05 Aug 2007 #0731.html

Cedar Closet

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Dear Family and Friends,

Welcome to this week's "Thoughtlet."

These words are my personal diary and a weekly review of ideas, beliefs, thoughts, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit to you: my children, my family, and my friends.

"I planned on naming this week's Thoughtlet Nephropathy because of the following e-mail sent by Melanie late Monday evening:

'Hey Paul & dad.. Just wanted to let you know we made a good choice by not coming out there today... Colby has the stomach bug now so we're just hoping we don't get it as we begin our trip & especially as Jared gets ready to take his big test on Wednesday and also that Colby will be better before we leave. Also, I just wanted to update you on some info we got recently... I've probably told you both before that Jared has something wrong with his kidneys but that we didn't have a lot of information and didn't really know what it was, except that he was advised to take fish oil pills. Well, we asked his kidney doctor for a copy of his file for insurance purposes and it kind of freaked me out because it said he had a chronic kidney disease - stage I. However, it has been very helpful to see the report because it has a name for the diagnosis and I have been able to look up a lot of information. Apparently, Jared has a chronic kidney disease called IgA Nephropathy. I looked up IgA Nephropathy and it doesn't look like there is very much medically that can be done for this and in 50% of cases - it will lead to kidney failure & dialysis over the course of many years. It is a very rare disease and not much is known about it. There are some diet things that they suggest and so I'm going to do what I can to try and incorporate some of their suggestions. Here is a support website that has a lot of helpful information: http://www.igansupport.org/ Also, I looked up on WebMD Nephrotic syndrome and IgA Nephropathy which gave me more general information. Nephrotic syndrome is the name of what is causing the blood to leak into his urine and it is one of the symptoms of the IgA Nephropathy. Every thing else physically that Jared has had problems with (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, light headedness, and headaches) are all symptoms of the IgA Nephropathy. So, its not good news but at the same time I feel a lot of relief because I have a name and some advice to go off of. I'm sure I'll learn a lot more in the next couple of months as I research a little bit more. Love y'all, Melanie'

I responded Tuesday morning early with:

'Melanie, I am so very proud of you and your attitude. It reminds me of one of my favorite boy scouts a few years ago. Adam Salt learned about his brother Matt's impending kidney failure after his mission, and he volunteered to donate his kidneys to Matt. The rest of the story is he did this fully believing he was going to loose his life by giving up his kidneys. The rest of the story is he is serving a mission on the East Coast with one kidney. My prayers are with Jared. I firmly believe your attitude is right on track, and with all of the miracles of modern medicine, there is a solution now the issue is known. A couple of thoughts regarding the stomach flu: (1) I remember how every time I had a big test or a big assignment during my first year of marriage to your Mom, there would always seem to be some big trial. We were reading The Lord of the Rings out loud to each other, and the best parts always seemed to come up when there was a big test. However, we made it through these trials, and always read more than was prudent. (2) One of the times I got very sick on a trip was in Oman

(see Thoughtlets 9909.html, 0009.html, 0138.html, 0305.html, and 0324.html).

I did not leave the hotel except to give a one hour presentation. When we got back to London I called up one of the Elders in the Hyde Park Ward where I served on my mission, and whom I had worked with when I was there, and he brought someone to my hotel and gave me a blessing. The church provides us wonderful support. Don't forget to call your Home Teachers for a blessing for kids, and for Jared's test. Again my prayers are with you all. Have a great vacation in Colorado. Love, Dad'

Then on Wednesday the following mass e-mail came from Melanie:

'Hey guys! I just wanted to clarify my email about Jared yesterday... I just don't want anyone to feel sorry about Jared... we've known all along that he had kidney problems but now I feel empowered because we know what we can do to help it, ya know. It feels good to put a name to it because now we can get specific advice for preventing it from getting worse. Diet & supplementation makes such an impact with something like this so I just feel like now that we know - we can avoid him reaching the point of kidney failure - whereas before - I felt like it was just a matter of time because no one seemed to be able to tell us what was wrong, ya know? It doesn't affect him right now so he's going to be fine! I just felt like it was something you share with family... but it won't change our lives except make us a more aware of our diet:) Jared has left for his test and I am so nervous for him but he seemed really good this morning. He got plenty of sleep. He ate a good dinner last night and a good breakfast this morning. He just seemed confident and at peace and so I feel really good about it. Pray for him throughout the day... I'm sure he would appreciate it! Love y'all,'

