Gratitude and new stuff


Tuesday, August 07, 2012
- Well, I’d sure be ungrateful if I didn’t take a minute to recognize and acknowledge God’s perfect timing and gentle but powerful reminders. So insurance is supposed to replace my power wheelchair every five years. There have been various problems with that, like trying to work with government health care, and changing private health care providers, twice. My chair was doing ok though, and we were a bit discouraged, so we weren’t pushing as hard for the new chair. One morning I woke up and my chair’s recline functionality wasn’t working. Sounds like a small deal, but I can’t even fit under my steering wheel if I can’t adjust my chair. I had to cancel work and have mom drive me to the wheelchair shop, where they tapped on the motor and that fixed it haha. A great long-term solution :P. So we redoubled our efforts on getting a new wheelchair, and following up weekly and such. And finally got the new chair… a month ago? I didn’t start using it yet though because it’s slower and the joystick apparatus is different than I’m used to. I figured I might as well wear out the one I liked first.
Meanwhile, my van is at 160,000 miles, and I know that doesn’t sound terrible, but it springs a new leak at least twice a year, and I even saw a list at work of problems my van usually has. I’ve already fixed seven out of the eight of the most common ones. And “most common” for some of those meant “20% of the time this model has this problem by the time it hits this mileage”. It putters randomly when starting up, the air bag light won’t turn off, the fan in the back sounds like a witch being boiled, etc… It cost me an average of $171.25 a month in car repairs over the last 12 months (that’s up $45 a month since February! Man it’s cool to be able to figure out stuff like this in seconds using mint.com haha). Anyway, we’ve been shopping since like, September 2011? (p.s. whenever I say “we” I’m probably referring to me and my amazing mom. She really gets full credit for the van shopping) Finally found a great van, and I’m paying a ridiculous sum for it, but that’s what modified vans cost :( (fun fact: the modifications for me to get inside and drive independently cost more than the van itself, good thing I’m a bachelor and a college graduate with a wonderful job that I love) it’s been taking FOREVER to modify (I’ve made five payments on the van already haha) BUT! It’s almost ready!
So today I took the day off because the guys at Mobility Solutions were ready to have me come park my chair in place behind the steering wheel, so they could see exactly where to put the lock and hand lever. And coincidentally (hah! Coincidence? No.) my power chair broke this morning. So I had to finally switch to my new chair, and so that was the one I fit to the van.
The interesting part about this whole scenario, is that once I was working hard on getting my new chair again, my old chair stopped having problems (problems we never really fixed, mind you) and once I bought my new van, my old van kept running (with it’s quirks, but things like the door and the battery, frequent problem children in the past, were fine). And THE DAY I was getting into my new van is when my old chair finally died. I feel like the Lord reminded me gently that my stuff was dying and I needed to get new stuff, but then once I was moving on it, He sustained what I had as long as I needed. Until the day of even, THE DAY OF. Pretty neat. I’m very grateful for the tender mercies of His timing, and for the means to stay independent.

Random Thoughts 31.5 (8/7/2012)


So I forgot to include the random thoughts I wrote in my phone. Rather then add them in, here’s a half post.

Wednesday, July 04, 2012
- Had an interesting day with Alicia. We saw Spiderman, and I feel like she positioned herself so I could hold her hand, but I was afraid to. I thought, “Why didn't I just grab her hand like how I would do with people in the past?” But it was probably good that I didn’t. That night we had a deep chat about how she’d been dating Marcus, but no officially, and he doesn't make her feel needed. She was kind of bummed about it. Also in further retrospect, I now now (8/7/2012) that she doesn’t like me, so I was probably misreading the body language anyway.

Friday, July 06, 2012
- A good new motto I’d like to internalize. “If it's Thy will, I will.”

Sunday, July 08, 2012
- Teaching is like bearing your testimony. Where you plan out everything you're going to say, but then you get to the front and your mind goes blank.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012
- Alma 48:21 great imagery of reluctance to sin. “Compelled reluctantly”

Wednesday, July 11, 2012
- Think of, refer to, and treat sister-in-laws like sisters. Why in society do we care to differentiate them like they're some sort of different part of the family?

