Archives for March 2009

Kaysville to Keller

March 13, 2009 by rickety 1 Comment

Today Jill, Paul, and myself left Kaysville, Utah at 5:25am for Keller, Texas. We went with a longer route (1,379 miles) that is supposedly faster (19 hours 55 mins). Except for a few miles, the whole route is entirely freeway — that would explain the faster. If you’ve never traveled from Utah to Texas then this post will probably be of no interest to you. However, if you have gone this way before let me know what route you prefer and why. Perhaps I can amend my return plans with your suggestions.

We entertained ourselves (when we weren’t driving) with a cell phone, a Blackberry, two laptops, GPS navigation, two MP3 players, a CD audio book, and several movies. We can’t tell you what the countryside looked like. :) After traveling 950 miles in 13 1/2 hours we stopped over in Salina, Kansas. Time to get out the laptop and blog!

Update

17 Mar 2009 The next day (14th) we left at 6:30am and took 5 1/2 hours to drive the remaining 429 miles to Keller.
21 Mar 2009 We left Keller yesterday morning utilizing an alternative route back to Kaysville suggested by Derek. This time I had my GPS collect data as we drove straight through. At 1,236 miles, this route was 143 miles shorter. Our moving average was 67.8 mph with a moving time of 18.16 hours. This compares with a moving time plus all stoppages (minus overnight stop) of 19 hours for the longer route. If stoppages were added in for the shorter route, the longer route would actually be faster, though not by much.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

March 12, 2009 by rickety 7 Comments

In 1985, the Church issued a new hymn book containing 341 hymns entitled Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some new hymns appeared, which had not been published by the Church before, such as How Great Thou Art. Others were left out of the book such as Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. The Church did not give reasons for leaving out any particular hymn, just saying that the spirit was followed in the selection and there were too many hymns to be included into one book.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing is a Christian hymn composed by the 18th century Methodist pastor and hymnist Robert Robinson. He was born 27 September 1735 in Swaffham, Norfolk, England. Robinson’s widowed mother sent him to London at 14, to learn the trade of barber and hair dresser. However, after hearing a Methodist sermon he turned from his life of recklessness and hooliganism and became a Methodist minister. He later moved to the Baptist church and pastored in Cambridge, England. In later life he encountered a woman who was studying a hymnal. She asked how he liked the hymn she was humming. In tears, he replied:

Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.

Robert Robinson died 8 June 1790 at Showell Green, Warwickshire and is buried in Key Hill Cemetery, Birmingham, England.

There is a curious phrase at the beginning of verse 2: Here I raise my Ebenezer. How many times have I sung that without knowing what it means? Apparently it refers to 1 Samuel 7:12:

Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.

Samuel took a lamb and made an offering to the Lord asking that He would help the Israelites defeat the Philistines. When the Philistines were beaten, Samuel erected a stone and called it Ebenezer so as to remind Israel of what the Lord had done. The Ebenezer stone is a source of inspiration and reminder to many, as witnessed by The Heart Of The Matter, A Life Worthy, and Another Think. There is even a blog called Ebenezer Stone.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings the hymn as follows, in an arrangement by Mack Wilberg. It is essentially the modern hymnal version, except that verse 2 is split into two parts and the last half of verse 3 is appended to each part to form two verses. See this Wikipedia article for the different versions, including the original. Here is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

Also consider Mark Mabry’s spiritual journey to recreate and photograph the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing is rendered in his Reflections of Christ video.

1. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Robert Robinson

2. Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

3. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

4. O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

I Refuse To Participate In This Recession

March 10, 2009 by rickety 7 Comments

Over at Unit Interactive they have the audacity to announce that they “refuse to participate in this recession.” Furthermore, they are behaving like the good times are back again:

We’ve raised pay for our staff. We’ve hired experts, not low-wage warm bodies. We’ve purchased additional computer equipment, furniture, and additional software licenses. We’re growing our business by making good business decisions. We’re doing what businesses are supposed to do to keep the market healthy and we’re crafting our own market results. That’s how the market is supposed to work.

