Pyrite

I grew up with parents who loved hiking, so I saw a lot of mountains, trails, a few rattlesnakes and rocks.  I saw a lot of rocks.  As with most inquisitive young minds, I was obsessed with collecting them.

I had a memory/dream the other day about the first time I encountered pyrite out on the trail.  There was an area loaded with it all over the ground and I thought we had struck gold.  “We’re rich!  We’re rich!” I exclaimed.

My parents gave a chuckle and said that’s not how you find gold, so this was likely fake.

After some research, we found out about Pyrite.  Pyrite is also known on the trail as “fool’s gold”.  It’s a natural occurring substance in rocks, however it has no value as an iron.  We were visiting a shop in Apache Junction and my parents bought this little exhibit for me.  Yes, I still have it to this day, I still love rocks and what you can learn from them.

The goal of the dream I had is this:  so many people are out in the world pursuing the “golden calf”, what they don’t realize is what they see others have and try to get themselves is actually a “Pyrite Calf”.  

So many spend time (me included) looking beautifully decorated homes with every luxury under the sun, or pursuing that special sports car, etc.  Some goals are good and worthwhile, however if your pursuits include bragging rights, you will find yourself collecting pyrite, not true gold.  Gold if found in relationships and memories, not objects.

Update 3 July 2020

Today was a great day!  Very productive!

I had made my first appointment for Deseret Industries - which was a little stressful as I wasn’t sure what changes to expect.

I went home and felt so energized from that, I took out a bunch of cardboard recycling.

Now the entryway looks a little empty, but great!

I got a load of laundry and a load of dishes done while taking a nap.

No pictures yet, there is still a lot to do, but it’s a start!

The New-To-Me App I’m Loving

It started with a Google search to find out how to split up all the channels I’m subscribed to according basic subject matter.

There are days when I’m not interested in seeing the latest news on President Trump or COVID-19.

There are days when I’m not interested in hearing about the beauty guru’s (Jeffree Star, James Charles, Tati Westbrook).

I wanted a way to separate the YouTube channels I subscribe to so that when I want to watch LDS videos, I can click on a button and all I see are the LDS channels I subscribe to.  The same with Writing, Self Help, Finance and others.

I found out about a Chrome and Firefox extension called Pocket Tube that allows you to do that, and upon doing more searching, found out they also have an iOS app.

Here is what I have so far, the numbers on the right are unmatched videos.

When I want to split out the channels I have so far in this app, this is what it looks like.  For example, this is the screen when I check the Writing folder on top.

Now I need to add a folder for the Harry Potter channels I enjoy watching.  :-)

Lord, I Believe

We are in a time of great turbulence.  Wars, rumors of wars, plagues, famines (both physical & spiritual).

If God our Heavenly Father hasn’t brought each of us to our knees to Him, what more will it take?

Yes, Lord, I Believe.

Please help thou OUR unbelief.

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Transfer Tuesday

Tithing & Fast Offering:  undisclosed 

Base savings:  $46.00 & $48.00

Home Improvement:  $50.00

VISA:  $500.00

Somehow I got a second wind and got 2 loads of laundry and 1 load of dishes run,  brought up a couple items from my last Costco haul and switched out the empty water container for a full one.  

Progress!

A Historic Week

This has been a week of some very shocking tragedies as well as some of our greatest triumphs.

We are still in pandemic mode from COVID - 19.  People are wanting to go back to partying without social distancing and masks, and an number of these people may be more vulnerable to the virus than they think.  It’s very sad to watch this, knowing that some will face consequences that could end their lives.

The Navajo Nation has been hit very hard and has surpassed New York in deaths per capita.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the United States...

A number of murders have occurred resulting in nationwide marches and some resulting in riots.  My love has always been towards the black community and my prayers particularly go with the children who, I would imagine, are afraid to leave their homes because of the mixed messages of the law enforcement community and the racism that still exists in the United States.  This racism cannot continue.

Just as things couldn’t get any crazier, the group Anonymous has done a data dump of files from Jeffrey Epstein’s information, namely information about who was allegedly in his little black book and a list of people President Trump allegedly paid off for alleged sexual assaults.  I saw the list before it got removed very quickly off Twitter and it was pretty bad.

To end on a high note, the past few days have seen the marvel of space flight return to the United States through the partnership between NASA and SpaceX.  Yesterday was a successful launch and today has been a successful docking and the start of what appears to be a month long stay aboard the International Space Station.  It has taken years of hard work and risk taking to get here.