Follow up on Facebook

So, no one tried to add me as a friend as a result of my last post--I think. That is fine. However, the morning after I posted the Facebook post on this blog, two friends from high school who I am willing to bet big money do not read this blog tried to add me as friends. It was really weird. So, I have to theories. First, maybe they do read my blog. If so, if they could please admit it in a comment, I would appreciate it. Second, I also added a picture of myself to my Facebook account. Maybe there is some mechanism that activity on an account will make Facebook list you as a "people you might know" person, they saw that, and clicked on the "add as a friend" link. Who knows. If anyone has any other ideas how these two folks may have added me the morning after this post, I would appreciate your input.

Facebook

So, I was sitting here tonight thinking to myself. It is especially dangerous for me to think, but especially when it happens only to myself. It seems when I think to someone else, my thoughts seem to contain themselves to the realm of rational and reasonableness. However, tonight, there was no such constraint. I have been on Facebook for a while. I have used it perhaps 4 times in the 6 months I have had the account to look at people's pictures. I have had in those 6 months 12 friend requests. I accepted only the request from Stacey (what I don't have in quantity friends, I make up in quality friends). All else I have rejected. I was thinking tonight, it would be fun to have the goal of having the most friend requests, and the least number of friends. The biggest friend rejector, if you will. So, if everyone who reads this blog can help, I would appreciate it. My name on Facebook is Lamro Hoopes. Please request that I be your friend, but, then dont be sad if I reject you (which I will). Also, tell all your other real friends (those who dont reject you) to add me as well. It will be fun. I think it is within the realm of reason for me to have many hundren friend requests. I can see it now, a CNN story about the man with only one friend, but with a line of folks waiting for his friendship. So, now, we are done with my thinkings to myself, and on to trying to add me as a friend: http://www.facebook.com/invite.php?ref=tn .

Done.

So, I just finished up with my last final here at BYU. I just have to hang around until Friday until I get my sheepskin, and it is official. Yipeee! Only five more years of school left. A couple weeks ago I had my last test in the testing center. I took some pictures of myself while finishing up. Here they are.

Sweet Little Baby

So, my sister in law recently had a baby, as has been posted on this blog. She also recently picked a name for it. While before she has tried to be somewhat original with her names, this time she picked a fairly standard Biblical name, found a full five times in our current Bible: Hosea 10: 8, Matt. 10: 29, Matt. 21: 44, Luke 23: 30, Rev. 6: 16 .

Scanner

So, we went to visit the new baby, and found they have an amazing scanner in the hospital that allows people to know what things are. See it in action.

On Stuff

Sometimes, I am compelled to write about something, often things that are somewhat upsetting to me. Today, I shall write about stuff that upsets me. Many things bother me, but today I write about a specific one of those, which I kindly refer to as "stuff". Yep. Stuff upsets me. The problem with it upsetting me, is there is absolutly nothing I can do about stuff happening. When it happens, it happens. Most folks dont like stuff, but, in the end, the few who like stuff dont particularly care about the opinions of those who dont like stuff. So, that is that.

Wolverines

So, we have previously mentioned we are moving to Michigan. There have been several questions posed to us: 1. Isn't it cold in Michigan? 2. Why so far away? 3. Are you excited to come back to Utah afterwards? 4. What about all the crime in Michigan? I shall answer these questions in order. 1. It is somewhat cold. However, just like every big city likes to think it has the worst traffic in the world, many cities like to think they are cold. Checking the weather indicates that the January low is, on average, about 17 degrees . Soda Springs, ID, where I am from, has an average of 8.9 degrees low in January. I guess it is silly, but I just don't like to feel like a victim to the weather, and if it is cold, I put on a coat. 2. Why not? Stacey and I are of a nature that we are not afraid to leave what we are used to for something new. We go where we have the best opportunities for growth, and if that means leaving Utah, then that is what we do. 3. We would be excited to come back afterwards. However, we are not coming back afterwards. Just like deciding where to go to school, where we move after school for my first professorship will be a function of where we think will be best for our family, and not where we are already comfortable. It is alright to move away, and we are excited to do so. 4. We are excited for the crime. In truth, Ann Arbor has a crime rate far below that of the national average. However, I have lived in a ghetto, and have seen crime. I have had to stay inside while violent protests calmed and tear gas cleared from the air. I have had bars over my windows, three locked gates before getting into my house (one with a dog in it), been mugged, and otherwise lived in a ghetto situation. So, while we are moving to a place that is actually safer than where we currently live, even if we were not, it would be alright. But, for the record: Ann Arbor ≠ Detroit So, having answered those questions we have received, here is me signing the acceptance letter.

ARIMA

So, Stacey and I have a new little niece, and Jacob has a new little cousin, tenderly referred to as ARIMA. It is a cute name, and she is a cute baby, and it was fun to go visit her in the hospital. Added by Stacey: Tomorrow morning this little girl will be taken to her new home at Destination Davis, and we'll let you know her name in case it's changed from ARIMA to something else! I suspect that it might change. :) Congrats to the parents, and the two older sisters and older brother!

Michiganders

So, I made the hardest decision of my life this week. We are going to go to the University of Michigan for a PhD in Business management with an emphasis in Accounting. We are excited. We should be leaving early August, and it should take 4-5 years.

Jacob Lamro

Here is Jacob doing what he does best: being cute. Yesterday we went on a walk to the Post Office and beyond. He was obviously excited to go. For those keeping track of past posts, you can see a sliver of the new trashcan to the right of the stroller. :) I made these videos yesterday afternoon. They are great. We sure love Jacob and are truly blessed to be entrusted with his care. It is so fun to be his mom! I love making him laugh.

