Books

So, I vowed that each time I finished a book, I would write a little review of it on the blog. I failed. So, tonight I am catching up. Who Moved my Cheese This is a short little book, that I listed to on CD, and it takes about 80 minutes, unabridged. It is the story of two mice and two little men in a maze and what they do after their cheese gets moved. It is an analogy to how we deal with change in our lives, and I am not sure it was worth the 80 minutes, but, it was alright. Take On the Street: What Wall Street and Corporate America Don't Want You to Know and What You Can Do to Fight Back This was an amazing book by Aurthur Leavitt, former chairman of the SEC. He is pretty liberal, he hates accountants and the AICPA, but, it was a pretty enjoyable book. In my classes and my research I have learned about all these different new regulations, and in accounting research we look at how the changes affects how firms report their behavior, but it was interesting to hear the insights about what the SEC was thinking when they made the changes. It was both a useful and interesting book anyone interested in the workings of our capital markets should check out. The Book of Mormon I had planned on finishing the BofM again before the new year, but, it did not happen. But, I did finish it recently, and, as with the other times I have finished it, it is still true, and its message changes for where you are at in life to give you the messages that God wants you to have. Read it. It will change your life.

The Lion King

So, Stacey and I watched Mary Poppins a couple weeks ago, and I was amazing at the messages it carried regarding feminism, true womanhood, the role of the father, the role of capital markets, and so on and so forth. I thought about it the whole week, and intended to blog about it, but, I didnt. Two nights ago, Stacey and I watched the Lion King, and I noticed something interesting, and I said to myself, "Self, you should blog about that," and so I am going to. Here is a picture (I took of the TV screen, so the quality is bad) of Simba, when he is being presented to all the other animals: Here is a picture of Simbas son, when he is also being presented. Do you notice a difference? Yes. You did. Simba's son does not have the stuff on his forehead, meaning, he was not baptized by Rafiki as was his father. In the end, the Lion King ends up being about a society that overcame a problem so well on its own, they grew too sophisticated for baptism. Shame. (Either that, or, they did away with infant baptism. Who knows.) Also, I just noticed, Rafiki's hands are competly different, as are the colors used on the baby lion. I wonder if they decided to add the last scene late, and had to get different artists. Hmmmmmmm. Any thoughts?

Ralph Nader

So, Ralph Nader declared his candidacy for the president. (see http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/24/nader.politics/index.html?eref=rss_topstories ) While that has traditionally meant only watering down slightly the democratic vote, I guess we can only wait and hope. One thing I do know is that I have personally seen Nader speak. He spoke at BYU's alternative commencement last year. It was a convoluted idea for a bunch of liberals who have a tentative grasp on reality, so, I guess choosing him to speak was a good pick. He is a crazy, with ideas fitting for a man who is constantly running for office, but who has never been elected to anything. Here, for example, is the musical number from the event: Here is a picture that I took of the fellow:

Connections

Pride seems even from its name to be concerned with great things; what sort of great things, is the first question we must try to answer. It makes no difference whether we consider the state of character or the man characterized by it. Now the man is thought to be proud who thinks himself worthy of great things, being worthy of them; for he who does so beyond his deserts is a fool, but no virtuous man is foolish or silly. The proud man, then, is the man we have described. For he who is worthy of little and thinks himself worthy of little is temperate, but not proud; for pride implies greatness, as beauty implies a goodsized body, and little people may be neat and well-proportioned but cannot be beautiful. On the other hand, he who thinks himself worthy of great things, being unworthy of them, is vain; though not every one who thinks himself worthy of more than he really is worthy of in vain. The man who thinks himself worthy of worthy of less than he is really worthy of is unduly humble, whether his deserts be great or moderate, or his deserts be small but his claims yet smaller. And the man whose deserts are great would seem most unduly humble; for what would he have done if they had been less? The proud man, then, is an extreme in respect of the greatness of his claims, but a mean in respect of the rightness of them; for he claims what is accordance with his merits, while the others go to excess or fall short. -Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics

Crashing waves on the timeless sand

Makes you wonder what kind of man

Could stand up to the sea

And on it set sail

Could pilot a boat

That's destined to fail

Out over the water

Between the sea and the sky

Knowing that the boat will sink

And that he will die

--Don Loper

Giveaway winnings!