And that is everything I know so far about Nephropathy. So it didn't feel right to use this name for the Thoughtlet, rather I will save the name for when I know more and have more to say about the topic. My week was quiet, although disrupted. Since Andrea and I spent all day Saturday lining the walls of my closet with cedar, and this smell will have a positive impact on me every day we live in this house, it seems appropriate to name this week's Thoughtlet "Cedar Closet." More about this later. First, there was an e-mail from one of Andrea's friends on Monday, which I can't pass up including:

'Dear Abby: My husband is a liar and a cheat. He has cheated on me from the beginning, and, when I confront him, he denies everything. What's worse, everyone knows that he cheats on me. It is so humiliating. Also, since he lost his job six years ago, he hasn't even looked for a new one. All he does all day is smoke cigars, cruise around and b.s. with his buddies while I have to work to pay the bills. Since our daughter went away to college he doesn't even pretend to like me and hints that I may be a lesbian. What should I do? Signed, Clueless Dear Clueless: Grow up and dump him. Good grief, woman. You don't need him anymore. You're a United States Senator from New York. Act like one.'

Tuesday there was also an e-mail from Brent Bennett in St. George. Raymond Gardner introduced me to Bruce years ago, when we were looking at helping put together a subdivision outside of Hurricane, Utah. Part of the plan was a Science Center for Southern Utah. Because of my interest in Science and because of all of the work with Walden 3-D, Inc., Ray brought me into the discussions. I have followed the discussions for about a decade now. I always hoped it would proceed, especially as Andrea and I have started to put together plans for our future summers. Our goal is to purchase a piece of property in Southern Utah with enough space we can have an Annual Summer Grandkids Camp. The idea is to give parents a break for a week or two, once the kids are 8 years old. We know Southern Utah, and figure we can do National Parks, horse riding, visiting Iron Mines and Coal Mines, crafts, and other important stuff. It has always been in the back of my mind that the Science Center, if it were built, would provide a center for these Grandkids and Grandparents only activities. When I was growing up I spent a week or two every summer with my Grandpa and Grandma Hafen at Calf Springs Ranch, and looking back I'm convinced it is part of the reason I'm so weird. I'd love to pass some of my weirdness on to your children, and to enhance the comradery between between cousins. Early on it might be boys and girls, later it might be boys one week and girls another week, later it might be younger and older cousins, and sometimes it might be all cousins over a certain age. Anyway, with this context in mind, review the e-mail Brent Bennett sent:

'To all who are looking forward to the building of the Science Center! We have finally achieved success in being assured of the location. The SouthWest Science Center will be built in a canyon and adjoining hilltop in Outlaw Ridge. The development will be on both sides of highway 59 in Apple Valley. Sales of phase one of the housing area will begin in the next month, and we are beginning the detailed planning stage for the science center. In addition, Merrill Osmond, who is a partner with Hank Isaksen in the development, has joined with Hank in assuring us that he will provide continuous support in the fund raising effort for the science center. We greatly appreciate his commitment, and the support of other members of the Osmond family for their determination that the science center will be built. Our Board of Trustees, along with their families, and many other supporters of the project, have worked diligently to get to this point. James Moore has worked very hard to coordinate and lead the effort to have an outstanding exhibit at the Washington County Fair. This event will constitute the official announcement of Outlaw Ridge, and the South WestScience Center. The major attraction will be the presentation by Evans & Sutherland, a Salt Lake company that manufactures planetarium projectors, of several digital programs in their portable planetarium. From the schedule below, you can see that many people will be needed to support this effort. I ask that you join with us and provide your support at this very special time. In addition to adults, young people age 12 and up can assist us. We are printing a very nice advertising flyer (attached), but our visitors will want to talk to individuals who are already excited about the project. We need your assistance! Community support on the project is essential. This event will be the beginning of a continuous publicity and fund raising campaign. Please join with us to make it a great success. Sincerely, Brent'

As I said, the week was pretty quiet. I spent almost all of the time at work interpreting horizons for an offshore Angola pre-stack depth migration project. I also spent some time working with the Seisnetics software, which is based on a genetic algorithm that creates horizons patches for all peaks, all troughs, or all peaks and all troughs in an entire seismic survey. I listened to business books on CD and Trends from Audio-Tech. Some of these are simply common sense, and some of them are quite interesting. There is one I set aside to share with Melanie and Jared when we get together next which has a section on artificially growing organs, like kidneys, and how this technology is going to be widespread within the next decade. This seems like a solution to the worst case scenarios associated with IgA Nephropathy. I have notes, and I'm still deciding whether to put those notes into these Thoughtlets, or to create another place to put them. Right now my inclination is to create another place, so as to not make these epistles any longer than they already are.

