David's Blog

Freedom is a Choice

2010-07-04T21:29:00.000-06:00

Since July 4th is on Sunday this year, I spent some time looking up scriptures about freedom. Here are a few I found that apply directly to America and our freedoms.

When introducing the promise land to Israelites, the Lord explains in Deuteronomy 11:26-28 that the gift of the promise land comes with a big condition.

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

Joshua reminded the Israelites of this promise shortly before leading them into the promised land. (Joshua 24:14-15)

Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

The Old Testament is full of examples of how the Israelites forgot to serve the Lord and suffered as a nation. They were only allowed to live free when they choose to follow the commandments.

The same cycle is repeated in the Book of Mormon. In Ether 2:12 Mormon warns those living in America that they have an obligation to serve Jesus Christ to maintain their freedom.

Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written.

Notice how similar that promise is to the promise given to the Israelites. In 2 Nephi 2:27 we are reminded that we a free to choose freedom or captivity.

Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

So today as we celebrate our country’s freedom we need to remember that our freedoms are a blessing that must be earned through obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Anyone that says otherwise does not understand our history and is leading us to destruction.

FAIL

2010-01-11T18:41:00.003-07:00

This letter was sent home today from Spencer's school about a standardized test. I'm not an expert on grammar, but I was able to find 6 mistakes. How many can you find?

How Smart Are Your Kid's Toys

2009-12-26T09:27:00.002-07:00

For Christmas Leah got one of those stuffed dogs with buttons on its paws that plays songs and says cute little phrases. The cool part is it has a USB port and can be connected to a computer. The included software lets you customize how it interacts. It will learn your kids name, favorite color, animal, and food. That information is used in the songs and phrases. You can also change the songs that it sings and set up a bedtime routine where the dog will play a certain amount of bedtime music to help your child fall asleep. Over all it is very cool and one of Leah's favorite toys.

So what smart toys did you kids get this Christmas?

The Joy of Christmas

2009-12-25T12:03:00.002-07:00

It’s Christmas!!! Santa Clause brought me TWO presents! Andrew wake up!
Those are just a few of the reactions Spencer had this morning. After months of waiting, his favorite day is finally here. It was impossible for him to contain his joy, he had to share it. For him, today is a simple day full of wonder and happiness.

Today is a simple day.

Born without earthly fanfare to parents who lived a simple life and who I’m sure didn’t have many worldly things, Jesus Christ was finally here. The joy was impossible for heaven to contain, it had to be share. A new star was born to light the world. The sky was not darkened for three days in the Americas. Angels rejoiced and sang glory to His name. The scriptures tell of other wonders and happiness for those waiting for this day.

His birth was announced to a group of simple shepherds who understood the eternal meaning of Christ’s birth. I’m sure they could not contain their joy as they ran to Bethlehem, to witness the birth of their Savior. Wiseman knew the significance of the new star and immediately started their journey to honor their Savior.

Today we cannot travel to Bethlehem or listen to angels sing. However, we can still honor our Savior with simple acts of giving. There is joy and happiness found in the giving and receiving of even the smallest gifts. That joy is a reminder of the joy we receive from Christ’s gift. It is a joy that is magnified with each gift we give and the more we give the better we understand the joy we receive from Christ. It is a joy that is impossible to contain, it must be shared.

Today is simple day, it is all about joy.

Virus Alert at Airport

2009-11-20T12:25:00.001-07:00

I was stuck at the Cincinnati Airport yesterday during the FAA computer system meltdown. This was on one of the departure information screens in the terminal. It makes you wonder if it really was a router that went bad. I also wonder what idiot designed their network so if one router goes down it takes down the whole system. Haven't they heard of redundant systems?

Some Pictures from Montreal

2009-11-12T19:29:00.004-07:00

I had some spare time while in Montreal so I went to check out one of their main landmarks, St Joseph's Oratory.

This is the view of the bottom.

This is the view from half way up. (I couldn't get all the way to the top doors due to construction)

Inside one of the lobbies they had this shrine for the founder. Yes, that is his real heart.

This is inside the chapel.

This is their pipe organ. I didn't get to hear it, but I'm sure it sounds awsome.

