White-Collar Worker, Blue-Collar Dreams

Water, Water everywhere...

2009-09-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

To compliment the massive food storage order we placed some time back, we have opted to purchase some new water tanks from Sure Water Tanks of Utah. We purchased two of the 275 Gallon water tanks, which gives us about 1.5 gallons per day for a year. This is still not enough to support the whole family for a years time, so we will work to add additional tanks in the future. We went with the Sure Water Tank for several reasons. The first being that it fits through standard doorways. The second being that it holds 275 Gallons and only takes up 7 Sq. Ft. Check out the following table:

We used to use the 55 Gallon tanks, but they are a pain to refresh and take up a lot of space.

Next preparedness purchase will be a generator that runs on Diesel and Natural Gas.

New Challenger - now tucked away for the winter

2008-12-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

I have been getting beat up for not having some pictures up of the new Challenger. Here are some shots that Glen M. took while in town. Thanks to him as I haven't taken the time to take my own pictures :)

Pumpkin Carving...eh...Mopar on the mind

2008-10-31T14:21:00.000-07:00

What do you think of the pumpkin this year...

How fast is your house?

2008-10-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

We were looking at taking advantage of a 1.1 Million dollar house that we could have probably picked up and finished for about 500k. It was a beautiful house with suspended garage and 12' ceilings in the basement. The views from this house are second to none and the layout was perfect. But then I started thinking, how fast can a house really go?? Surely for that price it shoudl be able to do 0-60 in under 5 seconds?? It turns out that houses aren't fast...in fact, the average speed of a house is about 1/8 inch every 30 years...

So, I decided to go out any buy my dream car instead. You may remember the post below from March of 2008, which is when they announced the new 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8.

http://dougmoller.blogspot.com/2008/03/nice-rear-end.html

So I don't have pictures yet, but I purchased the Hemi Orange Limited Edition Challenger shown in my other post. This baby comes with a 6.1 Litre Hemi V8 that puts out 425hp stock. I don't have accurate estimates on the 0-60, but it is under 5 seconds. It has the MyGIG that plays movies, nav, Hard Drive, etc...

Doing my part to stimulate the economy :)

The only thing certain is change

2008-06-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

"Springfield (KMTR) – The Springfield campus of Symantec Inc., was locked down after a suspicious substance was found.
Hazmat crews were called out around 3:30 p.m. and the building was put into lockdown until about 7:40 p.m. Employees were notified by email that they could not enter or leave the building while police and firefighters dealt with the substance.
Fire officials say an employee opened a letter that had some white powder inside the envelop and a letter which said, "Anyone who comes in contact with this letter is infected with anthrax. Cris Paden, spokesman for the Cupertino, Calif. company, says there is no confirmation what the substance is.
Reports say 30 employees were isolated in the mailroom and the heating and air conditioning system were turned off.
About 1,200 people were reported to be in the building during the five-hour lock down."

Went to Springfield, Oregon for a Symantec Corporate training session. Ended up stuck at work until about 8:00pm due to the Anthrax scare. The powder ended up being sugar...real funny...some people are such idiots.

Here's a video of the hazmat crew:
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=34622087

Employees gathering in the cafe for some free food...
The news finally came in...it was just sugar...

My co-worker Rhett and I decided to do some sightseeing on the last day in order to blow off some steam after training.

A little car surfing on the rental...

This picture was taken at Dexter Lake

This lot was for sale for about 150k. Nice lake view :)

2008-04-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

I have been feeling impressed lately that I need to get my food storage in order. My impressions are less around a global or national emergency as they are around being prepared for whatever comes our way (earthquake, loss of job, etc.) and to be obedient to the suggestions of my church leaders. To try and reduce the cost of replenishment and to promote easy preparation we decided to go with Mountain House freeze dried food. I ordered from The Ready Store, as they appear to have some of the best prices that I could find online.

I prefer to have freeze dried food over dehydrated food as it retains nutrients, texture and tastes better that dehydrated food. Freeze dried food is also much easier/faster to reconstitute for consumption. The meals that we got from Mountain House are full entrées, so one does not have to worry about putting together a meal with different ingredients. Mountain House has been a leader in foods for backpackers and campers for many years.

Kacy and I plan to keep about 3 to 4 months of "regular" food in the house and make up the rest of the year with Mountain House foods, Wheat, Rice, Cereal (rotated) and powdered drinks (milk, juice, etc.). Most food storage that contains dairy is only good for ~ 5 to 8 years, so we will be rotating those items more frequently.

