New calling

Long time no post. Well if your like mom and dad then as soon as I say I got a calling last Sunday, you will immediately guess what it is, taking all the fun out of it. So as of last Sunday I was set apart as the Elders Quorum President, trust me when I say that when it comes to leadership roles I would gladly allow someone else the blessings. But alas, coming out East isn't the best location for those who try to hide in the back. Anyway if you would like to know more feel free to call.

Other then that we are desperately needing to close our pool down, the trees are starting to turn color and if we don't get it closed in the next couple days were gonna have one messy pool on our hands, it sad to see it get closed especially since the other day if we had a pool blanket (current one is disintegrating ) we could have gone swimming, the pool water is still getting up to 70 F. which for those who don't understand what that means, we were swimming quite happily at 78F just a couple weeks ago. It was just that one week where it dipped down to frost over night that ruined it all, and now that the temp is back up again, its still too late, the leaves have
started to turn.

For those wondering how school is going, It is starting to settle in to a groove now, as we make our way past the first couple weeks where it seemed that everything was seriously dumbed down. I have had a couple Labs now in electrical circuits, nothing interesting there, and 1 lab in my renewable energy class. It was not to bad but still coming in at a basic level where the labs are just supposed to get you familiar with the different technologies out there and the principles behind them. Next term I see getting much better as the classes get harder and more is expected out of settled in students.

Tired

So the day of possession was awkward, we waited around all day with our furniture and stuff sitting out in the yard cause the brick dropped it off. we didn't get possession until 5pm and by then it was to late to move in so we stayed another night at Nicolas house and moved in yesterday, had a couple swims in the pool its really nice. Nicolas family and then the young men all used the pool so it got it real work out yesterday, learned a lot about the pool too, starting to make more sense now.

The house stinks like smoke more then we thought, during the walk through they had all the windows open which did the trick for them cause we didn't think it was that bad, hopefully that was a lesson learned, cause now we've got a lot of cleaning and kilzin to do. cable guy is coming today hope it goes well, i miss TV, thankfully its not mid season for anything except for Big Brother and we have been catching it online.

School is good, Math class is easy English is easy, had my electrical circuits course today witched is overwhelming so let hope it gets better, and of course the Alternative energy courses are cool, however of course even the professors have differing opinions on stuff so it is quite interesting to listen to them talk about different subjects, anyway just eating my lunch and have one more class so gotta go before my battery dies out here.

Back to School

It's finally here!

Time to go back to school, 12 hours from writing this post I will be in the middle of my first school day. not sure if I'm excited or scared, I want to be in school, just wish I could skip the first week and be all settled in. Either way it's happening tomorrow, so wish we luck, and lets hope I don't do anything foolish, or fall off my bike :-(

Also tomorrow we will be moving into our new place, can't wait, should make for a very busy day. probably wont be getting possession till noon'ish so there should be lots left for me to do still. and then end the day with a dip in my new pool, because you just have to. So give us a couple weeks then feel free to start coming this way!

Privatization of all the worlds Water!

OK now, seriously people. This is getting bad, If you have ever watched the movie, "The Corporation" you would see that a company in the past tried to do this, ownership that allowed them to own all water contained in Bolivia, which meant water in the ground, rivers and that fell from the sky. Caught catching it in rain barrels meant you would be charged a fee. The country fought back in a Battle that took them to the streets and cost many a life, they won, however, apparently now looking back, maybe this was just the way corporations tested the waters, and now they must think the time is better, and apparently so, since according to this article already 5% of the worlds water is now privately owned.

Quote from the article: (from Celsias)

"The antidote to water commodification is its decommodification. Water must be declared and understood for all time to be the common property of all. In a world where everything is being privatized, citizens must establish clear perimeters around those areas that are sacred to life and necessary for the survival of the planet. Simply, governments must declare that water belongs to the earth and all species and is a fundamental human right. No one has the right to appropriate it for profit. Water must be declared a public trust, and all governments must enact legislation to protect the freshwater resources in their territory. An international legal framework is also desperately needed"

The world is running low on it's resources, as the population grows it will only get worse, we must act now to use these valuable resources in a way that allows every human the right to fresh water. (from the article) "For the fact is, we know how to save the world’s water: reclamation of despoiled water systems, drip irrigation over flood irrigation, infrastructure repairs, water conservation, radical changes in production methods and watershed management, just to name a few. Wealthy industrialized countries could supply every person on earth with clean water if they canceled the Third World debt, increased foreign aid payments and placed a tax on financial speculation."

