05 May 2002 #0218.html

Colby Cade Wright

. . .

Dear Paul and Kate, Melanie and Jared, Bridget and Justin, Sara, Ben and Sarah, Heather, Audrey, Rachel, and Matt via hardcopy,

cc: file, Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, Diane Cluff, and Maxine Shirts.

Welcome to "Thoughtlets." This is a weekly review of an idea, belief, thought, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit to you, my children, with an electronic copy to on-line extended family members. Any of you can ask me not to clutter your mail box at any time.

"As most of you know by now: IT'S A BOY! Colby Cade Wright was born at 12:42 PM on Monday, 29 April 2002. He weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. The new Mom had a lot of stitches, fainted a couple of times Monday afternoon, and was looking really good by the time we were there from about 5:30 until 8:30 Monday evening. Every day is a new experience, and it was nice to be able to hold a Grandbaby on the day he was born. Hopefully someone will work this time-space limitation out, so we aren't so separated by distance. In the meantime it was nice to be able to drive over to Beaumont, and share in Melanie and Jared's glory, and to meet and hold Colby Cade. I have attached my favorite photo from, and there are more at www.walden3d.com/photos/Family/05_JaredMelanie/01_ColbyCade.

There are only so many things you can write about a new baby. After all, they haven't revealed any of what they are bringing from our mutual pre-existence as spirit children of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. So, I bet you expect this to be a short Thoughtlet. Wrong! I have a lot of images and stuff bottled up in me today, and even though it is already 6:00 in the evening, I expect there will be quite a few more words written before I give this to Andrea to proof and comment on.

I was working on the Harris County proof-of-concept Infinite Grid(SM) project when Melanie called me on Monday afternoon. As I have said many times, I struggle with words, and all week, I have been saying to Andrea, `What's the grandbaby's name again?' I've never heard the words Colby nor Cade before, not as names or as anything else. I mentioned to Melanie and Jared that we have a BB (Benjamin Bengt), a CC (Colby Cade), an EE (Ethan Evans), and I couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't going to be a DD (Dumb & Dumber). Jared quickly responded, `We won't be naming a baby that!' I probably need to learn to filter saying some of the things that go through my mind. Oh well!

The thing that struck me about our trip to Beaumont is that Melanie is living the dream I have spent my life pursuing. This will take a little explaining, and first let me give some context. As we got to the hospital room the first time, it seemed cold and lonely. So after holding Colby Cade Wright, and talking to Melanie and Jared about a half-an-hour, there was nothing else to say (remember I seldom have many words to say anyway), so I told Andrea we needed to go and find some flowers to liven up the room (we had got to the hospital an hour after the gift shop closed, and did not see a florist in the block between the I-10 and the hospital.)

It took us a half-hour and a couple of stops to find a mall in Beaumont. I didn't recall Beaumont being near this large when we would drive over to visit Aunt Sara, Uncle Des, and Bridget. When I called my Mom tonight, she reminded me that Bridget was born in Beaumont, and it might have been in the same hospital as Colby Cade Wright was born in. What a small world it is. However, the new mall in Beaumont isn't small. And the Super-WalMart is certainly big enough. We got some flowers, and we got some boy clothes because Melanie had finally accepted what her Austin Doctor told her, namely that they were going to have a girl. So Melanie has a lot of baby girl clothes. We got them a baby UT shirt, a packet of several blue and white tops and bottoms, and a sleeping outfit. I was bored in the store, and Andrea had fun.

As we got back to the hospital room, it was obvious there was a change. The door had a big blue and white Mum on it, like the kids wear to prom, with Colby Cade on the banners, and all kinds of decorations. We knocked on the door, and entered into a room with 4 relatives/girlfriends, all talking and supporting, sharing and loving, and being a wonderful support group. It was so obvious that Melanie and Jared were completely at home. The hospital room didn't need the flowers anymore. Oh well! For the next hour I watched what would have been equivalent to half of Cedar Valley when I was growing up, come and visit. It was a neat experience to have. And to see the love, the family, the concern, the words of wisdom, the support, the gifts, and the sense of community in that little hospital room. I left having no worries about how Melanie will do. Melanie, you have the perfect support system in place, and it might be years before you really recognize the foresight the first Wright had to purchase a reasonable size piece of property and then to provide land to all of their descendents.