Following their lead I have patterned my post title after their excellently phrased recession refusal. You may well ask, “So big deal, what have you done to show your non-participation?” Well, not much, but doesn’t the thought count? I’m not a business so I can’t give my non-existent employees a raise. How about that I received a 4% raise? I think that loading up my Roth IRA with stocks last month should either be viewed as complete folly or as someone at least pretending that there is no recession. And today I moved the last of my government treasuries into the market. Now I haven’t bought a house but I have been toying with acquiring another home and join my neighbors who have already purchased foreclosed properties. And thinking about loans, I am still increasing my portfolio at Lending Club. As for acquiring goods, though not much, maybe this qualifies as a recession rebuffer:

Rickety with his new computer — some assembly required

You are a hard person. So difficult to convince. What about my upcoming nine day trip to Texas. Not all the family can go but Jill, Paul, and myself will be driving to Keller. Ahhh, now you are smiling. What’s that? Only a fool would vacation with the economy in the dumps? Well, all I can say is, “I refuse to participate in this recession.”

Update

12 Mar 2009 I’ve been asked what operating system I am running, how big a hard drive did I buy, and how much did it all cost. I am running Ubuntu 8.10 on two 640 GB drives that are configured as a RAID to give me fast 1.3 TB storage. I used the Alt CD installer for the RAID. System cost, including monitors, was $1298.83 with $34.71 shipping, all from Newegg. The two Asus 24″ monitors were $279.99 each, with free shipping.

And all through the system, not a Microsoft was stirring, not even a mouse.

Missionary Dan Email #5 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

March 10, 2009 by rickety Leave a Comment

Presented here are portions of Elder Daniel Willoughby’s fifth email from the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission.

Daniel when he first arrived in Ulaanbaatar

Elder Daniel Willoughby in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Thanks family for all the great things you sent me. I really enjoyed the pictures. Looks like you are staying busy. Thanks Dad for the great example you were to me. I love you. Thanks Mom for always telling me what’s happening. It is always fun to get updates. Thanks for teaching me how to clean. Could you send me some recipes, maybe?

I’m going to start cooking more. This week was very busy. English class was great. My class are all about 16. They all stand up when I come in and I say, “Sit.” :) They show good respect. The Lord blessed me with an idea to get them involved and they were speaking a lot of English. This next week I have been given three more classes. Some I think will be older, college students. I’ll get to plan my lessons some time today. It’s very busy, it’s wonderful. I am learning so quickly and so much. I’m going to learn as I go along and trust in the Lord.

The Mongolians are very kind and considerate. The Lord has blessed Altangerel and I so much. We have witnessed His wonderful work go on this week at a rapid pace. I will try to express the great things that have happened this week. The Lord has truly blessed me. We were able to receive many referrals this week through talking to people on the street. The Mongolians are very receptive to the Message and I am almost every time blessed with someone who will listen to me every time.

We were able to visit two less actives. Batgerel said he would quit smoking tomorrow after he felt the Holy Ghost. Xerlen, his brother is the Assistant to the President. The spirit gave me the words to say and this Sunday he came back to church and received a calling. The branch has made so many improvements. The sacrament meeting was so quiet that people all around turned off their cell phones because they didn’t want to disturb the peaceful feeling. I could not stop smiling and I still constantly do. It is the best feeling when we’re worthy to have the Holy Ghost in our companionship. We had three investigators come to church by simply calling them. Mongoh Od I think ran to church because he was out of breath when I talked to him. He is a great investigator. Purebbat came with his two children and contributed to the lesson. During priesthood meeting, the branch president was asking questions like, “Does the Elder’s Quorum secretary need to have the Melchizedek priesthood?” They are all so willing to improve the branch and it was this week that the Lord did marvelous works for them. The branch is now holding weekly activities.

Altangerel and Daniel at church

Many Mongolians are doing great things. I am very happy to have watched the Lord use me as His instrument. He knows exactly what people need to hear. He has spoken fluent Mongolian to many to where they are astonished. I know that it was the Holy Ghost and the Lord using our companionship. I was able to go on an exchange with my district leader Saturday. He taught me some great ways to plan lessons. We also were blessed with the opportunity to meet with the branch president where Elder Wright was able to teach him everything he had prepared for the transfer in one meeting. The Holy Ghost was there and made the time very effective. I am constantly given words to say that spark their interest. I am humbled by such a great blessing it is when the Lord uses me.

To Jake: Thank you so much for the thoughts. I wrote it down and will reflect on it. I have seen that when I have faith the Lord does amazing things. He first tests our faith, then if we remain faithful through the trials, light always follows. Great blessings. He lives, I know he does and this is God’s work. I have no doubt of what He can do for His children that He loves.

To Kelsey: Happy birthday this Friday! I sent a letter, I have no idea how long it will take. Keep smiling and working as best you can. Kelsey, you have great talent and will be so wonderful. Enjoy your getting older. :)

Love, Elder Willoughby

If anyone wishes to ask Daniel a question or to send him a message, write it in the comments and I will make sure he receives it.

