Fazer Pie

When I was living in Lithuania as a missionary, we used to make what we called Fazer Pie. It was made from Fazer milk chocolate (from Finland). I remember the pie being delectably delightful, so I recently tracked down a recipe. I got it from David Beck, who said he got it from Eric Frandsen. Although, I'm quite certain the recipe isn't Frandsen's original, I still appreciate his holding onto it, and being willing to share. Thanks David and Eric.

Last week my lovely wife, Lisa, and I tried making the pie using Dove Milk chocolates (I think the Dove chocolate we used had the word "Silk" on the package somewhere--probably not too important, but it was the "good stuff"). It turned out to be quite delicious. In fact, Lisa said there's nothing that she has had that tastes more like Marie Calendar's Chocolate Satin Pie (Lisa's Fav.) than what we made with the Dove chocolate. So, I'm flattered to have been able to make it for her.

We were eating some of the Dove Chocolate pie w/ my brother, Wade, and I told him I think it would be even better with the original Fazer chocolate we had on the mission. Wade told me how there was this chocolate that he just loved on his mission (in Argentina), but when he came back and tried it several years after the mission, he found it to be really quite nasty. He then told me of his idea that the Lord must bless missionaries to feel that really crappy stuff is great--or delicious--sometimes.

I certainly don't discount the "special taste buds" gift of the Spirit that Wade may have experienced (and I'm sure I experienced it too with that Pork Intestine I somehow managed to gag down--and probably those little sausage pirageliai weren't as good as I remember them); however, I recently went online and ordered two 200-gram bars of Fazer original milk chocolate, ($13 in shipping! ouch!!!). When the chocolate got here and I tried it, I found it to be distinctly delicious--just as I had remembered! I guess Finnish chocolate has a "genuine appeal" to American taste buds (at least mine) as opposed to Argentine chocolate with it's "blessed appeal" for missionaries' taste buds. -ha! :)

Well, as Lisa slept today (she's got something messing w/ her sinuses--poor thing), I went ahead and melted down the chocolate and made the real Fazer Pie. (Except, I can't seem to find the original Fazer Domino cookies we used on the mission, so I had to substitute Oreos. I found out that Fazer sold their Dominos product line, and they are now made by a Finnish company called "LU". Unfortunately, I can't find anyone who has them, online or otherwise. I think, though, that I'd probably actually prefer Oreos in a side-by-side taste test.)

So, anyway. . . here's the recipe and instructions:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fazer Pie

Crust Ingredients:

- 2 boxes Fazer Dominos (substitute 2/3 pack of Oreos), crushed;

- 1/4 cup butter, melted.

Crust Instructions:

- Mix crushed cookies and melted butter together
- press mixture evenly into 10-inch pie pan
- freeze the crust until you put the filling in

Filling Ingredients:
- 2 Fazer original milk chocolate bars (200g each), melted (substitute 400g your favorite milk chocolate)
- 1 to 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons Vanilla
- 1 Tablespoon baking cocoa
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 pint whipping cream


Filling Instructions:
- Separate 2 egg whites (save yolks), and whip until peaks form.
- Whip 1/2 pint whipping cream
- Melt the chocolate
- temper 1 egg and the 2 saved egg yolks with warm chocolate
- add the tempered egg and 2 yolks to the chocolate
- add the vanilla and cocoa to the chocolate/egg mixture
- mix well
- Remove chocolate mixture from heat, and let it cool slightly
- Fold in whipped cream
- Fold in whipped eggs
- combine until it's a uniform color (brown, like pie filling)


Final Instructions:
- Pour cool filling into frozen pie crust
- Freeze for at least 4 hours
- Serve with milk, or with whipped cream on top

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Now, here are the pictures and details (or hints) on how I went through these steps. Doing everything in order can make it easy to get everything done while concentrating appropriately on each task. Otherwise, you might stress about burning the chocolate and messing up everything else. I'm sure this is all stuff an experienced cook would just do naturally, but I have wasted a lot of good ingredients on messing some of this up. So here's my tips.


First--and quite possibly the very most important step of all--I neatly arranged the ingredients into a photographic little masterpiece.