It will seem odd, and yet I was particularly struck by three of the young men in the room. One held Colby Cade forever, and the love he had for the new baby was so thick I could feel it. I think he was one of Jared's younger brothers. The other two were caught up in an NBA basketball game, and could have cared less about what else was going on. I felt jealous of them, for I have never felt I have time for such indulgences. I took a photo of them from the side, and then got a good photo of them in a mirror showing their intense concentration on the basketball game. Oh to have no cares in the world no deeper than a silly game!

I don't have words to describe what I saw in that little hospital room in Beaumont. I spent several hours today looking for a document I wrote when I was on my mission, which was titled something like: `Reestablishment of the United Order and Building the New Jerusalem.' This tome was written in 1971 when I was in Harlow Newtown. I couldn't find it. Hopefully I will someday. It was probably too long for a Thoughtlet anyway. In the meantime, I decided to write out a letter I wrote on 16 April 1985, on a variation of the same topic. I keep this letter with several others in a folder labeled `Outspoken Letters:'

`Presiding Bishopric The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 50 East North Temple Salt Lake City, Utah Gentlemen: Recent improvements in temple and missionary programs imply the next area of emphasis and expansion will be in church welfare programs. Ideas, like the suggestions in this letter of a possible shift in church welfare strategy, are a dime a dozen. Therefore it hopfully is not too far out of line to skip priesthood channels and share thoughts that might be of use as you plan for the next decade(s) of the church's temporal affairs. This letter covers four basic areas. Since the letter is unsolicited, it seems appropriate to start with a summary of the concept's evolution. Second is a reveiw of the circumstances prompting the letter. Third is an outline suggesting and listing possible steps of implementing a shift in church welfare strategy. The final section is a philosophical summary of the advantages and disadvantages associated with trying out this idea. CONCEPT EVOLUTION The ideas presented here have been thought about since 1970, when serving as a missionary in the British (England East) Mission. Similar thoughts can be traced back at least to the City of Enoch. When working in the greater London Council Housing Projects and London overflow towns, it became obvious there is a need for major social and architectural changes in urban growth. The overflow towns did provide a little green space for each family, in the form of a garden. However, the lack of a moral social infratructure, like we take for granted in the church, and the repetitive traditional architecture accelerated the problems of urban sprawl. The differences compared to living on Dad's farm near Cedar City made a significant impression. Interest in urban interaction surfaced following gaining a testimony in 1968; and the subsequent personal discovery of Southern Utah History - including pioneering activities like Orderville and Bunkerville. The simple beauty of the gospel seemed such a logical solution to the social problems of the crowded new towns of England. Tieing church society to new developments in urban architecture as described by Le Corbesuer, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Paleo Soleri seemed a complete solution to urban problems. (Soleri is the architect behind the concept of Archologies, and the experimental urban community Arcosanti north of Phoenix.) Following a good, but trying mission came: school; marriage; work for Amoco, Mobil, The University of Houston and now Landmark Graphics Corporation; an MBA; church work; six children; and efforts to change the basic methods of oil and gas exploration worldwide. During this time there has been considerable interst in the church's involvement in the urban renewal of downtown Salt Lake City; watching the design and building of Los Colinis, an office community near the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport; progress or lack of progress of Soleri's Arcosanti; etc. In addition, there has been opportunity to travel and work in Europe, Nigeria, Brazil, Venezuela, India, China, and other parts of the world where there are serious urban living problems. CIRCUMSTNACES PROMPTING LETTER The need for an example new urban community, a candle on a hill, has been constantly in my mind since conference. Thus the letter. The Monday evening before General Conference Mom, Pauline (Hafen) Nelson, had a serious stroke. This resulted in a trip to Cedar City from Houston on Wednesday. Jogging around Dad's 200 acre farm Thursday morning emphasized again the problems of urban sprawl. There are now "subdivisions" surrounding the farm, not really much better laid out than most 3rd world countires. On Good Friday, while following the ambulance moving Mom to the University of Utah Physical Rehabilitation Center, the same type of uncontrolled growth changes was obvious in each town along I-15. Monday following conference was spent traveling to Tokyo. Tuesday included visits to the Tsukuba Expo '85 and the Tokyo Temple. The Expo demonstrates new technologies that, quoting their literature, "shows a significant step towards the 21st century, which is only 15 years away." At the temple the idea of writing out thoughts as a letter to the new Presiding Bishopric was born. Wednesday was travel to Beijing, China for a conference on oil exploration techniques, jointly