List of Daniel’s missionary posts.

Comparing Lending Club with Prosper

March 8, 2009 by rickety 2 Comments

The following information may help you in your peer-to-peer investing decisions.

The Comparisons

A useful comparison of Lending Club and Prosper would be to invest the same amount of money in each company and review the progress a few months later. And that is just what I did. However, an exact comparison was not possible because first Lending Club and then Prosper were in quiet periods. So while my Lending Club loans span only four months, Prosper’s cover eight months. Also my Prosper loans cannot be re-invested because of their quiet period whereas Lending Club has no such restriction. Note too that Lending Club tends to have lower interest rates thus giving a lower return.

The Numbers

	Lending Club	Prosper
Total investment	$4,100.00	$3,000.00
Date of first loan	28 Oct 2008	09 Jun 2008
Active loans	115	34
Interest rate — lowest	8.00%	11.50%
Interest rate — highest	15.37%	30.00%
Interest rate — average	11.34%	17.46%
Net interest	$158.54	$422.29
Loans paid in full	5	5
Late loans — number	0	1
Late loans — grade	N/A	B (1)
Late loans — value	N/A	$74.28
Loans in collections — number	3	6
Loans in collections — grade	B (1) and C (2)	AA (4); A (1); B (1)
Loans in collections — value	$161.07	$576.47
Cost of auctions	$60.72	N/A
Profit (interest minus losses)	-$63.25	-$228.46

Table last updated: 16 July 2009
.

In the table Net interest includes late fees, collections, and administration fees. I have counted Loans in collections as well as Late loans. However, there have been some small collections made and frequently loans that are late are caught up.

The Conclusions

Even though Prosper has the higher earnings its losses are greater. Bear in mind the loans on Prosper have been running twice as long as my Lending Club loans, hence more opportunity for loans to fall behind. My losses on Prosper have been aggravated by my having one loan of $200 in collections and the rest that are behind all at $100. The idea is to invest no more than $50 a loan. My mistake. Over time I believe my Prosper profit will go into the black but I see Lending Club giving a better return. I have thought for awhile that Lending Club does a better job of rating the risk on the loans and these results tend to confirm it. Consider that four out of five of my Prosper late loans are rated AA and the remaining loan is rated A. One would never have thought that these higher rated loans would be the first to cave.

When Prosper reopens I probably will not resume investing but will in the near future pick up the pace with Lending Club. If you are going to try peer-to-peer investing plan on losing some of your money. But with a little more care than I exhibited you should still make a better return than with a Certificate of Deposit.

Looking over these numbers what do you conclude?

Updates

7 Apr 2009 Updated the table.
23 May 2009 Since I last updated the table I have added another $1,100 to my Lending Club account. Although small, Lending Club is now reporting a loss. In a change of direction, today I put up for auction five of my $100 loans. It is time for me to move out of peer-to-peer lending and put more into my FDIC insured rewards checking accounts that return a steady 5%.
16 Jul 2009 Updated the table. Late in May I liquidated all my Lending Club holdings except for the 3 loans in collections. Over a period of three days I placed and auctioned off all the loans. I paid 1% commission on the selling price. I also discounted the price by 1/4%, 1/2%, or 1%. They were purchased very quickly because almost all the good loans are not discounted. The total cost to sell my loans of $4,048.13 was approximately $60.72. This makes early withdrawal very fast and relatively painless. I was happy with the result.

Shepherd Blogger

March 4, 2009 by rickety Leave a Comment

Shepherd Blogger by Wondermark

Christmas is over and it is way too early to begin this year’s celebrations but the Christmas card to the right really does capture the blogger mindset. On the inside of the card is the message, “Here’s hoping your holidays are notable” — emphasis mine, in case you missed the continuation of the blogging theme. There are several other greeting cards to choose from in The Wondermark Goodsery. There is also a Wondermark blog.

What do you think the other shepherds said in response to their blogger brother?

Yeah right, there’s no wi-fi way out here.

This is big! I told you to get an AdSense account.

If the angel comes back again make sure you get his picture.

You can do better than rickety old me. What do you think the other shepherds said to the blogger?

Missionary Dan Email #4 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

March 2, 2009 by rickety Leave a Comment

Presented here are portions of Elder Daniel Willoughby’s fourth email from the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission.

;
Ulaanbaatar at Dawn

Thanks Steven for sending the pictures. Baby Aurora looks great! It is great to see how the gospel has blessed our family so much.