Actually, here's the real first step: I chopped the cookies to a fine powder.





I used the food processor for the cookie crushing. Goes much quicker, and the results are just as good or better than hand crushing.




Next, I added the melted butter to the crushed cookies, mixed it all up so the cookies were nice and "wet", then I put the butter/cookie mix in the pie pan. I went a little "generous" on the 1/4 cup of butter. I like to be sure to have enough butter to stick the whole crust together.




Don't worry, I washed my hands thoroughly before this.



After some good pressing, I got it looking like a solid cookie crumb pie crust.



After I got it ready, I put it in the freezer to wait until the filling was ready.



The next step was melting the chocolate. Yummmm. Looks SOOO Good!



You gotta be careful that the chocolate is fully melted (without burning it) before adding anything. If you put the cocoa and vanilla in too early, it turns to fudge, and you gotta start over.



While I was waiting for the chocolate to melt, I got the whipped cream and the whipped egg whites ready. On the egg whites, beat them until peaks form. Thinking to myself, "they're both 'whipped' items," I beat the eggs after the whipped cream, but before cleaning off the beaters. They didn't work out. I don't know if it was because I didn't clean the beaters, or because I accidentally dripped in some yolk when separating them, or because I beat them on too high of a speed. . . but for some reason, they didn't whip into peaks on the first try. So, I had to do a second set of egg whites. Again, I'm sure real cooks know how to do this just fine.



Once the chocolate is all melted, you temper the one egg plus two egg yolks. This means you dowse the eggs with some of the warm chocolate, and mix it up in the egg bowl, so that the eggs get warm without cooking right in the mix. I also put the cocoa and the vanilla in with the eggs and mixed up the whole mixture before dumping it in with the chocolate. I'm not sure this is necessary, but it worked for me.




Next, you take the mixture off the heat, and let it cool for a little while. I didn't wait very long--maybe a minute or two. It might be better for it to cool a bit longer than I did, so it doesn't turn the whipped cream and egg whites into soup. But I was afraid of it setting up as chocolate again, so I didn't wait long. I don't know what's best here. Either way, after giving it a second to cool, you fold in the egg whites and whipped cream until it becomes a lighter brown chocolate pie filling-like mixture.


Once you have it all folded in, you pour the mixture into the pie crust.





Keep pouring. . . almost there. . .





That's it. There's your Fazer Pie. Now you just pop it in the fridge (or freezer) for several hours, and serve it up. Between the fridge and freezer, I'm not sure which is best. I put it in the fridge for an hour or two, then put it in the freezer for a few more hours. Like the tradition of cutting the ends off the roast because grandma's pan was too short to fit the whole thing in, I don't know that there's any actual merit to this method.





It's really a rich (and delicious) pie, so serving it with some fresh whipped cream and/or a tall glass of milk is VERY advisable.

Enjoy!

billhamm.blogspot.com

Go check out billhamm.blogspot.com . Fascinating new blogger. I've added his blog to my list of blogs, so you can check out all his new stuf as it comes online.

6,790,062,216

6.79 billion. . .that's a lot! According to the World Fact Boook, 6,790,062,216 is the current population of the world. Of course, since people are being born and dying all over the world at every given moment, I'm not sure how it can identify such an exact number. Plus, what was the precise moment in time that the number was recorded? Certainly by the time I'm writing this, the number has already changed. But, it's kind of exciting to know at least a rough estimate of how many of us there are on this planet for now--or at least at the moment the number was recorded.

This has always been an intriguing thought to me: There's only one ME. How cool is that? How sad is that? No. . . I take it back. . .it's not sad at all. That I'm unique is extraordinary. What is ther power of ME?

But the other baffling part of all this is that of the 6.79 billion people in the world, how many EXACTLY identical "consciousnesses" are there? By "consciousness", I mean "understanding of the world and life and everything". In other words, what two people in the world SEE absolutely everything EXACTLY the same, and understand the world in exactly the same way? I don't think any two are identical. Like snowflakes, there are 6,790,062,216 DIFFERENT views on what life REALLY is and means, etc. Sure we all subscribe to similar creeds, religions, anti-religions, and whatever. . . but when it comes down to it, we each vary ever so slightly on the way we see it. And the truly amazing part is that we ALL think we've got it RIGHT. Extraordinary!!!