sponsored by The Chinese Petroleum Society and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. Today has been spent traveling back to Salt Lake to visit Mom. The differenceds between the exhibits in the Tsukuba Expo and housing in Beijing or even Tokyo or Cedar City is astounding. The technologies demonstrated illustrate it is possible to competely change urban living concepts today. However, it will only work if the changes are based around the principles of the gospel. Please note these notes were written in the evenings and on planes and are not complete nor well ordered. OUTLINE OF A POSSIBLE SHIFT IN CHURCH WELFARE STRATEGY I. Do a detailed evaluation of exiisting church welfare strategy: A. General Church Welfare Projects. B. Stake Welfare Projects. C. Welfare Caacity. D. Production Rates. E. Rate of Present Use. II. Do a detailed study of worldwide welfare needs: A. Church Members. B. Developing Nations. C. Industrial Nations. III. Do a detailed feasibility study of how to best use or to expand existing programs to meet worldwide needs: A. What happens if church programs stay at present levels or even tighten up to improve productivity? B. What is the result if there is an accelerated expansion of presently existing programs? C. Is it feasible to make a major shift in welfare services based on a combination of historical lessons and new technologies? The answer seems to be yes as shown by the remainder of this letter. IV. Establish an experimental community to evaluate the results of a shift in welfare services strategy over say 5 years. A. Build a detailed plan: 1. Define the people to attract as participants: a. Community Leaders. b. Professionals: Doctors, Teachers, Electricians, etc. c. Students. d. Tourists and Visitors. e. Specify total population of community at maturity. 2. Total land necessary for the community: a. three-dimensional (3-D) housing. b. Housing and buildings limited to covering 5% of community land area. c. Remaining 95% of community land area used for recreation, family gardens, agriculture, etc. 3. Define the community economic base. a. Initial capitalization: i. Industrial Partners. ii. Donations. iii. Consecrations of participants. iv. Church funds. b. Consecrations: i. Personal and household items retained by each family (books, kitchen appliences, furniture, audio-visual, etc.). ii. Each participant given an opportunity to trade excess assets in exchange for "community stock." iii. Amenities like community cars available for rent using computer credits. iv. Community financial records available for review by any and all shareholders via network. c. Renumeration: i. All transactions made via computer credits. ii. Community participants paid in credits tied to similar service outside the community and the relative value of credits to the relevant national currency. iii. Personal and family credits grow as community goodwill grows and can be cashed in when leaving the community or desiring cash for personal or household items. d. Specialists: i. Financial experts invest community funds to maximize returns for shareholders. ii. Automotive experts to purchase, maintain, and replace community car fleet. iii. Other specialists established as needed to minimize duplication of effort. e. Continuing capitalization and growth: i. Continued capitalization by industrial partners, donations, and new consecrations. ii. Income from services and products produced for community industrail partners. iii. A major goal of the community is self- sufficiency with a requirement for a trade surplus (more products and services sent out than brought in). iv. Keep cash outflow from the community low by having the primary exchange `computer credits' and having bootstrap economic growth. v. Tourism, encourage people to bring cash into the community in return for services and products. vi. Sell hands-on eduction in 'the new community living environment' to people who would like to participate in the project for a short period of time. 4. Set milestones for the time-frame in which specific stages of community development will be achieved: a. Outline methods of reviewing milestone progress. b. Establish procedures to react to progress evaluations, modify plans, and generally react to change. 5. Rough out growth plans for additional communities: a. Set procedures for dividing a community to create new communities. b. Set a community expansion plan by products and services: i. Products presently in the welfare system. ii. New products like undersea fish farming communities and manufacturing in zero gravity. B. Select locations for the first few experimental communities: 1. Locations with good visibility to the largest possible number of church members. 2. Locations which enhance the natural environment: a. Improves present ecological situation; i.e. remove urban sprawl and create farms, parks, and recreation areas for the 95% unpopulated community space. b. Provide access to a prevously inaccessable area; i.e. molded into the side of a mountain (a modern Mesa Verde), a desert oasis, etc. c. Located at the junction of transportation systems; i.e. river crossings, interstate or train junctions, sea or airports, etc. 3. Locations providing opportunity to exploit new products, services or markets; like fish farming; zero gravity manufacturing; excess labor products, etc. 4. A good first location might be in the mountains near BYU, The University of Utah, or The Chruch College of Hawaii. 