Some Thoughts from Montreal Canada

2009-11-12T19:08:00.002-07:00

I was in Montreal for a business trip to help our new dealer setup four test sites. I work for a company that makes radar sensors that monitor traffic flow (nothing with law enforcement). Our dealer was having issues with these sites so I flew up there to train them on how configure the sensor and help them get these four test sites working. The setup was a little trickier than our normal installations so the help they needed was understandable. Due to the rules in Canada and the locations where the sensors were mounted, we had to do all the work at night so they could close an on-ramp and an off-ramp. I was able to help them get all fours sites working to their satisfaction, so I’m pleased with the results of the trip.

I won’t bore you with all the details, but the picture below reminds me of two questions I often ask myself when driving through constructions zones.

1. Why is the road closed and no one is working?
2. Why are all those people standing around doing nothing?

Well, now I have some answers. They aren’t good answers but at least they are answers.

1. One of our test sites was located near the end of an on-ramp. The only way we could safely work there was to close it. We didn’t know how long it was going to take to configure that site so they went ahead a closed the off-ramp where the last site was located at the same time they closed the on-ramp. It ended up taking us about two hours to configure the site on the on-ramp (the other sites were about 30 minutes). So that off-ramp was closed for 2 hours with no one even there to do any work. I bet that was annoying for anyone that needed to get off there. I know I would have been annoyed.

2. In the traffic industry everyone has a specialty. There was a total of 6 people working with the sensors. There was one person from MTQ’s project department, two people from their planning department, two people for our dealer, and myself. The guy for the project department was there to operate the bucket truck and make any adjustments to how the sensor was mounted. The two planning people were there to make sure we got it working. I was there to make sure our dealer knew how to get it to work. We had important roles, but could not all do our jobs at the same time. However, it was more efficient for us to be there together. I’m sure the same thing is true for other construction work and that is why you often see people just standing there.

Defening Marriage

2009-11-03T22:25:00.004-07:00

I would normally post this on my other blog that covers political views, but this is too important.

Today I ran across this opinion article on The Washington Times website:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/28/attacking-the-defense-of-marriage-act/ about how members of the Obama Administration think marriage has no value. Here are few highlights, but you should read the whole article.

Apparently, the administration doesn't much care about public opinion or electoral consequences. On Friday, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. delivered a lecture at the University of Maine where he reiterated President Obama's intent to push for repeal of the law defining marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman for purposes of federal laws. In August, Justice Department spokesman Tracy Schmaler said much the same thing, arguing the "act is discriminatory and should be repealed."

What?!? But it gets worse...

Cass Sunstein, Mr. Obama's powerful "regulatory czar," is equally out of touch. In a new edition of his book "Nudge," coauthored with Richard Thaler, the authors call marriage an "anachronism" and its benefits "surprisingly low." The book goes on to complain that marriage, "produce* unnecessary polarization. ... the most obvious difficulty is that religious organizations insist that they should be permitted to define marriage as they like, while same-sex couples insist that they should be able to make long-term commitments without having a second-class status."
So, because the federal government does not recognize marriage of homosexuals, Mr. Sunstein's solution is that we shouldn't recognize traditional marriage. There's more. An Obama nominee to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Chai Feldblum, claimed in 2005: "I, for one, am not sure whether marriage is a normatively good institution."

Who are this people?!?

The article goes on to point out that marriage has a proven track record for offering society positive benefits.

Okay, so remember 14 years ago when a Prophet declared:

The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society. (see here)

So on one hand you have a group of people who want to destroy marriage and on the other hand we have a strong warning that marriage and families are essential to a strong nation. The scary part, is that the group that wants to destroy marriage is actually part of our government.

We can not let these evil men destroy marriage!!! It is our responsibility to stand up and send a clear message that these views are not acceptable for members of OUR government. Contact your representatives and make it very clear that they must not support any efforts that weaken marriage. Make it clear that failure to represent your views will result in you firing them. We must be proactive or these evil men will win.

The time to stand up is now!!