Regardless. . .rather than shake my faith, this realization strengthens it. In consideration of the the various differences all of humanity shares, the fact that we SHARE those differences makes us a human family. That we're each unique with a unique perspective on things is part of the power of the individual. It's the power of ME. And yet, the fact that we all SHARE this same power gives an extraordinary power of WE. The contrast of our human "sameness" and uniqueness makes our existence as a human family absolutely beautiful.

The question I think too few of us are considering--or perhaps we just consider it too rarely is this: To what great end are we individually or collectively exercising the powers of ME and WE? How does this question influence what I do with my time in a lifetime, a decade, year, month, week day, hour, minute, . . . even this second?

Why we do what we do. . .

Tonight I watched an episode of a thought-provoking new "who 'dun it" series on T.V. called 'The Mentalist'. (OK, I don't know how new it is, but I assume that since this is the first time I've seen it, it's new. This, of course, reveals a couple things about me. First, I have somehow erroneously concluded that the world really does kinda revolve around me. . .i.e. if it's new to me, it must be new. Second, I really don't watch THAT much T.V. [even though I feel like I already watch WAY too much], since I get a sneaky suspiciion the show is not really that new.)

. . . so anyway, I was watching 'The Mentalist' when one of the lines from the main character struck me as being rather profound--at least, succinct in summarizing an interesting idea.

The line was this:

"The heart wants what the heart wants, and it won't be denied; and that makes us do bad things."

On one hand, it's really a bit of a statement of the obvious about motives. On the other hand, it's interesting to consider how everything we do is based on motives--and how those motives create a power that invoke action. In this case, the principle was based on a guy who had motives for doing "bad things". Conversely, I think there's a power to do good things that comes from the heart.

Of course, this idea gives some people the mistaken rationalization that they are not responsible for their own actions. Certainly the idea that something can "make" us do anything holds no water except when that something is our own motives and desires. I remember reading a news article about a woman who killed her three children and claimed that quite literally 'the devil made her do it'. I posit that 'the devil' in this case was really the deep seeded desires of her heart.

Now, if you want to talk about how the devil operates. . . it's simple: through presenting opportunities for us as individuals to come to desire certain things, then pursuading us to act on those desires that have become the desires of our heart. So, indirectly, yes, the devil did persuade this woman to do what she did--through her desires. Yet, it was she who chose her desires--probably over the course of her life.

So, that's what it all comes down to: watching ourselves in our desires. What do we really want? That's what will shape what we do. . . . and really, not much more.

Quote of the day. . .

Blaine: (To Lisa, about the barbeque ribs he sees slow-cooking in the crock pot) Mmmmm, these look good. When are they going to be done?

Lisa: Not 'till 5.

Blaine: They look delicious. . . couldn't I just taste test some.

Lisa: They'd probably kill you.

:)

What's Important

I remember a phone call I had last year while I was on a business trip in Nebraska. I was talking on the phone with my (then) 6-year-old boy, Brandon, who was telling me all about his final baseball game of the season that he had played that day. As I listened, my heart hurt for missing the experience. He wrapped up the conversation with "Dad, I really wish you could have been there. . ." I told him "I really wished I could have, too" as tears rolled down my face.

I took that moment to think about what was really important to me. Work, and doing well at it is important to me--but not nearly as important as my wife and children. I thought to myself: "If only there was a way to be with my family as much as I'd like AND succeed in my work life at the same time." A few minutes later, I found myself watching a news channel that was airing an interview between some host and Steven Covey together with his son. Steven was helping his son publicize a major project the son had been working on for some time. It seemed to be along the same lines of study his father has pursued for years. I found it admirable for a father and son to work together. More importantly, I began to wonder what work I could pursue that would interest my son enough to pursue it with me.