Why are we not doing anything real about these problems, what do you think? are we complacent to these issues? is it a lack of exposure to the problems? or is there a lack of knowledge for the general public to understand whats wrong and how to fix it? or maybe like some you think this is the Lords plan and not only is there nothing we can do to stop it, but should we?

Wrong Day

Well, the other day I went to my school orientation, except it was the wrong day, oops, no biggy, it was the same presentation just geared a little more to all the nurses that were there. We wandered around the school weaving in and out of hallways which made no sense, cause when you look at the map the hallways are straight, 2 main hallways with hallways off of them, very simple, 3 stories that all look the same. After Lunch (pop and 1 piece of bad pizza) I had to write my placement tests for Math and English, I Passed my Math with a 78%, which was actually kind of upsetting, I wanted to go over it but couldn't. Then I wrote my English placement, which was basically "does this sentence sound right or does this one? "I would assume that most people with English as a first language would have passed, I got 100%... yea I know, your reading this blog and thinking ..... really? Anyway by doing so I am allowed to skip the 1st year English class and go to the second year English class instead, which also happens to be my last English class, as my 3rd year does not include an English class.

So next week Tuesday I have to go see the counselor about whether or not I want to skip the 1st year English class, it's apparently an introduction to writing Lab's, which may prove useful, however if it's anything like the test was, I'll be skipping "grade 1 engrish" for sure. Is proper this sentence being?....... seriously?

Waterless Urinals

Yes Urinals.


At first I thought for sure I would want to install one of these in the house, cause even though I may let my yellow mellow, everyone else in the house has to flush it before using the commode anyways, thus defeating the whole purpose. This would make for a very good alternative, However upon inspecting the maintenance schedule off of the Kohler website it seems rather an intensive cleaning and maintenance schedule, for instance, I don't see myself wiping down the surface once a day with there special kohler no splash urinal cleaner, why can't I use regular cleaner, hmmmmm whats in there stuff anyway? or replacing the 3 ounces of sealing liquid twice a month, seems excessive, it should be based on usage or something, maybe wiped down once a week, and changed once a month or less often preferably.

Still the idea is what matters most, waterless being the key, and the whole invention of a lighter fluid floating on the top to trap smells and etc. underneath seems like it could be used in other facets, maybe a layer on top of outhouse tanks that would last until they came to pump it out.

I wonder how far in the future we have to wait before we get to hear our children say "you used drinking water to do what?" On that day I shall shed a tear of joy. of course this is just one of many battles we are faced with, lets hope we win them all.

Smart Car is Sold, and more

So I figured I would just do a post about what's been happening, so here it is, all dry and boring.

My precious Smart car is gone, It found a home in Edmonton, so some of you may see it driving around in the near future, his new family was found through a smart car website so I'm sure it will be cared for and loved.... :-(

It's replacement you ask...... most likely a bicycle, its not to far from our new home to the school, but if this year for some reason is colder then last year it may not prove very reasonable as transportation, however it wouldn't take much to be colder then last year where they received 3 snowfalls all winter and about 3 inchesof snow, and with a winter temperature in Sarnia rarely seeing negative double digits, I should be OK.

Exactly 1 month left before we take possession of our new house, which also happens to be the first day of school, hopefully school doesn't get to intense right away as I could sure use some time to settle in with my new surroundings and set up shop.

For my Birthday a couple days ago me and Amy went across the border shopping, it's really close and being that the major town for shopping is no more then a mile from the border its pretty convenient, looks like target should be getting my business for a new TV, however I'm still a little confused with the whole Duty and taxes thing, any suggestions? also if we get our act together it seems that grocery shopping is well worth the trip as well, Gas, milk (in Jugs), cheese, and cereal top the list for cheap groceries and many more I'm sure. I know I'm not helping the local economy but seriously its only a 5 min drive so why should the prices on that side of the border be so different..... oh back to the birthday, I got 2 books on the environment slash alternative energy, skittles, pens/paper, and a new backpack that holds my laptop and other supplies, I was planning to use the backpack I used in high school and for my mission however it seems to have been "misplaced"..... Amy wasn't fond of it.