Pinewood Derby 2009

2009-09-30T23:04:00.002-06:00

Last night was the Pinewood Derby for Spencer's Cub Scout pack. We totally forgot about it until the night before. So we made a run to the scout office and got a template. Sariah spent all day craving it out and Spencer painted it when he got home from school. Spencer's car is the yellow on the far left.

Spencer looks a little worried. He should be that black car was fast.

When the graphite had settled Spencer won 2nd. Not bad for a day's worth of work. The black car was faster by .001 of a second depending on the lane. It wasn't even close with the other cars. Spencer was very exicted and loved racing his car. I was surpised how well the car did considering it was put together at the last minute. Maybe dads should let moms build more cars.

Leah helped herself to a cupcake. She was very proud of herself.

Leah's First BYU Football Game

2009-09-26T20:55:00.001-06:00

Today I took all the kids to a BYU Football Game. It was Leah's first time.

This is the cougar in front of the football stadium. Leah was being camera shy.

When we got out the seats Leah pointed to the field and said "football".

Here we are waiting for the players to rush the field.

This was the view looking towards the mountains. Notice that the trees have started to change colors.

Here the kids a being funny when I want them to smile. I gave up after one try cuz I didn't feel like going through what I did last time.

Here is Leah clapping to the fight song after a BYU touchdown.

Leah still clapping, but wondering what here Dad is doing.

BYU won the game 48 to 23!! Go Cougars!!

How to take a good picture of your kids

2009-09-13T10:28:00.005-06:00

I took my two sons, Spencer and Andrew, to a Real Salt Lake soccer game last night. We were sitting right behind the south goal and I wanted to get a picture of them with the field in the background. Below are are 5 tries it took to get a good picture.

Spencer wanted to make a funny face.

Spencer still being silly and Andrew isn't looking at the camera. This one might have worked if we could have seen Andrew's face.

Andrew looks constipated and Spencer is still being silly.

Ok, this one was my fault

Finally a good picture.

Thank goodness for a digital camera where you can take as many pictures as you need to get it right.

(RSL played the Chicago Fire and the game ended with a 1-1 tie)

Spencer is a BYU Fan!

2009-09-06T08:50:00.003-06:00

You know you have raised your kids right when they dress like this. Spencer is wearing a BYU hat, a BYU shirt, BYU pants, and BYU slippers. The best part is that he choose to dress like this without any prompting from anyone. I wasn't even at home at the time.

By the way, in case you live under a rock and for some reason only read this blog, BYU beat OU in a 14 to 13 upset. GO COUGARS!!!

Price Family Review

2009-08-22T12:48:00.004-06:00

I have recently added alot of people to my Facebook friend's list. It has been fun and interesting to reconnect with so many people from my past. I have also gotten several of requests for updates on what I have been doing. So this is going to be a review of all the major events that have happened over the last 4 years. For some of you, this will be a review and for others it will be news.

In April 2005 I moved my wife Sariah and two kids, Spencer and Andrew to Provo, UT so I could work on a Master's Degree in Information Systems at Brigham Young University. We were all nervous but have really enjoyed living in Utah. The schools have been much better for Spencer, who as a Deaf kid needs services the schools in California did not want to offer.

In December of 2007 we welcomed Leah into our family. She is now a feisty 20 month old who has no problems tackling her older brothers to get her way. Just don't pick her up, she does not like other adults and is very much a mommy or daddy's girl. Sariah claims that she has me very well trained, but I deny that I spoil her.

In 2008 I finished both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Information Systems Management. It was 3 years of hard work but I really enjoyed my classes and was able to work closely with several outstanding professors and fellow students. Information Systems is a combination of business and computers and is part of BYU's Marriott School of Management. I took the same core classes as all the other business majors and learned enough accounting to know when to hire an accountant. The degrees qualify me to work in a vast array of areas and industries, which has been very helpful with today's economy.

After finishing school in August 2008, I took a job that I thought would be enjoyable, but quickly learned otherwise. I secretly continued looking for another job and in October 2008 was blessed with an offer from a Utah based company named Wavetronix. It was started 9 years ago by a former BYU professor who had a vision to create radar devices to detect and monitor traffic. His other primary goal was to create jobs for families in Utah county. The company has a very family friendly attitude and gives me plenty of time to spend with the family. I work in their technical services department and help people setup and configure sensors and communication devices (see www.wavetronix.com for more information). I'm also working on a company-wide project to implement Microsoft SharePoint (see my other blog on that subject, http://tipsforsharepoint.blogspot.com).