5. Extensive public relations to insure the population from the vicinity supports development of the project. C. Recruit participants that are somewhat idealisitic, hard working, and intelligent: 1. College students that participated in this type of experiment would spread the concept as they move into the world. 2. An initial experimental commmunity of say 30,000 could be populated by asking for one volunteer family from each ward in the intermountain west. 3. Habitaion would be staged as portions of the community's 3-D infrastructure are completed. D. Development and construction of the community's social and physical infrastructure: 1. Social infastructure: a. Developed around establishment of a series of wards and stakes as people move into the community. b. Political and community organizations would be established through local elections. 2. First phase physical infrastructure might include: a. Good transportation connection to the site. b. Building the foundation for a 3-D community with utilities and communication networks. c. Establishment of superstructures for manufacturing and industry. d. Build 3-D city superstructure. e. Build intercity transportation networks, like elevators, walkways, and subways. f. It seems logical to emphasize new technologies that can carry the community well into the 21st century, like: i. Computer networks (LANS and satellite) ii. Solar and/or geothermal energy. iii. Hydroponics. iv. Robotics. 3. Second phase physical infastructure might include: a. Development of shopping areas, community centers, churchs, and maybe even a temple. b. Development of parks, recreation areas, etc. c. Building of shells for individual housing units. Each unit tied into the computer and audio/visual local area network (LAN). 4. Third phase physical infastructure might include: a. Selling or renting housing shells, where cost is a function of location in the city superstructure and square footage. b. Buildout of housing shells to family specifications. 5. Habitation by family units, ideally by extended families. E. Functioning, growth, and maturity of the community would move towards self-sufficiency, and becoming an integral part of the church welfare system. F. Regularly evaluating community progress: 1. Study interaction, growth, and problems/successes of participants. 2. Review community's effect on the surrounding environment and population. G. Once the community is stable, has reached maximum specified population, and has sufficient resources, half of the population could be moved to another site to start a new community. SUMMARY It seems logical that it is a responsibilty of the church to teach or show the world by example that the earth is full, and there is enough to spare. The problems of urban growth have reached critical proportions in many parts of the world. These temporal problems require imparting our poriton of the abundance of the earth, according to the law of the gospel, to the poor and the needy. What better way than to set a candle on a hill, that all might see the light of the gospel and be benefited thereby? Could there be s stonger way of demonstrating leadership than by providing an example of how to solve serious problems? With facts published in national magazines, like the Wall Street Journal, that Utah is heading all of the states in per capita population growth, and that Kennecott is closing down and causing additional unemployment in Utah, it seems imperative the church demonstrate how to take care of the temporal needs of a large population, and that it can be done in a small space. Cities should be like flowers, not weeds. Taking their fluids and minerals from the earth and returning the wastes for recycling, but not choking off other growth. Uncontrolled growth turns flowers itno garbage dumps. It is not easy to go back in and recover flowers once an urban sprawl has been established. Imagine a million peple living in an Oz like city located where the Kennecott Copper Pit is. Imagine the entire valley at the mouth of the canyon full of farms and family gardens. It seems that at the stage the Earth's populations have reached that there needs to be some daring, even visionary solutions. Lining up the people that live in Beijing, China and spending 5 seconds with each person, working 8 hours a day, it would take over four years to see each person. Conditions there are not that different form the Navajo Indians living in the chruch's backyard. However, compared to the poverty in Nigeria, India, or of course, Ethopia, this is posh living. Particularly the chinese people would be influenced by the type of community described in this letter. They are honest, hardworking, obedient people that work well as a team. The ideas shared in this letter are probably not going to change these conditions, and certainly will not have significant impact before the 21st century, which is only 15 years away. However, as stated at the Tsukuba Expo `We are all on this satellite earth together' and `mankind's dreams have become realities one by one,' largely `through developments in science and technology.' There are also many people that would stake their lives and careers on a belief the type of shift in church welfare described herein would not work. There are legal, acceptance, and financial barriers. Like most ideas this one is probably worth what it cost. Thank you for taking the time to review these thoughts. Hopefully these thoughts will be of some benefit as your Presidency plans the next era of church temporal activities. If possible, and there is time, it would be intersting to learn of your reaction to this letter. All the best in your new callings. Regards, H. Roice Nelson, Jr. 1307 Emerald Green Houston, TX 77094 713.531.4080 work 713.578.3966 home'