I can't fathom the idea of my children or wife going through long term hunger...man, thinking about the little ones going through that kind of pain makes my eyes well up. So, what did this all cost...well...about $3400...yeah...ouch. I just look at it like insurance investment. We are truly blessed and are so grateful that we have the means to make this purchase!!

Thank you to the government for wasting our tax dollars in the form of an "economic stimulus" check :) Sorry, I guess we actually borrowed the 160 Billion dollars, so it will be our future tax dollars (and our children's) that will pay for this debacle.

P.S. - There are several less expensive alternatives to food storage. By no means do I characterize our method as being the best or only way to go. However, we found this to be the most convenient and useful means for our family. I recommend that you go to REI or your local camping store and pick up a pouch containing a Mountain House freeze dried entrée . The actual long term food storage items come in #10 cans, but you can do some taste testing with the pouches.

Rev. James T. Meeks & Tony Rezko

2008-04-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

One of Barack Obama's chosen delegates and reported "close advisor"

I have heard people (generally his supporters) say that Barack is a good guy. I'm not sure what to think. Now again, we have a reported close advisor and a confirmed delegate of Barack Obama making the comments above? Again, it isn't like this guy was sharing his opinion with friends in a conversation, he was preaching this from the pulpit at Salem Baptist Church in Chicago. I just don't understand "ministers" that preach hatred...not just against different races, but also against their own race. Is it wrong to judge others by the company that they keep?

He was interviewed in regards to his comments and he isn't apologetic at all??? He doesn't have a problem calling people of his own race/faith/etc. House Ni@@@@s???

The interview:

I know that I am influenced (to varying degrees) by the conversations I have with my friends. I am not saying that people should not associate with those who have differing viewpoints; however, you have to draw a line at some point, especially if you are vying for a position that is supposed to represent the majority of America.

I am just plain confused as to why Barack has so much support from the voting population. Maybe I am a minority in America...

Then there is the issue with Tony Rezko. I just don't know if this guy has Integrity...maybe it is the media making things seem worse than they are, but over 80% of the media (reportedly) are extremely liberal. Here is a write-up regarding the Tony Rezko situation:

"The indictment of Rezko on federal charges has drawn attention to his relationship with Illinois Senator Barack Obama, though Obama has not been charged with wrongdoing.[16][8] In 1990, after Obama was named head of the Harvard Law Review, Rezmar Corp. offered him a job should he decide to return to Chicago, and although Obama turned that offer down he later did take a job, which he held from 1993 to 2002, with Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland [17], a law firm representing Rezko, Rezmar, and community groups in partnership with Rezmar, that helped Rezmar get more than $43 million in government funding. The firm's then senior partner, Allison S. Davis, was a member of the Chicago Plan Commission and went into business with Rezko, developing homes.[8] On July 31, 1995 the first ever political contributions to Obama were $300 from a lawyer, a $5,000 loan from a car dealer, and $2,000 from two food companies owned by Rezko.[18] Starting in 2003 Rezko was on Obama's U.S. Senate campaign finance committee, which raised more than $14 million.[8] Obama has since identified over $250,000 in campaign contributions to various Obama campaigns as coming from Rezko or close associates, and has in consequence donated almost two thirds of that amount to charity. Also, in 2005 Obama purchased a new home in the Kenwood District of Chicago for $1.65M ($300,000 below the original price) on the same day that Tony Rezko's wife, Rita Rezko, purchased the adjoining empty lot from the same sellers for the full asking price.[19] Obama acknowledged bringing his interest in the property to Rezko's attention,[20][21] but denied any coordination of offers. According to Obama, while the properties had originally been a single property, the previous owners decided to sell the land as two separate lots, but made it a condition of the sales that they be closed on the same date. Obama's said that the properties had been on the market for months, that his offer was the best of two bids, and that Ms. Rezko's bid was matched by another offer, also of $625,000, so that she could not have purchased the property for less.[22] It had been reported that Rezko was under federal investigation for influence-peddling, before Obama bought a 10 foot (3.0 m) wide strip of Ms. Rezko's property for $104,500, $60,000 above the assessed value, in 2006.[19][8] According to Chicago Sun-Times columnist, Mark Brown, "Rezko definitely did Obama a favor by selling him the 10-foot strip of land, making his own parcel less attractive for development."[23] Obama acknowledges that the exchange may have created the appearance of impropriety, and stated "I consider this a mistake on my part and I regret it."[22] "

Obama's Minister Problem

2008-04-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

Lanny Davis of the Wall Street Journal wrote the following column:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120770107738700007.html

Let it be known that Lanny is a Clinton supporter and more than likely is stating this in order to promote Clinton. Let it also be known that I typically disagree with about 99.9% of what Lanny has to say. All that said, Lanny has it right on when it comes to this issue. Take a read of the article...

