Month: April 2007

Our Trip to Chicago

We went this Wednesday and Thrusday by train to Chicago. We had fun and here is a video of our trip. We weren’t able to take pictures in the Museum of Science and Industry, but you can check out www.bodyworlds.com to see what we saw there.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi7LIxLaprA[/youtube]

Here is another video that we caught of a chaeleon turning over/around.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OPqJbnQqSU[/youtube]

No Television

We do not subscribe to cable or even receive channels over the antenna. For entertainment we rent DVDs of CSI and other TV shows. One of the Discs had cracks in it and we were not able to get the DVD player to read it, so we took it back. For our “trouble” they told us to pick out 4 $1 DVDs. That was nice, however, now we have more to watch than we need.

Also, last night we pulled the camera out again on the moon. It is amazing that we can see so much detail on an object that is so far away! Here is what we saw:

Act well thy part

There used to be a building near Stirling Castle in Scotland, which had an inscription carved above the door “What-e’er thou art, act well thy part.” The building was eventually torn down, but the engraved stone was taken to Salt Lake City. I’ve seen it, and ever since have contemplated its meaning. The last couple of weeks I have especially been thinking about it.

As I think about it, another of my favorite philosophies comes to mind: “anything worth doing is worth doing incredibly well.”

I find it a healthy mental exercise on occasion (probably once per quarter or so) to divide my life into the “roles” that I fulfil. That is, to ask the question, “what am I?” Some of those might include being a husband, a businessman, a computer programmer, a musician, etc… When examining the individual roles, I can ask myself if I’m a “good one.” Am I a good husband? Am I a good businessman? Am I a good musician? Taking the time to figure out what it means to be “a good one,” and then planning how I can become better allows for great introspection, focus, and planning (and sometimes, I realize that I’ve taken on a role that I don’t really want or need, and having defined that, I can abandon the role).

So ask yourself, “What am I?” “Am I a good one?”

Are you a cyclist? Be a good one.

Are you a cook? Be a good one.

Are you a teacher? Be a good one.

Are you a mother or a father? Be a good one.

And so on….

Remember, anything worth doing is worth doing incredibly well. If it’s not worth doing well, than it may not be worth doing at all. We should never accept mediocrity from ourselves – we can be better.

“What-e’er thou art, act well thy part.”