Lytro

So, I can't go to sleep... to much anxiety about my exam.  So, I decided to clear my mind by looking into a new camera that is projected to come out sometime this year:  Lytro's Light Field.  It's intriguing.  You just point and shoot.  It's sensors pick up the intensity and all other sorts of information about the light coming in.  Afterward, you can take the picture and focus it however you want to..  If you want to focus on something in the background or foreground, you just select that area on the picture and you've got an entirely different picture.
My opinion?  I don't have a ton of experience in photography to merit any weighty opinion, but sometimes I sure wish I had that option with some of the pictures I've taken.  I'm just wondering if a point-and-shoot camera can really produce the same quality that SLRs put out?  The most fun in shooting is picking what to focus on and creating the composition that way.  The Light Field seems like it will take big chunk of the art of out photography.  I don't imagine it will be used by professional photographers.
Would I buy one?  Depends on how expensive it is.  They say it will be competitive with other point and shoots cameras.  That must be somewhere between $200 and 300?  It wouldn't be my first choice of camera.  I'd rather buy a new lens for an SLR.  Who knows...  maybe this camera will be as revolutionary as they say.

Check it out for yourself.

Interview with Lytro rep:  http://www.pcworld.com/article/231245/eight_questions_about_lytros_lightfield_camera.html

Lytro's interactive website (you can play with the pictures on their website to see how it will work)
http://www.lytro.com/

Rainey Engagements

Awesome couple... awesome, awesome.  Gonna miss having these two around.  They were great guinea pigs for me.  

No more glass!

So, have you ever had a piece of glass embedded in your heel?  I have... for the past month or so.  Big deal?  No, not really.  Annoying? yeah. With a little coaxing from my friend Lauren, I made an appointment with the doctor, and it's out.  So, I'm writing this for a couple of reasons I guess.  I have no posts for May, and I think for me this experience has been a little parable about the atonement.  Let me explain...

Things happen in life.  We make mistakes, or someone does something to us, and it's hard to let go.  We try to deal with it, maybe hope that it will ease itself out over time and we'll be rid of it if we just try to forget about it and move on.  Can you remember how good it feels to keep stepping on it every day, and driving it back in?  In my experienced (and not just with this little nothing piece of glass), I've tried to just move on and not use the Lord to help me heal.  Fact: that doesn't work.  That continues to be a lesson for me.  So, what does using the Lord's help really mean?  For me, it's following his commandments and exercising faith in him unto repentance.  If I've got some sort of unforgiving grudge against someone, I've got to repent, forgive, and let it go.  If I've let Him down and disobeyed his commandments, I need to ask for forgiveness and do all I can to make it right and change.
Though it might seem hard, he promises the priceless gift of peace.  He promises light.  He promises a return to progression, which otherwise is not possible.  The atonement of Jesus Christ truly is a miracle.  It is real. I don't know how to explain it, but I know it's real.  And I am soo grateful.

Desire

To me this past General Conference was like a New Year's.  I feel like it's given me a renewed hope and desire to change.  I hope you all were able to watch it.  I listened to one talk especially that I felt was specifically prepared for me to hear.  Isn't that phrase so cliche?  It's absolutely true, and Elder Holland affirmed this "phenomenon."

Elder Oaks spoke on desire.  This one thing is the source of great change and power to do so.  I'm not sure it's an incredibly easy thing to obtain and takes some serious pondering, reflecting, and influence from the Holy Ghost.  Most of all, as he stated, it takes labor and faith.

"The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming."

- Elder Dallin H. Oaks

To be honest, I've completely disregarded my goals for awhile now.  Everything went downhill when I came down with the flu.  I just haven't been able to recover.  This past week, I realized how inspired my goals were.  I just came to a realization of how not working on them has allowed selfishness and idleness to slip back into my life (a nasty duo!).  The consequences are quite obvious and definitely not contenting.  So, how in the heck do I get back to where I was?  It takes a deeply rooted desire, one day at a time, I guess.  So, this has caused me to reflect a bit on what my original desire was and if it was deeply rooted.  I think that it was, and it was rooted in Truth.  So, I had the desire part of the equation; now I just need to put in the labor and exercise the faith.  I was pleased last night.  It was 11:00 and I picked up my laptop to blog to you guys.  Instead, I decided "No, I can do that in the morning."  I put it down and just went to sleep, and here I am.  That to me was a triumph and a step back onto the path of attaining my goals.

I've got great friends.  You care about me, and want to see me succeed, and that means so much.  Thank you.  I hope you, too, have great desires inside.  I hope they are rooted in Truth, rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  "...yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe..." (Alma 32:27)  And as it works in us, it will grow and we will see the Truth blossom into great joy.
I mean those words so much.