UPDATE: Lanny Davis is a Washington, D.C. attorney and did this column as an op-ed. I also take some exception to his last comment regarding the Republican "Attach Machine"...there you have it

Obama...

2008-04-07T10:34:00.000-07:00

I have had several conversations lately about Senator Obama's affiliation and possible belief in Black Liberation Theology. From my reading, it appears that James Hal Cone is the "father" of Black Liberation Theology in America; although, this theology has been used throughout many nations in history to promote Marxism.

I have see the following quote by Cone spread like wildfire across the Internet:

"Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community ... Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love."

For more information on his philosophies, I recommend looking at his books, "Black Theology and Black Power" and "A Black Theology of Liberation".

Being a Mormon, I am used to people paraphrasing leaders of the LDS church, twisting the inspiring and spiritual sermons given by leaders into derogatory or oppressing dictates. Consequently, I am hesitant to condemn a Man or a Theology based on quotes found on the Internet. With that said, Jeremiah Wright, former Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, has a history of making inflammatory comments from the pulpit. I won't go into detail as these comments and full sermons can be found on youtube and other areas throughout the Internet.

My conversations with friends has been around Barack Obama's acceptance and support of James Cone and Jeremiah Wright's teachings of Black Liberation Theology. It is clear that Obama has publicly denounced the recent comments made by Jeremiah Wright; however, this does not explain why he has attended and raised his children in a Church supporting this doctrine. Obama claimed to not have heard Wright's sermon in regards to Sept. 11th (and other inflammatory speeches given before the presidential race), but has stated that he has disagreed with some of the things that Wright has said throughout the years.

Obama made the following comment in regards to Wright's recent publicized comments, "But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam."

I have a hard time believing Obama's statement. From what I understand of Black Liberation Theology, seeing "white racism as endemic" is a founding principal. Why would someone attend a church that preaches these ideas for 20 years and donate (outside of tithing) 20k + to the cause if they did not support what is being preached??

So now it comes down to what would you do?

We just had our semi annual general conference for the LDS church. This is a time when leaders of our church give talks/sermons to the general population of the Church (and the public). I have been a member of the LDS church for ~9 years, give or take some months. At no time during my church attendance or study of "current" doctrine have a come across ideas that I feel are oppressive towards a race, gender or my non-LDS neighbors. Some members of the church and non-members alike have expressed issues with Patriarchy/Priesthood or the church's views on homosexuality (obvioulsy there is a much broader list than these two items); however, both the Priesthood and Sexual Sins are sufficiently spelled out to me in the Bible and Book of Mormon as are answer to other questions posed.

Have there been things stated during the History of the LDS Church that are embarrassing and clearly not the doctrine of the Lord's church? Sure, there have been some things stated by leaders of the LDS church that I can not agree with; however, there is no doubt that these issues are dealt with and corrected by the Lord over time. As a son of God, I am always progressing in this life; the Church is also always progressing. That is the beauty of the religion, we believe in an open scriptural canon, which is inline with our belief in modern day Prophecy.

There have been racist comments made by several of the LDS leaders. These comments, even though widely accepted in the time in which they were spoken, are clearly not of a loving Heavenly Father. However, these comments are not church doctrine and racism is not practiced in the LDS Church. I am partly a member of the LDS faith because the true doctrine is that of inclusion, not exclusion. Does that mean that there are not racists in my church? No. Does that mean that there are not men that believe that women are second class citizens? No.

With that said, I would not suffer my family to be part of an organization that teaches hatred or justifies sin. I do not care if the leader of that organization was my Father, Mother or any other relation. I feel that part of persona Integrity is understanding and holding myself accountable for the beliefs and teachings of those organizations to which I associate. Therefore, I hold Obama accountable and question his Integrity in regards to this topic.

What do I want him to do? Based on a conversation with a co-worker, I don't feel that it is necessary or God-like to disown a person because of their beliefs; hence, I don't require Obam to disown his preacher and friend because of his statements. However, I would like Obama to explain (not justify) his view of Black Liberation Theology and where he stands on its basic teachnings. I don't want a blanket statement...

Based on what I have seen, can I say that Obama has integrity?

in·teg·ri·ty - adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.

No, not right now...

Again...

2008-03-21T19:58:00.000-07:00

Yeah, maybe 8 hours of sleep over the last 3 nights. Went through an entire box of Kleenex the first day. I love that special feeling that my nose has right now. It is much like a gallon of ice cream that has been in the freezer too long, you know, when the ice cream develops that protective ice layer...replace ice with numbing pain and dry skin and there you have it.

