If you've used a credit or debit card in the recent past, you've probably been asked to show ID with your purchase. I find this additional step to be somewhat inconvenient and recently discovered that Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover all expressly prohibit requiring ID as a condition of accepting the card. So you know what? I've been holding merchants to their obligations and now refuse to show ID when I use my card.
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Posted by Jesse | Filed under: Rants, Life on December 1st, 2008 at 9:44 pm | 8 Comments »
Jason over at The Sidetrack linked to an interesting article on 5 myths about our health care system. I've already written many times about health care, but I thought I could propose some solutions to the problems that this article points out. Because I knew I'd end up writing so much, I'm going to respond to his post here.
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Posted by Jesse | Filed under: Politics on November 25th, 2008 at 12:00 pm | 3 Comments »
Over the years, I've found plenty of areas where I disagree with the libertarian view. Too much of what they propose is pure anarchy, stripping government down far beyond the minimum necessary to function. So it goes with most libertarian arguments for removing state influence from marriage or eliminating all restrictions as to who is able to participate in it.
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Posted by Jesse | Filed under: Politics, Church on November 24th, 2008 at 7:33 pm | 38 Comments »
I'm trying to figure out what makes this toilet paper "advanced".
Posted by Jesse | Filed under: Twilight Zone, Pictures, Tender Lumplings on November 21st, 2008 at 2:42 pm | 4 Comments »
There's an old joke that Congress does two things: nothing and too much. It seems like the Legislature is being asked to model Congress when it comes to taking on ethics reform. I went to a meeting last night sponsored by Sen. Wayne Niederhauser and outgoing Sen. Carlene Walker where it seems like the audience wanted to morph a simple plan for transparency into some kind of regulatory nightmare replete with loopholes and exceptions.
The meeting started off with a very simple list of things they'd like to accomplish: full disclosure of all gifts, contributions and expenditures; ban campaign funds spent being used for personal expenses; ban using leftover campaign contributions for personal uses; and establish an independent commission to review violations and hear complaints. These are all good ideas that allow for greater transparency and establish simple and easy-to-follow rules. By the end of the meeting, however, there were over 6 sheets of suggestions that the audience had thrown into the mix.
This isn't to say that all of these suggestions were bad. That said, we should try the simple solution first and see if it works. If there are then failings and weaknesses, future legislative sessions can address those with small tweaks. I agree with the Daily Herald's editorial on the matter:there are few instances of actual ethical problems and what instances there are can be solved with the added transparency.
Posted by Jesse | Filed under: Politics on November 20th, 2008 at 10:38 am | 3 Comments »
I've pretty much had it with Christmas advertising already and it isn't yet Thanksgiving. Since just after Labor Day, stores have been hawking Christmas lights and playing Christmas music and basically bombarding me with everything Christmas for more than 2 months. There's even neighbors who, I kid you not, have put up Christmas lights… and turn them on! Whatever happened to Christmas not beginning until after Thanksgiving? I was just starting to de-grinch myself too.
I refuse to do anything Christmas until I've been stuffed full of turkey. Anyone want to take this stand with me?
Posted by Jesse | Filed under: Rants, Tender Lumplings on November 18th, 2008 at 10:53 pm | 11 Comments »
Shauna and I both have done a terrible job at taking advantage of the recycling bin provided by the county. Most of it boiled down to laziness. It seemed like a real chore to take a few small items out to the bin on the side of the house. Moving it to the backyard also proved troublesome given the problems we've had with our garage door. It looked like we were destined to keep filling our main garbage can with perfectly good recyclables just because of some relatively small hassles.
And then Shauna's mom Shauna had a flash of genius. For some time, we've been asking for paper bags instead of plastic from the supermarket. My rationale has always been that the paper will break down whereas the plastic will likely not. Both bag types are recyclable, but the paper ones have a nice, flat bottom that makes the bag stand up on its own. Presto, instant second trash can for recycling. Since the bag is paper, we can just toss the whole thing into the bin.
Amazingly, we've managed to cut our volume of household trash in half once we started doing this. It's not a big deal in the winter, but trash space is at a premium when there are raked leaves and lawn clippings to dispose of. And all it took was using some paper bags.
Posted by Jesse | Filed under: Homeownership on November 17th, 2008 at 10:00 am | 6 Comments »
Today in church, we had a combined meeting with all of the adults and youth concerning the new temple being finished in Draper. This is going to be a truly massive undertaking with nearly 700 volunteers needed during each day of the open house. With just 25 stakes to draw from, this means that we'll all have to pitch in to ensure that things run smoothly.
Most exciting, though, is the timing of the open house. It will be running from mid-January through mid-March, around the time that a lot of my family will be visiting from out-of-state. I'm the only member of my family to have joined the LDS Church, so this presents a unique opportunity for aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, parents and maybe even my brother to see what the inside of a temple looks like. I'm very excited to have them come out and visit us when Liam arrives, but even more so that I can share an important part of my life that I don't often discuss with all of them.
Posted by Jesse | Filed under: Church, Family on November 16th, 2008 at 5:15 pm | 3 Comments »
Thanks to everyone who could make it out to the blogger dinner at Squatter's last night. Jason Williams of The Sidetrack and KVNU's For The People, Marshall of Wasatch Watcher and Frank Staheli of Simple Utah Mormon Politics all came out and Paul Mero (who generously covered the tab for the entire table… again!) came by later as a special guest. (Sorry, Marshall, but I missed your friends' names.) Despite a mild case of food poisoning I've been dealing with since, a good time was had by all and seeing Paul and Marshall debate same-sex marriage was the highlight of my night. (If it hadn't been so noisy in there, I so would've recorded it and put it up on YouTube.) Thanks to everyone who could make it and here's to hoping that more of you will be able to drop by the next time we do this!
Posted by Jesse | Filed under: Events, Politics on November 15th, 2008 at 10:47 am | 4 Comments »
I'm a pretty good pantry scavenger when our fridge is running a bit low on fresh ingredients. We pretty much hit that point with no milk, eggs or bread in the fridge and a lot of empty shelves. What we did have, however, counted in spades. I can't remember what exactly drove me to think of making a pumpkin bisque, but we just happened to have all of the ingredients on hand. I improvised a bit to give it a bit more of a spicy kick, so I'll claim this recipe as my own. Read more »
Posted by Jesse | Filed under: Food, Pictures, Recipes on November 10th, 2008 at 9:37 pm | 6 Comments »
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