Ph.D. Prep Track

For those of you who did not know, BYU has a PhD perparation track for Accounting. As you can imagine, it is pretty exciting. Yep. To learn more, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYU_Accounting_Ph.D._prep_track It has also been called the Pre-PhD track. It has also been featured here: http://marriottschool.byu.edu/marriottmag/winter07/features/spfeature1.cfm Yep. Thrills.

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the garbage out!

I thought of this Shel Silverstein poem because of a seemingly insignificant event that took place earlier today. I was sitting in my living room and I heard a trash bin being rolled out in our driveway. I thought nothing of it, until I realized 1) Our trash was picked up yesterday and 2) The other bin that lives ours belongs to a now-empty apartment. So I ran to the window to see who was rolling our bin and our neighbor's bin away and it was a man with a clipboard who seemed to know what he was doing. I looked to where he was rolling them and it was a long trailer filled with other nicer looking bins, so I thought maybe they were doing us a favor and giving us a new one since our other one was kind of junky. But I never heard the man come back down our driveway to put the new bin back where it goes. So, I called Provo City sanitation to ask why they had taken our trash bin and the lady put me on hold. Then she explained. First she said, "Well, apparently [Sam Roberts] is your landlord. (laughs) Lucky you (said sarcastically)." What does that mean? Our landlord asked them to take away two bins for apartments that are vacant. Great, there are 2 vacant houses right here, but ours is not one of them. She asked me if our bin have our house number on it? Now this I was not sure about. I'm fairly observant, but not with trash cans. But we are paying for one each month and I am good at paying our bill on time. The lady helping me said they would make sure we get one. I hope it is soon. Until then, you can still come visit us, we will still take the trash out but there is nowhere to put it, so be warned! If we aren't careful we could meet the same fate as Sarah did, only worse since we have Jacob's diapers... In any event, that poem is worth reading no matter what, and I did give a stirring rendition of it in the Dogwood Elementary School talent show when I was 6 or 7, complete with dirt on my face and a fancy metal classroom-grade trash can and crumpled up paper at my feet, if I am remembering correctly.

Silk Soymilk

I got some coupons in the mail the other day as part of a BzzAgent.com campaign to try Silk. I admit that I was a little skeptical about soymilk. I have never been a huge fan of spending the money for organic things, honestly, and I like normal milk. Since neither I nor anyone in my immediate family has major lactose issues, we are proud dairy milk drinkers. But last Wednesday I went to the store, armed with my coupons, and picked up a gallon of our usual skim milk and then perused my Silk options. I chose to get a half gallon of the chocolate stuff and it was actually pretty tasty. I wouldn't ever spend the money to buy it though, as regular chocolate milk is also very tasty but much less costly. (I think the Silk was 3.49 for a half gallon, and at Sam's Club I believe that is what a gallon of regular stuff costs). Not that I buy chocolate milk either - it falls under the same category as ice cream, we'd eat it too fast and it would not help our waistlines, thus it is just wasted money. But I am pleased to report that the Silk was delicious, and it lasted until Saturday morning when we finished it at breakfast time, not bad. And in case you were wondering, though it was tasty, Silk can't hold a candle to the thick creamy goodness that is BYU Creamery Chocolate Milk. Even after being in Provo for 7 years, I can't get enough of that stuff.

Let's go back in time...

Perhaps one of the best uses for YouTube that I have discovered is the ability to search and see if anyone has posted videos I remember from when I was a kid, particularly clips from the amazing and ever-popular Sesame Street. I don't know if they'll be making new episodes when we have kids running around but for now I show Jacob some online clips every once in a while and he is a fan. Here are three of my favorites that I found on YT last week, in case you are interested. Big Bird Sings His ABC's, sort of: Cyndi Lauper Parody: Telephone Rock:

Comments

One of my favorite quotes from conference was from President Monson, “The face of sin today often wears the Halloween mask of tolerance.” This is amazing. So often, we are asked to tolerate blatant sin, because people engaged in that behavior have successfully convinced the public that what they do is alright.

Case in point: The governor of New York recently resigned because he was the client of a prostitute. The reason he resigned: Prostitution is illegal. I didn’t hear any commentary on the morality of adultery, only that he was engaged in something illegal, and that was bad. People forget that there is a reason it was made illegal ages ago. Then, the replacement brags that he and his wife have both committed adultery, he has used cocaine, marijuana, and done other such things. But we tolerate it. After all, no one is perfect. Sadly, no one today seems to be trying very hard to be, either.

I learned today that Charlton Heston died. How fitting. It seems in these days, Moses is dead, the tablets broken, and everyone is asked to remember what faded memory of those laws they have be forgotten in the name of tolerance.

A Thneed

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss states:

A thneed's a fine something that all people need. "It's a shirt. It's a sock. It's a glove, it's a hat. But it has other uses, yes, far beyond that! You can use it for carpets, for pillows, for sheets! For curtains, or covers for bicycle seats!"

So, during conference, in an attempt to stave off my all too often fate, I knitted a thneed, of sorts. My Thneed has many uses, some of which are pictured here:

Baby holder.

Baby leg holder upper (useful for purposes of entertaining) Laptop holder, and warmer.

A sock puppet.

Ball holder and carrier. Child contraint. Do you ever have scandolous things come up on your computer? Yep, its even a porn-gaurd.Mermaid costume. Nightcap. Ever get your tie dirty while eating? Yep, its even a tiegaurd.

Let warmer/leg cast cover. Long stocking. Bank robbing attire.

High sitting winter cap. Normal beanie. Hand warmer. Broken arm? It's even a sling.