More: Birthday!

As many people who might read this post know my little family is transplanting to another state for work reasons. Luckily for us we were given the choice of when to move. We deliberated long and hard but the final decision was made, at least in my mind, for one big reason. My little girl was going to turn 1 year old after one of the given dates. For this reason we decided to wait till closer to the end of the summer to move. Well, the birthday came and what a party it was! Below are some pictures of the very ducky occasion.

The birthday girl had never really had cake before so she didn’t quite know what to do with frosting or chocolate cake. She did, however, make a terrific mess.

More: Zoo Animals

Serena decided that for her birthday she wanted to go to the zoo so we packed up the family and headed up to Salt Lake City’s Hogle Zoo. Lily loves animals, especially birds so we had a great time. Lily has learned the sounds for fish and elephant so when we saw the elephants she performed for us. Wednesday was a great day to go as there weren’t too many people and it wasn’t too hot. Serena and Lily did show off their fashion while we were there. Overall we had a great time. Fun animals, fun family outing.

Book: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

I finally read a book! I've been having a really hard time picking up a novel since I finished school. I think the weekly 100+ page assignments that I sometimes read along with the plethora of research articles I had to read burned out my desire to read for a while. But I did it!


The book that broke down the wall was Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep," a groundbreaking science fiction novel that has inspired writers and readers since it was published. It was made into a film called "Blade Runner" that premiered in 1982. This book isn't long or difficult to read, although it had the words verisimilitude and perspicacity on the same page. It's an interesting read if not for the story itself but for the examination of what it is to be human.


The basic plot is that after World War Terminus radioactive fallout has covered pretty much the whole earth, wiped out most wildlife and can change DNA in living humans. Because of this people began to emigrate to the new Mars colony. To incentivize emigration the UN promised an android to each individual/family that emigrates. The problem is that occasionally these androids kill their human masters and return to Earth and try to blend in with humans. The main character, Rick Deckard, is a bounty hunter or a policeman who's job is to find these rogue androids and "retire" them.


The driving theme in the book is that the only way to tell the difference between the newest androids and humans is to test their empathy. Androids cannot connect with other life while humans can. The author brings this idea out through a neo-religion called Mercerism. Each household has a device called an empathy box where the user can connect to everyone else using the device and can feel what others feel and share their own emotions. Androids cannot use this device which further disassociates them from humans.


However, as the book continues Rick Deckard finds he is losing pieces of his humanity as he has to track down the androids and retire them. He find he is simultaneously losing natural empathy for humans and gaining it for androids. This is the idea that I found most intriguing in the book. It's not a new idea. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.  And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” I've seen this idea repeated a few times in the movies and on TV. This aphorism was quoted on CBS' Criminal Minds and is in Joss Whedon's Serenity. The question from Nietzsche to Serenity is can we destroy/rid ourselves of our enemy without partially becoming like him? In various ways it is true, to rid ourselves of monsters we have become a form of monster.  Rick Deckard finds his job becoming very difficult as he begins to have empathy for the androids. He sees that to destroy the unfeeling creatures he has to distance himself from them emotionally. When one of them gets under his skin he finds he is conflicted. How can he kill something he cares for? 

That's the question for all of us. How do we get rid of something terrible without losing part of ourselves in the process? Can we? 

More: Family Updates

It’s been a while since I posted and a few things have happened. First of all, and probably least importantly, we’ve moved. The apartment building we were in was bought by NuSkin to make more parking. Now the three of us are staying in southern Provo till the job situation straightens out. Secondly, I PASSED THE NCLEX!!!! Woohoo! I am officially a registered nurse, I’ve already started getting questions from family and friends about health stuff. It’s great! Thirdly, Lily is growing up way too fast. I don’t have pictures of everything she’s learned to do so I’ll list some of them and post some pictures of her absolute cuteness. She’s obviously crawling all over the place, she gets to her feet and can now get back down to her knees, she opens any drawer or cabinet with a handle within reach, she feeds herself Graduates (puffs for babies to eat), searches for items she’s dropped, waves hello/goodbye, claps, and destroys any tower of blocks I build. Here are the pictures, hover over them for a description.

Books: Recommendations?

Though it still hasn't quite hit me yet, I have successfully completed my undergraduate degree in nursing. Finals are over, the grades are mostly in, and I'm still studying. "What?!? Why?" might be some questions you're asking yourself. Well, I still have the NCLEX or the National Council Licensing EXam in front of me. That aside, I am going to finally feel okay in reading books I want to read. I'm done! I'm free! No more 50 page reading textbook reading assignments or incredibly academic research papers to read. So, now that I have all this time on my hands I'm searching frantically to find ways to fill it. I feel like reading is a worthy use of time as it is intellectually inspiring and informative. Of course that depends on what you are reading. As I've stated in previous posts I enjoy Fantasy/Sci-Fi type novels, but I have been known to dabble in the classics. So, the reason for this post is two-fold. I wanted to let everyone in the world know that I'm done with my bachelor's degree (check). Secondly, I would like to get recommendations on what books you thought were fantastic that I should read. Hold nothing back, give me what you got!