Coolest themepark ever?

In my web surfing today, I found something that made my jaw drop with pure awesome. Männerspielplatz is German for "men's playground," and that's exactly what this themepark is.

It costs about $280 per day, but after that, it appears that the possibilities are near endless. You can off-road in a Hummer or Land Rover or four-wheelers, you can play with giant construction equipment like front-loaders, backhoes and dumptrucks, skydiving, flying airplanes and standing on the skids of flying helicopters, ride in a speedboat, go rafting or sailing, spelunking (explore caves), or go through spy/secret agent training.

So basically, how cool is that? What would you want to do there if you could? What other ideas do you have for cool stuff they could offer in a manpark?

Success!

The songs of the moment are now working.

Also, the car is now registered, so there's a big weight off our shoulders.

Also, I'm tired of the snow now. Seriously, I think we've been hit with more than a foot today. Why? When will it end? Should I think about going to med school in Arizona or Texas instead of here in Utah? Goodness gracious.

Glad it was just a dream

Two nights ago I had a dream. It wasn't really a nightmare, per se, but I was sure glad that it wasn't for real. On the front right-hand side of my neck I have a dry patch. It has been there for a few weeks, but it's nothing serious and putting lotion on it helps. (No Kelli, it really isn't a hickey...)

In my dream I looked in the mirror and saw something else on my neck instead. I had one of these:

For the uninitiated, that is a cutaneous anthrax lesion, meaning that the person has an anthrax infection in skin. Now, this isn't life-threatening, but it sure had a strong effect on me. I kept on checking my neck once I woke up, and continued thinking about it during the day. Sure glad that it's just a dry patch. Maybe I had to study too much for my Infection & Immunity class? You be the judge...

Some Christmas songs of the moment

The two that are up right now are a couple of my current favorites. They both happen to be by the same band--Barenaked Ladies, or BNL. Now, before anyone takes offense, there is not a single woman in the band, nor do they sing about anything inappropriate, nor do they do anything naked. They invented the name as a joke while at a Bob Dylan concert. They are one of my favorite bands, and I invite you to give them a listen. Most of their stuff is very light-hearted pop/rock.

That being said, the first song features Michael Buble and the second features Sarah McLaughlin. Good stuff, and they get stuck in my head frequently at this time of year.

I got tagged

7 things I can do...
Read fast
Talk loud
Laugh a lot, even at things other people don't find funny
Sweat like crazy
Make Jeopardy with Powerpoint for my Infection & Immunity class
Drive a stick-shift
Grow microbes

7 things I can't do...
Eat peanut butter
Eat fast (says Jess)
Understand Polish
Handle lots of heat (temperature)
Wrap my legs around my head
Shop for longer than half an hour (unless it's electronics)
Surf

7 things I always say...
"Yuppers"
"Awww yeah"
"Sweet"
"Excuse me"
"Ehf"
"Mmmhmm"
"daddy-o" (in reference to my father)

7 things I always eat...
Chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate.
Sandwiches. I can eat anything in a sandwich. Minus peanut butter.
Chocolate. Seriously, I love it enough that it merits two spots in this list.
Leftovers. Jess usually won't touch them, so they fall to me.
Pizza. One of my favorite foods. I could probably eat it every day and not get sick of it.
Dollar menu items. The new double-stacker at Wendy's is a new favorite. Carl's Jr. has more "foody" food than Wendy's on the dollar menu (and in general), though.
Water. I love having a bottle of cold water on hand at all times. Mmm.

7 tags:
I don't think I even know seven people. How about these:
Merry Christmas
Happy Birthday
50% off
Special
Size: M
Hand wash only
PG-13

Ben Folds SoM

The new song of the moment is You Don't Know Me by Ben Folds. This comes from his most recent album, Way to Normal, and Regina Spektor joins him on this song. I'll be honest, it took me a couple of listens to enjoy it (because it's kinda different from some of his previous stuff), but now I really like it quite well.

As I was listening to NPR on the way to school this morning, someone gave a review of the album (and sort of Folds in general), which has led to this song receiving the coveted title of Song of the Moment. As a warning, the CD version drops the F-bomb (unfortunately, would it be Ben Folds without a little potty language?). I have edited that out for our listening convenience. At some future point I think I may have a "Best of Ben" post where I share some of my favorite songs of his. We'll see.

Also interesting, my SIL posted about this very song a couple of weeks back. We don't always have congruent taste in music, so it's nice to have a song that we both like a lot. Even if she thinks he sounds like Kermit the Frog...

New song of the moment

Ok, I'll admit that I'm not that surprised at some of the responses that I've received in regards to my poll. As a result, I've put up a new song tonight. It's by The Weepies, and it's called "The World Spins Madly On". It's a nice laid-back acoustic tune, and the band was recommended to me by a buddy in my ward. Tonight I listed to two of the albums that the band has released, and it was calm and relaxing. I may give another listen through to find one more tune to put up.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the feature, but I will try to update it more often (by popular request). Kelli: how can I make it clash less? I can change the colors on the player fairly easily--what colors would you recommend?

Song of the moment

Thanks everyone who participated in the poll. It was interesting (and somewhat disappointing) to see the results: 3 people HAD listened to the song of the moment at least once, and 9 people never had. So now I have a few more questions...

If you HAVE listened before, why did you? What did you think? Would you like to see more of any particular thing?

If you HAVEN'T, why not? Do you only view the blog view Google Reader or something similar? Do you think I have crappy taste in music (/are you just not interested)? Are you reading at work, so you can't listen to anything?

And for both parties: any reason to keep it alive? If I were to continue this little blog feature, should I do anything differently (update it more, help you discover new bands, etc)? What would make you listen or cause you to be interested?

Any additional thoughts, comments, ideas and jokes are welcome and requested. Thanks!

Heads up

Just as a heads up to anyone who reads my blog via Google Reader or another RSS feed reader, there is currently a poll on my blog that is not visible as a post--it's off to the right. I'm conducting some research that will lead to a future post. Please participate. Thank you, and good night.

Science rules!

Today's bit of nerdiness has to do with glass. I found this image on Make (a blog about building and making things) a little while back and decided I wanted to share it.

This is called a "Prince Rupert's Drop", and is a piece of molten glass dropped into cold water. The outside cools much faster than the inside and contracts. This means there is an extreme amount of energy trapped in the glass. However, because of its structure, the fat part of the drop is extremely strong and can be hit with a hammer without breaking. The tail of the drop is extremely fragile, though, and if you damage the tail in any way, the whole thing explodes. Pretty freaking awesome, I'd say. Here's a 2 1/2 minute video from Youtube that shows it more dynamically. The best part is about half-way through when they break one in a plastic jar so you can watch the explosion happen.



P.S. Bonus points to anyone who can give the source of the title for this post.

So maybe THAT'S why we didn't get results...