Desire, my friends.

Head Above Water

Hey.  Wow, it's been way too long.
I have not been focusing on my goals.  although, as I look back on it, I'm doing all right when it comes to getting up, serving, and cleaning my room once a week.  I've slacked off big time on making my bed every day.  That usually happens when I clean my room once a week.

Right now, I'm taking a study break to write.  In three weeks I'll take my first section of the CPA exams.  I'm so ready for that.  Studying has been great.  I really like what I've learned.  I know more about Taxes and Accounting Regulation than I ever knew.  It's pretty cool, guys.

I'm trying to keep my goals alive in my mind, but I do have to admit, that I've put them on the back burner.  My schedule seems so erratic, but I know that I can get back on track, if I really want to.  The primary motivation to keep on this is really to prove to myself that I can change, that I can overcome the natural man (Mosiah 3:19).  If I can do this and really change, I think it will give me confidence in a lot of other aspects of my life, especially in attaining those distant goals that I have in mind.

Well, back to studying.

Fall... Get Back Up Again? No Queda otro

You ever had the flu before?  I hope not, but if you have I'm sure you'll be able to understand why I haven't written for the past while.  Man, I got hit hard.  I was out from a Wednesday night until Sunday morning (two weeks ago).  And when I mean, out, I mean not functional.  It was good to catch up on some sleep, I guess?  So, I got behind on a lot of my studying, which made me feel a bit stressed.  That Sunday that I was recovered, I was called as the Elders Quorum President here in the branch, which by the way is quite exciting and intimidating.  So, I've just been playing catch up ever since, and have been a bit reluctant to write on my blog.  I haven't even kept track of my goals.  I've been trying here and there, but haven't felt much drive to stay on top of my goals.  Then, I got a friendly inquiry from my dear friend Erin (check out her blog) of how my goals were going, "... you haven't updated your blog in awhile."  So, here I am.

Thoughts have gone through my head, "Is all this really what I want?  Are these goals really necessary?  Get back up again?"  I've concluded, "No queda otro," which in Spanish translates to there's no other way.  These goals that I've set for myself aren't just off the fly, capricious fancies.  They are based on eternal behaviors of happiness, and not doing them, for me, is not really an option if I am to keep progressing.  The whole idea of making a goal and sticking with it is important in and of itself--self discipline, accomplishment, progression, etc.

So, thanks to good friends and the nudges of the Spirit, I am back at it.  Had a good workout this morning.  Having a test later on today that I still haven't studied for is also a bit motivating to get up early.  Guys, if you've set goals for yourself, keep going.  It's hard.  I figured that I would hit times like this.  Make yourself accountable to somebody.  And those of you that are "accounting," keep on your friends.  It means a ton.

Week 5: Bombed!

Week 5 was a bomb.  There was one day this week that I completely just blew my goals off.  I think I was just tired of trying to wake up early, so I didn't feel like going to sleep on time because it wouldn't have mattered.  It came the weekend, and I totally forgot to clean my room.  I still tried to serve others and think outside of myself.  I kept that going, but kind of bombed on the other stuff.  This week is going to be much better.  I don't have time to be giving up like that.  Thanks for keeping me on top of things.  I've got great friends that are helping me keep on my goals; to you I am every thankful.  Good friends.


I've been reading the Old Testament for the first time, the whole way through.  I sure love it.  I've been reading about the children of Israel in the desert.  They were kind of disobedient, and the Lord didn't put up with it.  The more and more I read the scriptures, the more I start to understand the nature of God and truly how much it is exemplified in the paternal love that is shown by my own father (and my mother for that matter).  Sometimes God can be pretty "harsh" with his children on earth--He commanded that they be killed if they disobeyed the Sabbath day.  At first that seemed pretty harsh to me.  The more and more I've been pondering about his dealings with the children of Israel, the more I've realized his plan.  He was preparing a people to live in the promised land.  He had to establish a pure and worthy base of followers to establish the purity of his law. He did the same with the early pioneers.  He brought them through the western wilderness.  Many perished because of their faith.  Many decided not to go because of a lack of faith.  It was through asking them to sacrifice to live his laws that he built a firm based on which to establish his kingdom once again.  And when I think about death in the grand scheme of things--it's hardly a punishment.  Death and how we day really doesn't affect our salvation, only hastens it.

I love the scriptures.  I'm grateful for the Holy Ghost that teaches me about God and his love for all of his children.  He really wants us to be obedient to him so we can be happy.  He is merciful... very merciful.  I have felt that in my life.