Ephraim Alexander Beckman

Yeah, he's pretty cute.

So there are plenty of questions about the name change and our reasons, so I thought I'd clear that up.

Etienne was our choice for quite awhile for his first name, it is the French variation on Stephen.  We decided on that for awhile, because I thought it would be cool to have another Stephen in the family -Stephen, Stepheni, and Etienne- and Stepheni liked it because it was a family name.  We still like the name, but when it came time to put it down on paperwork and even before then we had second thoughts.  Every time Stepheni would tell someone what his name was going to be, we always had to repeat herself, sometimes several times, and it would always get weird looks.  We didn't want him to go through that his whole life, yeah he could have gone by Alex or Alexander from his middle name, but then why name him Etienne in the first place?

Second off, there was no real motivation to name him that beyond being a unique name.

So, we began looking back at our list and started over by looking at all the names we did like.  Yesterday, when the missionaries came to accompany me in giving Stepheni a blessing, it meant so much to me that they were worthy, willing, and excited to help us.  I want to teach Ephraim that story as he grows up and tie that in with his name just like Helaman did with his sons Nephi and Lehi (Helaman 5:6-7) in the Book of Mormon.

"Behold, I have given unto you the names of our first parents who came out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I have done that when you remember your names ye may remember them; and when ye remember them ye may remember their works; and when ye remember their works ye may know how that it is said, and also written, that they were good.  Therefore, my sons, I would that ye should do that which is good, that it may be said of you, and also written, even as it has been said and written of them."

So, we considered the Elder's names, which didn't ring right, and several others, and finally settled on Ephraim, the "missionary" tribe.  It will be a good point of teaching, a great example, and a good reminder of righteousness and responsibility.  We prayed about it finally and felt good about our decision.  

Alexander ties in well with it as well, he being Stepheni's great-grandfather and one of the first members to join the Church in Norway, even when it was still illegal to do so.  Stepheni will talk more on that in her own blog.  

Hope this clears it up!

What makes Everquest so appealing?

So tonight, I broke down and loaded up Everquest on my computer for less than an hour.  Less than an hour because it only took me that long to realize that it would go no where and that my time with my wife, family, job, and life in general are too valuable to me to give up.  It was nostalgic though, having spent over four years playing the stupid thing I still remembered how to get around and all the back alley ways through Cabilis and the book to the Plane of Knowledge in the Field of Bone.  But dining around in Luclin and killing a few things got me to thinking about the sheer amount of time that it requires to get anywhere in the game.  Definitely a turn-off.  I mean besides being appealing to people who somehow think they have nothing better to do than grind out levels until you can raid and then spend a few hours a night on the thing, how do such games keep our attention?

Well, first, redundantly, it's appealing to those that don't want to do anything else.  Great, besides that.

One thing I noticed is the sense of accomplishment there is built in to each little facet of the game.  Lots of inventory items, lots of levels to grind out, lots of sub levels to grind out, lots of monsters to kill, etc.  I think sometimes they built a game how we should be considering our goals in life.  It's hard to have a little bell go off each time you level in real life; sometimes it is hard to track how far you really are getting in life.  But, there is a sense of accomplishment that can be achieved when small simple goals are met, especially in a group setting, which leads me to my next point.

We are social creatures.  I definitely sympathize with those out there that struggle socially.  I was there for a while in my life as well, luckily the mission kind of helped me with that.  Foremost there is something nice about not knowing who the other people are really.  You can be whoever you want to be, be that kind, mean, male, female, outspoken or aloof.  There is a certain amount of power that comes from being able to stop and think about a situation without giving anything away and then act as you can on the internet.  But accomplishing things in social situations and with people to chat with and even help or to help is kind of nice.  It's even better when they are real life acquaintances or friends that you are doing it all with.  I don't have any studies, I am just kind of going off my own feelings and experiences from the past few years.

Thinking of this and other fun aspects of these games, it gets me to thinking about how we should be considering our own lives to make them more interesting; to get us more involved in our own flesh and not in games like EverQuest or Halo, magazines like Us or People, or soap operas or sitcoms.  All these things stem from the same source and rob us of our time.  Rob because in reality they give at best, very little in return, and at worst, nothing.

So let's do things with others.  Be involved in a community of some kind, be that church or a club or some online gathering doing something creative and good that builds you as a person.  Volunteer and give of yourself to others.

Then let's consider the little accomplishments in life, because that is what leads to the big things.  The fact that we are here today and living and reading and loving and breathing and part of something, anything is a miracle of no small merit.  So let's be grateful and take satisfaction in everything good that we do.

That's what I think.

Life recently

Just to catch everyone up on the recent goings-on in the Beckman Household, we have been fairly busy:  Stepheni has been working hard as ever, and keeping us going financially by working at Jefferson Elementary as a preschool teacher!  She does such a good job, which is evidenced by her great love and patience for the little devils.  I've made token efforts at bringing home a paycheck, but $8 an hour doesn't compare to a salary =P  I'll make up for it when I have a real job.  Speaking of which:

The other stuff going on is my job search right now.  (For tips and tricks on such ventures look at my most recent posts on my other blog, here.)  Really I've been applying just about everywhere it feels like; I'll go in little spurts making and entering 3-4 applications a few times a week.  It's working out pretty well though so far, as I've had two interviews and both of them went very well.  I'm in the middle of interviewing with USAA and Epic right now, and both have been super great about communicating and talking with me about the process and any questions I have.  Both also happen to be involved in Healthcare, interestingly enough.

Big recommendation:  Keep you LinkedIn up-to-date and active!

Also:  Stepheni is pregnant!  Yeah, we all already know this, but I haven't announced it on here.  It has become much more real, now that we know that it's a little baby boy growing in there.  We are both very excited though, and have been looking at baby clothes much more often now =)

So, all in all, things are pretty awesome!  Thanks for reading.