My little Savannah celebrated her 5th birthday today, but we had to cancel her birthday party that was scheduled for tomorrow because her and Holly have colds as well...BRING ON THE SUMMER.

Nice Rear End!!!

2008-03-12T20:45:00.001-07:00

I think I'm in LOVE. Yes, it is true, MOPAR rocks again. What more could a guy want than a naturally aspirated (no supercharger or turbo), 425hp, 60's syled muscle car. Well, wait no longer, here it is...

I have been waiting for this car since it was put into concept about 4 years ago. I know that others go for BMWs, Mercedes, Rice Rockets, Pasta Rockets...oh no, not this good ol' boy, I go for American Muscle.

There is no question that Dodge is listening to the people. Forget all of this global warming bull crap, lets make a car that sets the pavement on fire. You can set the fuel prices at 10/gallon, this car will still be my daily commuter...oh yes, it's true, it will be mine...

If you want more info, go to http://www.dodge.com/en/2008/challenger/

If you want to have even more fun, look up Dodge 392 crate engine...yeah, that's right, 525hp(that's more than the Viper V10)...

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom this ricers...

Mouse Hunt

2008-03-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Dennis, my Father-in-law, came to visit for a few days this week. Kacy, he and I were sitting in the family room talking when he jumped up and said, "There's a mouse". At first I thought that he was playing around, but sure enough, there sat a little field mouse. Kacy and Dennis had been enjoying the weather with the doors open earlier that day and the little guy must have just walked in.

After making an stellar grab, I put the little guy in a trash bag. Dennis and I were checking him out when he decided to try and jump out. The little guy actually jumped about 16 inches straight up in the air...who knew?? The picture below is my reaction to him jumping...

Here he is :)

I decided to put him in a large blue trashcan with some Mozzarella Cheese. I would have had a hard time killing the little dude, so I decided to take him to work with me the next day and let him go in a nearby field. He ate all the cheese during the night and looked well rested in the morning...Kacy asked if I wanted to give him a night light so he wouldn't get scared...not funny...

We have had quite a few mice in the house, but the mouse before this one takes the cake. He came in through a fireplace vent, got his tail caught in a trap and then tried to make a run for it...I was at work, so my neighbor came over and helped Kacy get him/her outside. They let the mouse go in an adjacent field. You wouldn't believe it, but that little bugger came right back in the house through the fireplace vent that night...I caught him that time, bruised tail and all. Needless to say, that little mouse didn't live to try a 3rd time...poor little guy.

Here is our neighbor, Tiffany, getting the little guy out. His tail was stuck in the trap, so he couldn't get back through the vent...it was like something out of a cartoon.

Once I saw him come back through that night, I decided that I wasn't going to take any chances. Here is the barricade I created...

Ah, look who knows so much....Seriously, this little dude almost made it out over the traps, he was a talented contortionist, but not that talented.

Flashback

2008-01-02T01:05:00.001-08:00

I'm sitting at the computer at 2:00am working on our 2008 budget. I was looking for a scanned copy of my paystub in Paperport, but got stuck on the first folder that came up, which happened to be our wedding photos. It is amazing how much things have changed in my life since 2000...Marriage, Fatherhood, Utah, 50 lbs. to name a few. I thought I would put up some of our wedding photos, probably more for my enjoyment than yours!

Love that shot..

We had our reception at the Darlington House in La Jolla

Whole lot of kissin goin on...

Krystal was the Maid of Honor and Patrick was (and still is) my Best Man

Families can be together forever...

Glad we have a picture of my ring...I lost it sometime during our first week in Utah :(

Glacier?

2007-12-30T19:58:00.001-08:00

What is your first impression of the picture above (look at it in full size)...yeah, I thought it looked like a glacier. Unfortunately, this is not the case. This is what happens to your Spa when you go out of town for a week and the cover blows open during a major snow storm.

The ice was 5 to 7 inches thick depending on the area. After spending an hour and a half pouring boiling water over the ice, I finally broke it down enough that it would crack if jumped on it :) The picture below was taken a few minutes before I started jumping on the "glaciers". I removed them from the hot tub in 3 ft long chunks, which felt as if they weighed a couple hundred pounds...although, I could just be out of shape :( Once I removed all of the ice, the water level was down to 50%!!! Half of the spa was frozen??? The question I got a lot today was, "did you have the heater running?". The answer is yes, it appears that when the outside temperature is in the low teens even 103 degree water will freeze. I imagine that the snow falling into the spa also helped out. The thermometer in the water read 32 degrees...