Reader's Digest version: we've been using one-tenth of what we thought we were using, and concentrations that low probably can't do anything against microbes. And I figured it out!

Longer, richer version: Potential good news today. I was working up in the lab today and made a discovery that bodes well. First, though, a brief overview on the project for those who don't know: I work in a Natural Products Research lab, which means we look at things that come from plants. Specifically, I'm working on a project where we're looking for medicinally-active plants from Guatemala. We grind and mash up the plants to get at the good stuff that's inside, then test that good stuff (the "drug") at different concentrations against five different microbes. We've probably run 60-some-odd plants, and we haven't really had any significant inhibition of microbial growth. Unsurprisingly, this has been a little disheartening.

Recently we had discussed tripling the concentrations that we use for the test to see if more drug will provide better results. Being somewhat anal, I went through (on paper) the calculations to make sure that the method I would use to triple the concentrations would work. I checked my method against the normal way we had been doing it, and all went well at first. Then on one of the steps, my numbers weren't working out. So I tried it again, still no dice. I tried again, using a calculator--still nothing. My calculations showed that we were using only 10% of the concentrations we thought we were using! That means that instead of 1000, 500 and 250 ug/ml, we were using 100, 50 and 25. That's pretty much nothing.

I've been known to mess up on my math before, so I thought about it qualitatively. We were trying to go from 400 ug/ml to 1000 ug/ml by diluting. Yeah, that's right--that's impossible. So I tried to find someone else to check my math with, and was finally able to find my professor who I work with. I showed him what I had found, and he was shocked. This was a fairly simple calculational error in our protocol that had snuck past seven or eight people for nearly a year. But it explained a lot.

When Aaron, Mark and I began working in the lab, we were trained by folks working on another similar project in the lab, with plants from Morocco. They were running these plants for a third time to verify previous results. The PhD. student in the lab had recently shown them a faster way to make their dilutions (different concentrations of their drugs) via serial dilutions (that's for the nerds out there), and the new method is how we were trained. Unfortunately, that was where the error came from. Those two students were surprised when their third set of results didn't match up with their first and second sets. We also were unable to duplicate previous results with a plant from Arizona. And we also have gotten pretty crappy results on our Guatemalan plants.

Today all of that strangeness made sense, and I happened to be the one who figured it out. I was rather pleased with myself. Unfortunately, we'll have to re-run all of the plants that we've done so far. Fortunately, I'm paid by the hour. How's that for job security? And this time we may actually get some good positive results that we can publish and present. Fingers are crossed.

Wahoo!!

Okay, I'll post something more substantial in the near future (after mid-terms). Jess told me about Sitemeter, which is a service that tracks visits to your webpage. I've been looking at some of the hits that I've received, and I discovered something pretty awesome. Get ready:

Go to Google. In the search box, type "nerd haircut". Check out the top listing. Sweet! I never thought that I'd be top listing of anything on Google. It's a good day.

School has begun

Classes have started, and it seems like free time has sort of disappeared. This explains the dearth (lack) of blog posts, as well as the big slow down in my pleasure reading. This is looking to be a good, but busy semester--two Spanish classes (to finish off my minor), two biology classes (physiology and infection & immunity) with a pre-med internship (I go shadow doctors) and a careers in microbiology class to top it all off. This semester's tests started off on a very positive note--I happened to ace my physiology test today. I'm counting my blessings.

With all of this business, I'm looking in to how to keep my life organized and keep from getting swamped. One of my tricks that I picked up a few semesters back is to use Google Calendar to keep track of classes, assignments, and other important things. Each class gets its own color code, I can drag and drop things if due dates change, etc. I delete assignments as I finish them, and it helps me stay on top of things.

Another thing that I'm trying for the first time is to use an index card as a to-do list. I throw it in my back pocket and use it to keep track of (non-school assignment) things I need to get done and any random important information I need. Once I get most of the things checked off and/or the card gets super hashed, I swap it for a new one, copying over things that still need to be done. I've liked it so far, except that I lost the first card that I made. Not so handy if I lose the card.

What do you do, oh faithful blog readers, to stay organized and keep track of all the crazy things going on in your busy lives? Any thoughts on how I can improve my system?

Anniversary Dinner

To go along with Jess's post about our anniversary, I've decided to share my review of Pizzeria 712 from Yelp. One of my upcoming posts will be about Yelp, a site where you can review restaurants and read reviews from other people.

This is probably our favorite place to eat. The ambiance is incredible--this place feels like something that you'd find tucked away in some little corner of a big city. The restaurant feels cozy, and it's fun to see the brick oven blazing away in the corner. On our most recent visit, we saw that they had opened up some outdoor seating. It was nice outside, but I missed being able to hear the music as well as I could indoors. They ask for music recommendations from their patrons, and we've heard things from classic jazz music to Feist to the soundtrack of the Darjeeling Limited. It fits the atmosphere.

The staff is attentive and very helpful. Trent has provided us with fabulous recommendations on both of our visits. The folks who work there have tried all of the dishes they serve and can let you know what's the best. This is handy because the menu changes every few months (they incorporate foods that are in season).

The food is amazing. Seriously--wow. I'm not a big fan of vegetables, but I loved the roasted asparagus and the heirloom tomatoes were to die for. My wife got bruschetta with the heirloom tomatoes on arugula, and I had braised beef shortrib on crisped polenta with a horseradish cream. Mmmm. Our pizza was interesting, but tasty. It had sauteed mushrooms, carmelized onions, potato and some arugula. I'd never had lettuce on a pizza, but it was pretty good.

This is one of our favorite places to eat. It's one of our "special occasion" places because we're poor college students, and we've spent an average of $40 on our two visits. Give 'em a try, you won't regret it!

Political News

Guess what everyone--Dell Schanze is running for governor. Dell who? Yes, that's right. Mr. Totally Awesome Computers guy. Superdell. Yup. That one.

We found out the good news last night when Jess received an automated phone call from Superdell himself. He's the Libertarian candidate on the ballot for governor this year, running against current governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. (the Republican candidate) and Bob Springmeyer (the Democratic candidate). He informed us in this phone call that he's the only true American running for office. I forget what he told us about Bob, but he sure did say a lot about "socialist Jon Huntsman" and how taxes have been raised exorbitantly during Huntsman's term in office, how he's in the wallets of the big corporations, etc. If Superdell were governor, he'd be different and fix everything. He told us that our cars would soon run on water instead of gasoline if he is governor. How could life get any better?

So after this fine message, we decided to check out his website. [To be fair, he has put up a new website since we were looking at his stuff last night. It's more professional than his blog.] It wasn't anything more than a link to his blog. So I read his most recent post and the comments on it. Wow. I don't know that I could even do it justice. You really oughta just go and read it for yourself. He seems really defensive and easily excited. So I've continued to study up on him, and it's been entertaining.

