WIMotW: Edict #3

When I'm Master of the World, my third declaration will be the healthy ceasing of cigarette smoking. We'll turn the area of the factories into reclaimed areas for after school learning and rec places where kids can explore their talents. All of the money whored up by the companies will become our funds for this process. Factory workers can be transitioned to different jobs created by the construction of the building.
I see this as a win-win-win-win for all involved. More wellness trips to the dr than the current alternative. Punishment would be tree or flower planting or something. Or maybe hugging trees... Something like that.
All's I know is that we gotta keep growing tobacco to help out those cows in some way.


Now, to make this WIMofW less boring, you should all want this.

I should probably blog about _______, yet I post about ________

Hi. If you didn't hear my cousin, Brock, and me shouting with reckless abandon about the announcement of the temple for Lisbon, Portugal, I'm surprised. Yay! for temple announcements at conference.
There were some great, memorable moments this Conference Saturday ("You may wonder what this has to do with flying an airplane"). I'm excited to find out what Priesthood Session was about.


So, maybe it's weird to end the post with this particular video, but I've been looking for it for a while. According to this video, Jack Daniels is the long lost twin brother of Vladimir Lenin. So creepy.

Columbus Day** and gummy candy or "entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem" and gummy candy

Yesterday was Columbus Day. I think my favorite thing about Columbus Day is the Leif Land First shirt that Sarah wears.
I have a friend from the Portuguese program who wanted (wants??) to do his thesis about the theory that Columbus was actually Portuguese. Who knew that there'd been all of these theories swirling around that Columbus might not actually be the son of a Genoese weaver? I guess Columbus kept his past pretty well hidden, so theories have cropped up. The New York Times had and article about it. But even better they had a condensed chart of the theories. Pretty interesting, but, you know, Occam's Razor, "All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the right one," (the excessively long Wikipedia article). So what do you think is the simplest solution? Columbus never wrote in Italian, only Spanish, so... ???

Also, I've had a weird craving lately for a gummy candy. I can't quite put my finger on which kind I'm craving, so my dear blogger friends, do you mind helping me identify what on earth it is that I want? Merci, quoi.

But I am not in the market for gummy bacon, gummy steak, gummy road kill, gummy heart, gummy body parts, gummy hen and eggs, gummy thanksgiving meals, gummy cockroaches, gummy eyeballs, or Haribo bears.

But when diamonds aren't enough...

Fainting Goats

Honestly, what's up with these goats?


Oh, and there's another post on the Europe blog: Lisbon.

I'm back in the U.S.A.

Before I forget, here's some stuff about Barcelona on the other blog. I'll keep putting up the stuff that I didn't get a chance to in Iberia.

It's sorta weird to be back. I think it'd be better if I hadn't caught Clark's Iberian souvenir: a terrible cold or flu or whatever it is. But it didn't hit me until after I'd landed in SLC, so no biggie. It's really hazy in Utah. The fires are terrible.
I'm enjoying being home. It was fun hanging out with my family yesterday. They all came over to P6 because Kathy and Gretchen were feeding us Chinese hot pots. It's great stuff. Darn tasty. Although I know it was killing Julie Rae--she's a spice wimp. But Kathy had also made pot stickers. G&K were introduced to the crazy Swensons yesterday, too. Sometimes we get a lot outlandish--especially at Sunday dinners.

Driving from Madrid to Lisbon I popped in Harry Potter 6 on my iPod and Clark and I listened all the way there. So I've been listening to the book on CD (iPod) ever since. I'm almost done. I thoroughly enjoy the books on CD. And speaking of Harry Potter, check this out:
You Harry Potter lovers, I think you might want to click here. You can either click on the trailer, or you can click on the third clip and start right in. The clips will just keep playing thru. Enjoy.
You can see all of the commercial clips here, too.
Here's a clip from AOL, too:

Powered by AOL Video

Garden update and anniversaries

The garden's growing nicely. Here are some photos for you to enjoy.

I entered the MTC 7 years ago today. Yep this time 7 years ago I was done "meeting" my branch president (my friend's dad) and was headed back to my room for my first night in the MTC. That's when I met Sister Pierce and Sister Kikumori. That was a great day. I blubbered like crazy when I said goodbye to my family. Yes. I am a crier. Shocking, I know.

And at this very moment next Thursday I'll be flying over the Atlantic on my way to Portugal. In fact I'm one week and five hours from Lisbon right now. :D