On Monday I got an e-mail from to tell me that I'd won a journal called Time to Feed Baby. I know just who to give it to, since with Jacob being 5 months old (today!) I'm a bit past the stage of writing all that stuff down now. TOP does great reviews of fun products, be sure to check it out. Today I got an email from Kailani at An Island Life to tell me that I won $25 to spend at Miss Priss Tutus. I don't have a daughter, of course, so I am trying to decide which tutu I would like to get and save for a future little girl! Having said that, and won the tutu, we will probably only have boys. Jeff said to pick an extra large one for him, but they only come in Infant, Toddler, and Long sizes, so I doubt that the maximum waist size on those (a girthy 19") will be big enough for my husband. Sorry! Oh, and a while back (October or so?) I won a 6 month subscription to the Tessy and Tab Reading Club Magazine from Laura Williams' Musings. These will be great to have when Jacob is paying more attention to me reading them to him, and when he is reading on his own! Our subscription is nearly over - too bad! I think these are a fun product for preschoolers and for their parents, and hopefully Jacob will enjoy them in the years to come.

We have a (high) roller here

For those of you that watched Jacob's first five months in five minutes video below, you noticed at the end that he has reached a certain so-called baby milestone. After many weeks of me torturing him with tummy time and helping him learn to get to his side and down again, my son has finally decided to roll from his tummy to his back. If you haven't yet, watch the video down two posts. It's fun. Jacob is cute. And I love the music in the part of the the song that plays when he rolls. That was his second time rolling that we caught on camera, and it happened at my sister's house on Saturday the 16th. I was just glad the little guy waited for his dad to get back in town before rollin'.

MSU

So, I have written several posts on the ancilary activities of my trip to Lansing, but nothing about my actual interviews (all 8 of them). First, before I begin this, I would like to thank Br Fi and Da Fi and Li Fi for their hospitality and congeniality in sharing an evening with me showing me around campus, DeWitt, and East Lansing. It was very pleasant to chat with them and spend some time with them. Interestingly, it also reminded me that it was Br Fi that introduced me to Tony Chacheras cajun seasoning. I eat so much of that stuff. That changed my life forever. Anyways, about MSU. I was very impressed with MSU, with the friendliness of the faculty and with how much they seem to interact with students. That is important to me, and I think I would be very happy going to MSU if that is where I was supposed to end up. On the flip side, and in full knowledge that the people deciding whether or not they are going to extend me an offer are able to read this post, MSUs traditional placements of graduates have not been amazing or steller. They are, however, getting much better, as the program is changing a lot and getting significantly better quickly. That was probably my biggest concern. However, in the end, I think if I have several great papers co-authored with the friendly faculty there (as well as the 5-6 decent papers I hope to have with BYU faculty), I think that along with my good looks will be enough to get me a job where I want to be. But, I dont know. Like I told many people, it is hard to have an informed opinion when you lack information, and since MSU is the first place I have visited, I dont really have much to compare it to. However, I did feel very comfortable there, and could very well see myself interacting with the faculty there for the next 5 years.

Jacob is Almost 5 Months Old

Jacob is almost 5 months old. To commemorate his 5 glorious months, here is a small video about his first 5 months, starring Jacob as himself. Enjoy.

Stuff From My First Trip

So, I had my first recruiting trip to a PhD program. I went to East Lansing, MI, to visit Michigan State University. It was a very pleasant trip. Here are a few revelations I had, and things I did. My mother in-law has serious moral problems with my socks, and the fact that many of them have holes in the bottoms of them. Well, when I took off my shoes at the airport, I noticed that they had some holes. So, I made Michigan a little pleasanter place by leaving my socks in the garbage can at the Marriott. Speaking of the Marriott, it is always nice to stay there, and peek in the drawer, and see the Book of Mormon right there next to the Gideon Bible. It would be interesting to hear how it worked out how all the rooms got a Book of Mormon, and if there have been any conversion stories of weary travelers being touched and then finally converting. Anyways, here it is. So, at the hotel, they had both facial soap and body soap (something common for hotels, but, I digress). So, I opened both up, and used both, and they seemed very similar. So, I looked at the box more closely, and on the end of the box was written "bath size" and "facial size". It was merely just two sizes of soap. What silliness. Lastly, all the 5 different planes I flew on had different sizes of seat belts, but, this one was a little disconcerting. I can't get much fatter before I would have to ask for some sort of belt extender. I am pretty portly. So, that was that. One other thing that was very interesting is one of the other interviewees knew a significant amount about me, and claimed to have read my blog (for all I know, this person will read this post.) I thought it was interesting the amount of information I give out about myself on this blog, especially in the position I am where I am trying to sell myself to so many different people. So, that is that. I don't really intend to change anything. I just recognize that this is all out there for the world to see, and I write accordingly. So, I guess if someone has something against people who are almost too fat for the seat belt of some planes, this post will alert them to that fact about me, and they can react accordingly. Similarly, if they don't like people who use electric mixers to fix pens, then they will know to avoid me.