He's got some fairly strong feelings about the media. In fact, after he closed his company (Totally Awesome Computers) he blamed the media and said the following according to Deseret News: "It's too bad that all of the media in Utah are liars and murderers. You just destroyed the greatest computer company of all time. We were the best in the world, the world champion. All this hatred was created by you. You're basically angels of Satan. All I can say to the people in Utah is, please pray for all the news people." I guess he's not one to mince words. [Angels of Satan?? Whoa...]


I was looking on Youtube to see if I could find any of his old commercials to link to here in the post, but didn't have any luck. However, I did find some videos about paragliding when I searched him. Here's one. I read the information about the video (on the right hand side), and one thing caught my attention. "We would like to publicly thank Dell Schanze, a phenom[e]nal innovator for all the efforts put forth to create a safe and wonderful sport for generations to come." Cool, I thought. Who is giving him these glowing accolades? I clicked the username (imasuper0308... could it be?, I wondered) and discovered that the user's name is Dell. So who's we? Did he really just congratulate himself? That's Totally Awesome.

Spiders

A couple weeks ago, Jess and I were discussing a difficult question. A difficult question that put to you seven readers of my blog in the form of a poll. Are spiders bugs?

A few days back, I got the results. The vote was close, but the "yes" folks had it 4-3. So my new question is "how do you figure?" Go ahead and explain your reasoning in the comments. Also, feel free to share any good spider stories that you have.

My argument: to me, "bug" is synonymous with "insect". Being a biology nerd, I was taught that an insect has six legs. A spider has eight, and is classified as an arachnid, not an insect. If I were to describe an area with many creepy-crawlies (think the small hole with the release lever in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where the lady has to stick her hand in and pull the lever to keep Indy and Short Round from being squished and stabbed in the room with the lowering spiky ceiling) I would likely say that there were lots of bugs AND spiders. I wouldn't just say it was full of bugs. Besides, "bugs" doesn't sound very scary. I'm not really afraid of bugs. But I can be afraid of spiders.

Almost completely done!!!

Nearly one year later, we have finished all but the last handful of thank you cards from our wedding. Monday we'll be sending them out and we'll be free! Thanks everyone for your patience and not hating us or thinking that we're not grateful for your kindness. And I'll be honest--I've been amazed at the people (like Melissa and Nate) who got their thank yous out in what seems like less than a week after their wedding. Props to you.

Yummy breakfast

Jess made some tasty scones for breakfast this morning (the baked kind, not the fried kind) and they were absolutely delicious! I think she's going to put the recipe up on the recipes blog so that anyone else who wants to try their yummyness will be able to do so.

The recipe made a lot more than six of the size she made, but six were all that were left...

Decluttering

I'll admit it... I'm a bit of a packrat. I tend to hold on to things "just in case I need it later" or because it has some sentimental value (hidden away in a closet...). I just finished a book called "It's All Too Much" by Peter Walsh. He's an organizational guru and was on a show on TLC called Clean Sweep where they help people declutter.

I got the book from the library and skimmed through it today. Essentially he tells people to imagine the life they want to live, and then get rid of anything they have sitting around the house that gets in the way of that life. He mentions that if we're not careful, the stuff we own will begin to own us. He also throws in common tips like "if you haven't used/worn it in a year, you should probably get rid of it."

Overall, I thought it had some good pointers, and hopefully I can take and apply them to become less attached to some of my old stuff.

Seven down, thirty-two more to go

I finished Judges in the OT tonight. Overall, there are more stories and "interesting things" than in the later books of Moses (take heart, Maren!)

I noticed that there wasn't much mention of prophets in the book, though. It was a time when Israel was ruled by Judges (hence the name), several of whom received inspiration, but there were no real prophets. As a result, Israel went through the pride cycle several times in the book and had some hard situations to work through.

The last verse says "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes." I think that was part of the problem--no major spiritual guidance, just people doing things the way they felt they should. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it just drags the people down.

Go Speed Racer, Go!

Jess and I went to see Speed Racer at the (almost) dollar theater on Thursday night, and we enjoyed it. It hasn't gotten very good reviews (36% on the tomatometer), so we went with low expectations.

The movie was made by the same folks who did the Matrix trilogy, and they did a lot of CGI stuff once again. Cars and racetracks are all computer-generated, but that allows for a lot of special effects. We didn't take the movie seriously, and we found it both funny and exciting. One character, a little boy, we expected to be extremely annoying, and to our amusement he never was annoying at all--just funny. We were pleased after what had happened in other movies (see The Poseidon Adventure).

There were only a couple of minor swear words and one little birdie (it's rated PG). As another warning, there are a lot of bright flashing lights and rapidly changing colors. It's an epileptic's nightmare. In other words, Mom will have to wear sunglasses for about half of the movie. :) It was sort of like what I would imagine an LCD trip to be like without the bugs-under-your-skin feeling.

Final word: keep your expectations low, and go enjoy this fun movie. Two thumbs up.

Nemesis

The check engine light... It's the bane of my existence, and it never seems to be finished toying with me. We have a 2001 Toyota Corolla (the one that needed the engine work mentioned on my dad's blog, and for the most part it's a great little car. However, we've been fighting with the check engine light for a long time, and no one is really sure how to fix the problem.

The light itself isn't really problematic. The car still runs just fine and gets us around without a problem. Unfortunately, when the light is on, the car goes into a "safe mode," where the engine computer won't allow the engine to run efficiently. Translation: gas mileage dropped from high 30's/low 40's down to low 20's. And it won't pass emissions inspections.

Fortunately, it's only been somewhat of a problem lately. After the major engine surgery, the light and I have had an "on again, off again" relationship (bahahaha). Before we left to California, the light had been off for some time (after a couple of ons and offs). On our way back to the hotel from the beach, though, it came back on. Normally it turns itself back off after a hundred miles or so. This time it didn't turn off for the whole 642 miles home from Disneyland. We were starting to get worried.

Prayers were answered, however. Just earlier this week the light turned off again. Life is good.

(And the mileage wasn't affected much on our drive--we were still pushing low to mid 30 mpgs going fast with AC blazing).

Haircut!

Just a week and a half ago, Jess gave me a haircut--it was the first time she had ever cut a guy's hair. We bought a Wahl brand set of clippers (very hefty and substantial) and Jess went to work, freaking out about messing something up. :)



I wasn't worried, because we had a back-up plan of just shaving my head completely if anything went wrong, and I had resigned myself to (and was even sort of excited for) it. Fortunately (or unfortunately), everything went fine. Here's the before and after shots. Feel free to heap praise on my talented wife, even though I don't think the after shot shows off the hair too well.

Recent media review

Sorry everyone, sometimes it's tough to think of things to blog about. So here's my cop out review of movies that I've seen recently.