Wednesday, July 18, 2012
 I swear I let the same fly out the cards for many mornings in a row now. It's the same one that likes to attack the right side of my face when I start the car haha.

Sunday, July 22, 2012
- Buy a fan to carry in your backpack, it’s fun to have random items people around you would benefit from (in this case, on a hot day.)
- At ward prayer the story was told of a pregnant wife who wanted to do something to help her overworked husband, so she decided to mow the lawn. It was super hard to push it around and it was taking hours but she was almost done by the time her husband got home and stopped her. As he took over she asked what the second handle he was using did, and it was the throttle to make the lawnmower drive forward itself. They used this as an example to the gospel. I don't want to get to Heavenly Father's presence and explain why I didn't use the atonement during hard times. Why I struggled to push through life alone when I knew there was help within reach.

Random Thoughts 31 (8/5/2012)


Monday, July 02, 2012
- Firefox has failed me for the last time. It crashes on me literally every time I try using it at work. That’s more often than IE!
- Random female characteristic I love in a girl (not required by any means). She can keep up over written mediums if I talk like this
- It’s crazy to me how an immodest woman can both draw the eye AND be a huge turn off all at the same time.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012
- I have an easier time going to weddings than I used too. Maybe it’s because years ago a larger majority of the people getting married were friends I may have been romantically interested in at one point.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012
- I love my job. I had nothing going on tonight, so I worked an extra hour. Then I said bye to John and ended up helping him for 30 minutes something that took me days to figure out. Then I went o say bye to Dinesh and ended up teaching him for 30 minutes something that took me days to figure out. I felt SUPER useful haha. Then I chatted with Jimmy and Randy for 45 minutes. Then ran into Darek (my VP) and talked to him for 45 minutes. Didn’t end up leaving the office until 8:30 haha. But I feel like I socialized all night, it just happened to be with people I work with :P.

Friday, July 13, 2012
- So a while back I talked about backing kissing in courting relationships to almost nothing. It’s not like I need the practice, you can tell physical compatibility even without, and it just makes you want to go further, so I’s just dangerous. However, I wonder if I backed off TOO much on cuddling and kissing. It’s usually part of the dating process. It’s not surprising I’m usually seen as just a good friend if we only do things good friends do. This probably has nothing to do with my dating success actually. I just need to better accept the Lords timing.
- Hmm, I want to eat, but I’m already sleepy, and I think I’ll get more sleepy if I eat. Dilemma!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012
- I wonder if part of why it was easy to fit in at work is because I get along with people older than me easier than with peers my age.
- So, you know how sometimes my leg will shoot straight out and shake around a little then fall to the ground in front of my foot rest? Well, today it landed right on the off switch for my computer's power strip. Hilarious. But I’m moving that power strip.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012
- This is how I felt about batman before seeing it.
   I didn't get on FB all day Thursday and Friday, just so there was no risk of expectation taintage. I saw it Saturday with Micah and Josh and enjoyed it :)
- So somehow a circuit got tripped at work and everyone but my computer and Todd’s turned off. Not sure how we’re wired to a different circuit. So I told everyone me and Todd were powering our computers with sheer force of personality.
- So I’ve been talking to a girl online (I meet one every so often) named Carrie. Super fun to talk to, seems cute, she’s an x-ray technician so there’s the hope a wheelchair isn’t weird to her haha. She’s been forward with giving me her number and flirting and she called tonight. So I had to break it to her that I’m in a wheelchair (she was going to invite me over for a movie, but she’s on the third floor :P) and pretty sure it was a deal-breaker. Could tell she got sufficiently awkward and I wasn’t sure what more I could do to alleviate it. We talked about some other stuff after and she had to go since her other friends were arriving for the aforementioned movie night. I’m not broken up about it or anything, I don’t really expect to find dates online, it’s just nice if I do. But it got me wondering if I should change my approach. I mean, I could put actual wheelchair pictures, and a funny statement about the whole wheelchair thing, so it’s there on the table right up front. I mean, I’m pretty sure any girl who wouldn’t talk to me originally is the type who wouldn’t date me for all time anyway. The difference is there a phase where I get to talk to them. I LOVE getting to know new people, it’s super fun! I’m wondering if it’s rude to girls like Carrie to let their expectations of non wheelchair Corby pile up, and then surprise them with wheelchair Corby. Who is pretty much the same guy mind you, but if they don’t get that I don’t particularly blame them. I’m not sure I’d have been willing to see. Maybe it’s time to switch the profile to handicap openness and see what happens though?