Life Is Beautiful

I know, it's late. I should be in bed! I should have been in bed hours ago! I just have a lot on my mind right now. Jacob is sleeping soundly in his crib, Jeff is asleep in Lansing, and I am just sitting here on the couch thinking, listening to my dishwasher and the clock on the wall that ticks. There are a few things worth mentioning that I am grateful for today. 1. I got to eat breakfast and lunch with Jeff, not at all normal for a weekday. :) 2. Jacob was VERY happy today. Not unusual, of course, but things have the potential to go awry when we are doing things like getting him up early to take Jeff to class (which we don't normally do), eating lunch out for Valentine's day, driving to and from the airport, going to the doctor. He was great today. 3. My husband said: "You can do it. You can do anything." That's all I'll say about that. Thanks, love. 4. We got a Valentine's Day package from my parents today with all sorts of great things, not the least of which was the bag of chocolate marshmallows. I hid them from myself, they are SO good. Also, who doesn't need sticky notes in the shape of their first initial? Very cool. I could leave one behind when I perform acts of bravery while wearing my cape, kind of like "Zorro, the fox so cunning and free...who makes the sign of Z!" And yes, I do have a cape, which was carefully emblazoned with that same lovely first initial of my name by my super mother in-law. Of course Jeff has one for himself too. Superheroes don't share capes. But, I digress! 5. Jacob is healthy and growing well. 17 lb 1 oz today. So fun! 6. The bump and rashes on Jacob's face are most likely a mild case of baby eczema. I'm glad it has a name now for sure (I was pretty sure that was it) and that we can take care of it better. 7. The pediatricians at the BYU health center are great. We have a regular one we go to, Dr. Willmore, but today we saw a different one, Dr. Fairbanks, and he was just great too. I feel like Jacob is in good hands when we go there! 8. I watched Life is Beautiful (La vita e bella - I did watch it in Italian as that is the version I have. Do I speak Italian? No, but I have perfected the skill of reading English subtitles) tonight and remembered how much I love it. I think watching it as a parent was markedly different than when I was 16 and first saw it during one of our Laurel movie nights for Young Women's. Roberto Benigni's character just has this great love for his son and wants to help him in any way, not just to live but to be happy doing so. I really missed Jeff when I watched it, because I know how much he loves our son and wants him to be happy. Why is your life beautiful?

The Most Amazing Thing Ever

So, I was flying to Lansing, MI today, and had two amazing experiences. First, on the plane between SLC and Chicago, I was a little worried. They told us to get out our safety pamphlets whilst they were explaining all the features of the plane's safety system. I looked around, and I was the only one looking at the little brochure. It was a little unnerving. If the plane went down, I would have to be in charge of keeping everyone safe, because I was the only one with the superior knowledge of the plane's features. It was a heavy responsibility, and was a difficult burden to bear. Also, the guy next to me ate peanuts and a brick of cheese the whole flight, so that was weird. Now, now to the most exciting thing ever. Introducing, a new way to keep your tail clean whilst you do your business: According to DF, "Its about time!" Thanks to the Firths for being so amazing.

The Dole

I hope to engender some feedback and some useful thoughts on this subject. So, read it, and respond. My Thoughts:

Several times I have been talking with friends of mine, ward mates, high school acquaintances and the like, and, among married people, a topic often arises. It happened yesterday, when a friend of mine mentioned he lived in government subsidized housing. Interestingly, what is ALWAYS the case, at least in people I have talked to, is that the people say they are taking advantage of some sort of entitlement program, and then say, "but, we will pay it back in taxes after we get out of school." I dont know why, but this always frustrates me. Welfare and other entitlement programs are not loans. They are for needy people, not for students who will, within the next 5 years, be financially very stable. (For example, the person I was talking to yesterday is planning on law school, and should be able to fetch a handsome wage upon graduation.) Stacey and I pay taxes, and so in effect are paying this fellows rent. It frustrates me that so many other BYU students in our same exact position decide to go "on the dole" to finance their marriage and child bearing. We receive no material assistance from our parents, and we do alright. It is a matter of sacrifice, willingness to leverage yourself, and planning. One note on sacrifice. The only time I have had an in depth conversation about this with someone, this person was telling me about the entitlement programs he took advantage of. He did so as he drove me to SLC in his 2006 car. The government is paying for his cheese, and he drives a nice shiny car. Then, to make matters worst, he goes out, and votes strongly as a republican. I would say, deep down, most of my BYU peers agree with me in principle. However, when it comes to adhering to what one thinks is right in principle, and rejecting several thousand dollars, decisions become difficult.

