Trillion...what a number!!

GDP. What's that??? (Nor, you may not want to read, though its interesting but it could bring back macroeconomics horrors) Well I'll tell you. It's what I've been learning about in my macroeconomics class this week. Interesting stuff. It stands for Gross Domestic Product and its the total goods and services produced in one year in one country. The U.S. GDP in 2007 was $12.7 trillion. Do you know how much a trillion is????

A million seconds is 13 days.
A billion seconds is 31 years.
A trillion seconds is 31,688 years.

A million minutes ago was – 1 year, 329 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes ago.
A billion minutes ago was just after the time of Christ.

A million hours ago was in 1885 (info from 2007).
A billion hours ago man had not yet walked on earth.


Are you saying WOW yet??


Trillion: 1,000,000,000,000
(The following info is from 2003, so some of the numbers are not as large as they would be now...in 2009)
A million dollars ago was five (5) seconds ago at the U.S. Treasury.
A billion dollars ago was late yesterday afternoon at the U.S. Treasury.


The country has not existed for a trillion seconds.
Western civilization has not been around a trillion seconds.
One trillion seconds ago – 31,688 years – Neanderthals stalked the plains of Europe. Whatever Neanderthals are... = 0

The U.S. government spends more than the entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Australia, China and Spain combined. If you laid one dollar bills end to end, you could make a chain that stretches from earth to the moon and back again 200 times before you ran out of dollar bills! One trillion dollars would stretch nearly from the earth to the sun. It would take a military jet flying at the speed of sound, reeling out a roll of dollar bills behind it, 14 years before it reeled out one trillion dollar bills.-----Just a little side note, GDP doesn't accurately tell how well a country is doing, just how well stuff is being built and sold. Like after Hurricane Katrina, GDP rose because of all the jobs that were provided and all the infrastructure that needed to be rebuilt. Definitely not a time where we were doing "well".


Ok, I've had fun with my trillionness. Its just astounding. This is the stuff I like to learn in school. The point of this post...to express my happiness in finally liking and understanding economics. I really do like my macroeconomics class and it is mostly because my professor really helps us understand what we are learning. She makes us think and talk to our classmates...something that we grudgingly do but I'm glad she makes us do it cause we learn so much more by talking about it to other people and thinking about what something means before she is about to tell us. Basically, she makes us think instead of listen only. And today in that class I learned that people have two choices in what they can do with their disposable income (income after taxes)...they can either spend it on consumption or save it. See, I just taught you some economics. Its as simple as that when you put it into English. Its all about assumptions and theories. And it's a social science, analyzing our eyeballs out over graphs and such.


Another thing I like about this teacher is that she tells us what to look for, what we need to learn, the basics and such. This really perks up my ears and helps me focus on the things I really need to pay attention to and get down. Yep, I sure do like my macroeconomics class. We'll see how I feel after the first exam...next Thursday. Ugh and GULP!

So, what's going on in my life. I just told you, haha....school! And I'm trying better to actually understand and engross myself in my textbooks so that this stuff is interesting to me. And look what happened, I enjoy a class. Accounting is good too, have another good teacher. I did pilates tonight at the recreation center, it felt good to exercise though my knee was popping a bit with the squats. And I went to Chili's last night with 3 of my good guy friends...luckily one of those friends paid for my meal. And I went to Arby's tonight after pilates to treat myself for working out...and eat it while my metabolism was still burning. I love these Arby's coupons we get in the mail. About the only time I eat there, when I have to pay.






When filming a "Pearl Vision" commercial at EFY 2006, these are snapshots of the video. The football did actually drop in my eye, and this is how I became a candidate for glasses in the commercial.

Welp, I haven't taken pictures lately...I usually whip out my camera every once in a while but I haven't in a while. I'll post some old pics though, just so this isn't like a textbook and all words. I'm doing well, am dealing with the cold...darn snow all melted, except for the dirty icebergs...and stuffing my brain full of knowledge. Thanks for listening!

I found canoeing pictures!!!!

Way back, last summer I told about going canoeing in Lake Mary and how fun it was. I said I would post pictures that Elder Mayes had taken there. I finally got the pictures from him last semester in my Institute class with him. You can't really see me but they are pictures none the less. Hopefully the link I enclosed will take you back to the actually post that I wrote back in June 2008. If you don't want to go there, here's the collage right here. I'm really digging this collag thing, makes posting pictures on here so much easier. Granted, the pictures aren't as big as I would like but I only have to upload one image instead of 10! And you can click on the picture and it will make it a ton bigger, and you can see the pictures just fine. I'm definitely going canoeing again next summer. It was so fun!! This is the original canoeing post:
http://themorga.blogspot.com/2008/06/summer-summer-summer-summertime.html





You can see the boat slowly start to go under. I'm the one who is the lowest in the canoe when all 5 of us are in it. I was sitting on the "floor". The biggest picture is when I first got out and the bottom far right are my friends Mario Alcantar and Ryan Weishaar. We rammed their canoe with ours. It was very much fun. The water didn't smell like I thought it would, my first time swimming in a lake. Too bad Elder Mayes wasn't able to get pictures after we were in the water from when our canoe tipped.

