the computer I had before my mission dissapeared. My memory on it is very vauge, I cringe to think I may have actually discarded of it with the assumption technology was going jump so greatly it would be obsolete upon my return and a new computer would come out of no where. Either that or someone through it away in the last two years, I really cant remember.

So this has left me computerless for the last 5 months. When I was living at Maria's it did not bother me as much because I could always use hers.

In my new apartment I felt very handicapped. It was like it wasn't a true home because I could not do everything I needed.

I have been periodically browsing the laptop market with the idea I would buy one eventually. One of these instances I found myself spending way too much time when I should have been studying, so I decided I could not do it any longer and I spent a couple more hours studying the various models and finally came to a conclusion I could live with and afford. Here it is

HP - Pavilion Laptop with AMD Turion™ 64 X2
Model: dv6736nr SKU: 8676391
AMD Turion™ 64 X2 mobile technology TL-60; 2GB DDR2 memory; DL DVD±RW/CD-RW drive; LightScribe labeling; 15.4" widescreen; 250GB hard drive; built-in Web cam; Windows Vista Home Premium

New Job, New Apartment, New Job

Yep so you could say I have neglected my blog, so I have a lot to update.
So last semester I was working at the Pizza Factory in Lindon which I actually really enjoyed. It was nice to do something that didn't require the type of thought that my classes and homework did. I was originally planning on only working there a couple of months until I found a job with an engineering firm. But somewhere in between not having time to look for a job and liking what I was doing it got postponed a couple of months.
After attending a conference held by Utah’s transit authority I was eventually offered a job as an intern with an engineering firm. So beginning with the new year I am now working for Project Engineering Consultants (PEC). I really like the people I work with and I am getting a lot of exposure to the world of transportation engineering. Since I am at the bottom of the totem pole I generally receive tasks that aren’t the most engaging but I understand I need to start somewhere.
I also at the same time moved out of Maria and Scott’s house into Wyview Apartments. It was very generous of Maria and Scott to let me live there having just returned from my mission. My finances would certainly look very different if it was not for their kindness. Since I could afford it and I thought I should be more involved in the BYU social scene. I now have yet another great ward, I really like all of my roommates, and I still visit Maria’s on the weekends to do Laundry and make food (Maria actually has Pots and Pans, really nice ones too)
I also have a new set of classes. I have moved from Math 302 to Math 303. Math 302 was a very challenging and extremely time consuming class, I would spend anywhere from 15 to 25 hours a week out of class. Math 303 so far does not seem as bad while it is no cake walk either. It is my last Math class which is very comforting. We actually just got our first test back on Friday and I got an A on it. I don’t think I have gotten an A on a math test since my junior year in High School.
I am also now taking a computer class on excel and using programming languages within excel. So far it has been very easy since I have a good background with computers, but I am very excited about what we are going to learn. I am also taking Mechanics and Materials, pretty much physics for engineers. And also the second half of the New Testament. We are given study questions to answer while reading which has greatly helped the effectiveness of my study.
So that is this Semester I am only taking 12. 5 credits because I am working at the same time, but I have it all figured out so I should graduate on time, or maybe even a semester early.