I'm sure that Kacy will report on our wonderful Christmas vacation on the family blog.

Missile Bases For Sale

2007-12-18T12:16:00.000-08:00

I was talking with my boss today and he showed me this site.

http://www.missilebases.com/

The owners of this site sale decomissioned missile silos. Back in the day these missile silos were created to contain ICBMs. The structures were designed to enable a group of people to live for years without any communication with the outside world. Additionally, the silos were designed to survive a direct nuclear strike...now that's impressive.

This is a concept of what can be done with one of the Atlas-F missile sites. A similar missile site is for sale for $229k.

Can't you just see the Charger sitting in this concrete protected garage :)

It appears that the silo for sale has about 90ft of water in it that would need to be evacuated before it could really be used. But hey, it is only $229k for 29 acres of high security fenced land. Anyone interested in going in on it with me?

~Brotherly Love~

2007-12-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

My family and I had a chance to go to North Carolina over the Thanksgiving holiday. We had a wonderful visit with both family in Raleigh and in Morganton. While in Raleigh we were able to attend and take part in a traditional family fish fry. It was great to be around a large group of family and catch up on all that has transpired since our last visit 7 years ago.

As those of you that are close to me know, I am not good at keeping in touch. I am dissapointed in myself as I think about my family and extended family often, but fail to reach out. Not to mention that the Family, outside of the teachings of Christ, is the most critical and emphasized principle in the teachings of my church!

I didn't have a lot, well any, extended family around me when I was growing up in San Diego. Most of Mom's side of the family live in the East and my Dad's family members are in Finland. Dad was raised in a town called Ekenas (Swedish)/Tammisaari (Finnish). During my childhood I spend 2 to 3 weeks in NC in the summer and got out to Finland to see my Grandma and Cousins every few years.

So here is some background on me and my family. I was adopted as a baby within my family. My biological Mother, Sheila, was thoughtful enough to allow my parents to adopt me. Sheila was very young when she became pregnant with me and my Mom, Charlotte, could not have children due to biological reasons; therefore, the situation worked out well for both sides. Sheila is my Mom's neice, the daughter of my Mom's sister Ruth. I have two "full" biological brothers from Sheila and Lee Redwine, Dean and Shane. I found out about my brothers many years ago; however, we did not meet in person until the year 2000. Our first meeting was very emotional and still seems a bit like a dream to me.

Even though I have not been raised with my Brothers and most likely have not experienced the bond that I'm sure Dean and Shane share, I immediatlely found something special in each of my brothers when we met. I was raised by a wonderful, supportive and loving set of parents; however, I never got the opportunity to experience life with siblings. I don't regret how I was raised, but I do have a special place in my heart for my relatively newly developed relationship with my brothers.

I see a lot of myself in both Dean and Shane. Dean and I are closer in age and he and his wife Jennifer recently had their 3rd little girl. Their other two girls, Kaylee and Allison, are cute and loving. Kaylee and Savannah are nearly the same age and really hit it off while we visited. I bought the three of them My Little Pony's to play with while we were there, which seemed to have been a good choice :)

I was so happy for Savannh to get to experience the same bonding and fun that I experienced as a child visiting my cousins. I have so many great memories of playing with Joey, Jennifer and Jamie, my Aunt Linda's kids. We would spend a lot of time at my Aunt Jean and James house. I love the following pictures because I have so many great memories running through this yard as a kid.

While we visited Dean and Jennifer's house, it was great to see Shane and his girlfriend playing with the kids for several hours. They went from the swingset, to getting buried in leaves, to kicking a ball, to playing tag...it was fun to watch.

Even though it has been 7 years since my brothers and I first met, I still feel as though I am in a dream state. There is so much to say and so much to try and catch up on. We only had a week of vacation, half of which was spent in Raleigh and in travel. Needless to say, I wish that we lived closer to my brothers. It would be nice to have the chance to hang out and bbq on the weekends together.

Here are the Dad's with their sweet neices:

I Love having family and hope to do a better job of keeping in touch and expressing my Love for my extended family. There are of course a multitude of other family members that we spent time with and thoroughly enjoyed being with. I always risk hurting someone's feelings by not including them by name...but after all, this is my Blog :)

Yeah, so I'm here, now what??

2007-12-03T00:54:00.000-08:00

I have finally thrown in the towell on the website and made the jump to a blog. I'm not certain that I have enough shared thoughts to make frequent updates, but we'll see how it goes.