In regards to the 713 area code, remember this was written in April of 1985, and the 281 area code was not defined yet. And I did get a response:

`Mr. H. Rorie (sic) Nelson, Jr. 1307 Emerald Green Housotn, TX 77094 Dear Brother Nelson: We have revieewed your letter wherein you listed concepts regarding the Church welfare program. It was thought provoking and we appreciate the time you have spent developing your ideas. We will forward your letter to the new managing director of the Welfare Services Department whose responsiblity it will be to propose changes in the program. Thank you for sharing your ideas with us. Sincerely, The Presiding Bishopric By: Glenn L. Pace'


Andrea got a big laugh out of this part of this Thoughtlet. She expressed concern that if her brothers read this, they would come to Houston to rescue her. And Mom (Maxine), she is sure this will worry you. I don't understand why my ideas and goals are considered so weird and so far out there. Maybe one of you will figure out a way to provide me a different perspective or to understand where the rest of the world is coming from. In the meantime, I will continue to plod along in my quest of continuing to make a positive difference, tilting at windmills and striving to make the world a better place for you kids and your kids.

I doubt any of you will see the picture I saw the second time we entered the Hospital room to visit Colby Cade Wright and his parents. And I doubt I will be able to adequately put my thoughts into words. But there are several things that flooded my mind. As I saw the support and the love of Jared's relatives and friends, I saw the kind of community I first saw in my mind when I was serving as a missionary in England. I saw it again when sitting on Aunt Bettye's porch in Denver and wrote the following song, which has previously been quoted in these thoughtlets (completely in ../9652.html, referenced in ../9825.html, 9901.html, and partially in ../0037.html):

`I Once Saw a Family, 08 June 1973, H. Roice Nelson, Jr. 1. I once saw a family round an old fireplace, Talking of things they had done. Children and parents, Great-Grand-Dad's there too, Recalling stories told before. C: I watched them sing and play, and dance the time away, Living their lives like a perfect rhyme. Like mankind should be, a big happy family, Loving and sharing all of the time. 2. Cousins running through the grass short and tall, Playing games young people play. Uncles and Aunts talk of when they were young, And the things they did to have fun. 3. Dinner time and they all gathered round, A long oak table for a feast. Sister serving little brother tries to help, Tripping on Frodo, who gave out a yelp. 4. Evening goes, and the fire burns down low, With coals that look like children asleep. They all gather round in a circle on their knees, Expressing thanks for days like these.'