Thursday, July 21, 2012
- Last night was rough, really rough, both physically and emotionally. Last night I came the closest I have in years to breaking down and looking up pornography. I’m proud to stay I didn’t, I stayed clean despite the relentlessness of my mind that night. But I was also PISSED! Haha. Usually, if I’m ever tempted to look up pornography, in my mind I can be like “lol, no.” and move on and the temptation abates. Last night it wouldn’t leave me be! And on top of that I felt physically crappy (probably part of my lowered resistance :P) and couldn’t sleep from like 12:00 to 3:00. I finally started singing a hymn in my head and managed to fall asleep. The only thing that held me fast was I promised to myself and the Lord that if I ever broke, even just a little, I’d confess to the Bishop ASAP. And I didn’t want to have to confess haha. Thanks Bishop! Glad I stayed clean, but all around otherwise not happy about that night haha.
- So tonight I went over to Steph’s to discuss the crappy night I had just had. She has been doing a lot of research with pornography for her masters and her career path right now actually, and I wanted her advice. What I got out of it is anytime we’re relying on validation from any source other than ourselves or our relationship with Heavenly Father, we’re codependent on that validation. Basically I could still improve on being fully content single haha. But gratefully not ever day was as crappy as that one. Not any day is really haha, that’s why I was so annoyed :P.
P.s. the next day was back to simple resistance. For which I'm very grateful :)

Friday, July 20, 2012
- So we randomly had a “bug out” contest at work, where we had all day to just poke at the product and find as many bugs as possible, and I won! A nexus 7 tablet! Basically a google smartphone with a 7” screen and no phone haha. Good times, that makes two contests I’ve won at work. My ego is too big again :/ haha

