Goal Accomplished!

BYU degree in Economics
December 2008
Magna Cum Laude
(with great honor)
Celebrate!!!!!!
We're so proud of you DAVE!!
(then on to graduate school in a year after Courtney finishes her grad program)

In case you haven't heard

There are some definite concerns to consider when cooking with plastic containers and wrap or in drinking from some types of water containers. Here is some information I've gathered on the topic. It's better to be safe than sorry:

• Cooking Safely in the Microwave Oven from the FDA, see this link.
  Microwave ovens can play an important role at mealtime, but special care must be taken when cooking or reheating meat, poultry, fish, and eggs to make sure they are prepared safely. Microwave ovens can cook unevenly and leave "cold spots," where harmful bacteria can survive. For this reason, it is important to use the following safe microwaving tips to prevent food borne illness.Microwave Oven Cooking
• Arrange food items evenly in a covered dish and add some liquid if needed. Cover the dish with a lid or paper towel; loosen or vent the lid to let steam escape. The moist heat that is created will help destroy harmful bacteria and ensure uniform cooking. Cooking bags also provide safe, even cooking.
• Stir or rotate food midway through the microwaving time to eliminate cold spots where harmful bacteria can survive, and for more even cooking.
• Cook meat, poultry, egg casseroles, and fish immediately after defrosting in the microwave oven because some areas of the frozen food may begin to cook during the defrosting time.
• Cover foods with a lid or a microwave-safe plastic wrap to hold in moisture and provide safe, even heating.
• Containers & Wraps. Only use cookware that is specially manufactured for use in the microwave oven. Glass, ceramic containers, and all plastics should be labeled for microwave oven use.
• Plastic storage containers such as margarine tubs, take-out containers, whipped topping bowls, and other one-time use containers should not be used in microwave ovens. These containers can warp or melt, possibly causing harmful chemicals to migrate into the food.
• Microwave plastic wraps, wax paper, cooking bags, parchment paper, and white microwave-safe paper towels should be safe to use. Do not let plastic wrap touch foods during microwaving.
• Never use thin plastic storage bags, brown paper or plastic grocery bags, newspapers, or aluminum foil in the microwave oven.

So it’s okay for people to drink out of plastic water bottles? News from John Hopkins University.
RH: First, people should be more concerned about the quality of the water they are drinking rather than the container it’s coming from. Many people do not feel comfortable drinking tap water, so they buy bottled water instead. The truth is that city water is much more highly regulated and monitored for quality. Bottled water is not. It can legally contain many things we would not tolerate in municipal drinking water.
Having said this, there is another group of chemicals, called phthalates that are sometimes added to plastics to make them flexible and less brittle. Phthalates are environmental contaminants that can exhibit hormone-like behavior by acting as endocrine disruptors in humans and animals. If you heat up plastics, you could increase the leaching of phthalates from the containers into water and food.
What about cooking with plastics?
RH: In general, whenever you heat something you increase the likelihood of pulling chemicals out. Chemicals can be released from plastic packaging materials like the kinds used in some microwave meals. Some drinking straws say on the label “not for hot beverages.” Most people think the warning is because someone might be burned. If you put that straw into a boiling cup of hot coffee, you basically have a hot water extraction going on, where the chemicals in the straw are being extracted into your nice cup of coffee. We use the same process in the lab to extract chemicals from materials we want to analyze.
If you are cooking with plastics or using plastic utensils, the best thing to do is to follow the directions and only use plastics that are specifically meant for cooking. Inert containers are best, for example heat-resistant glass, ceramics and good old stainless steel.
Is there anything else you want to add?
RH: Don’t be afraid of drinking water. It is very important to drink adequate amounts of water and, by the way that’s in addition to all the coffee, beer and other diuretics we love to consume. Unless you are drinking really bad water, you are more likely to suffer from the adverse effects of dehydration than from the minuscule amounts of chemical contaminants present in your water supply. Relatively speaking, the risk from exposure to microbial contaminants is much greater than that from chemicals.
And here’s one more uncomfortable fact. Each of us already carries a certain body burden of dioxins regardless of how and what we eat. If you look hard enough, you’ll find traces of dioxins in pretty much every place on earth. Paracelsus the famous medieval alchemist, used to put it straight and simple: it’s the dose that makes the poison.