So it appears that we will be living in Utah for a while. It was not the original plan, but we feel very blessed for the job I was able to find and love being around others that share our same standards. But we plan on visiting our family and friends in California often, so stay in touch.

You are now caught up on the David Price Family.

;)

Technology spreads the word

2008-01-31T22:59:00.001-07:00

Being the geek that I am, I'm always thinking in terms of technology and how that impacts current events. On Sunday night right after President Hinckley, word spread very quickly around the world. Most people in Utah knew within a hour of him passing away and the story was on national new sites within 2 hours. I have heard from many people that Wikipedia was updated before most people knew. All the traffic to the KSL website (the local NBC station owned by the Church) actually caused major delays, and most of my friends said that they had problems getting to the site. Before I knew, he had passed away, I was trying to access some websites at BYU and had noticed that it was much slower than it is normally on Sunday nights. My wife, said that she had trouble placing phone calls on her cell phone as she tried to call family and friends living outside Utah. The Internet was a buzz with the word. The following quote is from lds.org

The passing of President Hinckley was discussed extensively on the “blogosphere.” The day following his death, a new blog post was published about him every couple of minutes. According to Blogpulse, a service that tracks trends in blogs, President Gordon B. Hinckley was the third most mentioned person in the blogosphere on Monday, 28 January.

Now, that is a real testament of how technology can be used to spread the word. The amazing thing is that all this technology we use today did not exist or was not in wide spread use when President Hinckley was called as Prophet. Without this technology, the Church would not be able to spread the gospel to the whole world as effectively as we can today. I firmly believe that the Lord has blessed us with much of this technology, for his divine designs and he is kind enough to let us play with it for other things. If you take a look at the Church's increase use of technology during President Hinckley's lifetime, some amazing things have been developed and used take the gospel to the world.

Although I haven't done the research, I willing to bet that President Hinckley's funeral, will be watched by more people around the world than any other person's funeral. It is going to be broadcast via the Church's satellite system, and over the Internet in over 50 different languages. I'm sure that the audience will be measured in millions.

A Prophet Remembered

2008-01-31T22:19:00.000-07:00

I will always remember President Gordon B. Hinckley and the spirit that I felt when in his presence or while listening to his voice.

Since I have been attending BYU, I have been blessed with 3 opportunities to see President Hinckley speak at BYU devotionals. The last one was last September. The first time will always be the most memorable. The devotionals are held in the Marriott Center, which is a basketball arena that seats about 15,000. I will never forget when President Hinckley walked in. Without a word of announcement, all 15,000 of us silently stood in honor as he took his seat on the stand. At the same time, the Spirit filled the room testifying that despite his small and humble stature, he was in fact the living Prophet of God and the witness of our Savior he bore was true. Although I did not doubt that he was the Prophet before, the witness I received that day is something that I can not deny.

I'm also grateful for the remarkable and wonderful building that was built on the BYU campus in honor of Gordon B. Hinckley. It is right next to the buildings where most of my class are held. The morning after his passing, I went out of my way to walk by his building, so I could be reminded of the legacy of hard work he has left with BYU and its alumni. The school has put together a few videos that highlight the impact he has had on BYU:

Tribute to Pres. Hinckley
Our Journey Together

New Family Blog

2007-11-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

I have this blog to discuss things like school, technology, and politics. I also want to have a blog about my family and the things we do together. Since I want to keep those things separate from the more heavy subjects, I created another blog just for family stuff.

Check it out here: David and Family

Why I'm voting for Mitt Romney

2007-10-20T08:57:00.000-06:00

Sometime over the summer Mitt Romney released an ad pointing out that the world is filled with evil and we must start with the family to strengthen our Nation and rid ourselves of this evil. Since then, he has made the family his key issue and has talked about the family every chance he gets. Many of his points can be directly connected to The Family: A Proclamation to the World which is the best document I know of that outlines what a family is and how it should operate.