The Greatest Game Ever Played (PG): What a great movie! It came out three years ago, but this was my first time seeing it. It's a feel-good golf movie about a talented young golfer who realizes his dream of playing against Harry Vardon, British Open winner and one of the best golfers ever. Jess and I even teared up at the end. It's not often that a movie will activate my waterworks, but there was a very tender father-son moment at the end of the movie. Plus the 10-year-old caddy has a lot of great one-liners. Verdict: see it!! Probably even worth buying, and it was nice and clean.

Big Fish (PG-13): Very interesting. I think it's my favorite movie that I've seen by Tim Burton. A man whose father tells many stories tries to find out who the man behind the stories is. Ewan McGregor does a great job as the younger incarnation of the father (we watch his version of his past). It's a sweet movie, but has some naughty words towards the beginning of the show. You also see two bums (one belongs to Danny DeVito... you're probably better off without that). I don't recommend this one for families unless you have a way to edit it. I don't think we'll ever purchase it.

Nim's Island (PG): Tonight's adventure was this poor excuse for a movie. We're talking about 1 hr 40 min of my life that I'll never get back. :) I do think that Jodie Foster did a great job as a somewhat neurotic writer, but honestly, if you're not in the 5 - 10 yr old range, this movie will probably just bore you. Verdict: see it now in the dollar theater, I guess. Though you'd probably be happiest waiting until you can pick it up at your local library for free.

Awesome moment today

Today was day two in the parks at Disneyland, and we've been having a blast. One of the rides is called Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. You ride around in a little cart that you can spin with a little joystick (it doesn't spin fast, so it's not one that makes you dizzy). The two of you each get a little gun and you shoot at targets while you ride around. The ride keeps track of your score and even takes a picture of you that you can email home to yourself. So now I share that picture with all of you. Needless to say, we were pretty into it.

'Bout time, eh?

I found a new site on which to fritter my time away. It's called Goodreads, and is a great way to keep track of books read, reading, and to read. You can read reviews about books and write your own. Hopefully it will be a good source to find new things to read (granted, that shouldn't be much of a problem for the near future, as evidenced by my book queue).

In other news, we're going to California on Saturday, and will be spending three days next week at Disneyland. Needless to say, Jess and I are pretty excited. We're preparing Disney soundtracks to listen to on the way there, as well as a lot of comedy stuff by Bill Cosby. We also picked up some books on CD from the library--Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales and Truman Madsen's Presidents of the Church. We'll see what else we take to listen to.

We had a fun Memorial Day weekend with the family up at the condo in Midway. It was sure nice to just relax and take it easy. We saw the new Indiana Jones movie (more to come on that), went swimming, and looked at some expensive houses. It's been sort of hard to get back to normal life this week, but we have an escape in less than five days... :)

Latest media reviews

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: We found this one at our public library, and I had to get it. (Turns out there are TONS of good movies over in the kids section, and we only just figured this out a week ago--3 of the 4 movies we checked out were from over there.) CCBB (for short) is a fun little musical that I watched a lot when I was little (Gma Jones had (has?) grundles of movies that she recorded on VHS that we would borrow all the time, and CCBB was one of them). It's a movie about a fantastic car and the adventures that its owners have in it. The movie has wonderful songs, memorable characters, is funny and witty--it's basically everything a good movie should be. Dick van Dyke stars as Caractacus Potts, an unsuccessful inventor, and does a great job. I highly recommend this movie, and we may even purchase it ourselves. We'll see. :) We brought it with us on our campout (Had and Jeanette have a little portable DVD player) and Lucy loved it so much that she wanted to watch it twice. Just watch out for the child catcher--he's a little scary for the little ones.

Twilight: Yeah, I read it. Yeah, it only took two days. Sheesh. The book is a "vampire romance" and is pretty engaging. I thought it was ok, but as I mentioned to my sisters-in-law, I could have done with more "vampire" and less "romance". Both of them said that I will probably like New Moon more (they liked it less for that reason). I'm about a third of the way through, and it's still sort of iffy. As it stands, I'll probably never read the books again after I finish them. I'll stick with lame things like Jurassic Park (right, Maren?). I guess it just goes to show that I'm a boy.

What a weekend!

As you can see from Jess's last post, we went camping this past weekend with Jess's sister and brother-in-law. We went down to Capitol Reef, a place I haven't been in over 10 years. The change of scenery was awesome and the weather was mostly cooperative. We stayed sufficiently warm (a good thing, as the temps were about 20 degrees below the normal averages).

We went for a small hike down Capitol Gorge to see the pioneer register (where several pioneers carved their names into the stone when the came through back in the 1840's) on Friday, then hit Goblin Valley on Saturday. It was my first time in Goblin Valley, and I liked it a lot. Hadley (bro-in-law) told us about his previous campouts there and games of steal the flag. I can't imagine a better place for that.

Food was delicious--spaghetti, peach cobbler (dutch oven), dutch oven potatoes and pancakes for breakfast, and hot dogs for lunches. Tasty, and we got to break in our dutch oven we got as a wedding present (thanks, Ottesons!).

We flew a kite that I won at a friend's birthday party, which was tons of fun until it got stuck in a tree. And we had to leave it there. Blast.



Our first camping trip was a success, and I look forward to the next one. Jess was quite the trooper and did so much to help the trip work out. I love you, babe!

As promised...

Here's some more media review, because I have a few minutes.

Penelope: Sweet little movie starring Christina Ricci (I don't know that I've seen her in anything since Casper). She suffers from the family curse (to be hideously ugly) and needs to be loved/married by one of her own kind. So her folks try to get her married and don't have a lot of luck. Things get interesting when a new guy (James McAvoy) is brought into the mix. Catherine O'Hara does a great job as Penelope's mom, and Reese Witherspoon even pops up. I thought the movie was funny and had a good message. I even daresay I recommend it.

Deathtrap: This movie stars Michael Caine and Christopher Reeves. It was made in the early 80's and is an adaptation of a play. Here's the rundown--Michael Caine is a washed-up playwright glory days are far behind him. His last five plays flopped hard, and he's desperate for another success. One of his former students (Reeves) writes a play that is flawless, and Caine is willing to kill him for it. The movie is full of twists and turns (and I mean FULL of them). Some are awkward. Overall, though the play had its funny moments, both Jess and I were disappointed and probably won't ever watch it again. I don't recommend it at all.

The Watcher in the Woods: We watched this one last night. Oh, the 80's. This one was made by Disney and is kind of a "scary" movie. At this point, I'm getting lazy in the synopsis department, so I'll just send you off to IMDB. We picked it up from the library for sentimental reasons for Jess. I thought it was ok, but might be kinda creepy for little ones. The movie doesn't make much sense, though, so don't keep your expectations too high. One of the funniest things was watching the alternate endings... wow. Let's just say that special effects have come a long way in 30 years.