One evening I had a good, and relatively long discussion with Matt. The military seems to be a very positive experience for Matt. I hope these open and frank discussions can continue. In fact, it would be nice to have similar open and frank discussions with each of you. I realize I have screwed up each of your lives because of my mistakes. Andrea feels the same way. It was not our intention. We love each of you and want each of you to be successful in your chosen spheres of activity. We realize you can not do this with the burdens we have unintentionally placed on your shoulders. We will pay for counseling. We will go to counseling with you. We will do anything we can which you are interested in us doing to help you get past our mistakes and get on with making your own unintended consequences of independent decisions.

This was also the week the master bathroom took on real work. The night they tore out the old cabinet, the bathtub, and the existing tile on the shower wall was interesting. I was working on stuff in the office, and they were in the shower with jackhammers. It was noisy. First time since Rachel was home and listening to her music above my office that I put ear plugs in in order to be able to work on my stuff. Bruce Baker is a character. He is who Andrea contracted to do the work. He loves to talk, and his stories are funny. It was fun to get his view on the pig races (../0649.html, 0704.html, 0706.html, and 0708.html). He is the one who made the sign, and who came up with the phrase, "Featuring both kinds of music, country and western." He knows Maudeen Marks, and says she is very sick. He has been involved with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo since it started on what is now Maudeen's Ranch. He does security for the performers. This year he did security for "Hannah Montana." He has a six year old daughter, and she got to go backstage and meet her. Bruce mentioned to Hannah Montana he had eaten at "Crackerbarrell," and she said that was her favorite restaurant. He ended up getting the manager to make a special meal for her and deliver it to her dressing room. Fun stories. Almost made up for the rotted support boards, and the two $250 changes to the bid which also happened that evening. Oh well!

This work in the bathroom also meant that for the first time since moving into this house in August of 1984, I did not have my morning shower in the master bathroom. It has been an interesting hassle to get shaving material, alcohol, vitamins, clothes, and other things together and take them upstairs and to use a different shower. A piece of advice for you homeowners, which came from this experience, is you might want to personally use all showers and toilets in your house about once a quarter, just to become aware of loose shutoff valves on the shower faucet, leaks, etc. It is also interesting to see what stickers are on the bathroom mirrors. The things I didn't know?

There was a nice post card from Rachel Sarls who is in my Primary Class and was on vacation at DisneyWorld. Brooke and Brian Shirts (Uncle Randy and Aunt Katerine's second son) sent an announcement of the birth of their son William Hanson, on July 26, 2007 at the Magee-Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (7 lbs 7 oz, 20.5 inches), where Brian is getting his M.D.Ph.D. So all in all, life was pretty normal for the week, and things seem to keep progressing.

Luis Roca came to Houston on Friday, and I was told I was going to go over my Data Mining presentation (0729.html) with him, Lee Bell, Fred Hilterman, and others. Mike Dunn had to leave. Luis Viertel had to catch his plane back to McCallen. Luis Roca was late arriving, and the other meeting they had took longer than expected. It was 20 minutes before 4:00 PM when I was invited to the Conference Room to go through 282 slides. Friday is the day George Schultz particularly likes to leave on time. So I had 20 minutes prior to my car pool wanting to leave and to get on the Katy HOV lane. I flew through all of the slides and finished about 4:20 PM, excusing myself and edging my way past Lee Bell to get out. Oh well. Andrea said she would drive down and pick me up next time there was something like this where I needed to stay late. When I got home we could not start work on turning my closet into a cedar closet because the white enamel paint Andrea had painted the floorboards and shelves with was not dry. So we ate dinner and went to see "The Bourne Ultimatum" at CineMark. It was sold out. So we went to see "No Reservation," which is an excellent movie about a cook who is obsessive, and who ends up raising her niece because of a car accident. Made me think of all of the traveling you kids are doing, and how those of you with kids should have a will written out and notarized and where it will be found in case there is an unexpected tragedy in your lives. I highly recommend this movie, including kids over about 6 years old. When we got out we thought about going to see a second movie, until we got outside and saw the line for people who had tickets was two theaters long.