So, that is what I think. I know many of the readers of this blog are young married people, and I posted this because I want to know, what do you think? Why am I dead wrong? What am I not understanding? Post your anonymous comments.

Baby Competition

So, every now and again Stacey will put Jacob on his stomach, and hope he rolls over. This evening, she was reading her friends blogs, and catching up on what they are all up to, and then got out the blanket for the traditional see-if-hes-ready-to-roll-yet event. However, her motives this time seem to be a bit tainted. As he struggled on his stomach, not knowing what to do, she said to little Jacob, "The Howe’s baby already did it, and she’s a week younger than you." Oh, sweet competition.

So, I got sick

So, this week I got a little sick, reaching a maximum temperature of 102.2 degrees. This is not news for many people, but it has really been the first time either Stacey or I have been all that sick since we got married (and since the worst of it lasted about 12 hours, it was not that bad.) However, it did create the first time since I have been at BYU that I have missed a class because of illness. So, that was not fun. In other news, I ripped my pants getting into the truck on Friday. This is a result of several things: 1.I am fat 2. I kind of leap into my truck, which is a little ways off the ground 3. I was wearing pants that I got when I was in high school, and that were not that quality to begin with. Of those three reasons, it appears that I could easily solve the problem of ripping my pants in one easy step. I could target reason 3, and simply not wear pants at all. Burrrr.

New Computer

So, on Wednesday night, after I got home, I turned on my computer so Stacey and I could watch something together on it. But, it did not work. It froze up. It gave me the blue screen of death, and had some general problems. Over the next couple days, I tried several things to fix it, but, only got it going long enough to pull everything off of it. It was dead. In the end, I really liked that computer. It was old and slow (4 years old), but, it has served me very well. Since all three of my jobs, all of my classes, and my church stuff all require the use of a computer, I am seemingly not without it. So, I had to replace it. I got on craigslist, and found one that looked nice. I went, was very impressed with the computer and the price, and so got it. Here is a picture of the computer taken by the computer itself, of the part it is able to take a picture of. Wow. It has twice the memory, 4 times the ram, much more processing power, and way more bells and whistles than did my old computer, and I paid almost half as much as I paid for my old computer 2.5 years ago. So far, it has worked out well.

7.5% of AGI?

So, I have been thinking a little about doing the taxes this year. According to the Internal Revenue code, one is allowed to have as an itemized deduction all medical expenses, past what the legislators have deemed is an excessive amount of expenses. Essentially, they allow you to deduct medical expenses if you are having a medical disaster. They have determined that if you spend more than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income in medical expenses, the excess is deductible as an itemized deduction. I was working out the calculations, and, this year, the Jeff and Stacey Hoopes family spent 67.56% of its adjusted gross income on medical expenses. Wow.

In other news, if you would like to make non-deductible donation to the for-profit Jeff and Stacey Hoopes foundation, feel free to Paypal us money at jlamro @ hotmail.com.

$100,318 per year

So, yesterday I saw a link to Forbes magazine and their list, the wealthiest counties in the nation. I was doing homework, and, always eager for a distraction, I clicked on the link and read the article. Click here for the article. So, it turns out that Stacey's home county, Fairfax, VA, is the wealthiest county in the US, with a median household income of $100,318 per year. I had seen it on other lists before, but never unabashedly at the top, looking down at all other counties that dared step in its path. As of 2000, so a slightly older statistic, my home county, Caribou County, ID, had a mean household income of $37,609. This really is significant, in that it backs up a lot of the differences between Stacey and I. Although the income of our parents is not that different, the income of our peers and community as a whole is very different. I would suggest that the way we view spending, gift giving, traveling, and our basic views on money are affected by this. It is interesting to consider these differences, and then consider that we are doing just fine.