Cyrano de Bergerac: I didn't really enjoy reading this play in my sophomore year of high school, but I loved it this time! Witty and touching, it definitely qualifies as great literature. And it's short (for those who like those kind of books).

Also fun: we hit DI tonight, and I discovered their books section. Wow. I ended up coming home with Jurassic Park and The Hunt for Red October. And they were only a dollar each. Sweet! (Btw, Jess came home with a book called "Your Pregnancy Week by Week" [infer what you will ;)], and a pair of shoes and capris.)

That is all.

Tagged by Darin

Ten Years Ago:
I was 13 years old, and had been a deacon for a year and a half. And honestly, I can't remember what was going on in my life at that point. I was probably in 8th grade? Maybe just got my braces off? That's a good question.

Things on my To Do List:
1. Plan classes for summer and fall semesters.
2. Work in the lab.
3. Plan vacations for spring semester.
4. Get Corolla finished up (no more check engine light).
5. Enjoy the summer with my sweetie.
6. Hope our tulips and daffodils don't die.
7. Probably more stuff I can't think of right now.

Snacks I Love:
1. Cookies. I love chocolate chip cookies. And oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. And really, any kind of cookie that doesn't have peanut butter in it.
2. Fresh fruit, especially cold watermelon on a hot summer day.
3. Chocolate.
4. Ice cream. Surprise--chocolate chip cookie dough and cookes and cream are two of my favorite flavors.
5. Plain almonds.
6. Pretty much anything my mom or wife makes.

What would I do if I were suddenly a billionaire?
1. I would pay my tithing (obligatory).
2. Legalize my music collection.
3. Go to med school without incurring any debt.
4. Donate some money to the College of Life Sciences at BYU. My college seems to be the furthest behind in the sciences. Blast.
5. Buy Jess an awesome serger.
6. Buy some cookies.
7. Try to find ways to use it to help other people.
8. Work as a doctor and not charge people for my services.

Places I have lived:
Utah, Peru (for 6 weeks), and Bolivia.

Favorite Quote:
"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us, ... if we will put our trust in Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers." --Pres. Gordon B. Hinkley

I also really like the quote from Robert Louis Stevenson on Julie's blog.

Tagged:
I tag Darin back.

Just kidding. I tag Darin's oldest son (first time I posted, I put the name, then Jess realized that those names don't appear on the blogs... my mistake).

Media Review and a few other thoughts

It's been a good, busy, productive week. Jess graduated with her Bachelor's degree (wahoo and congratulations!!). I'm very proud of her. I'll be following in her footsteps... in about 2 years. We finished up finals on Wednesday, and it's nice to have a little break. We're hoping to do a little vacationing before the end of June, because I'll probably be taking classes then.

I just finished Leviticus in the Old Testament, and to be honest, it wasn't the most uplifting of books in the scriptures. I did learn some good things from it, and was also impressed by how important doing things the right way is. If the Lord specifies how he wants things done, then we need to do it his way. And that's all there is. No ifs, ands, or buts. Or butts. :) On to Numbers (really only the first part is boring--the census. After that there are some really good stories).

Last Tuesday we went and saw the Spiderwick Chronicles at the dollar theater with Alan and Lindsay. I had a blast and really enjoyed the movie. I found it fun and engaging, and surprisingly intense. Freddy Highmore did a great job playing two different characters. It's sort of billed as a kids movie, but you might want to preview it before taking your kids. Yeah, it was that intense. It made me think of Jurassic Park, minus the bloody, dinosaurs-eating-people parts. Here's the rundown: these kids find a book after moving in to their great-uncle's old house. It contains information about the magical creatures all around. The bad guy (an ogre) wants to get his hands on the book so that he can find and kill all of the other creatures. It's up to the kids to figure out how to defeat the ogre. Good times.

Others media to be reviewed soon: Penelope, Deathtrap, and hopefully Cyrano de Bergerac.

And a hearty congratulations to Nate and Melissa (my cousin and her new hubby) who were married today.

Disappointing

I made a decision a while ago to re-read a lot of the books that I had to read for English classes in junior high and high school. I re-read The Chosen by Chaim Potok last summer, and I liked it so much that I read the sequel. I've found that a lot of great literature is a lot of fun to read (especially when you're not forced to do it for a class).

I started Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger this past week, and was somewhat shocked at the level of profanity. I hemmed and hawed and kept on reading. About half-way through, though, I decided that enough was enough. Several swear words per page was starting to get to me, and "great literature" or not, I decided that it wasn't worth my time. With all of the other great books out there, why bother with something that I didn't really enjoy?

So today I dropped Catcher in the Rye and started Cyrano de Bergerac, and I'm already very pleased with my choice. It's a play about an amazing guy with a really big nose who's in love with a lady who likes a good-looking guy who's really dense. It's funny, it's witty, and it's quality literature. And even better now that it's for fun.

Sorry

My apologies for the spam comments after some of my posts. I delete them as soon as I find them, but unfortunately, sometimes there is a small window of time before I can do so. Beware of links, especially if you don't know the person or if their comment seems like gibberish. If a couple of days go by and the comment is still there, it's probably safe (meaning I left it after looking at it). I have taken the extra precaution today, however, to require word verification for comments on my blog. This hopefully should translate to no more junky comments. Sorry, mama, about what happened this morning--it shouldn't happen again.

Sick.

I took a dare tonight, and it was a foolish idea. Jess and I were just taking our Vitamin A/D and cod liver oil capsules, and Jess dared me to bite into it. It's something that I had contemplated before, but never actually done. Now, the dare itself wasn't enough to get me to do it--I don't often succumb to dares, because they are often silly (or stupid). But she said she'd do it, too. So we both popped one in and chewed on it for a minute. Those things took a couple of good chomps to get through to the juicy middle. And once you do... wow. It's like a fish-flavored Gusher. We had already brushed our teeth and everything, and then we had to do it again. Sick.

More Nintendo Goodness... and one other really important thing!

Jess and I have now begun playing Tetris Attack for the SNES. I was hesitant but hopefully that she would enjoy it, and not only is she liking it, but she's starting to clean the floor with me. The idea is simple--colored blocks rise from the bottom of the screen, and they can't get to the top. You can swap any two blocks that are side-by-side, and if you get three of the same kind in a row, they disappear. Get more than that, and you drop more blocks on your opponent.



Best. Puzzle game. Ever. I probably have played this game more than any other single video game in my whole life. That's a sobering thought.

And that other thing...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET WIFEY!!! I know that it was a week ago, but I figure a late tribute is better than no tribute at all... right? ;) I love my Jess, and am very happy to have her as my own. We've had some adjustments to make, but life is great! Jess--you're the best! You're so supportive and loving and wonderful. Thanks for being a part of my life and loving me! I love you lots!!!

