Recycling to pay for PhD--Thursday Thought

Since I have become aware of the monetary value of recycling, I have become more "green" conscious. There are many variables to figuring out what, in the environment, can be saved by recycling, but I found one source with calculations on paper alone.



SOME TYPICAL CALCULATIONS
· 1 ton of uncoated virgin (non-recycled) printing and office paper uses 24 trees
· 1 ton of 100% virgin (non-recycled) newsprint uses 12 trees
· A "pallet" of copier paper (20-lb. sheet weight, or 20#) contains 40 cartons and weighs 1 ton. Therefore,
· 1 carton (10 reams) of 100% virgin copier paper uses .6 trees
· 1 tree makes 16.67 reams of copy paper or 8,333.3 sheets
· 1 ream (500 sheets) uses 6% of a tree (and those add up quickly!)
· 1 ton of coated, higher-end virgin magazine paper (used for magazines like National Geographic and many others) uses a little more than 15 trees (15.36)
· 1 ton of coated, lower-end virgin magazine paper (used for newsmagazines and most catalogs) uses nearly 8 trees (7.68)




While there are tradeoffs for lowering your use of paper and raising your use of electronics, think about this—




Any time you do anything new, you have to learn it one step at a time. First, we figure out how to save our trees and then we figure out how to create less electronic junk, and move on to actually increasing our green print.

We have been here for 2,000 years without working to save our mother earth, who groans from her abuse:



1 Ne. 19: 12
And all these things must surely come, saith the prophet Zenos. And the rocks of the earth must rend; and because of the groanings of the earth, many of the kings of the isles of the sea shall be wrought upon by the Spirit of God, to exclaim: The God of nature suffers


If you want to recycle you aluminum cans, plastics, paper, cardboard, electronics and car or boat batteries to help save our earth, let me know, I will pick them up weekly. You see, I am paying for my PhD by recycling.



Recycling is hard work and a large effort sometimes gives a small return, but my determination to pay cash for my PhD and not go into debt for it causes me to work, collect and even pick up cans and bottles I find in the parking lot.



I’m not dumpster diving – yet.
I don’t wear a stocking cap – yet.
I don’t have a shopping cart – yet.

But know this, to reach my goal, I’m game. Call me or email me if you want to contribute to my project.

I've thought about it....Thursday Thought

I really do like pink and polka dots and red, yup, that's me alright, pink, polka dots and red.

Thursday Thought--Make the World a Better Place

As I drove to work today, I saw four people standing at the bus stop. Interestingly, my first thought was that they were all together because they were all dressed in dark cloths and had on shirts or jackets that, from a distance, looked like they matched.

However

As I got closer to them I noticed they were strategically positioned so they would not make eye contact with each other or have to speak to each other. For some reason this saddened me.

And I thought...
How did we, as a society get so that we don't interact with each other on a casual, friendly basis?
How did we move to a position of self absorption so that we avoid contact with strangers?

Let's change that.
Join me in this movement.

I will:

1. Speak to strangers on the street -- just a simple nod and hello
2. Greet the clerk in the store with a smile and ask how their day is going
3. Smile at little children in public and tell them I appreciate how nice they are acting
4. Get to know my neighbors better
5. Listen carefully when someone talks to me
6. Speak to people on the elevator
7. Speak to people on the bus or at the bus stop

Will you?

Courage--Thursday Thought

"Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it with use."

Ruth Gordon

____________________________________________________________________________________

You will recognize her best from this picture

She also looked like this

Choice--Thursday Thought

Once you make a choice, it is your responsibility to make it the right decision.

This is a loose quote of something Paton Manning said on NPR. He was specifially speaking of choosing a college to go to, namely once he chose a college, he had to work to make it the right choice.

I have thought about that for awhile now and I believe that it can be extended to many other choices we make in out lives. Think about it, what choices have you made that now you have to work at to make them the right decision?

Wisdom--Thursday Thought

With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, "My gracious, look how wise I am!"

I don't know who said this, but it's mine now.

Languishing--Thursday Thought

"Sometimes, languishing in the arms of your sweetheart for an extra half hour in the morning is the best way to start your day."

Sandi Grandberry

Segullah-Thursday Thought

I can't say this any better than the original author.

http://segullah.org/up-close/a-different-sort-of-happily-ever-after/

It would be my prayer for you, and for me, that we would each have the personal strength of this woman.

Email Confirmation--Thursday Thought

Since I signed up for every scholorship search program in the WORLD. I have been put on the strangest email lists.