I always thought the Great-Grand-Dad was my Dad, and it was about when he would have the likes of Ethan Evans, Grant Matthew, and Colby Cade gathered around him. The fact he did not experience his great-grandchildren was probably the saddest part about his death for me. However, I recall when the spirit told me, maybe the song is about me, and maybe I will live to be a great-grand-dad. I do know that this concept of the zion community has been on my mind ever since our visit to Beaumont on Monday. I could go on and on about how this theme has run through my life. Landmark was intended to be the economic and demographic basis of a new prototype 21st century community. I met Joe Roberts looking for property to build a little community like the Wright's have built in Vidor. All of the Father's & Son's campouts out in Waller at Aubrey Chudleigh's farm, were next to a subdivision set up for members of the church to create a barter based Orderville. My accountant, Merril Littlewood, kept the business going so his partner could serve as a Mission President in Florida. And I'm not sure ten thousand words could adequately describe any one of these concepts or experiences as they have built up in my mind and my heart over the years. And hopefully this set of words will help you each better see and understand what I have spent my life working to provide for us. And it is sad how unsuccessful I have been at reaching my goals.

I can imagine the party at the pavillion on May 26th after Colby Cade is blessed. Great-Grandkids, Grandkids, Kids, Parents, Grandparents, Great-Grand-Parents, food, fun laughter, quarelling, and maybe even some fighting between siblings. Just like the song, and the end-result that was sought in the letter I wrote to the Presiding Bishopric back in 1985. Maybe it would be good to bring my guitar over and sing about what the Wrights have created in Vidor.

As far as my week went, it was all just floating after meeting and holding Colby Cade Wright. I spent most of my days building the proof-of-concept project for Arnie Vedlitz at Texas A&M on the Infinite Grid(SM). I'm quite pleased with how the results turned out. Ben, as I mentioned to you Saturday, you are probably the one member of the family who could leverage this work immediately. For those of you interested in reviewing this work and getting back to me with comments, it is linked to http://www.walden3d.com/H/sample. I believe this concept will become a pretty useful technology for our society, and hopefully will create some cash to help fund Heather, Audrey, and Rachel in school, as well as some of my different ideas.

Wednesday morning Rachel went to Washington D.C. She just got back and finished telling us some of what happened on the trip. Sounds like they really had a lot of fun. There was a tornado watch and their concert with the other high school was cancelled. She liked the museums, and was selected to lay a wreath at one of the graves in Arlington Cemetary. Based on how hyper she is, she must of had a great time (it's 10:07 PM, the music was blaring above the the office until about 11:15 PM, and I will miss the music and the singing in just three more weeks).

Wednesday evening was the YM/YW mud bowl. There are some photos at www.walden3d.com/photos/Scouts/NCW_Mudbowl_01May02, and hopefully I'll label and edit them sometime this next week (although I've never got around to posting the photos from a year ago Christmas which Sara specifically asked me to put up over a year ago). It is interesting how much time I spend working on the web now. Ken Turner has had some notoriety this weekend with regards to his `Out of The Ashes' painting. I updated the website (see www.hgol.net), and still need to do a lot. Ken called first thing this morning to see if I could tell him whether there had been any hits on the web pages after the newspaper article yesterday. The answer is yes, and not right now. Another friend is looking to start a new business and I'm hosting his website to help him raise some money (http://www.walden3d.com/HomeCrest). He doesn't want to jeoprodize his job, and so even though many of you know him, or maybe because many of you know him, I will share his name later. Maybe this can be the feedback game for this week: Who is starting HomeCrest?