Revelations

One would think that after seven or so months of marriage that I would know my wifey pretty well. Turns out that's not the case. I recently discovered that Jess loves Super Mario World, an older game for the Super Nintendo. In one sitting, we played for something like an hour and a half. She's good! And she got so into it that I couldn't help but sit back and laugh. All told, it was a tender bonding moment for us. Video games bring families together.

One Word Answers (my turn)

1. Where is your cell phone? pocket
2. Your hair? brown
3. Work? researcher
4. Your father? handy
5. Your favorite thing? sleep
6. Your dream last night? unremembered
7. Your favorite drink? milk
8. Your dream car? Porsche
9. The room you're in? living
10. Your fears? mediocrity
11. What do you want to be in 10 years? happy (still)
12. Who did you hang out with last night? wifey
13. What you're not good at? fashion
14. Muffin? chocolate
15. One of your wish list items? gloves
16. Where you grew up? Utah
17. Last thing you did? read
18. What are you wearing? shirt
19. What aren't you wearing? shoes
20. Your pet? homework
21. Your computer? survives
22. Your life? fabulous
23. Your mood? content
24. Missing? $1,000,000
25. What are you thinking about right now? list
26. Your car/truck? engine-less
27. Your summer? looked-forward-to
28. Your relationship status? mawwied
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When is the last time you really laughed with meaning? today
31. Last time you cried? unknown
32. School? beloved
33. Least favorite weather? slushy
34. Soup? please
35. Movie? Madagascar
36. Tag? Mand

Gnice Gnocchi

We tried a new tasty dish this evening from a recipe that Jess found. Gnocchi (pronounced no-key) is an Italian food--potato dumplings. They were quick and easy to make, and I thought they were yummier than Jess did.

We put some spaghetti sauce on them with a small can of mushrooms for good measure. I think that a little bit of chicken would be tasty in it, too.

Testing (and a few random thoughts)

So I've decided to try something new. Rather than just having a song stuck in my head, you can listen to the songs of the moment, too! I'm just starting to play with this feature, so let me know what you think. Is placement ok? Does the player work for you? Do you like the music? Do tell.

I got my grade for my research paper back, and it's probably the best I've ever had on a paper. I'm glad that I'm taking a writing class this semester, because it's helped me gain more confidence in my writing. I've also learned to write more gooder.

Happy Easter.

Jess and I weeded one of our three small growboxes on Saturday, and it was fabulous to be out in the sun and working with dirt and plants with my sweetie. I love spring! We left a few plants that grew spontaneously, and we're excited to see what they turn out to be. Hopefully they're flowers and not weeds.

Had and Jeanette (Jess's sister and brother-in-law) came through Provo on their way home from southern Utah. We went out to dinner at Bajio with them and Lucy and Zeke and had a great time. Lucy and Zeke are probably some of the cutest kids ever. And the chicken stuffed quesadilla with sweet green chiles and stuff (that's what Jess called it) was positively scrumptious. I couldn't even save some for tomorrow's lunch because I had to eat it all right then.

On a more spiritual note, Jess prepared a great FHE tonight that involved reading the part of the April Ensign with the testimonies about Christ from each of the presidents of the church. I think my favorite was Pres. Kimball, who said of Jesus, "He is my friend." I love that idea, and it means a lot to hear that coming from a prophet. I want Jesus to be my friend (and to be his) in the same way.

Tomorrow is Friday

It's been another crazy week, everybody. That's right--more exams and papers. I love college. ;) Honestly, I've been holding up better than I would have expected. This is probably due to a wonderful wife who is extremely supportive and wonderful and gorgeous.

Good family is a wonderful part of life. Thanks for being awesome, everyone.

*sigh*

Wow--I've made it through the past week and a half. I had my doubts at a few different times, but I survived in one piece. I had three papers due and a 150 page book to read for one of them, a test for o-chem (with a couple of chapters of homework to catch up on), and a physics quiz. So my apologies that I haven't posted anything in a while. I've been a little overwhelmed. ;)

Life is still good, though--have no fear. I was particularly pleased when I got my test results back today for the ochem test and saw just how much Heavenly Father blessed me. We're talking "opened the windows of heaven and let the blessings pour out onto my exam in the testing center" here. So I'm grateful for that.

Tough decision of the moment: What to do about our little Corolla? It's got a knocking rod, so we haven't been driving it for three months. It'll probably cost about $2000 to replace the engine. After that, we don't know if the check engine light will turn off--it's been reporting problems with the catalytic converter/exhaust system. We've sunk about a grand in that, and another grand on a new clutch and tires. With the engine troubles it's having right now, though, it won't sell for what it would without them (obviously).

So here's the question--do we invest more in the car and hope all goes well so we can use the car for many years, or do we just try to sell it as is, take the hit, and look for another vehicle? What to do...

P.S. We fortunately still have a working vehicle. The Taurus is running fine, and even passed emissions and safety inspections. Holy moley! So the blessings are still coming, and we're grateful for them. :)

I wish my life were this exciting

I saw this picture on the BBC website yesterday, and I think that my title basically says it all.

Liz's Quiz

This quiz was made by my sister-in-law, Elizabeth Jane Mann. I'll play, too. Here goes:

What name did you wish you had when you were a kid?
One of my best friends had the name Quang. I was always sort of jealous of how the teachers couldn't pronounce it. Or his last name--Nguyen. Yeah, Nguyen would be a good one.

Would you rather go without brushing your teeth or wearing deodorant?
I'd probably go without the deo for the BO. I don't like cavities. At all.

In your opinion, what is your most annoying habit?
Sometimes I talk to myself when I'm doing homework (when I have to figure stuff out, like in physics or chemistry).

If bodysuits came back in style would you wear them?
Sign me up--I didn't get a turn the first time.

If you were offered $300,000 to relive high school would you do it?
I guess it depends on if I had to do it as a 23 year old. Probably not at that point, but if I went back in time and was that age again, then sure. High school was a good time. Better than junior high...

Would you rather live without a cellphone or the internet?
Probably without a phone. I don't really call that many people, but the free long distance is nice (especially living "long distance" from home). The internet, however, is extremely useful both for work, study and play. Plus, you can use Skype and have the phone on the internet.

What is one question you wish you could ask people but don't because it's not polite?
I generally ask anyways, but "how did it happen"/"can I see?"

Would you rather lose an arm or a leg?
Probably an arm. I like being able to move around on my legs, and I'm ok without a prosthetic. I could still play racquetball, which is what really matters. I mean, come on.

If you could only listen to one band or singer for the rest of your life, who would it be?
Jack Johnson or Ben Folds. Probably Jack Johnson so that the music would be rated G. :)

What do you do in the privacy of your home that you wouldn't do in public?
Poop. I hate pooping in public bathrooms. Sorry if that's TMI, but you asked.

