I gave advice before saying never watch a scary movie in bed alone at night. I would like to revise that counsel and also say that watching 4 scary movies in one day is never a good idea. Thankfully, none of these movies were excruciatingly scary, but I imagine I'll still have a fun time trying to sleep tonight, especially since two of those movies were specifically about things that only come out in the dark. All of the movies were pretty good and I was spooked quite well. Especially by the 4th movie, which was the creepiest (even though I have seen it at least once before).

In an effort to help myself get to sleep sooner, I will now stop talking and thinking about scary movies.

The sweet pork was amazing, as usual. This time we invited a couple guys from two doors down to have some. The reviews they gave were very positive. Philip, my former home teacher and current home teaching companion who is from New Zealand, wants me to write a recipe book so he and his family can buy them. Evan, his roommate who teaches tap dance (but not my class), said it was better than Cafe Rio. Not bad feedback at all.

Looking back I had a really amazing weekend. I realized this sometime this morning during sacrament meeting. I got up at 7:30 to start the sweet pork and as expected, I was fairly sore all over from all the standing, cheering, dancing, and 3 hours of flag football I played. Despite the stiffness and soreness, I was sitting there in church and just felt awesome. I was full of energy for life. In the past 2 years, possibly even in the past 21 years, I'm not sure I can name a time I've ever felt so alive. I don't know why I felt so great. This past week has been mediocre. Although I know I'm not alone, at times I felt alone. Only Mike, Annie and Philip (and a friend of his) came to my party. No one came to play flag football with us and we were lucky that the entire world (minus the people we invited) were out playing football that day and we could join some others. Someone (who none of you know) who told me they were my friend last week told me this week to never talk to them again (complicated story...ultimately doesn't matter). Despite that not really being a problem, it still kind of hurts when someone says don't talk to me ever again. My point is that this week had a good share of downers and very few make-me-feel-great moments. But I still had an amazing weekend. I played football with people I've never met and may never meet again and I had more physical energy than I've had in years. I ran and I was not weary. I put on a costume and went dancing with friends in the ward and received compliments from strangers. I went to a soccer game and joined hundreds of BYU fans in supporting my team. I had people bring candy to my apartment. I made sweet pork burritos and made 5 other people happy. Today I felt good. Deep down in my heart and soul good.

I have a busy week ahead, so rest is important. I have a tap test, 2 papers due, a grammar worksheet due, a license that needs renewing, doctors and dentists to call, class to attend, etc...etc...speaking of which, I just remembered I have 20 minutes left to send a paragraph to my teacher for extra credit! Thank goodness I remembered...gotta run!

I had some strange dreams last night and when I woke up, I felt really out of it. Kind of down and just not happy. I didn't want to have a bad Friday, so I had a good breakfast and headed out to work. When I arrived at work, everything was pretty much done for the day. I though, great, I'm going to have to drag everything I do out for an hour or more to make time pass. But, I was wrong. A few vehicles were canceled and a few more were scheduled and things shifted, so we had a little bit of work to do. I got to actually talk to the other guy that works at the same time as me for a bit too as we worked in the office for a bit. That alone made the day pretty good because usually work is us all working completely alone and only briefly talking to others about work. Today we talked about non work stuff. Then, we got paid to eat lunch too! One of the guys in the repair shop is going away somewhere, so the repair shop, service station and vehicle rental people all got invited for a hot dog bbq. So our boss sent me and the other guy working with me down there. We grabbed some dogs, chips, soda and tater salad and spent a good half hour eating and talking. It was pretty enjoyable. After that the other guy was off and I did a little paperwork and double checked vehicles that were going out for rental until I was off. In all, it was a good day at work that helped turn around the slow start to the day.

After work I kicked back to some psych on Netflix until Mike came over to get ready to head over to the basketball exhibition game. I went in my Cigar Guy costume. Here are some pictures. It's not too great because the lighting but they're the best I have for now.



Let me just say that my costume was a HIT! At the basketball game, during a time out, they show fans. Tonight, it being costume night, they started showing people in costume. We figured if anyone knew who I was, it would be the media people. They must have known, because they totally zoomed in on me and put it up on the big screen! To my delight, a good 1/3rd of the crowd knew what it was, because they laughed and pointed. After the game, I had people telling me they saw me on the screen and they loved the costume. Other people who did not know who I was asked me about it and I heard some of the people who didn't know get it explained to them by others. It was awesome! I definitely started some conversations!

After the blowout 101-55 victory over the Canadians, I headed with some people to the ward dance party. On the way several people laughed as they saw and understood my costume. At the party, more people commented on it. The actual ward party was in a small room and it was super hot, so we headed down to the ballroom where a huge freshman stake dance party was being held. It was put on by a freshman stake, but there were tons of people from our ward and other wards that went to it. It was pretty fun. Again I had people stop me and tell me they loved it. One guy said some people might not get it, but he did and he loved it. I was impressed with the number of people who understood it. And everyone who understood it loved it. What I really like is that a lot of people who didn't get it will soon, because either I or someone else explained it to them and told them to look up Cigar Guy. I'll try to upload a better picture of it later. The pictures I have are rudimentary at best. The hair looked better tonight and a better angle makes it look better. I think I got the look-alike factor spot on though. I love it! One of my best costumes ever. Tomorrow I'll wear it again if I go to anything. Hopefully the laughs will keep on coming.