O.N.E.

My thoughts for the day as I reflect on life...





Yesterday evening my cousin in Utah passed away unexpectedly, Matthew David Buhler. I did not know him well, yet I seemed to be friends with him when we were little. He was 10 months younger than me and people at the zoo or public places would ask if we were twins. I had short little boy hair. That is what I can remember the most about him, that we would play together on summer vacations in Utah. He will be missed, I know among the cousins in UT. His life was cut short and that is what I will miss for him. Please keep your prayers with the Buhler family that they may be comforted during a tragedy in their lives. We love you!
Here is something I wrote in my journal today after I received the news of Matthew's passing. It is a little poem I entitled...

O.N.E.


How fragile life is.

How it is taken with one last breath, one last beat of the heart, one last thought in the head.

One.

One Savior who has redeemed us from the unrelenting chains of death.

One resurrection on one glorious morning.

One lamb that is lost and one shepherd who will diligently search to rescue it.

One seems like a small number, but the power it has to change the world is beyond remarkable and incredible.

One death of a loved one can change the lives of many, for the good or the bad.

From one, it grows to affect thousands, millions, and generations upon generations of people.

You are not just one, just like the Savior was not just one.

You are: Only Needed Everywhere.

The power of one, now you can see, has more power than any earthly mind can imagine.

One by one we come to Him and one by one we help others come to reunite with their Heavenly Father.

And some, one by one, fall like flies, not knowing what hit them for they were blinded by all the distractions on the wide and deceitful path they chose, one choice at a time.

Life is fragile, treat each day as a gift, that is why it is called the present.

Don't postpone changes you can make now for later.

Again, life is fragile and it is by one thing that can make this day your last.

Bringin back a blast from the past

MY FIRST PLANE RIDE----SEP 2006

This was an amazing adventure in my life, and I even shared it with someone who was very special to me at the time. Luckily Mike's dad took all the pictures and I'm so glad he did. I found these in an e-mail that his mom sent to me. I had some of the pictures but not all of them. I was soo happy to find them all again! This was at Benson airport and our pilot's name was Hawk. And it was so beautiful to see the valley I grew up in from bird's view! I even got to fly the plane, Hawk said I should look into it cause I did an excellent job! Maybe some day!

January peeker

Well, in explaining this collage (btw, it was very easy to make, just click "make a collage" in picasa and shuffle it around to how you like it {thought you might want to know Nora and Mom}) it is what I did the Friday and Saturday before school started. The smaller pictures on the right are at the NAU Skydome, me and two of my guy friends went to see the Harlem Globetrotters. It was great and those guys are so talented. Below those pictures is one of a cabin type building, I don't know what purpose it served, by a pond that I went to that was frozen (that pic is the middle on the far left). Then me and my friend Chris went to Lake Mary to see if it was frozen and it was. We walked all over it and kept saying, we are scientists, cause we would go get rocks that were along the shore and throw them as hard as we could to see if we could crack it. That's what the bottom left pic is, I was chipping away at the ice with a rock to see if we could break through to some water. Then we were trying to think of how "heavy" the rock would be when it actually hit the ice by the F=MA formula. Haha, it was funny. We were on that frozen lake for about 2 hours. Oh, and the pic on the top, 2nd from the left, is a little boy that would keep glaring at my friend Troy when he would cheer for the Washington Generals, the Globetrotters "opponent". I had to snap one of him cause he was just give him the evil eye for 3 mins straight. I didn't have the flash on so he probably didn't know I even took a picture. And then there's some of me when I was looking for the pond, hadn't been there for over a year and went at night. I went up behind Thorpe park where there's a little trail and even though I was still close to the park and could hear kids yelling but it was still peaceful in the pines and so beautiful with the snow. I would have stayed longer if I wasn't by myself (being a woman you have to remember those things) and if it wasn't getting so cold and dark. I was actually on the trail for the disc golf course. I think that sport looks hard, I should try it sometime though. Those courses are all over the place up here. I have realized that the snow makes things look so beautiful and its so much quieter when it is snowing. So then I called up a friend, I went with him last year on a double date to this pond after dinner...he's married now...so I called him to ask where it was. I found it and walked on it. I don't know why but I think its fun to walk on frozen bodies of water. Took some pictures and that ended my adventures for the day. Also that day I got two letters, one from my friend Matt Anderson who's on a mission in Alabama and one from his companion. I had just written his companion the first time before I got this letter so I was very excited to get it. And he went along with the goofiness that I put in my letter. He's from Las Vegas and went to BYU before his mission. His name is Adam Tebbs. It will be fun to write him! My friend Matt comes home on Feb 19 so I needed someone to keep writing to when Matt isn't out anymore. Well, I'll end this blog so I don't have another long one!