Saturday morning came, and I slept in until 7:30. After reading the paper, I mowed the lawns. While I was mowing the front lawn, John and Heather Turner came by with their two large dogs. They had been out for a run. They moved into Tom Hamilton's house. Tom was a senior executive, maybe the President of Pennzoil, and later founded EEX, a deep water offshore exploration company. The house the Turner's moved into was one of the three houses Joe Roberts showed us when he talked us into moving into 11307 Emerald Green. I always liked the house because it had a giant cedar closet in the master bedroom. I told the Turners about my love affair with their house. It is interesting to me that Heather had send us a thank you note for the wedding gift we gave them and for coming to their reception. And now they are in our neighborhood. By 10:00 we had started to create the cedar closet at our house, 23 years after seeing how beautiful they can be. We had the process down pretty good from making Andrea's cedar closet (0729.html and 0730.html). I would nail and measure boards, and Andrea would cut them to the right lengths. My closet is higher than Andrea's, and so there was quite a bit more surface area to cover. We accomplished this in less time that it took to do her closet. The photo at the right shows the results of this work. It was really interesting to attempt to put together a 360o photo of the insides of a closet. It helped me appreciate the uniqueness of Ken Turner's work on the Music Room Painting which hangs in Ben and Sarah's basement.

Sunday was Fast Sunday. Last week I told my Primary Class I was going to bear my testimony as an encouragement for them to bear their testimony. I had also sang them "CTR-8 Testimonies" (see ../0614.html), which has 6 verses about the kids in my class last year bearing their testimonies. Anyway, I was the first one to get up after Brother Keller turned the time to the congregation. I mentioned having time to think about what I was going to say because we had spent all day Saturday building a cedar closet to keep up with John and Heather Turner. My main message was how I started sending post cards to Grandma Hafen when I was on my mission, and this is why members of my classes have got post cards over the years when I have missed teaching because I was traveling. None of my class bore their testimony. Last year's class was unique. There was an interesting testimony by Dan Stanton, from which I extracted the following possible stanza for Prime Words:

"Brothers and sisters Squabble a lot And in the end They love each other"

When we got home I read Time Magazine. The article was about New Orleans. They referred to a web page and an opportunity to comment on what could be done to solve the problems on making progress in New Orleans. I thought about all of the work I did on my presentation for Galveston Island, and how relevant I think this is (http://www.walden3d.com/Galveston), and so I looked up the web page and sent the following:

'The key is using information technologies to map in data, process, time, and space progress, setbacks, plans, budgets, project status, and everything else associated with an area like New Orleans. The Internet provides a forum for universal distribution of indexed dynamic maps, enabling transparency, contributions by anyone from among everyone with access to technology, and potentially supports scrupulous democracy. To this end, I prepared a proposal for professors at Texas A&M University at Galveston, which has not progressed beyond the initial meeting because there are currently no funds available, and which, when appropriately implemented, will prototype a new interdependent coupling between mankind and nature exportable worldwide. If anyone reads this post, or my proposal (http://www.walden3d.com/Galveston), I look forward to beginning a conversation, which will help us work together to continue to make a positive difference. Best Regards, Roice cell: 713.542.2207 e-mail: rnelson@walden3d.com (2 copies of 1st e-mail to get on spam filter whitelist)'

I never heard anything back. Oh well! Guess this lack of response shows how the process really works. And who am I to complain, with all of the folks I have encouraged to believe in my wild ideas, and then have not kept them informed of non-progress. Oh well! At least I accomplish some of my goals each time I take a deep breath as I step inside my cedar closet."

Since the 38th week of 1996 I have written a weekly "Thoughtlet" (little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me). Until the 43rd week of 2004 I sent these out as an e-mail. They were intended to be big thoughts which mean a lot to me. Over time the process evolved into a personal diary. These notes were shared with my family because I know how important the written word can be. Concerned about how easy it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of daily life, I thought this was a good way to reach those I love. It no longer feels right to send out an e-mail and "force" my kids and my family to be aware of my life and struggles.

Everyone has their own life to lead, and their own struggles to work through. I will continue this effort, and will continue to make my notes publicly accessible (unless I learn of misuse by someone who finds out about them, and then will aggressively pursue a legal remedy to copyright infringement and I will put the Thoughtlets behind a password).

The index to download any of these Thoughtlets is at http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets, or you can e-mail me with questions or requests at rnelson@walden3d.com (note if you are not on my e-mail "whitelist" you must send 2 e-mails within 24 hours of each other in order for your e-mail to not be trashed).

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

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Copyright © 2007 H. Roice Nelson, Jr.