Here are some of the key points of that document:

A marriage between and a man and women is ordained of God
Gender is an essential characteristic of our premortal, mortal and eternal identity and purpose
Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children
Parents have a sacred duty to raise their children to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live
Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity
Fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners

The document concludes with this statement:

We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.

Mitt Romney is the only candidate doing that and for that reason he gets my vote!

If you don't believe me, check out Mitt's latest speech where he touches on all the points listed above.
Mitt at FRC part 1
Mitt at FRC part 2
Mitt at FRC part 3

For more information on the Mormon faith check out Mormon.org or LDS.org
For more information about Mitt Romney check out mittromney.com

Job Interviews like Crazy

2007-09-28T23:24:00.000-06:00

Over the last two weeks I have had 6 job interviews. The thing that makes it crazy is that the night before the interview the companies hosts these social events where you can informally meet the person who will conduct the interview. So my typical day this week included going to class, going to an interview, going to class again, holding office hours (I'm a TA), going home for 15 minutes, going to dinner, coming home, doing my homework, going to bed, and repeating the next day. Yesterday, I didn't even make it through all my homework before falling asleep.

So who are these companies? Just some small names like:
Wal-Mart
PriceWaterhouseCoppper
KPMG
Ernst & Young
Grant Thornton
Deloitte

I'll find out by Friday how I did on most of the interviews and then the real crazy part begins with second interviews in California. The company will fly me out for a day, have interviews all day and then fly me back. That doesn't sound too bad, but it really gets in the way of school and work. I'm taking 6 class right now (all 500 level) so it is hard enough to kept up when I'm in town.

I have 8 other pending applications so life is going to be crazy for awhile. (When isn't it crazy?)

How Smart Are Your Kids?

2007-09-28T23:00:00.000-06:00

One of my classmates has a daughter who has a knack for learning geography. The catch is that she is only 2 years old.

Here's the video of her showing off.

Here is a link to a story about her that ran on the local news:
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=1668864

I hear that she is going to be on the Rachel Ray show and maybe a few others including Jay Leno.

I just wish I had my son on video saying all the states and their capitals. He learned them when he was about 4. (Including how to spell them.)

Signing Time Debut

2007-09-13T16:58:00.000-06:00

This week Two Little Hand Productions released the first 3 volumes of the second series of their award winning Signing Time videos. Over the summer my youngest son, Andrew, was selected in an open casting call to be filmed for the series. He shows up in several of the clips and was really excited to see himself on TV. The series is available on DVD and airs on certain PBS stations. You will need to check your local listings for exact dates and times.

The complete first series is available from Amazon here:
Signing Time Full Collection, Vol. 1-13

The second series is available from on the Signing Time web site at:
http://www.signingtime.com/

What a week!

2007-09-07T23:48:00.001-06:00

So this was the first week of school and a new job. On top of all that, the big accounting firms, who hire alot of ISYS students, were on campus doing information sessions and handling out free ice cream, bags of SWAG (Stuff We All Get), and brochures touting the benefits they have offer. To make matters worse, I had to submit 5 job applications before a deadline this weekend. It was quite the week and I'm really going to enjoy the weekend, even with the little bit of homework I have to do.

So how was your week?

Finally an iPod that I want to buy!

2007-09-06T17:25:00.000-06:00

I have never really been a fan of the iPod or Apple for that matter. I know that sounds a little off beat, but the iPods have always seems too big for what they do. Besides, my PDA and now my cellphone have always acted as my MP3 player if I really needed to get a fix of music.

The other day I was talking with a co-worker about how I thought the iPod Nano could be even smaller if they removed the space between the screen and the wheel pad. We concluded that this would difficult since that space was required for the electronics, storage and the battery.

Yesterday Apple release a new iPod Nano shown here. The first thing I noticed was the space between the wheel and screen. Although it is wider, it isn't as tall and, in my opinion, it is huge improvement over other generations of iPods.
Now most of the hype if going to be over the Touch iPod, but for me the new Nano is right up my alley. Apple is finally making an iPod I can honesty say I want.

So if you ever want to get me a cool gift, I want the 8MB model in black.