(By "my son", of course, I mean Brandon. . . See, J. is going to be our retirement program [I'm thinking football star, but maybe baseball or bull riding will get us there], and Bryson's just learning to walk, so I'm not sure what to make of him yet. . . ;)

Anyhow, a year after this experience. . . school, work, church. . .they all still seem to have a way of trying to edge out my wife and kids in terms of importance. In my heart, however, family always prevails as first. (I just hope my actions always reveal it so.) But I still haven't found a way to include my family in my work. In any case, I feel I know the answer to "what's important?" To me, it IS my kids. And it IS my wife. and THEN it's church and work and school, etc. For the most part, Family is the WHY behind it all. I hope they know how important to me they are.

Outline of My day

My day today:
7:00 am. – woke up
7:00 – 8:00 – prepared a presentation for transafe
8:30 – 1:30 – trained transafe on NUVO
1:30 – 3:00 – Round 1 negotiations of territories w/ Transafe
3:00-3:30 – Look at Crack Seal Demo w/ TranSafe
3:30 – 5:30 – repeat training w/ Transafe
5:30-6:00- talk about TranSafe strategy w/ Ken
7:00 – 9:30- aaa game
9:30-10:30-go see temple
10:30-12:00 Delta7 conference call
12:00-1:30 Recap/Outline Delta7 project
1:30-3:15 – write out dealer program
3:15 – 3:30 – outline day
3:30 – bed.

My Schedule for tomorrow:
7:00 – wake up
8:00 – tranSafe stuff
4:00 – fly home
7 or 8:00 – get home
ASAP thereafter – go to sleep.

Doesn't help that I woke up yesterday at 5:00am, too.

I'm tired.

Changing the order of things

Quote of the day:

“And one should bear in mind that there is nothing more difficult to execute, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to administer than to introduce a new order to things; for he who introduces it has all those who profit from the old order as his enemies; and he has only lukewarm allies in all those who might profit from the new. This lukewarmness partly stems from fear of their adversaries, who have the law on their side, and partly from the skepticism of men, who do not truly believe in new things unless they have personal experience in them.”

[NIccolo Machiavelli, The Prince]

The downfall of the Icariens

I just spent some time on an interesting read in Wikipedia about the Icarians--the 'utopian' (communal socialist) group that inhabited Nauvoo after it was vacated by the Mormons. (Thanks for referring me to read about them, Chrstine.)

As I read through it, I found this summary interesting:

. . .

From start to finish, the entire Icarian movement lasted only forty-nine years. Like all utopias of this era, the Icarians met their demise from within their own community. Poor planning and poor financial management along with personal disputes seem to be at the root of the disbandment. Although the disagreements were never mentioned in complete detail, it was obvious that debt was their biggest downfall.

. . .


I find it interesting that one of the primary causes of the downfall of this community (which was, in essence, its own society and its own civilization) was cited as being financial in nature. From what I understand of most organizations, financing can be at the root of their downfall. It's true in business; it's true in marriages; and, as illustrated by the Icarians (and certainly a variety of other groups), it's true in organized civil societies.

I'm now a little concerned about our nation. The underlying question (that I don't think anyone is answering) is: How are we going to pay for everything we're spending? If the answer is "the citizens of our nation will cough it up" I'm even more concerned because the Icarians (again) proved that you can take EVERYTHING (in terms of property and wealth) from a person or a people, and STILL not break even on the programs you're running--and ultimately crumble as a society.

I do take comfort in the fact that the overall tone of the recent general conference of the church was extraordinarily upbeat. . . .but it seemed upbeat spiritually--not necessarily economically, socially, or politically. Any words of comfort here (regarding the long-term health of our nation) would be appreciated.

Nauvoo Temple

Conference was awesome. One of the "take aways" I got from conference was that my time needs to be spent in more valuable endeavors (in terms of maintaining an "eternal perspective"). With my travel for work, I have a considerable amount of 'alone' time that I realized I could spend that time a lot more productively (in an "eternal perspective" kind of way) than I have in the past. (Usually I go to a local Wal*Mart, J.C. Penny, Khols, or some other venue to do some quality window shopping. --I LOVE shopping!!!)

Being that temples seemed to be a powerful theme in the conference (at least for me), I decided to make an effort to spend some of my personal time on business trips trying to get to the nearest temple. If I have time to do a session, I plan to.