Friday evening Andrea, Matt, and I went to the ward campout at Hagen's. It was the first time in a long time I've been able to sit around and play the guitar. However, as a family campout there were a bunch of little kids there, and they all wanted to play the guitar. So they did the strumming and I played the cords. Actually some of them were pretty good. We got to singing `songs' like:

`There's a bunch of cows over there They all have lots of hair Some are brown and some are white Some are black and some are spotted There's a bunch of cows over there.'


We ate subway for dinner. Andrea and I went for a walk run walk before breakfast. Beautiful country. When we got back we learned that the Riches' daughter Becky was playing too rough with a big dog and he took a bite out of her face. Several stitches, and not a fun way to start off a Ward Campout. After catching up on the news, we ate sausage and scrambled egg burrito's and orange juice. I spent most of the morning playing guitar and talking with the little girls. It is nice to have groupies again. It has been a long time since Andrea was The Keynote's groupie. I ate too much lunch. Bar-b-que beef, beans and pineapple, cole slaw, and all of the fixings. Lyle did a good job with the meat, and he spent 182% of what was budgeted for. Oh well! Guess I did not do a very good job of setting the budget throttle. We have a creative Activities Chairman who will figure out some way to fund the other activities this year. We were all wiped out when we got back. Matt didn't want to go to his soccer game, and he did. Did a great job too. Had two good shots on goal, and they were both blocked. They lost. Oh well!

We dropped Matt off and went over to the High School to vote for new Board Members for KISD. There is a group called Powerhouse Christian that has three candidates running, and it appears they are attempting to consecrate their efforts to get creationism taught. It is interesting thinking about being on the status quo side of a political struggle, when I am willing to put so much thought into building a zion community, which would drive the status quo side of a local political community to the same kind of protectionist actions taken against the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio and Jackson County, Missouri 160 years ago. We got back to the house just as Ben and Sarah and Ethan arrived. We got to spend the evening babysitting Ethan. Ben and Sarah came back at 8:30 this morning to pick him up.

Ethan runs just like Mario in the Nintendo games. And he doesn't stop running. He would point to the door, run outside, go look through the fence at the neighbor's barking dog, run out to the street, back in the house, back out the back door, up stairs, back outside, and on and on. I was already tired, and I got really tired just watching him run around. I can just imagine what it will be like when the three musketeers get together: Ethan, Grant, and Colby. I got thinking about Israel and his 12 sons. I can imagine Roice and his 12 grandsons. Can you imagine the impact 12 kids like Ethan could have on the world, looking back from a couple of hundred years from now. What a responsibility it is to prepare the next generation.

I didn't eat dinner because I ate so much lunch. It is Fast Sunday, and this is when I give my swallows report. I'm almost back down to where I was a month ago. It has been interesting to watch this scales and the swallows this month. There was the one really bad day when we had the Ward Progressive Dinner. Otherwise, I haven't really changed my eating habits. And yet I haven't lost weight. In fact, my ankle has been feeling good enough, I started to exercise and then a week later to run a little. And the exercise seemed to put weight on, rather than to take it off. Even though I haven't been eating any more. Maybe it is fat turning to muscle. Whatever the case it has been frustrating. When we were over visiting Colby Cade, Melanie went on and on about how much weight I've lost. I felt bad, because I'm 8 pounds above goal, and Monday morning (after Fast Sunday) I weigh 235, exactly the same as last time I reported. Oh well! I did have a discussion with Jared's Dad about my exercise program, and figure this might be useful to repeat to someone among all of you.