Well, today I donned my costume in it's fullness for the first time. Mike has the pictures, so you'll have to wait to see what it is!

My costume mocktail party failed. No one except for Annie and Mike showed up. The party was supposed to run until about 10 or 11, but it's 9:30 and they already left. So, I'm sitting here hoping that the couple of people who said they may show up later come knocking. I've decided that I'm not going to host any more parties. I've tried having quite a few in the past year or so, but I only ever got Annie, Michael and Mary to come...now I can't even get Mary to come. So, no more planning potentially fun parties and wasting money on food and drinks. Why I ever went out of my way to do things like this I don't know. I guess I'm used to people actually coming like the parties we had in Kentucky.



This week has been pretty slow. I've been trying to figure out when I can go to the dentist, doctor, and driver's license place.

That's really all there is right now. Nothing going on, nothing cool to tell. This may be my most boring blog post ever. Sorry.

I was wrong about the snow. It had stopped snowing for some time when I went to bed and the ground was mostly clear. When I awoke 8 hours later, there was half an inch or so of snow covering the ground. Parts of Salt Lake have 3-6 inches from lake effect snow. Not bad for an early snowstorm. It will make work interesting...and cold.

I did not think we'd get any snow today. When I went to class at 8 am, the mountains had snow all the way to the base, but the valley was just wet from rain. The clouds cleared up and we had a mostly sunny day, with some clouds moving through, mostly around the mountains north and south of Provo. This afternoon we had a few flurries, but again it cleared. Then after class it was lightly flurrying and the skies looked threatening. It stopped though and it seemed like it was just going to be a cold night. Then, while I was at Wal Mart, it started to rain and sleet, mixed with a bit o' snow. That progressed to mostly snow, but still a wet snow. To my obvious delight, that has ended and it is currently snowing full on. Big, fluffy white snow put a thin layer on the ground and cars. It's let up a bit and I don't expect much more, but still, it is now officially the first snow of the year! It will all clear up tomorrow and be up to 58 Friday, but, I am content (as are the ski resorts).

That's really the only exciting news today. Work was so slow I spent the whole time working very slow on cleaning cars that weren't even being rented out today or tomorrow. I did go and return my donut maker. Who needs lame baked donuts when you have lard? Delicious, pure fat, lard.

Still hoping to complete my costume by tomorrow. A key piece is in the mail and should have arrived already but the postal service is being lame. It shipped from Washington, went to Salt Lake, then went to Denver...who knows where it is now, but it's been in Denver 2 days, so hopefully it's on its way here ASAP. I need it!!!

Brrrrrrrrrrr! I knew it was going to be cold but those first few really cold days every year sure get ya! Today was no different.

First though, it sounded like a hurricane blew through last night. I was awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of a torrential downpour of ginormous raindrops being battered in what was easily 50+ mph winds against my window. It was extremely loud. I looked outside and the trees were blowing like mad. I thought for sure I'd wake up to fallen tree branches, but I guess it didn't last too long and wasn't quite strong enough. Up north it was. They had all sorts of havoc, with full grown trees completely uprooted and power losses. It was a very intense storm.

The mountains are getting plenty of snow and we have a small chance of some snow tonight and tomorrow. It's likely that the precipitation won't come until the day, so it'll just rain. Tomorrow evening it may snow, but, anything we get won't likely stick. We aren't quiet there yet. This storm will pass and Friday it will be almost 60 degrees again. I can't wait.  My little body does not keep in heat well. I'm ready for winter, but keep in mind that Utah or not, winter does not officially start for a month or two. I would like to enjoy a nice autumn first.

Enough talk of weather. I know it fascinates me and I love following it, but I don't want to bore you all. Today I went to FHE and carved a pumpkin. My roommate carved a nice, simple, yet scary face on one side, and then since we finished first and had time to kill, I carved a very intricate map of the state of Utah. Ok, intricate may not be the word, but it's harder than you think to carve straight lines on a pumpkin, especially with a steak knife!

My costume is almost ready. I hope to have it all ready by Wednesday so I can debut it at my costume mocktail party on Thursday. I made a cool flyer to print out and distribute to friends and such for the event. My only real hope is that I'll have more than Mike and Annie show up. People don't know what they are missing when they don't come to my apartment. There is no better host in town, of that I can almost guarantee. Here's a look at my flyer. I created the entire thing from scratch, utilizing both paint.net and microsoft word. It actually turned out really cool.


Yay for halloween! I want to see costume pictures of everyone who reads my blog.


A friend on Facebook posted some youtube videos today. Usually I only watch funny videos people post, but these were Mormon Messages. I had just got in from work when I saw them, so I thought it would be relaxing to watch. The one I watched was a funny one, then I watched more. These two I found I decided were worth sharing on my blog. Enjoy.