In the case of my first of these excursions, I landed in Nauvoo on a Monday night, so the temple wasn't open for sessions. Regardless, it was a great experience. A beautiful temple!

Here are some pics. of me at the Nauvoo Temple.



Here's the front view of the temple. Kinda cool how the inscription on the front of the building identifies the commencement of this building as beginning clear back in 1841. How cool to have the thing finally constructed (re-constructed really) just a few years ago.




This shot is actually from the back of the temple, but I thought it was really a cool picture to see the temple and the flag together like that. It feels kinda symbolic to me (namely, that the opportunities for temples in this great land are, in large part, a function of the freedoms and liberties upon which our nation was established.)




This is me in front of the temple. It was tough getting a good pic. of myself AND the temple. Plus it was cold outside.




Here's "take 2" of the 'Blaine and the Nauvoo Temple' shot. :)

Jacket Shopping

So, I went shopping for a jacket the other day (still haven't found what I'm looking for). As I went along, I got distracted a bit w/ hats.

Here's a samling of some of the fun I had.

Enjoy. . .

Blaine D. Hone - Rock Star

So, I google'd my name today: Blaine D. Hone. I found a few things: an old debate standings announcement from high school, a poem I submitted on Poetry.com, my first blogpost on this blog. . . and so forth.

Upon considering the various interests to which my name was linked, I asked myself, to what industry, profession, or interest do I wish people would equate my name? Poetry's nice, but fruity. Debate--was fun, but often times pointless (and who wants to be known for being pointless); plus, that was a long time ago. There was a contract for supplying hot applied crack sealants to the state of Kansas that I found kind of interesting, but it's a fairly small community that will be interested in Blaine D. Hone--the contact person on the contract for crack sealant purchases in the state of Kansas. My blogpost. . .eh' I haven't written anything of great importance here.

So I thought maybe "Rock Star" would be a fun one to put next to my name. Now, hopefully after a while, when people are looking me up, (of course, I imagine the 'people' I'm talking about will be mostly me). . . they'll see "Blaine D. Hone - Rock Star" and maybe they'll think for a second, "no, that couldn't be the same Blaine D. Hone I know. . . is he a rock star now? I guess I could see that. Good for him!"

How to Fix the Economy

"How Would You Fix the Economy?"

This was an article from the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper on Sunday. The Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?" This article was one of the ideas submitted...

Dear Mr. President,

Patriotic retirement:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force - pay them $1 million apiece severance with the following stipulations:

1) They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings -Unemployment fixed.

2) They buy NEW American cars. Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.

3) They either buy a house/pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed.


Can't get any easier than that!


TOM

Funny Political Cartoon

I thought this was hilarious!



. . . and pretty true to life! (so, hilarious, and a little unnerving.)

I wanna be like Cristina

Tonight I saw this video of my friend Sarah's sister-in-law, Cristina--(who happens to be competing in Atlanta's biggest loser, and everyone's supposed to go vote for her). . . Anyway, Cristina just ROCKS it out in this video of herself singing a Les Misrables song (with different words).

But it was awesome!!! Seriously, I almost went blind from exposure to sheer awesomeness. As I saw her singing, I realized I NEED to be more like her. I need more guts to just BE awesome in front of a camera--or anywhere for that matter. So, for what it's worth--tonight, you inspired me, Cristina. Thanks.

Here's the blog where I saw her: www.sarajoyner.blogspot.com

(you can go to the blog to see how to WIN $$$ for voting. :)

Also I've tried to embed the video here:

Coersion vs. Choice

I have a friend who's a Communist. We had a conversation about Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. Her take was that it's the government's responsibility to provide for the lower needs (food, shelter, etc.) for as many of a country's citizens as possible. She believed that it was only after the government had effectively provided these needs that the citizens could start thinking about higher needs like 'self actualization' and 'giving back', etc. She felt that from this perspective, the government was totally justified in coercing everyone to give of their means in order to provide for these basic needs.

My view took a top down approach. I argued that it's government's job to do nothing more than preserve my right to seek 'self actualization' in the way that suited me best--and that as a result, I would be better equipped to contribute to others' needs. Of course, functioning in a society that uses currency for acquiring 'self actualizing' endeavors, this argument requires the opportunity to pursue property and wealth in a manner that is uninhibited by the government's propensity to take it from me the moment I earn it.