I have only found one scholarship that I even qualify for and my chances of winning that one are something like 1 in 100,000.

• So, here I am with an email message from DormBuys.com
• I ask them to remove me from their list because I am getting WAY TOO MANY EMAILS I DON'T WANT FROM COMPANIES I AM NOT INTERESTED IN
• And they send me ANOTHER email confirming the fact that I REALLY DIDN'T WANT THEIR EMAIL MESSAGES IN THE FIRST PLACE.

My thought is this, selling email lists to marketing companies should be a crime. Whatever!

By the way, feel free to donate $1 to my PhD fund. I have enough to pay for 1/3 of 1 class. Your participation would be appreciated.

All fund will be used for my PhD tuition and/or books. Any extra funds collected will be used to pay for someone else's education (person yet to be determined--who knows, it could be you or one of your children) .

Prayer--Thursday Thought

This was from our RS Lesson Sunday. I have changed the caption under my picture to this. I love this thought. Thanks Kim.

“In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance. Let us open our eyes and see the heavy hearts, notice the loneliness and despair; let us feel the silent prayers of others around us, and let us be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to answer those prayers.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Happiness, Your Heritage,” Ensign, Nov 2008.

Piece of Cake--Thursday Thought

God's cake...

Sometimes we wonder, 'What did I do to deserve this?' or 'Why did God have to do this to me?' Here is a wonderful explanation!

A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.

Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, 'Absolutely Mom, I love your cake.' 'Here, have some cooking oil,' her Mother offers. 'Yuck' says her daughter. 'How about a couple raw eggs?' 'Gross, Mom!' 'Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?' 'Mom, those are all yucky!'

To which the mother replies: 'Yes , all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! '

God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!

God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.

Let's talk--Thursday Thought

My thought today comes from http://segullah.org/. Inspiring, short essays about women with whom I share a common interest.

"...People need to talk. How will we learn what others have to offer if no one talks?”

I'm sorry I can't tell who wrote the article but it is an excellent read and one that makes you take stock of your own lack of appreciation for simply loving your neighbor with a kind word.

Lemonade--Thursday Thought

I have not read this book, The Coldest War, by James Brady, however, I think I need to put it on my list. It is a book about America's "forgotten war." The Korean War lasted just thirty-seven months, yet 54,246 Americans died in that time -- nearly as many as died in ten years in Vietnam. On the fiftieth anniversary of this devastating conflict, James Brady wrote the story of his life as a young marine lieutenant in Korea. It has rave reviews and sounds very compelling.

He has a few good quotes that float around one of them is this:

"When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. I have several stands around here."

I love that quote, I hope your lemonade stands are filled with sunshine.

Pessimist--Thursday Thought

You can find something positive in everything if you look hard enough. One of the computer guys I work with shared this one with me because I am always hasseling him.

"The great thing about being a pessimist is that you are constantly either being proven right or pleasantly surprised."

George Will, News commentator

Baby Laugh-Thursday Thought

"When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies."

J.M. Barrie

Einstein Quotes-Thursday Thought

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

"God is subtle but he is not malicious."

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."

Failure-Thursday Thought

"The only failure is not to try."

George Clooney

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Winston Churchill

"The greatest failure is not to try."

Debbie Fields

"The only failure is the failure to learn from failure."

Kevin Everett FitzMaurice

I plan to try, learn and try again. How about you?

Happy life--Thursday Thought

"One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats."

Iris Murdoch

Iris Murdoch is an Irish novelist who had an opinion on everything. I am right now contemplating what treats I can have today--yeah baby.

This link is for certain people who collect favorite quotes. If you go to this website and register, you can collect favorite quotes all in one place and make yourself a "book" of quotes.

Get Closer to Your Kids--Thursday Thought

I found this in Woman's Day this month and thought it was worth repeating.

"In her new book, Real Solutions for Busy Moms, Kathy Ireland reveals how she does it:

Getting our three kids ready and off to school in the morning can be hectic. On those days, everyone feels a bit crabby and frazzled (including me). I have a rule for the car: Video games and cell phones, including mine, get turned off. Our drive to school takes about 12 minutes, and for that short period, I talk with the kids about what's going on in their lives. Sometimes we'll play word games too. By the time we arrive at school, frowns have turned into smiles, worries have faded away, and the kids are ready to tackle a new day. When we're in that bubble, we're insulated from the world's pressures. It our time to focus on each other."

I tried to find a link to it on the net, but no such luck so this credit is in lieu of a link.

Example--Thursday Thought

"Each person must live their life as a model for others."

Rosa parks