The storms blew in Friday. If you recall, I mentioned how perfectly cloudy and cool it was. As expected, that did not last. Saturday dawned ominously. Dark clouds dominated the sky, contrasting the bright colors of fall that dotted the mountains and valleys. Expecting cold temperatures and rain, we donned long sleeves and jackets as we headed to the football game. Our arrival at the festivities outside the stadium coincided with the arrival of the rain. It was light at first, leading us to hope it would stay that way. But, within minutes it really started coming down. We finished up our outside activities and tailgating and headed for cover inside the stadium. We won some suckers from Sundance and watched the team warm up in the cold rain. With 45 minutes before game time, the stands were empty. The rain came down harder as kickoff approached. People started to really trickle in, despite an absolute downpour, when the prayer was offered with 20 minutes still to count down. We took our standing positions at our seats and watched as the water cascaded like a waterfall down the bleachers to the field. The grass field looked fine. The artificial area surrounding it was flooded and had personnel everywhere pushing water towards drains. I'm not sure when the downpour stopped, but I think it was around kickoff. When the game started, the stands looked half empty. It continued to drizzle as the clouds released the last of their load, but by the second quarter and halftime the sun had peered out briefly before the winds came and blew the sunshine away. We dried out and enjoyed an amazing performance by Vocal Point at halftime. Our bodies rewarmed with all the cheering we did and our energy was boosted when Mary came to sit with us and we got some food. All thoughts of weather disappeared when Wyoming made a comeback and needed only to convert a 3rd or 4th down to possibly and likely win the game. Their 3rd down attempt was batted down. The sacrifice of 60,505 who endured the weather to be at the game was put on the line with the final 4th down. Stop the play, we win and getting drenched was worth it. Make a mistake, we lose and the next rainy game we'll be lucky to get 30,000 to come. Our defense stayed strong and tipped the ball, effectively preserving our spirits and our victory.

Later that night we also cheered our Women's Soccer team to a victory in their final home match this season. The weather cooperated and though it was cold, the rains that returned for a few hours after the football game had left for the night by then.

The cold will continue through the week. Temperatures have gone down for the past couple days and will continue to do so until they bottom out Tuesday and Wednesday, with a high of 43 and low of 33 predicted Tuesday with a chance of snow. The storms will leave Wednesday and slowly things will return to normal fall weather. Highs in the mid to upper 50s, lows in upper 30s to 40s. I'm hosting a Costume Mocktail Party on Thursday and then there are all sorts of things going on Friday and Saturday to choose between. I'll post a picture of my costume as soon as it is all together. I should have it all by Wednesday!

I'm taking it easy today due to some cold symptoms. I had a sore throat in the mornings the past couple days, so I've been drinking a lot of liquids. Today, after the cold and wetness of yesterday, I also had some nasal congestion and light coughing, which made me feel a little warm. I went to sacrament meeting and then came home to take meds and rest. Since I work outside all week, I need to heal up quick and not contract anything people already have! I can't afford to get pneumonia.

I always like when Fridays go well and today was a day I liked. The weather was cloudy and cool. Not so cold you needed a thick jacket, but just cool enough for a light jacket. Work was super easy. No problems at all. There was a fluke after work, but it was resolved. I had to finish my paper and all these other parts to turn in to my writing teacher. It was all due by 5 pm, so I finished it up by just after 4 and headed to print it all out. I knew I was cutting it a little close, but I felt no pressure. I got to the lab and the internet went down. Having emailed all my work to myself, that was a problem. So I headed to a different lab. No internet. The computer lab attendant people said the internet went down throughout the entire campus. Great! Just my luck! I should have known! I went from building to building, computer to computer on my way to my professors office, hoping the internet would come back in time for me to print it out and turn it in. Finally, I ran out of computers and was at my teachers office. I told her the internet was completely down so I could not print anything, and thankfully she is a nice teacher and told me I could turn it in Monday morning. Thank goodness for that! Many teachers, who prefer to be called professors, would have said "too bad sucker!", but I am fortunate to not have one of those for my writing teacher.

With my entire wall serving as my tv screen now, we planned a movie night. My roommate bought How to Train Your Dragon, so he invited some friends over to watch it. I rearranged the apartment to hold lots of people and got everything set up...for a 10 pm movie! I was tired at 5! Exhausted at 8! Luckily I still had enough in me to make it through a movie and update my blog. My review of the movie: Hilarious! If you have not seen it, I would recommend renting it. It has something for everyone. Comedy, a bit o' romance, some action and a good story.

Now that the busy week is behind me, I am going to make a to-do list of important things. I know for sure I have to go to the dentist, go to the doctor and renew my license. I'm sure there are other things but I can't think of what they are right now.

Well, I best get to sleep. I have to be up in the morning to get ready for some football! Tomorrow is a noon game, so we're heading over to win swag at 10 am. It's good to relax! I love having fun down time.

I'm going to keep things short so I can get to bed. I'm exhausted tonight.

Today was just another day. Class this morning, work 10-2, went to campus to pick up Mary's camera I'm borrowing, hung (hanged?) out with Mary during her TA office hours, on the way home with camera in hand, saw 3 deer eating just 10 feet away, snapped some photos, went to class, went to soccer game, booed the world's worst ref, came home, got my new projector (which is AMAZING), now I'm ready for sleep.

The world's worst ref I won't go on about, but he was bad. The other team made a play on the ball and knocked it away, also bringing our girl down. That was fine, but no one was near the ball, so our girl got up to get it and would have had an open shot, but the defender on the ground wrapped her legs around our player and pulled her down inside the box...which should have been an instant penalty resulting in a penalty kick....but the ref did nothing. The whole game he only called 2 or 3 penalties. There weren't tons of them tonight, but there were some that definitely should have been called to keep the players in check so things like this wouldn't happen. It really infuriated me. I hate when things like this happen. This penalty was blatantly obvious and everyone, even the opposing fans directly behind us, knew it. Game ended in a 1-1 tie.

Tomorrow I will finish up the busyness of this week and then things will simmer down and I can get important things done. My little headache keeps coming and going, so I'm off to bed.