Would you rather have a pretty face with a pudgy body or a so-so face with a perfect body?
Maybe a pretty face. I could always get my pudgy body into great shape. You can't do a whole lot with a so-so face. And you could lose that perfect body a lot easier that a pretty face.

In front of a large crowd would you rather sing or dance?
Sing. If I didn't have to be serious while doing it, I could probably even enjoy myself.

How often do you weigh yourself?
Far less than monthly. It's tough when there's not a weighing device around.

Food for thought

In my wanderings on the internet through different forums and facebook groups, I've seen several discussions concerning the existence of God. There are a lot of people who don't believe in God who ask others to "prove" to them that He's there. People try, but are generally unsuccessful. I've felt sad for folks who struggle without the reassurance of a loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for us, but haven't really known what to say to those folks. I know that I certainly believe in God and am grateful for the comfort of the Plan of Salvation. So why is it so hard to convince others that He's there?

I was reading a BYU forum address by Terryl Givens, a professor of religion and literature from Virginia University. There was one part at the end that really struck me, because it helped to answer my question. Here's what he said:

I am convinced that there must be grounds for doubt as well as belief in order to render the choice more truly a choice--and, therefore, the more deliberate and laden with personal vulnerability and investment.... One is, it would seem, always provided with sufficient materials out of which to fashion a life of credible conviction or dismissive denial.... What we choose to embrace, to be responsive to, is the purest reflection of who we are and what we love. That is why faith, the choice to believe, is, in the final analysis, an action that is positively laden with moral significance.

So basically, there's not enough evidence to prove things in either direction, and as a result, we have to choose. That's right, it's another chance to exercise the fabulous gift of agency. And there's enough room for doubt, just as there's enough room for belief. Each person has to choose whether or not they want to believe, and that choice--as Givens states so well--is a reflection of who we are and what we love.

The entire address was amazing, and I highly recommend it to everyone (it's about Joseph Smith and some of his contributions to the world--great stuff). Here's the linky: Terryl Givens--"Lightning Out of Heaven": Joseph Smith and the Forging of Community, BYU forum address, 29 Nov. 2005

Mmm, bacon!

I push the darn button at every hand dryer where I see this picture, but my hopes are always crushed. I'm hoping that one of these days I'll get lucky.

Research paper

For my writing class, we've gotta write a research paper. I get to research whatever I want. Unfortunately, I have to choose the subject by Monday (and no, I didn't procrastinate this--we were informed yesterday). I don't really know what I want to research.

One thought I had was to start researching medical schools--try to find the ones that I would like to go to, what makes them good, and what it takes to get in. Two birds with one stone: find out good information that I need to eventually anyways AND get credit for it.

So here's my question: What other ideas do y'all have for my research paper? What should I write 8-10 pages on? What should I devote several hours to over then next few weeks?

Nerdiness rears its head!

I think that this is the first time that I've posted a picture to my blog. And what a picture to start with!

I'm taking a intro to microbiology class this semester, which has both a lab and lecture portion. Lecture hasn't been anything special, but in lab we've been learning some basic techniques. Last Tuesday I made this plate, and I let it incubate at 37 degrees C (that's body temp). When I pulled it out today, I was really excited with what I had found! Look at that--four different colors! How cool is that? And they all started with stuff too small to see with the naked eye.

The translucent one in the top left is E. coli and the yellow in the top right is a strain of Staphyloccocus (aureus? I forget), both from cultures provided by the instructor. The bottom two came from streaking the bottom of my shoe.

The streak from my shoe made a plate that had tons of different kinds of bacteria. I chose two of the colonies that I liked, and made a "pure culture" streak on two different plate, isolating the white and reddish/brownish strains. It's fun when this stuff works. Not only that, but my KOH string tests and Gram staining all worked today! That's a lot better than my ordeals with the staining on Tuesday.

A Weekend of New Experiences

I tried a few new things this weekend. On Saturday morning, I had my first experience with yoga. While I agree with Brian Regan about some of the things he says from what I've seen of it ("now take your leg, and throw it around your neck like a scarf"), it turns out that the beginner stuff is not so bad.

Mostly yoga is about stretching and breathing. I can do both of those. So Jess and I followed along with a DVD that she's got (Yoga for Dummies). And it was nice. My body felt good, and I felt like it was a good experience. Then my muscles had their say this morning. I think that I used some muscles in my back that I hadn't in quite some time, and they let me know. I was surprised that just stretching could cause some soreness. But that's not going to stop me from doing it again tomorrow night--hello FHE activity!

Another new thing this afternoon was parsnips. They sound like scissors, but they're more like carrots. White carrots. That taste pretty darn good when fried in butter and have some seasoned salt on them. Mostly because anything tastes good when fried. I don't know that I would like them as much if they were just cooked, but we can find that out later. The important thing is that I ate healthy.

One other thing, not so related, is that I have to write a personal narrative or essay by Wednesday. I was trying to think of experiences or stories from my life that could fill up 4-6 pages (double-spaced). Any ideas?

Follow-up

Sorry for the delay in posts, everybody (all three of you...). It's been a busy week.

Jess taught a great FHE lesson on Monday night from Preach My Gospel. She found a quote that we felt explained some of the things that I said in my last post in a much clearer way. It's from Elder Dallin H. Oaks, and it's on page 9.

"We do not preach and teach in order to 'bring people into the Church' or to increase the membership of the Church. We do not preach and teach just to persuade people to live better lives.... We invite all to come unto Christ by repentance and baptism and confirmation in order to open the doors of the celestial kingdom to the sons and daughters of God. No one else can do this."

So I guess my points are these--1. The Church is not important for the Church's sake, but rather because it is the only source of the fulness of the Gospel of Christ and the authority to perform the necessary ordinances. 2. Mormons aren't the only good people. We need to love everyone and work to understand them regardless of what religion they belong to.

Hopefully that's clearer than last time. I've had more time to think about the concepts and my ideas are becoming better formed. As I read in a book for my writing class, "writing is another form of thinking."

Question.

Alonzo Gaskill, my World Religions professor, asked us a question yesterday in class and it has caused me to think and think and think (a sign of a good question, I think, but that's a post for another day). Here it is:

Does God want every mortal to be a "Mormon"?

Wow... We discussed it as a class for a bit, and the answer we came up with was that no, God doesn't want every mortal to be a "Mormon". Some people wouldn't be able to do the good that they do/have done if they were members of the Church. Take Mother Teresa, for instance (Bro. Gaskill's own example). Could she have done so much good for so many people as Relief Society President of the Provo 138th ward? Probably not.

So this got me thinking. Why have the church, then? If God isn't going to allow us into heaven based on our "Mormon-ness" :), but rather on how we've accepted Jesus Christ and lived his commandments as best we can, why does it matter to have the true church anyways?

Quick side-note: My testimony is not shaken at all--have no fear. :) I'm not having doubts about it, I know that the Church is true and that we need it, but I was trying to think about why.