All entrepreneurship is social entrepreneurship (or charitable in nature or in some other way reaching out to those who would struggle to meet their own needs). Any company that generates profits also generates jobs and products and a general economy that allows for everyone to 'give back'; whereas, none of the 'social programs' we have would work without genuine profit-generating economic stimulating entrepreneurship that earns real money for real people.

The real question is "under what conditions do we give back?" My communist friend says the best way is for the government to take and redistribute what we earn (at the threat of fines, penalties, even jail for noncompliance). I say I am more apt to give generously when CHOOSING to do so, rather than when coerced to give. For instance, tithes and offerings are not coerced, yet people pay them generously because they so choose.

Coercion vs. Choice in Education

We all prefer benefits and rewards to pain; yet, it's a scientifically proven fact that, in general, we all take greater action to prevent the risk of pain, than we do to gain a benefit or reward. It therefore becomes easier to manipulate mankind with the fear of pain than the promise of reward. It's this psychological fact that motivates so many people in so many systems to Coerce, rather than incent a desired Choice.

The psychologically manipulative nature of most educational institutions is particularly vexing to me. The idea that 'students won't act unless they fear some punishment' is really annoying. "You didn't show up at a certain time, so you don't get credit for the class". . . "you didn't do your homework, so you fail the class". . . "you didn't fill out the survey, so you can't continue your education".

Is anyone asking: Did you learn what you hoped to from our institution?

I say let the natural consequence be the consequence. If you don't do your homework, you don't learn, and you're stupid. If, somehow, you don't do your homework, yet you learn. . . show us how you did that, cuz that's AWESOME!!! If you don't fill out the survey, then what? Yeah, you failed to contribute to your school's ability to show the results it may hope to show. If the welfare of your school motivates you, then fill it out. If it doesn't. . . then what? The school should threaten you with a hold on your class registrations so you can't continue to pursue the education you wanted?

All I'm saying is that philosophically, there is FAR more to be gained from natural creative motivations than coerced manipulation. Don't you learn so much more in a class where you are learning because you care about the subject MORE than the grade?

I don't think I'm built differently than anyone else on this: it sucks to be told you HAVE to do something. It's fun to WANT to do something because you care. Why can't institutional educators put some real thought into how to motivate action via the latter, as opposed to the former?

They just don't get it.

I'm sick of my kids complaining and crying about everything and anything. In an effort to give them a tool to help them mentally cope with the challenges they face in a more positive manner, I started helping them memorize this poem by a 19th century poet, Pheobe Cary:

Suppose

Suppose, my little lady,
Your doll should break her head,
Could you make it whole by crying
Till your eyes and nose are red?
And would n't it be pleasanter
To treat it as a joke;
And say you're glad "'T was Dolly's
And not your head that broke?"

Suppose you're dressed for walking,
And the rain comes pouring down,
Will it clear off any sooner
Because you scold and frown?
And wouldn't it be nicer
For you to smile than pout,
And so make sunshine in the house
When there is none without?

Suppose your task, my little man,
Is very hard to get,
Will it make it any easier
For you to sit and fret?
And would n't it be wiser
Than waiting like a dunce,
To go to work in earnest
And learn the thing at once?

Suppose that some boys have a horse,
And some a coach and pair,
Will it tire you less while walking
To say, "It is n't fair?"
And would n't it be nobler
To keep your temper sweet,
And in your heart be thankful
You can walk upon your feet?

And suppose the world don't please you,
Nor the way some people do,
Do you think the whole creation
Will be altered just for you?
And is n't it, my boy or girl,
The wisest, bravest plan,
Whatever comes, or does n't come,
To do the best you can?

We got most of the way through the first stanza when I noticed that Brittany had become very quiet, and seemed to be rather disturbed. I asked her what was wrong, and she burst into tears, saying, "I just really don't want my dolls heads to break." For crying out loud!!! I mean, the whole POINT of the story is to NOT cry if it DOES happen--not to mention a hypothetical consideration of the unfortunate possibility of it happening.