December events and outings

Well, Nora has kicked my bum, saying I need to update my blog. Oh my, this updating, just these two posts has taken me probably 3 hours. Oh well, hope you enjoy the pictures and litte adventures I've had the past two months. The pictures below are all scrambled with a few random thrown in there, like this one of the bald eagle on a building in Flagstaff, I think its a law office...Goldberg and Osborne or the sort. Again, enjoy.

This eagle is ice cold, thought it was a pretty grotesque picture and funny.

Snowy DAZE

It snowed the day after Christmas at home in Pomerene. I could have sworn the snow was following me.The tree outside our window had a ton of snow so Cari ran out to get a snow clump to release the poor boughs from stress.

And the throw, it didn't work, one bit. haha.
And the snow just kept falling, and falling...

Yummy smoothie made with scrumptious ingredients on my snowday from work and wheat pancakes with syrup and blackberries! Yes, I am eating good and healthy, even as a college student. :D

Cari's 20th BIRTHDAY!

Cari's surprise birthday outing! I had made the cake (in a pie pan, didn't want a lot of left over cake) the night before at Alyce's house so it could cool, stayed the night there and woke up in the morning to go back to my apartment to make breakfast burritos for our brunch picnic by a lake! I also had to run to Walmart in the morning before going home to get frosting, candles, a birthday card, some little random presents. Cari is an early bird so she was up when I got home at 8 AM, luckily I had the key to our neighbor's apartment, made up a little fib about going over there so she wouldn't find out. We blindfolded her and drove to this lake me and Kelsey had found a few weeks before. It was pretty random, all these fancy big houses surround it. Oh, and I had to make a quick stop at Taco Bell for some hot sauce for our breakfast burritos. We finally get there, go down the hill to the lake and lay out our picnic sheets, eat fast cause it was freezing that day, Dec. 13, and then I read a quick picnic story, "I Knew You Could" since we had just finished the semester. It would have been a nice day if the wind hadn't been blowing. Sadly we didn't take any pictures until we got back to our apartment to eat the cake. Cari said it was the best birthday she had ever had and she felt so loved. It was awesome to do it for her and it was so fun too. :D
Cari is the oldest in our apartment and I'm the youngest. We all turn 20 this year, good thing we can keep those candles for all of us! Thought these plates were funny.
My friend Brittney had invited me to go to the nutcracker with her cause her boyfriend couldn't make it....Cari was talking about wanting to see it and I was going to see it the same night of her birthday so I invited her to come along and paid for her ticket as her birthday present. Just have to give, $10 is a little steep for a college student but we all enjoyed it, and it was worth all the money.
SNOW!! Winter is here!
When we got out of the Nutcracker, it was snowing, the first snow of the season and it felt like a movie. Seems like they always have it snowing when people are coming out of a show. It was a wonderful day and very magical. We also put up Christmas lights, we were the only ones in the complex. Must be the economy.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS in SEDONA

The love birds, Mark and Alyce. They're good friends of mine and they are currently in North Dakota, visiting Alyce's parents...Mark's gonna ask her dad something. :] :]
Sometime during winter break before Christmas, a big group of us went down to Sedona to see Red Rock Fantasy. Its a complex of timeshares and condos where they have a contest each Christmas to see how has the best themed light display. There were 29 displays this year.
This handmade sign was in the "Christmas in Narnia" display: it reads, "We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God" -C.S. Lewis. I whole-heartedly agree.

I personally think this wiseman's beard is a bit outrageous. haha

The moon was beautiful on the way down to Sedona on the tree lined, windy road.

This condo won the contest last year, very good statement...I shall agree.

Some of the condos had motes around them and I thought the leaves smothering this mote looked very dreamy from the glow of the Christmas lights.
A little weird, I won't tell you what I was doing when I took this picture but I had to take it cause only in Hippie Sedona would you find a plaque above toilet paper that would say its recycled.

P.S. Another adventure blog to soon follow of more recent updates, like what I did today. Hopefully will post tomorrow.

Thanksgiving...a little late.

Everyone was home for Thanksgiving this year and as always, its nice to have the family all together. I did miss some of it though, I was tired and took probably a 3 hour nap with Kyleigh in the back room. There was plenty of good food.

Dad and I. Haha, Grandma walked in the front door and said, what have we got going on here, an affair? That was a little awkward.

Kyleigh Fae and I. The cute little button.

Isabel in her sink bath.

Sink baths, a silly tradition...Olivia's turn.

Moms and Pops.

Abbey helping Isabel on the 'sit and spin'.

Caitlyn, some kind of pose, and cousin Emma

Dani Jo and Olivia, playing. Dani Jo was sharing her juice with her.

Michael carving the turkey and Abbey watching.