Happy Birthday DAD!!! I’m sure you still look good for how old you’re getting. :)

Thanks Paul for teaching me so much, and Jake the things you told me are very true principles. Meeting with Clay Frandsen so much before coming was a really good thing for me. All that I learned in mission prep class is starting to make sense.

I am doing great! I feel like I’ve learned a month’s time of information in one week. Has it really been one week? This mission is absolutely amazing. I am in Ulaanbataar Central area. This week was Tsagaan Sar. It is basically the Mongolian’s Christmas. Many Mongolians are busy during this time so President Andersen had us visit members and teach them about family history. The members here are awesome. We ate at probably ten members houses this week. Lots and lots of potato salad kind of thing and buuz — some kind of dumpling with meat in it. I loved the food it was great. There was also lots of candy! Yum. :) They also gave us gifts and I got to wear Mongolian traditional clothing. It was really cool to see such a difference in culture. I really enjoyed it and really respect Mongolian culture. I don’t know all about it yet but I’m learning so quickly.

All mail goes to the mission home with the address Sister Andersen gave out. I received a letter from Andrew Steinicke. I really honestly do not need anything and I actually have way too much stuff already. My Mongolian companion I respect a lot. He has so little yet serves diligently and has great knowledge of the gospel.

This mission is so different from Atlanta. We have ALA, PMF, and investigators. ALA is a less active. We have nine that we visit as often as we can. When they come back to church we get another one. We also visit part member families and strengthen them. President Andersen was told to strengthen the members here. Along with doing those we also get referrals like crazy from members and from the street by talking to people. I have been so blessed with the gift of tongues and with the Lord’s help am able to talk to Mongolians and get referrals now (address, phone number).

I was able to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting again. Afterwards some people said they felt something. I know it was the Holy Ghost giving me the words to say to help the Mongolians.

The Mongolians are very loving people. So willing to accept the gospel. So full of faith. I have yet to see an investigator who wouldn’t pray. When we shared scriptures with members they get all their kids and have each one read from it. They are excited about the gospel. It is a such a good thing. It makes me happy. They show us pictures of their families. Talk about their missions. It’s so impressive. They always love to see pictures of my family and are so interested in them. Families are a great blessing.

Truly this is the truth. I have no doubt of it. My knowledge of the gospel has increased so rapidly. I will humbly learn as much as I can to be the best instrument in His hands.

Thanks Mom and Dad. I love you a lot and I realize how much you’ve done for me now. Dad I will forever be grateful for your example of dedication to the Church. I love you Dad.

Steven, Paul, and Jake you’ve been a great example to me and I’d be nowhere without you. Thanks for being great brothers. Sarah thanks for being a great sister. You taught me a lot growing up and I am grateful. You maybe should have taught me how to spell better. :)

To MTC teachers: My respect for all of you has grown a lot. Cannon Ax I saw your picture in a member’s photo album. Thanks again for your hard work.

To Jake: I found that the way to measure faith is by hope and charity. And without charity…faith and hope are useless.

Love, Elder Willoughby

If anyone wishes to ask Daniel a question or to send him a message, write it in the comments and I will make sure he receives it.

Layton Utah Temple Likely

March 1, 2009 by rickety 19 Comments

Layton Utah Temple

According to Matt Martinich, one of the next temples to be announced will probably be built in Layton, Utah.

Matt has developed a quantitative method for identifying cities which are likely to have a new temple announced. His method considers these factors:

Long distances from an existing temple
Large number of stakes and districts
Stakes which have existed before 1981
Busy Saturday endowment schedule at the closest temple

Each potential temple is given a score called a Temple Likelihood Value (TLV). If the score is greater than 20, a future temple is likely. If the score is over 40, a future temple is almost certain. The Layton temple scores a TLV of 47. The Price Utah Temple is almost tied with a TLV of 46. But both are way behind the first place Kinshasa Democratic Republic of Congo Temple with a TLV of 60.5.

The Layton temple would be approximately six miles away from where I live in Kaysville, thus saving me a whole seven miles off the thirteen mile drive to the Bountiful temple. Now if we could just get a Kaysville Utah Temple…

Update

15 Mar 2009 Matt has updated his Temple Likelihood Value with a fifth element. Out of the 76 temples outside of the United States, only six exist in cities which do not have a mission based in them. The presence of a mission of the Church in a city increases the likelihood of a temple being announced in that city. He has not yet factored this in to his temple scale.

Archives for March 2009

Update

Update

Related Posts

The Comparisons

The Numbers

The Conclusions

Updates

Update