Frustrating. I spent some time trying to explain it before I finally just gave up and said, "OK, well lets think about some positive stuff, and not worry about the poem for now." Once again, the kids won.

I think that makes the score- Kids: 2796, Dad: 0

A note to Sandra Rogers

The following is an email I received today:

-----------------------------------------
From: "Sandra Rogers, International Affairs VP"
To: Blaine
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 6:03:33 PM
Subject: [*] Language Skills Survey


Dear Blaine:

The Brigham Young University student body is unique in many ways, particularly in our experience with other cultures and languages, as well as our appreciation of multi-cultural diversity. In the past, information about our students’ language skills has been useful in attracting employment recruiters, securing jobs for students and communicating positive information about the university.

We are requesting your assistance with a short 5-7 minute survey that will help us understand and quantify the experiences of BYU students. We NEED all students to fill out the survey, regardless of your current multi-cultural or language experiences.

Your identification will be deleted prior to data analysis and reporting, so please feel free to give us your honest and candid opinions. If you begin the survey and run out of time, please click the stop button. When you are ready to restart the survey, simply reclick on the link below and you will be returned to where you left off. If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Eric Jenson at eric.jenson@byu.edu



Sincerely,



Sandra Rogers

International Affairs Vice President



Click here to begin the survey




Mac users paste the following url in your browser http://axt.byu.edu/mrIWeb/mrIWeb.dll?I.Project=LANGSKILL&id=G333



(This message was sent to multiple recipients from Institutional Assessment and Analysis as authorized by Danny Olsen, Director. No patron will send bulk, unsolicited electronic messages unless expressly authorized)

-------------------------------------

No big deal, right? Here's the email I was inclined to send as a response, but didn't (for reasons articulated within the email).

-------------------------------------

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Blaine D. Hone
To: Blaine USA
Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 12:32:36 AM
Subject: Re: [*] Language Skills Survey


Dear Sandra,

Thanks for the survey opportunity. I am interested in benefiting BYU by sharing whatever personal information I can. As I am certain you are concerned with effective communication (as evidenced by some of the content of the survey), I thought you might want to know how this message is making some students feel (. . .at least me; and I don't perceive myself as being radically different from "normal"). [I'm sure some of the blog readers might beg to differ here, of course]

My feedback is simply this: I take issue with the big bold phrase "We NEED all students to fill out the survey (etc.). . ." Reading it, I feel as though I'm somehow required to complete the survey, or that you might seek to coerce cooperation should I opt not to complete it. I, consequently, read into your message a sense of uncomfortable pressure and manipulation--neither of which are appreciated in a student's already "stressful enough" life. Thanks for your consideration.

. . . Here I've read through the above paragraph, and can't help but feel like I'm (quite ironically and hypocritically) coming off as a jerk. Part of me says the best approach would be to kindly fill out the survey (or not, if I don't care to), and not pay any further concern to the manner in which my cooperation was requested. The fact that I'm actually sending you this note is evidence that I'm acting in interest of 'the other' side of me--the one that tells me that if I'm truly interested in BYU's being the best it can be, I'll give constructive feedback to BYU faculty and staff when I'm in a position to do so.

One final thought: I fully acknowledge that how I FEEL about your request is entirely my own responsibility. I recently read somewhere (I believe it was in "Getting to Yes" by Fisher and Ury) that a person will find he is much happier, and that all his negotiations in life will go much smoother if he will but choose to take communications at their best possible meaning, as opposed to their worst. To respond at all to your email would constitute my disregarding this advice. I choose better.

Sincerely,

Blaine D. Hone

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I ended the email abruptly because it was there that I came to the realization that out of interest in my own growth, I would be better served by NOT sending the email.

Out of interest in who the unknowing non-recepient of my response would have been, I googled 'Sandra Rogers BYU'. I found this photo:



I did a search on BYU's website and found that Sandra Rogers has been working for BYU sine 1980 (if I recall what I read correctly). She was Dean of the Nursing School at BYU until 2008, when she was made vice president of the international department--the office from which she wrote me this week. From her bio, she seems like she's probably a very well-meaning person. She has served humanitarian aid missions (or maybe it was just one), and she's been involved in humanitarian aid efforts in a variety of different countries. She has spoken on faith and hope and the likes at conferences. I can only assume there's a variety of other great works she has done (and continues to do) that make her an absolutely 'salt of the earth' kind of gal.