Back in college I got a copy of the Canadian Air Force Exercise Program. I've used this off and on for decades to get back in shape when I get busy and let myself go. It is pretty simple stuff, and the key is to do it regularly. I've done it each weekday for four weeks now. And I've added to it a little over the years. After I dislocated my arm in Denver at Aunt Bettye's son's house, I got a surgical tubing based stretch device that let's you do the equivalent of curls. I'm up to 20 per arm. Then I do 20 stretches left toe, center, right toe, back across left side, and then 20 starting with the right toe, center, left toe, and stretching back to the right side. Then I do 20 stretches with the wheel, 20 push-ups, and three sets of 40 lifting my arms and legs off of the ground. I remember when I took Dad to Australia and Jakarta and would do these exercises in the hotel room how he told me this would be really good for my back. He had had back problems becuase of all of the heavy lifting at Nelson Meat Packing Plant. Then I do 20 sets of `crunches,' where start a sit-up lifting off my right shoulder, then both shoulders, then my left shoulder. And finally I do two sets of 50 side-straddle-hops, and 50 left foot then right foot forward. Then I read a couple of pages of the scriptures and go for a 1-3 mile run. All in all it takes about 45 minutes to an hour, and I know I feel better when I do this regularly. However, it is frustrating when the results are not what is expected, as shown on the attached graph. Oh well! And it seems like a good reason to keep working at it is to be able to sing a song about families to Colby Cade Wright's children.

The first step was to count swallows. The second step was to record the results and think about it. Now I have enough data to start making modifications in what I eat, how I exercise, etc. I finally broke through the 240 pound plateau by simply throttling back the number of swallows. By keeping the total number of swallows for any one day down to about 110-120, I have been able to start loosing weight again. I expect that a lot of the first 25 pounds was not that firmly planted on my body. Now I will have to start to work at loosing the next 25 pounds. It is interesting to take the swallows and integrate (calculate the area under the curve) and take the derivative (calculate the slope) and think about the meanings behind all of the data. I added a second chart to illustrate the the changes that have happened in my eating habits since January when I started counting and recording swallows. The most dramatic change is the change in slope of the number of swallows of fruit, shortly after starting to count swallows. The other obvious fact is the steep slope, ramp, and repeat, in regards to the amount of sugar I eat. Obviously would do better to not have the ramps. Des and Ben, you guys have done a lot of statistics, what do you suggest I think about and modify?

Since it was so late when I finished writing all of the above, I finished it up, made the charts, and had Andrea proof my spelling on Monday morning. There were five responses to last week's survey:

Audrey: 31-40 Bridget: 44 Cousin Diane: 52 Paul: 49 Kate: 44


That leaves me on the low end of the totum pole at 30. I thought Bridget's comments were very insightful, so I will close by quoting them:

`Dear Uncle Roice, I just wanted to let you know that I do read your Thoughtlets and I took the quiz from Dr. Phil. In a book I just read about women and the mass media it talked a lot about quizzes such as these and what we get out of them. I've always enjoyed taking quizzes from magazines and the author of the book noted how popular these have been, especially since the 50's, and she thinks the reason is because people liked to be defined by others and the outside opinion of quizzes are comforting in a way. When I was in Cedar this weekend I got to see Grant. He is such a beautiful baby and I'm excited that they're doing so well. Please keep me informed about Melanie, she's going to be a great Mom! Everything is going well here, it looks like my Mom updated you on a lot so I won't be repetitive. Justin just got a job with the Kaplan testing as a student advisor, so he's excited about that. Right now we're just dealing with finals and after that we'll be able to concentrate on the rest of life. Thanks for keeping us updated on the rest of the family. love, Bridget'


Melanie tells me that both her and Paul have Grant's photo that I forwarded as their screen saver. Now you all have an alternative with Colby Cade Wright. Paul said he is saving up to come to Houston for Christmas, and hopes everyone else will work to come for Christmas too. He wants to come to Rob and Rachel's graduation and Colby Cade's blessing the end of the month, and since he doesn't have a job for sure for the summer yet, and since we have no cash to put towards bringing him, Kate, Grant, Audrey, and Heather down, guess he will learn to hold off on the instantaneous gratifications. I think this is a lesson all of us today could learn a little better. That is, except for babies like Colby Cade Wright."

I'm interested in sharing weekly a "thoughtlet" (little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me) with you because I know how important the written word can be. I am concerned about how easy it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of daily life. To download any of these thoughtlets go to http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets or e-mail me at rnelson@walden3d.com.

With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)

. . .

Copyright © 2002 H. Roice Nelson, Jr.