Jess and I went to the temple yesterday, and while I was waiting I grabbed a triple combination and decided to read in D&C. I chose section 109 because we were in the temple, and that section contains the dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland temple. I figured it would make an appropriate read. Only a few verses in, WHAM!, one of the scriptures really stood out to me. I felt like it was an answer to my questioning and thoughts throughout the day.

V.4 states that in Jesus Christ's name alone "can salvation be administered to the children of men." Bingo. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints won't save us. The Gospel of Jesus Christ will. Parts of the gospel are independent of the church (though benefited by it): our character, our relationships with others, etc. Other parts are not, for the following reason. One of the first principles and ordinances of the gospel is baptism by immersion for the remission of sins (AoF 4). That baptism must be by the proper authority. That authority is only found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There was the connection!

The Church is the legal executor (in the sense of law, not like the guy with a black mask who cuts off people's heads--that's "executioner") of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the only place where the gospel is had in its fulness. Yes, other religions contain truth. That's why Pres. Hinckley has invited everyone to come and bring the good that they have and see what more we can offer them. We also have the advantage of a prophet who communicates directly with God and lets us know how we can live the gospel better. We know more of what God wants from us. We have priesthood blessings, the temple, the Book of Mormon and other modern revelation. It's awesome!

But it's ok that not everyone is going to join the church. We still need to love and respect them and be their friends. And help them get closer to God which may mean that we help them live their religion better, even if it's not ours. God still loves them. Just as much as he loves us. I feel like it's our job to live our religion and do it well--if we hold up Christ as the light, people will see it and may ask for what we have. But we won't force it down their throats.

I recognize that some of these thoughts may be a little controversial. I know I've done a lot of thinking over the past day or two about it. But I don't think that thinking is bad (maybe shouldn't have used the same word so close to itself...). I'm grateful for the church and the light that we have.

Thoughts? Questions? Comments? Do you agree or disagree? Let me know!

Seeking truth

I read the first assignment for my Survey of World Religions class, and I have to say that I'm pretty pumped about the class. It might end up being a lot more work than other religion classes have been in the past, but it will also be a lot of new, exciting information.

The first chapter of the book talks about why we should even bother studying other religions. Some might ask, "if we've got the restored gospel, what need have we of looking elsewhere?" It helps us to be better prepared to share the gospel with them--Ammon-to-King-Lamoni-style. It also helps us better understand others so that we can love and respect them more. It gives us an idea about why they might do some of the things they do.

But the biggest thing that I got from it, or the main reason to study other religions, is that we can find truth in the things that others believe, and then apply it to ourselves to help us in our journey towards perfection. I look forward to finding the good in others and discovering how I can make it a part of myself.

First day of school

So today we started classes again. Drag. I'm taking 17 credit hours, and as I worked through my first 9 - 5 day on campus, I grew a little intimidated at my load. The homework hasn't even started yet. Yikes. Add to this the fact that I'll be working 15 hours per week in a research lab on campus, I figure I'm gonna be a busy little beaver.

*WARNING* THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH DISPLAYS EXTREME NERDINESS

I did some calculations, and this is what I discovered. Teachers (and "University Policy") state that for every hour you spend in class (credit hour), you should be spending two hours outside of class. 17 credit hours x 3 hours per week = 51 hours total per week. 51 hours of school + 15 hours of work = 66 hours of stuff that needs to be done.

24 hours per day - 8 for sleeping = 16 hours for stuff per day. 16 hours per day x 6 days for non-Sabbath activities = 96 hours for stuff each week. 96 hours for stuff - 66 hours of stuff that needs doing = 30 hours for everything else. Everything else = showering, eating, other morning and evening routines, shopping and other errands, leisure, wife, etc.

Guess who's stoked for the new semester?

P.S. My o-chem teacher is also nerdy and mentioned to us that she did the calculation for a dessert at Bennigan's called "Death by Chocolate" to find out how much energy would be released if you could release all of the calories in it at once. It's the same as a lightning strike. Awesome.

Happy New Year, etc.

What a great way to start out the new year! I went to work this morning. It was a blessing that I was able to wake up on time and be to work by 8, considering last night was New Year's Eve, and our landlady is a grandma with a lot of family over for the break. With lots of little kids. That stomped around and pounded on the piano around 12:30. Sweet. Fortunately, by the time we crawled into bed, they had all done the same. Phew. Though I complain a little bit, double-pay is pretty sweet. And Jess had lunch ready when I got home. What a great wife!

Sunday was super-relaxing. Because we attend a student ward, and most of the students are out of town, we just had sacrament meeting. So church started at 9, and finished at 10. Mandy and Paul came over for lunch (tons of fun!) and then we took a 3 hour nap. Followed by like 6 hours of reading. I finished 3 books and Jess finished two. Holy moly.

Yesterday we watched a couple of movies: Masters of the Universe (that's He-Man, for the uninformed) and then My Big Fat Greek Wedding (MBFGW). The He-Man movie was truly awful. Even loving the cartoon and toys when I was little was not enough to redeem that waste of an hour and a half. MBFGW was a lot of fun, though, and enjoyable. It had good humor, and it was interesting to watch the collision of two cultures. Naturally I was drawn to reflect on my own Mormon culture, and thinking about how similar parts of it would be in a parallel situation.

"The Dark is Rising" has been a fun series, and I'm now on the last book. Once I got past the first book, everything has been fairly fast-paced and exciting. I think the only reason that anyone might need to read the first book would be to get familiar with some of the characters that reappear in book 3. Meh. At least it's all been uphill from there...

Also, I had to shave my beard off last week. Sad stuff. I had a week's worth of scruff, and it made me kinda happy. At least we got to play with it when it was time to shave it off... I may post pictures soon. If I get around to it.

I'm discovering that I have a lot to talk about...

I'm working on reading the entire Old Testament. It's the only one of the standard works that I haven't read all the way through, and I want to change that. I'm trying my best to look for principles that are applicable to my own life, or things that help me better understand the gospel. Some parts are more difficult to find connections than others.

I finished Exodus today, which had a lot of neat stuff, especially at the beginning. Towards the end, we see that the Lord really cared about his temple-on-the-move (the tabernacle) and gave very specific details about how it should be built. And Moses recorded those details. In case you want to build your own at home? I'm not really sure why.

Chapters 1 -7 of Leviticus are the handbook for sacrifices--it gives you all the hows and whens of what kind of sacrifices to offer. Sweet. Biggest thing I pulled from those chapters: the Lord asked for sacrifices that were "without blemish." For a farming/nomadic society, it would be really easy to sacrifice the weak or broken animals that were going to die anyways. But the Lord deserves better than that. If we sacrifice more, he can also bless us more. Cool stuff. Also, Aaron's sons? Very foolish. See Leviticus 10. They died.

Enough for now, right? Ok, I'm done!