And finally this link:

• Most experts agree that the amount of BPA that could leach into food and drinks through normal handling is probably very small, but there are concerns about the cumulative effect of small doses.
• Health advocates also recommend not reusing bottles made from plastic #1 (polyethylene terephthalate, also known as PET or PETE), including most disposable water, soda and juice bottles. According to The Green Guide, such bottles may be safe for one-time use, but reuse should be avoided because studies indicate they may leach DEHP—another probable human carcinogen—when they are in less than perfect condition.
• The good news is that such bottles are easy to recycle; just about every municipal recycling system will take them back. But using them is nonetheless far from environmentally responsible: The nonprofit Berkeley Ecology Center found that the manufacture of plastic #1 uses large amounts of energy and resources and generates toxic emissions and pollutants that contribute to global warming. And even though PET bottles can be recycled, millions find their way into landfills every day in the U.S. alone.
• Another bad choice for water bottles, reusable or otherwise, is plastic #3 (polyvinyl chloride/PVC), which can leach hormone-disrupting chemicals into the liquids they are storing and will release synthetic carcinogens into the environment when incinerated. Plastic #6 (polystyrene/PS), has been shown to leach styrene, a probable human carcinogen, into food and drinks as well.
• Safer choices include bottles crafted from safer HDPE (plastic #2), low-density polyethylene (LDPE, AKA plastic #4) or polypropylene (PP, or plastic #5). Consumers may have a hard time finding water bottles made out of #4 or #5, however. Aluminum and stainless steel water bottles are also safe choices and can be reused repeatedly and eventually recycled.

WOW...Wicked!

We enjoyed a perfect evening...great weather, great company, great food at Trio before the play and a wonderful production of Wicked. Wow, can those girls sing!!! Loved it!! So, so fun to be with sisters, nieces and daughters. The perfect girls night out!!!