Happy Friday!

I have to tell you that today I was just thinking randomly at work and instantly the ultimate Halloween costume popped into my head. I refuse to say anything about it until the costume is complete and I have pictures, but let me just say that I think it will be the most HILARIOUS costume EVER! I'm going to enter into any and every costume contest I hear of. The best part is I don't expect too many people will think of this. At least not here at BYU. It's possible, given the timing of things, that I may encounter someone with the same idea, but, well, I'm willing to take the risk for what could be the ultimate opportunity of a lifetime...at least it is in my opinion. Some online research shows it could be a popular costume this year....time will tell!

Other than that, today was business as usual. Work was good, class was short, I'm selling my tv, tv stand and possibly something else to buy a projector from my old boss since he upgraded his awhile back. Have no worries...I'm getting a sweet deal already ($150), so with the money from the tv, stand and possibly some other electronic I sell, I will be spending hardly anything (less than $50, hopefully only $30ish) on it. Say what you want about me not needing it, but I am a 21 year old male...despite a very keen sense of what I should be doing with my money, I'm entitled to make a bad decision this month. Consider it made.

I have been busy and have not worked on my mission papers, but that's ok because until I go to the doctor and dentist, I am not behind. I am behind on scheduling though. I wrote down the info for a dentist that had an even better deal than I found before, but did not have time to call today. I'm really just trying to get this week behind me so I can have a more open schedule to do these things.

I feel like I had more to say, but I've had a nagging little headache today so I better go sleep and try to be rid of it.

Oh...I do remember what I wanted to share. I'm giving the spiritual thought in tap dance in the morning and as usually the case, the thought I found pertained to me a lot. Here it is for you guys to enjoy. After the concluding words of the thought, I will include my own thoughts.

“A wild bee from the neighboring hills once flew into the room, and at intervals during an hour or more I caught the pleasing hum of its flight. The little creature realized that it was a prisoner, yet all its efforts to find the exit through the partly opened casement failed. When ready to close up the room and leave, I threw the window wide and tried at first to guide and then to drive the bee to liberty and safety, knowing well that if left in the room it would die as other insects there entrapped had perished in the dry atmosphere of the enclosure. The more I tried to drive it out, the more determinedly did it oppose and resist my efforts. Its erstwhile peaceful hum developed into an angry roar; its darting flight became hostile and threatening.


“Then it caught me off my guard and stung my hand -the hand that would have guided it to freedom. At last it alighted on a pendant attached to the ceiling, beyond my reach of help or injury. The sharp pain of its unkind sting aroused in me rather pity than anger. I knew the inevitable penalty of its mistaken opposition and defiance, and I had to leave the creature to its fate. Three days later I returned to the room and found the dried, lifeless body of the bee on the writing table. It had paid for its stubbornness with its life” (“Three Parables-The Unwise Bee, the Owl Express, and Two Lamps,” Ensign, Feb. 2003, 8–9).

I'll be the first to admit that I am stubborn. I like doing things my way and often times I think I'm right and become blind to others suggestions. That has hurt my progression a lot and I think it has hurt others as well. I don't like speaking of regret, or dwelling in the past more than is necessary to learn and move on, but I do regret a lot of things. I regret stubbornness that hurt relationships with friends or family. I regret fighting the help others offered, even when I knew in the end it was right. I regret, but I use those feelings to improve and to learn. I regret those things, but I have grown stronger because I realized my mistakes and applied the lessons to my life. I do not look forward to the inevitable mistakes I will make in the future, but I do look forward to hopefully realizing them and learning even more.

In closing today, I'll leave you with some thought provoking words from the philosopher Heraclitus:

I woke up this morning pretty stressed about the massive amount of things to be done in only 3 hours of spare time. I had gone through the time scheme in my head and had everything down almost to the minute. I was going to go to tap dance, probably fail the written quiz, then after class in the hour before work, do one of two peer reviews for writing. Then I was going to go to work. After work I was going to do the other peer review, study for the Music 201 midterm and go take said midterm. Then I would head to writing class. None of that really worked out that way.

I did very well on my tap quiz. There was only one question I did not have a good answer to, but I still answered it partially correct and may receive credit. Either way, I should still get an A on it. I got my results back from my tap test that I was worried about. I got an A-. The teacher did notice that both I and the other guy were thrown off by the girl that danced with us and we were not marked down for it. I got 18 out of 20 points; an A-. That means that if did get an A on the quiz and if I get good grades on the next two tests, I will end up with an A in tap, which will replace my failing grade.

After tap I did not get a peer review done. I went home and found Amelia's formal dress (I didn't even know she had one) and went and mailed it, then headed to work. I realized though, that today being Tuesday, I had an hour break from 11-12 for devotional, so I brought my laptop to access the internet on campus to get both of the peer reviews done. But, the entire hour was spent trying to get my retarded computer to connect to the retarded internet. I'm not sure if my computer was just having issues today, but it would not cooperate. I got the internet fine on my ipod, but could not, for the life of me, get my computer to connect. When I did for a brief time, it went super slow. Anyway, after work I tried to work on the peer reviews at home, but the website the papers to review were uploaded to was down. So, I studied for my test so I could take it and leave myself time to do the peer reviews that were due at 5:10. I have been studying for this exam and I thought I was very well prepared and would get somewhere between 70-80%. HAHAHAHA...I do not know where half of those questions came from...and I mean that literally. I got 60%...half of that 60% I knew, the other half I got by sheer dumb luck. I am actually proud of my grade. I know there's room to improve, but when I read those questions, which had NOTHING to do with anything on the study guide, I thought I would only get somewhere around 30%. By the way, I beat Michael by a full 3%. We're hoping there's a curve.

