Yesterday at church, I had a couple of thoughts which I neglected to write down.  I think I'll write them down now. Something I might have written down in my previous scripture studies is my question as to why Lehi's family didn't think about getting the plates of brass / Ishmael's family before they left for the wilderness?  I would th...

I'm not in the mood to write much, but since it's a goal, I'll keep it. One thing I noticed and had a question about was why Nephi, Sariah, and Sam didn't know where to go in Lehi's dream.  Verse 14 lays it out quite plainly. The first thing that came to mind was Lehi was the leader of the family.  He was the director and it was his d...

Something I've never really ever thought of, and maybe simply because it's so obvious, but... When Nephi goes on in his rant toward those who were desirous to go to Jerusalem, he keeps saying "How could you forget?".  Things like "How have you forgotten the great things the Lord hath done for us" makes an incredible assum...

I just got done reading a wonderful article in which the author tries to describe the core differences between the "open source" mentality and the proprietary one.  He does a great job of being objective and is generally well-thought out. Since I began using Linux, being myself a capitalist, I've battled the idea that the open sour...

I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I lost the post I just wrote about chapter 6. I didn't realize how short it was, so I wrote about the importance of scriptures spoken of in verse 5.  If we didn't have scriptures, our kids would eventually lose the commandments of God (unless, of course, it was revealed again). Also, it's good to not...

I just got done reading an excerpt on Sony's new "open", "non-DRM" solution to downloading their music legally. As I understand it, you have to go to a store, buy some sort of card for $12.99 which has a magic code on it, get the code, go to a website, enter the code, and then you are able to download one of their whole 37 alb...

Man... I'm just tired.  Today was weird..  So... Studying chapter 5 right now, I'm brought to another realization that even the families of Prophets aren't perfect (hello, Lehi was a prophet, and he managed to have Laman and Lemuel...) The specifics to which I refer is Sariah's murmuring, and reaction when she saw her 4 boys return fr...

I was sifting through my various RSS feeds a couple of minutes ago, and one popped up from TomsHardware which I thought might be interesting.  So I opened it up in my browser, and before I could even read the title, my eyes were drawn to this ad by Microsoft.  The image itself isn't very funny, but man-oh-man, the captions which came to m...

One way I really enjoy reading the scriptures is from a very empathetic point of view.  I find I learn more when I study, if I try to imagine what would *really* be going on if I were actually within the scripture. Chapter 4 is perfect for this.  Reading somewhat between the lines of the first part of this chapter allows us to imagine ...

Within the first 5 verses of this chapter, I'm reminded again of how a person works who is truly interested in God's commandments. Lehi was commanded of the Lord to have his sons return to Jerusalem to get the plates of brass from Laban. Telling Laman and Lemuel would most certainly have some consequences in that they would automatically assu...

Just thought I'd let ya all know that I did something yesterday that I haven't done in years, if I've ever done it before at all.. Turns out I had band practice for two bands on the same night.  So, beginning at 4:30, and lasting until 11:30, I was at band practice. I don't think I've ever played the drums for 7 hours straight.  My ha...

The first thing I thought of when reading this chapter was, "Man, if my teenagers (or young adults) came to me and asked if they could go to a nation bent on destoying ours, and teach them the Gospel.  Man... My initial reaction would definitely be one of incredulity.  No wonder they had to pester Mosiah for so long before he'd even ...

Okay...  Quick story... Last Thursday, I was looking around the Internet for a great deal on a new pre-amp I want for my studio.  Happens that about 2 hours into searching, I found a deal almost too good to be true.  I found my 8-channel Focusrite Platinum Octopre for $300.00 less than anywhere I could find ($400.00 less than retai...

Ya know...  The explanations of the strategy of war really is interesting to me.  But when I come across verses like these, I simply can't help but get chills. I actually tear up when reading these verses.  I guess it's kind of the whole underdog syndrome.  Ya know... When there's a conflict, or a competition, and the odds are...

Any web developer who has been in the craft for more than a couple of days realizes how often forms are used in web development.  Well...  Where forms are used, form methods are used, and one of the crazily irritating problems with forms using a "POST" method is the fact that when the "back" button is pressed after lea...