Sexy/Modest

This idea has been percolating for a long time in my head. I've read some ideas and thoughts of other people on the topic and I've seen some things around me that frankly, for my taste, have been very disconcerting. There are a lot of opinions out there on the topic and for what it's worth, here is my two cents worth. The questions are these: Do a bunch of LDS women seem to want to look sexy and modest at the same time? If so, why do LDS women want to look sexy for other people? Why are some so influenced by the world that their goal is to look sexy and provocative and to strut their stuff and show off their bodies for others to see and admire? It bothers me. It really bothers me to see grown women dressing and strutting around trying to attract the attention and admiration of other men (I suppose that is the objective) or trying to show up other women. What are the reasons as you see it? I suppose at the very least they are just trying to show how "fit" they are, but seriously, WHO are they trying to impress and WHY?
Don't get me wrong, I think it is important to look nice and take care of our bodies and to watch our appearance. Proper weight and nutrition are very important. Taking good care of the bodies we were given is a basic gospel concept. Looking stylish is important to a degree, but not at the expense of actually dressing modestly. But having the goal to look sexy for the guy on the street, is a foreign and false concept to me.
Maybe I'm showing my age. I probably am. I don't think that for one nanno second that I have looked in the mirror before leaving the house and thought, wow, I look sexy. I don't want to look sexy. I don't want to attract attention. I don't want people to look at me and admire my physical appearance or my body. Not gonna happen. I want to be known for who I am and what I do, not what I look like. And it's not that I don't have a good self concept. Those of you who know me understand that that is not the case.
I do want to look nice. I want to look attractive and well put together. My ultimate goal is to look classy and to be modest. But to look sexy for other people - never. There is a time and place to look and feel sexy, and it isn't out on the street in my opinion.
Which brings me to the next point. I think that most LDS women realize that looking sexy shouldn't be the goal. So some go for a sexy/modest look. Seriously? I don't think it is possible to look sexy AND modest. In fact, there was a billboard in our county that was trying to sell t-shirts on this concept. Buy this t-shirt and look sexy, oh, and also modest. Buy this skin tight t-shirt that covers your stomach, but shows off every nook and cranny of your body and you're good to go. If it shows some cleavage, no problem, your stomach is covered and that is all that really matters.
I know, I know, don't get me started.
I guess that since I've ventured this far onto the hot seat I might as well unload the rest of it.
Billboards in Utah. There are scores and scores on the theme of looking sexy. You know the kind - I've seen "get your sexy on - come in and work on your abs" or "teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini" showing a huge photo of a bust for breast augmentation and plastic surgery, or "tighten up and lose the fat" of a practically naked body for liposuction, etc. etc. etc. It makes me sick and it seems to be doing a booming business in Utah for "self improvement." I still don't understand how a bigger bust line raises self esteem.
And finally - temple going women who push the envelope with the clothes they wear or who prance around in inappropriate clothes when they should and could be wearing appropriate clothes. They know the difference and they chose to disregard the instructions. I lose respect, what can I say? I'm not at all impressed. Actually, I'm very disappointed and I think they are being quite foolish. Is that being judgmental? Maybe it is, but maybe it is just taking a stand.
I guess this concept of sexy/modest is one sticking point with people who refer to "Utah Mormons" who are trying to live the standards with one foot (or more) in the world. Moms who look like and dress like and sometimes act like their teenage daughters. Who is the parent an who is the kid? Sometimes it's hard to tell. I'm an advocate of age appropriate dress, but that's just me. I worry about girls who have the concept that looking good is more important that being good. I'm concerned with the visual images of women and girls immodestly dressed that my husband and sons are subjected to every day. Elder Dallin Oaks referred to immodest dress of our LDS women and young women as visual pornography. Ouch! I suppose these concepts are part of the reason these recent conference addresses have been given. See Susan Tanner and Elaine Dalton for a start.
"Do we view the body as a thing to be consumed and exploited. Realizing and following the truth about the body brings freedom—freedom from the tyranny of vanity, fashion, envy, superficiality, self-criticism, backbiting, the ill effects of overeating or under eating, lust, pornography, substance addiction, tattooing, and a host of other forms of worldly weight and oppression." Diane Spangler - BYU Psychology professor
The question is, will WE pay attention, wake up and set the proper example for our own sons and daughters and the countless others who look to us for an example? Will we internalize the teachings and see the wisdom in the direction and council we have been given? Will we help our children see the strong and direct connection between modesty in dress and the preservation of virtue which leads to freedom and peace? It's up to us. No one else can or should take the responsibility. If not now, when? If not us, who?

Hie to Kolob

Rick and I attended a fascinating lecture at the BYU Planetarium last Thursday night with one of the clubs I attend. It was so interesting to learn more about our solar system and the huge vastness of space. I'll admit I don't know that much about the solar systems and star patterns, but I loved learning more about both. Here is a fascinating web site to learn more and see some great photos. Also check out the NASA web site. Very good stuff. I've always loved the hymn, "If You Could Hie to Kolob" and the visual images that it conjours up. Here are the words to the hymn:

If You Could Hie to Kolob, hymn number 284 - by William W. Phelps
1. If you could hie to Kolob In the twinkling of an eye,And then continue onward With that same speed to fly,Do you think that you could ever, Through all eternity,Find out the generation Where Gods began to be?
2. Or see the grand beginning, Where space did not extend?Or view the last creation, Where Gods and matter end?Me thinks the Spirit whispers, “No man has found ‘pure space,’Nor seen the outside curtains, Where nothing has a place.”
3. The works of God continue, And worlds and lives abound;Improvement and progression Have one eternal round.There is no end to matter; There is no end to space;There is no end to spirit; There is no end to race.
4. There is no end to virtue; There is no end to might;There is no end to wisdom; There is no end to light.There is no end to union; There is no end to youth;There is no end to priesthood; There is no end to truth.
5. There is no end to glory; There is no end to love;There is no end to being; There is no death above.There is no end to glory; There is no end to love;There is no end to being; There is no death above.

I think the music matches the lyrics well. In particular, I like the way the line “The works of God continue” resonates.
The theme is interesting. We don’t talk much about Kolob but the MTC missionaries LOVE to sing this hymn and they sing it with gusto. This hymn is of course only peripherally about Kolob. What it is really about is the endlessness of creation, and that is an endlessly fascinating theme.