I got done with about 50 minutes to spare until Writing 150. I gave up on my laptop and had left it at home. I went to the computer lab where everything worked just dandy. I got my two peer reviews done in good time and was even a few minutes early to class.

All in all, today went much smoother than I hoped. I aced a quiz I thought I'd fail, bombed a test I thought I'd do better on, but ultimately, a ginormous weight has been lifted from my chest. All I have to do now is finish a 5 page paper by Friday, renew my license if I can and do a one page grammar worksheet. Oh, and mail the root beer stuff.

Today was a typical Monday. At work I had some difficulties with one of our huge extended length trucks. Almost all of our vehicles were in the lot today so there were no parking spaces. I spent nearly 20 minutes trying to fit this big truck into a spot and almost took out a pole and a Camry trying to make the super tight turn. It just wasn't going to happen, so eventually I double parked the truck until a spot opened later. I do have a funny story. It involves the big truck actually. So, the big truck was scheduled to go to "West MT". West Montana. I figured probably Yellowstone or something. We usually spend a little more time on vehicles going out of state, so, it being a slow day and this one going out of state, I took my time. About 30 minutes later I was nearing completion, checking the tire pressure and wiper fluid and all that, when my boss comes out to give me instructions for while he is out at lunch. First thing he says is something like, "I wouldn't spend too much time on that one, it's just going to West Mountain." In my head I'm like "Whaaaaat? West Mountain?? It clearly said MT...with a capital 'T' and NO period after the 'T'. That means Montana!" It didn't really matter, but I was pretty sure MT meant Montana. I spent a good part of the day thinking about that. This evening, I finally looked it up and found out that I was correct! "MT" is Montana. The paper should have said "Mt." or even better, "Mtn". Anyway...I looked up where West Mountain is and found out that it is 30 minutes south of here, on the opposite side of the freeway from Payson. Go figure.

At some point in the past day or so I decided I wanted chicken tetrazzini. After work today, I looked up a recipe for tetrazzini from scratch. I biked to the store and picked up some chicken and a couple other ingredients. I watched s couple episodes of Psych and then Chef Jon headed to the kitchen. I have not prepared a meal so good in awhile. It took me 2 hours, several pots, pans, bowls, knives, spoons, forks, whisks and more, but in the end, I had an extremely good smelling apartment and when I pulled my food from the oven, it looked divine. It tasted amazing. There was wine in it, which added some flavor, but this tetrazzini was really, really good. Mike and I went two doors down to a friend's apartment and shared it with 2 other guys and we almost ate the entire pan. I really enjoyed making it and I especially enjoyed eating it. It is a recipe I will definitely print out and make again sometime. I was going to make buttermilk biscuits with it, but did not have time. We were in a hurry so we could get some studying in for our midterm. Real buttermilk biscuits are difficult to make anyway, so it's better that I save that for a different day.

That's about where my day ended. After eating we studied for an hour. Now I'm going to study for my written tap dance quiz then get some sleep. Super busy for the next few days. Still have the tap quiz, the music midterm, 2 peer reviews due tomorrow in writing, a final draft due Friday in writing, some small assignments plus I need to get a doctor's appointment scheduled, a dentist appointment scheduled and renew my license! I wish I had a car!

I would like to start by getting deep and then I'll lighten things up a bit. Hopefully, if Angela sees this, she won't think I'm too boring. Today in church we had some great talks. I can't remember the context of it, I know it was about a conference talk, but I'm not sure if the quote that stuck with me was from the conference talk, from an older conference talk, if it was the speaker's admonition or what...but it was said to thank people for their influences...now I remember it was from a conference talk. It was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk. I admire him greatly. He is able to say the kinds of things I can only feel in my heart. One of my greatest challenges is showing my emotions and his example helps me improve that greatly. I hope one day I too can say with as much conviction all the things in my heart that I feel so much and so deeply, but can rarely, if ever, say. Anyway, the speaker today was sharing this talk with us and said we should thank the people who have influenced and helped us. Matter of fact, when I think again, in priesthood today another person, not referring to a conference talk, also talked about thanking people for the little things. So, today I would like to do some small thanking.

I would like to thank my parents. They...well, you're reading this, so...you, mom and dad, have had more influence over me than you can imagine. Mom, thank you for being so sensitive to the spirit. Thank you for teaching me to love and be loved. Thank you for enabling me to get the education I received and for always being there, even in the late hours of the night when I had procrastinated so long. Thank you for teaching me the importance of family and always helping me do what was right, especially when I didn't want to do it. Dad, thank you for the counsels and the blessings you've given me throughout my life. Thank you for all the camp outs, the fishing trips, the special birthdays and for going out of your way to form a true and lasting father-son relationship with me. Thank you for your emails that answered my prayers. Thank you for trusting in me.