This chapter is full of doctrinal nuggets. Some things I noticed this time around which I haven't noticed before are the following: Verses 6-8 are primarily about the importance of revelation.  We are told this importance is denounced by our time's people in 2nd Nephi 28:5-6.  I had never made that connection before. Interes...

This morning, Steve broke in to chat and said something to the effect of "Pride sucks." Ya know... I completely agree with him. Pride does suck. I wonder why... I've heard it said that "Pride is the only unforgivable sin." This is the doctrine according to me because I can't remember who said it, nor if it was an authority figure, so.... no ...

Wow....   This will probably be a short entry, but I thought I'd write down what is the first hardware failure of my server! I built this server 3 years ago, and it has been serving up everything that is served in my house (mythtv, web (this site), ftp, ssh, music, photos).  Well... Yesterday evening, we tried to fire up mythtv...

Ya know... I've now read this chapter twice, and I cannot remember a single thing I read.  I started journaling about the chapters of the Book of Mormon January 1, 2008 - as a resolution to write about each and every chapter of the book.  I'm not sure if I can make it through this chapter one more time!  I have no idea what's going o...

A few months ago, I thought I'd get a bit more serious about setting up a semi-professional studio in my home.  It's worked out great, so far! As I've worked with clients, they've been more than happy with the results, and I'm learning new techniques and tricks of the trade at the same time.  So far, so good. So, along this trail, I b...

So two days ago, I found myself on the same stage with the same band I've been with for the past 5 (or so) years, playing pretty much the same songs. Except, this time, something was different.  As I walked around looking at all of the awesome vehicles on the grounds, there was just something wonderful.  I have no idea how to describe i...

Heh....  If you know me at all, you probably know a couple of things about me (in no particular order): I love Linux and gentoo I own a 2007 Mustang GT I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I really loathe the idea of DRM. Now, before I get into the details,  DRM just makes me sick.  I ha...

Ya know... Chatting with good friends has its benefits.  Just like think-tanks and collegeate consortiums are good for concerted cognation, a good conversation with a concerned cohort can be just as contenting. I think I've mentioned this before in my journal, but in talking with a good friend of mine, I hadn't made the connection with just...

Ya know...  I didn't quite know what to write about today, but I knew I had to write about something.  Some days, I've just got to write. Fasting.  Fasting, to me, is simply going without food or water for a duration of time with the purpose of showing God I am willing to sacrifice something which is very important to me, having h...

People connect on different levels in this life, and I just had an experience of supreme connection on the musical level.  I felt like I was experiencing something somewhat supreme...  But I'll talk about that later. Yesterday was the LDS Music Fest 2005, and EnZign was lucky enough to be part of it again.  It was such a s...

I've just gotta say....  Man alive, I love open source.  I've also gotta pay my dues. ILMJ uses a wonderful open source editor called fckeditor.  It is simply amazing.  I haven't done much with it, but without it - this website wouldn't even be close to being usable yet. I just got done configuring the image-upload process, an...

Reading these two chapters didn't leave me with much spiritual insight, as I didn't understand much of it. That said, I did, however, really feel the Spirit while reading them.  I yearned to know what the words meant.  I wanted to study them more....  Oddly enough,  I find myself wanting to study them more, yet kind of scared ...

Ya know, I sure am glad that Nephi wrote verse 22 of this chapter.  In all of scripture, this is the only chapter which uses the word "flaxen" to describe the way Satan tempts us. Flax is a fiber from a plant which is used to make linen.  Linen isn't known for its strength. Satan indeed does "lead us" with very ent...

Concerning world events, I'll be the first to say that I'm a pretty naive guy.  I keep up on stuff that's important to me, but not too much more.  I realize that this is somewhat of a flaw, so I am trying to involve myself much more with the world. That said, on the morning of Sept 10, 2001 - if you asked me what the "world trade ...

Well...  It seems that all of Utah is on fire.  I mean... Almost literally.  Currently there are 5-6 fires raging on in various parts of Utah, the extreme north, to the extreme south.  One has consumed 18,000 acres so far.  Insane... Why do I find this interesting?  Well, it's just interesting that one of the "si...