My point: I'm fairly confident that no threat or affront in any form was meant by her email. What a silly mistake it would have been on my part to assume there was one, and react accordingly. . . .not because I think Sandra Rogers would have been permanently scarred or in some other way hurt by my comment (on the contrary, everything I know about her--which is admittadly very little--tells me she's probably the type of person who would GENUINELY appreciate knowing a way in which she might improve the effects of her communications). No, the mistake would have been for me to act on an assumption that a certain communication was intended a certain way. I think I make this mistake too often, and I hope to "choose better" more often.

For what it's worth. . . I appreciate the lesson I learned tonight from Sandra Rogers.

The Jubilee Crowd

I found this interesting. When I went to get a gallon of milk, I walked by the checkout stand at our town's grocery store (yeah. . .we have ONE in our town, and it's great). When I had the milk in hand, and had browsed around for a couple other items, I came back towards the checkout stand. Funny thing. . . the little groups of people that had sort of accumulated by the checkout stand area were NOT checking out. They were just sitting there talking.



The funny thing is. . .this isn't out of the ordinary, it's just what happens. You can't go to Jubilee without knowing someone (and usually wanting to talk to them). I don't know these 7 people (which--as I mentioned--is actually pretty surprising, since the odds of knowning at least 14% [or 1 in 7] of the people in Jubilee at any given moment are pretty high), but it was fun to think for a moment (and capture a picture of it) about one of the awesome reasons I LOVE my little town.

Focus on your sphere of influence

You know that part on "The Mask of Zorro" where Anthony Hopkins teaches Antonio Banderas to focus only on what's in his immediate circle? British Tony tells Spanish Tony that when he's ready to meet his ultimate objective, it will appear in his circle to be dealt with? . . . yeah that was a good part.

Anyway, I feel like my work life has kind of been like that. In 2006, I took on some new responsibilities at work, and I really wanted to "conquer the world" (the world of hot applied joint and crack sealants anyway). . . And that's exactly what I tried to do. I helped reorganize everyone's territory; I helped get a few new reps hired (we still have 2 of the 3); I went to China a few times to get stuff rolling there, and I started trying to get some dealers and various business partnerships going around the nation. etc. etc. etc. I was chasing everything everywhere. I wanted to do it all.

Well, it didn't work out so hot. My China partners' business thinned out, none of my potential dealer partners exploded like I hoped, and nothing really seemed to work out great. I think it was because I didn't give any of these ventures the appropriate focus they each needed. By the end of last year, I felt kind of like where Antonio B. was in Zorro when Anthony H. found him-- just kinda a loser.

So at the start of this year, I drew my circles and started focusing on smaller areas. In January, I had one single goal: to effectively manage my responsibilities with one particular account. I did well there, and the account blossomed. . .and a couple other good things happened that month, as well. The next month, the circle got a little bigger. This month, it has exploded. . .Canada, Venezuela, Ukraine, China . . . I've got business coming to me from all these places--I mean, it's coming to me rather than my having to go chase it. Furthermore, my U.S. dealer network seems to be developing itself in a similar fashion. I focus diligently on what I've got, and the new stuff seems to make its way into my view when I need to handle it.

I'm not saying it's all just "happening". I've been working darn hard, but I've decided to work and focus ONLY on the things I know I can handle. As I have done so, I have been able to handle more and more, and the things that are in my immediate view and focus seem to be getting bigger and broader.

The cool thing is I'm actually able to HANDLE all that's coming my way. It's really fun. I hope I can keep it up.

I share this. . .NOT to brag about the "flow" of the 'ebb and flow' of my business, but to point out a principle I hope to remember: if you focus on what's right in front of you, and do it well, you will eventually have the opportunity to do ALL the things you are meant to do. . . and that opportunity will come when you're prepared to do those things well.

Circles, baby! It's all about focusing on what's in your sphere.