To Lance, wherever you are, thank you for being an older brother. You've been through a lot and you're dedication to finishing school and following your dreams in music inspire me. You overcame many obstacles to get things done in life and that helped me get things done in my life. To Amelia, thank you for always being an example. I know we made fun of you when you were offended by the slightest of things, but I admire you for that. Don't give up on getting married, but make sure I still get to approve your final choice. To Michael, who openly admits he never reads my blog, thank you also for serving a mission and being an example to me. Annie...Annie, Annie, Annie...Thank you for being here for me when I need your help. I know you think that the world and all it's forces are against you and that you are destined to always be cursed, but that's just not true. Read that Book of Mormon I gave you, open your heart and I promise you that your entire life will change. To Camilla, thank you for being unique. Thank you also for your singing. Last but not least in the family, thank you Angela, A.K.A Pootie Tang. Thank you for being my best friend. Thank you for building all those forts with me in the living room. Thank you for sitting by me during scary movies and always freaking out with me when they ended and the room got dark. (You can thank Shilo for never eating my shoes if you think she was left out.)

My friends I will thank personally later, but I am thankful for the influence of many in my ward. There are a few who have always been there to see how I was doing and to help me finally get my mission papers started.

I could go on thanking, but I'll stop there for now.

Now, let's tone down the deep stuff and recap the weekend.

Saturday was pretty good. I skipped the lost and found sale to save myself from spending money. Mike came over around noon and we set up the projector for the game. The game was great for the first half, until we fell apart and allowed 2 touchdowns, effectively ending any hope for victory. I believe that if our defense plays that well the rest of the season, as long as our offense can put up points, we will finish 6-6 and go to a bowl game. It is unlikely we will beat Utah, but, if our defense can protect passes better, we could make a close game out it. Volleyball game was awesome. It was a pink-out for breast cancer awareness. It was also a 3-0 victory that marks our 5th straight sweep, which I find very impressive. Today was good. Church was insightful and I spent the afternoon and evening relaxing. Mary came over so I could show her my missionary application and that was really nice. This will be another busy week, but I hope to accomplish a lot.

To close, I will make up some words of wisdom:

I just logged into my blog and noticed that I have reached a milestone. This is my 101st post. That means that we missed my 100th post! So, in honor of hitting the 100 mark and finally fulfilling my desire to blog more frequently, here is some cool text, courtesy of...well, cooltext.com!





This blog offers me a great service. It allows me to not only tell people what's going on in life, but it helps me reflect a lot and I think it has helped me be a better person and I feel more accomplished. I know that only a handful of people read my blog...and I know that because I track everyone who visits (mwuahahaha!)...but I feel like I'm speaking to the world.

Speaking of speaking to the world, I know how I said I was going to write up some comedy stuff. I lied. I'm actually hoping to put together a little weekly talk show-like thing that I will upload, probably here to my blog somehow. I've thought about it a lot, and I'm not sure exactly what the broadcasts will be about, but I think it would be fun. I can have friends be guests on it and we can talk about things ranging from sports to politics or even just funny things we saw. I figured once I get it started I will get a feel for the direction I want it to go. I have a microphone, so I don't really need much else besides maybe some sound editing software, which I may have, or can download. This weekend is super busy and things won't slow down for me until the end of next week, but hopefully I can get something put together. This one is for real. It's been on my mind all week and I've written things down to make sure it happens.

Now, here's a brief recap of the last few days. Everyone is busy with midterms and papers, including me. I did not get a license because I found out just before I spent my day at the Provo office that Provo only handles renewing existing Utah licenses. Apparently I have to go to Orem. Not sure how I'm going to work that one out, but I have no choice. I got a haircut, it looks good. I'll try to take pictures, but I have no digital camera at the present time. After the lost and found sale in the morning, I'm going to make serious cutbacks in spending. While I'm not spending tons, I'm still spending more than I should. Next paycheck, I will pay the rest of my tuition loan off. Then I have to save, save, save. Still looking for good fund raising methods.

I'm really tired, it's 11:50 and though it's Friday, with nothing else to do, I should just go crash. Gotta be up early to wait in line to get into the lost and found sale. It's madness at this sale.

I woke up today knowing I had lots to do. I am about to go to bed tonight knowing I should have done a lot more than I did.

What I got done: Chose a speech for my 5 page rhetorical analysis due tomorrow at 6:25 pm. Got what I am 90% sure is a 100% on the in-class music ID exam in music 201. Figured out how I'm going to manage class, work, getting a haircut for my license picture, getting a driver's license, working on my paper and picking up my last paycheck from Seven Peaks (which also will serve as proof of address for my license) tomorrow.

What I did not get done: Actually work on my paper. Study for my big Music 201 midterm (which I'll take Monday or Tuesday rather than Thursday, Friday or Saturday).

I guess when I look at it, the only thing I should have done but did not was work on that paper. I have possibly an hour or so tomorrow, plus most of class to get a draft done. I think I'll be ok.

I did get to watch the the last miner get pulled from the mine and then later I turned it on to watch the last rescuer come up as well. With the last rescuer up, there are no more humans down in the mine in Chile. Despite watching about a dozen of the miners get rescued, it never got boring. The endless talking of CNN and FoxNews, which were the stations streaming the whole thing live for the past day or so, did get annoying, but, that's the media. This is definitely one of those events I won't forget. I remember when I first heard about the collapse. I did not think much of it. I did not follow the story too intensely, but I read the news. I heard they found the men trapped. I heard they had a way to send them food. I heard all the equipment they sent down and all that and I heard they would be rescued sometime around Christmas. Then recently I heard they expected to break through to the miners sooner. Next thing I knew, last Saturday, the hole had reached them and they would be pulling them up through the Pheonix tube thing Tuesday at midnight. Between Saturday and Tuesday I read up on exactly what had been going on and how the rescue would work. Then yesterday evening I tuned in to see how the rescue would go. Despite everyone saying different things, the rescue began and one by one, they pulled the miners out. It was pretty amazing.