Tuesday, July 24, 2012
- The church activity was indexing. It was way fun! I only got one batch done because I spent a bunch of time getting others set up and teaching them how to do it. Pro tip I for anyone reading this, do NOT go across s whole row, it’s super slow. I GUARANTEE you will increase your speed a ton if you index a column at a time. Do all the surnames then all the first names, etc… getting your mind in the same mindset for each column, and the columns auto-duplicating data when applicable, is SO helpful!
- On the way out of the activity I asked Alicia if it’s legal to take her out anymore, and if it’s even a good idea. She started giving me the “I love you as a friend” speech, but I didn’t need it, I had already suspected this. So it was sad to have that door officially closed, but it’s helpful to have closure all the same.
- So Naor (team lead at work) was at the Uruguay office for 3 weeks, and right after he left we got our three new hires haha. Dinesh, Jake, and Chad. Usually the team lead would help set them up and advise them and explain product and company background and so on. But with Naor gone it basically fell to me. I wasn’t getting much of my own work done for like a week, but I loved it. I like helping others be productive more than I enjoy producing something on my own. And in DSM they even recognized that’s why I wasn’t getting through my tasks and thanked me for helping everyone else out. What a great company. I love my job.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012
- Went upstairs to ask Travis about doing a background check on my PA I’m hiring. I’m going with a guy named John Rossi, the only thing he has against him is that he isn’t a cute girl haha. Sadly that’s not a necessary part of the job requirements. Anyway, I meant it to be a brief chat with Travis, but we talked or like 40 minutes, and I left with the conviction to draft a simple contact for me and John haha. I have a hard time having brief chats at work!!
- So I assume one of the big reasons Alicia isn’t interested in dating me is because I can’t be very physically active. And I figured this will be a problem with most girls. But it seems like Alyssa Quinn, who is quite athletic, is interested in me. If so that shoots down the assumption. I don’t understand dating at all. The good news is at this point I never really expect to haha, I just seem to try to anyway.
- Went down a 125 foot slip and slide tonight haha. With Alicia and Alyssa under each arm. Here's a link to the public video on my FB, but I don’t know if it’ll always work… 
- Had an interesting chat with Micah. He was getting pretty upset about the angry homosexual debates online. And I told him I don’t read them because they just bother me too, and he said he feels like he should be able to hold his own in a confrontation. And this was my response
“I can relate to the hold my own should I be confronted idea. And I'm just brain storming about this now... But I've been reading a book called "how to Win friends and influence people" and one of the recent sections was "you can never win an argument". It talked about how in an argument both people's egos flare and they dig in their heels regardless of their conviction to their original stance. And how even if you "win" an argument and lay down all the facts and prove the other person wrong, they still hang on to their opinion, and resent you for making them look like a fool. Being "confronted" sounds like an argument to me. As such, no matter how educated I am on the matter if I argue back with the material I've read it won't make any difference. If I'm having a discussion with someone with an opposing opinion, they won't be swayed with a Chick-fil-A article I read, or stupid bigot comment that I know how to counter. They'll be interested in the principal, and my stance on the principle, and why. Thus I really can't see in what scenario having read stuff that just upsets me is helpful at all. I'm just brainstorming out loud…”
In addition to that, I was talking to Alyssa about the debates and she linked some church articles on the matter. The most powerful of which was this link. It helped solidify my feelings on the matter, they are as follows.
#1. Marriage is ordained of God and explicitly listed in the scriptures as being between a man and a woman. Anything that is innately connected to marriage, like adoption, must stay available to only a man and a woman legally and lawfully wed.
#2. I’m fine with gay couples having rights to anything that isn’t innately tied to marriage. For example, hospital visiting rights. I see no reason why that should be restricted to a spouse, they can come up with systems that allow hospitalized people to pre-declare people other than their spouses who can visit.
#3. Homosexual tendencies are part of someone, whether due to the nature or nurture argument, they’re there. However, acting upon them is a choice, and a sin. I’m sure this is a point that there’s just no way to find common ground on. I don’t expect anyone to agree with me any more than I’d expect others to agree that heterosexual sex before marriage is a sin. Maybe in order to live the gospel, a gay person will never get to feel sexually fulfilled in this life, or never marry. But I run the same potential of lack of intimacy or marriage with my disability. We all have different challenges, designed to shape us in to who we should be.
#4. Drew likes to use the parallel of how gay people are being denied rights to how black people used to have their rights denied. He talks about how in 40 years we’ll look back and we’ll all feel like idiots for standing against gay marriage. There IS a massive difference between the two scenarios though. Nowhere in the scriptures does it say it’s wrong to have different color skin, or that only white people can have the priesthood, or so on. Those were incorrect interpretations or assumptions of men that needed to be corrected. However, the scriptures DO explicitly say that acting on homosexual tendencies is a sin. People with such tendencies are not any less of a person, “don’t judge me because I sin differently than you” certainly applies here. But it is a sin, it’s in the scriptures, we can never bend and accept or legalize it without also basically saying that our doctrine is subject to the whims of men.  It doesn’t surprise me that people like Drew, who don’t believe the scriptures are the word of God, won’t agree with me. But that’s fine. Everyone is just living the best they know how.
-  It is painful to watch someone who is an exclusive clicker operate a computer.

Sunday, July 29, 2012
- Commit to go for the girl the Lord lets you know to go for. It worked for Grandpa Campbell!

Tuesday, July 31, 2012
- “For those who are discouraged by their circumstances and are therefore tempted to feel they cannot serve the Lord this day, I make you two promises. Hard as things seem today, they will be better in the next day if you choose to serve the Lord this day with your whole heart. Your circumstances may not be improved in all the ways which you desire. But you will have been given new strength to carry your burdens and new confidence that when your burdens become too heavy, the Lord, whom you have served, will carry what you cannot. He knows how. He prepared long ago. He suffered your infirmities and your sorrows when He was in the flesh so that He would know how to succor you.” – Elder Eyring 2007 Aprilconference

Sunday, August 05, 2012
- Moving out in !!!8 DAYS!!! Holy crap! This is probably the last random thoughts I’ll post from home :(.I am excited for change, but I’ll definitely miss the ward here too. It’s become a great tight knit group like unto my Orem ward back in the day. I hope me and CJ can be part of making our new ward like that. Or that it’s already close :D