Obedience

While studying the Scriptures tonight I came across an interesting verse: "Yea, how could you have given way to the enticing of him who is seeking to hurl away your souls down to everlasting misery and endless wo?" Really bleak, I know :P It's just interesting that so many people (including myself) will do things that aren't good things when we are warned so often not to. These things only give us temporary satisfaction and then make us miserable later. I guess it just played off of an idea that we talked about recently in Sunday school really well. We talked about how being obedient is protective, not restrictive and more relevant; being obedient brings freedom into our lives that we wouldn't otherwise have. When I follow commandments given through the Prophet or leaders it really does make me happier to be more productive, help others, and feel better. Following instruction and gives me a freedom that sin never will. There are BILLIONS of examples of this but Christ asked us to love one another and was the ultimate example on how to do this. I feel like when we love others, as well as help and serve them, we are more focused on others than ourselves, which allows us to be so much more productive in the world. We build better relationships with people and find more connections with people we never thought we would and become of more use to the people we come in contact with. Our horizons expand and we are able to live a more enriched and fulfilling life... Sounds worth it to me :)

RANT :(

I hate it when people don't trust you to do your job!!!!! It's sooo frustrating!

It hurts the most when it was the one person who believed in you the most and is disappointed in you because they won't listen to your expertise.

Everyone is disappointed and I feel like it's my fault even though I know full and well that it's not...

Sometimes, I realize that I just don't love what I do enough to put up with these catastrophes. Should I throw in the towel? There are so many other things I could pursue and want to do... but saying that makes me feel like I'm weak and don't deserve to or have enough passion to be successful at this...I feel like there should be nothing else I want more... All the drama just makes me want to close the door and move on...

I've dealt with enough crap this last year, and to even spend one moment being frustrated and unhappy is just not worth it to me anymore. I want everyone to be happy and in what I do that's not going to happen and if it does it ends up hurting someone whether they know it or not.

So the solution? Give them what they want and be okay with it...there is nothing else I can do...but I feel like that's what I spend most of my time doing.. giving into things I don't think are okay to please people!!!!!!!!!!!! I chalk it up to owning a business that deals directly with people... so I guess that's just how it has to be... that's life as an adult I guess...

My Car Needs a Snuggie

I seriously let my car "warm up" for ten mins. before driving it... oops! Click here for the actual site with everything on it! I just cut the important stuff. :P


1. Driving warms the car faster than idling

If your concern is not the health of the car, but simply your own creature comforts, Bob Aldrich of the California Energy Commission points out that "idling is not actually an effective way to warm up a car — it warms up faster if you just drive it."

2. Ten seconds is all you need

Environmental Defense Fund, which produced the Idling Gets You Nowhere campaign, advises motorists to turn off their ignition if they're sitting stopped for more than 10 seconds.

"After about 10 seconds, you waste more money running the engine than restarting it, said Andy Darrell, deputy director of the EDF Energy Program. "Switch the car off at the curb, and you'll be leaving money in your wallet and protecting the air in your community."



3. Idling hurts the car (this is the one that got me!)


According to the Hinkle Charitable Foundation's Anti-Idling Primer, idling forces an engine "to operate in a very inefficient and gasoline-rich mode that, over time, can degrade the engine's performance and reduce mileage."

The Campaign for an Idle-Free New York City points out that idling causes carbon residues to build up inside the engine, which reduces its efficiency.


4. Idling costs money

Over a year of five minutes of daily idling (which causes incomplete combustion of fuel), the "Anti-Idling Primer" estimates that the operator of a V8-engine car will waste 20 gallons of gasoline, which not only produces 440 pounds of carbon dioxide but costs at least $60.


5. Idling in the garage can kill you

Idling a car in a garage, even with the door open, is dangerous and exposes the driver to carbon monoxide and other noxious gases. If the garage is attached, those fumes can also enter the house.



6. Block heaters beat remote starters

Lori Strothard of the Waterloo Citizens Vehicle Idling Reduction Task Force in Canada says, "Remote starters can too easily cause people to warm up their cars for 5 to 15 minutes, which is generally unnecessary."

A block heater, which is designed to heat the engine and can cost under $30, on a timer set to start one to two hours before driving, does the trick in very cold climates.


7. Quick errands aren't quick enough

Natural Resources Canada points out that leaving your car idling while you're running into a store on an errand or going back into the house to pick up a forgotten item is another way to waste gas and pollute both your town and the planet.

"Leaving your engine running is hard on your pocketbook, produces greenhouse gas emissions, and is an invitation to car thieves," the agency (PDF) says.


8. Idling is bad for your health (and your neighbor's health)

According to Minneapolis' anti-idling ordinance, "Exhaust is hazardous to human health, especially children's; studies have linked air pollution to increased rates of cancer, heart and lung disease, asthma and allergies."

Isabelle Silverman, who runs EDF's anti-idling campaign, says that car idling "is the second-hand smoking of the outdoors. One of the problems is that cars idle close to the curb, where pedestrians are walking. And when you have a child in a stroller, they are particularly close to the tailpipe. Studies show that children's IQ levels are lower when they live near major roads with lots of traffic." (A fresh study even links autism to freeway pollution.)

Alex Scaperotta, who created an anti-idling campaign with a classmate when he was in fifth grade in Wilton, Connecticut, came up with a slogan that was used on bumper stickers and websites: "If you're stopped for more than 10, turn it off and on again." Sounds like good advice.

:0)

What I got for Christmas :)