I'm pretty pooped. My stress levels are up and I have to keep my energy to get through the extremely busy day I'll have tomorrow. Here's how it's going to go. I'm going to get up around 6:30 so I can beat my roommates to the shower so I can shave in the morning. At 8 I have tap dance. Immediately following class, I have to electronically fill out a driver's license application and print it out. I also have to print out proof of Utah residency. Since none of the traditional options will work (rental agreement was online so there's no copy, bank statements are online, utilities aren't billed to us...), I'm printing my information page on BYU's website which lists my address. Anyway, after printing out the application, I have to mail something at the post office and talk to the Academic Support Office because there is a hold on my account still that should have been removed and they keep emailing me about having to meet with someone by next week. After that I'll head to work. Promptly at 2 I'll stop at Seven Peaks to pick up my final paycheck, the stub of which has my address listed, which is also part of my proof of residency. From there, I will head all the way to the driver's license building and pray that the wait is less than an hour. With my application and proofs in hand (passport, SS card, check stub, old license and BYU info page), I hope to have no problem getting my new license. I realized I really need a license immediately since it is required for work. I can't afford to lose my job or have to stop working even for a couple days. After hopefully getting my license taken care of, depending on the time, I'll either head to campus for class or home to work on the paper. Writing gods being willing, I'll get that draft cranked out. After class, I'm just going to go home and relax for the evening. I need it.

So, go ahead. Tell me how easy my life is. I have to add lots of commentary to make my day seem long compared to the legitimately long and arduous days everyone else is telling me about. But, for me, it's tough enough. My brain is not quite up to the level of everyone else.

I just witnessed a really remarkable miracle live on tv. After 69 days trapped half a mile beneath the earth, the first couple weeks of which was spent in darkness, the first Chilean miner was rescued. What's most miraculous is how the rescue is being done. A skinny tube is being sent down to the mine and with close circuit video feed, bluetooth audio, oxygen and the like, the miner gets in the tube and rides for about 15 minutes through a rocky hole in the ground. It's 90 degrees in the mine and something like 30-40 at the top, so there's a steady flow of steam coming from the hole and the miners are putting on sweaters for the ride up. It's an extremely dramatic even that has had me glued to the telly since class ended early at 5:35 (it's 9:35 now). With the one miner up, they are sending another medic down to help out and they will continue sending miners up throughout the night and tomorrow until the entire process is complete. It takes about 20 minutes for the tube to get down, then a bit for it to be loaded and then 10-20 minutes for it to come back up, so each miner rescue takes almost an hour. There are some times that go slow, so I would expect this rescue to take at least the next 24 hours, but I wouldn't be surprised if after awhile they become more efficient and get it done quicker. Still, if you get a chance to watch it, I would recommend it. At least find video of it, which by now is probably on every news site everywhere. It's a really, really amazing story.


In other news, today was normal. We are learning a new tap routine which will be fun and a very good challenge for my brain. We learned a new step today and my brain really confused me. I had the step down perfect and then when we started doing it across the floor 3 at a time to help us solidify it, I completely forgot it and had to relearn it. I blame the teacher. She was telling us how easy it was for our brains to confuse this step with one that is the same sound, but different foot work. My brain, which did not even think about that before, could not stop thinking about it after and it was extremely hard to stop doing the other step and do the one we learned. It takes a lot of concentration and focus for me to learn so much new stuff. It's a challenge but I think it's good for me.

Everything went pretty good from there. Work was easy, as usual. Found out Doctor Who will be here in Utah next month to film on location in some desert. I plan on finding out where and trekking there. I know for a fact that there will be plenty of people doing the same. My writing class had only 3 people when class was supposed to start, with a 4th person coming in a few minutes late and a 5th a few minute later. With only half of our class there, we briefly reviewed some things and then ended class about 40 minutes early. That's when I turned on the live Chilean mine coverage and I haven't budged since, except for bathroom breaks and eating. Tomorrow, I have to start writing a 4 page rhetorical analysis draft for writing and study for an in class test in Music 201. Busy, busy, busy!

That's the news for today. As I type this, the second miner was just loaded into the capsule and is now on his way up.

I think when they named Monday, the person naming it said "mundane", but was misheard. Oh well.

Today wasn't too mundane though. We had cleaning checks, so I was up at 7:30 to clean. I cleaned for about an hour and a half, then showered and went to work. Work was way mellow. Very slow, very relaxed. Great weather. When I got back from work, things got interesting. I walked in the door to find out that the owner's son was moving into my apartment. (The owner has another son who has been living in this complex for a while already two doors down.) Like his brother, he gets his own room. This means that someone in my apartment has to move. To make it better, they said the person has to move within the next 2 days. That person will not be me. I have too much stuff to move and the option isn't even on the table for me to move rooms. What's annoying is that this was supposed to have been taken care of in summer. They told us then that the owner's sons would be moving into one apartment together. That would have moved a couple people out of one apartment and been no problem after that. That never happened and now, in the middle of mid-term week, they decide to change things up. Ultimately, I think the brothers may want to move in together, which will cause another shake up later, but hopefully I will be gone when that happens. Knowing that there was absolutely no way I would be moving, I decided to finally organize all the food I have acquired from who knows where. I moved the fridge and relocated a shelf to make things more efficient and I mentally inventoried and physically organized everything by the type of food. Canned goods here, boxed stove-top meals there...flour, sugar, etc...etc...I am very pleased with the outcome. I did throw out some old food that I had lots of newer stuff of, like flour, which I accumulated from Amelia. Now that I see exactly all that I have and it's all easier to access, I can really start using it. I plan on making bread and other baked goods more often.

I passed my cleaning check, by the way. Somehow, both of my roommates failed theirs. I disagreed with the cleaning check assessment, but, it is what it is.

Happy 10-10-10 to all you number freaks out there. Sorry to those of you who couldn't get married today and sorry to all those mothers in labor who's child won't come until tomorrow. It's probably better that way. Look on the bright side, next year you'll have 11-11-11. Then 12-12-12 and so on and so on.

Today was a good day. I'll try not to be so deep and boring so that Angela doesn't die. Testimony meeting went well and I heard some things I needed to hear. I did not go to gospel doctrine class today. The bishop told me there was a temple prep class beginning and told me I could go to that if I desired...of course I desired to. I look forward to that. I think we finally sorted out my callings. I have been sacrament meeting prayer coordinator for a year or so and supposedly I am officially done with that, though it's doubtful they will officially release me. We do not have a piano in priesthood this semester, so by default I am no longer the priesthood pianist. Now, I was a ward missionary and at the start of spring term they released everyone from their old callings. I thought that included me, but I was told by the bishop it did not. But, the ward mission leader told me it did and everyone said something different. Today, I found that I am, in fact, still a ward missionary. So, unless things change, I have only one calling now.

This week will be busy, mostly due to my one midterm in Music 201. I am extremely glad I only have 6.5 credits, because I could not handle even a credit more. My brain is overloading just trying to remember all the greek artists, philosophers, writers and the medieval musicians I have to know for my exam.

My mission papers should get started this week. Hopefully I get my medical and dental stuff done ASAP so I can get my call ASAP. My bishop is concerned about my health, and to be honest, I'm a little bit as well, but I feel like proceeding is the right thing to do and no matter what, it will all work out. The only thing with my health that concerns me is my brain. I am still often confused, I stutter my speech a few times and it just feels like my brain is not at 100%. Energy levels are ok. I need to re-establish some sort of work-out, whether it be in the gym or at home, I have to work my body more than just biking a couple miles each day and walking everywhere. My physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health are all highly improved from 6 months ago, but I still have lots I can improve on.

Wish me luck on my test. I need all the help I can get!

Homecoming Saturday turned out to be way better than anyone anticipated. We'll begin with the morning.

The parade was fun to watch, but more fun was when towards the end of it, there was a big 2-3 block gap in the floats, so Mike and I decided that since it was almost over and we were starving, we were going to go make brunch. As we started crossing the street, we realized we were decked out in our BYU game day garb like most people in the parade. With the big gap, people might think the parade was over, so, with a couple pieces of candy in hand, we marched right through the middle of the street as if we were part of the parade. People totally bought it. Little kids and families cheered as we walked by, we threw our candy out and an old man asked us what group we were with. We told him we were filling in space and he cheered out "Yay for space fillers!" It was awesome. Plus we actually did people a service. The floats ahead of us finished the parade before the next floats came around the corner a full 3 blocks back, but people saw us walking along telling people there was more, so no one left early and missed anything. It was a win-win situation.

After the parade we went home and made some brunch. One person, who lives two doors down, came. I made donuts, but not mom's recipe. I wanted to try an old fashioned cake donut recipe. I made a couple in the donut maker I had. They tasted pitiful. Then I heated up some lard, yes, real, 100% lard, and fried them. The difference in taste and texture was like night and day. I'll be returning the donut maker ASAP and buying up more lard in the near future. The old fashioned donuts were ok. They were a bit more dry than I had hoped, but I could probably fix that. We didn't ice them either and that would help. Once the 2 dozen donut holes and dozen and half full donuts I made are gone, I'll probably make mom's recipe. I do have some questions about it though before I make them.

I finished the donuts just in time for us to head over the pre-game festivities, where Mike and I each won a drawstring backpack, some Sonic coupons and a bunch of other coupons and candy and Y stickers and such. We put our winnings in our backpacks and headed to the game, where we witnessed a total turn around in BYU Football this year. Bronco did not wear his super high class polo. He wore his "Band of Brothers" shirt from a few years ago (that was the slogan for that year). He was all over the field in the pre-game drills, high-fiving players left and right and really being a part of the team. When the team runs out on the field, Bronco has always walked along the sideline to the player benches while the rest of the team runs. This time, he led the team and then halfway on the field he turned and tapped and high-fived all the players as they ran by. He was a totally different coach and I think it really affected our players. Our defense was stellar in the first quarter and Bronco did two things he hasn't done in years, if ever. He used his challenge on a play that should have been an SDSU fumble that we recovered. Not only did he challenge it, but he was standing on the field the entire time of the review pointing his arm the way the call should have been. That fired our defense up. Then, something I've never seen us do that I can remember, we did a fake field goal on 4th down and converted! If you look up the stats from that game, we had huge changes. Every team has put up 400 yards or so on us in the past few games. We've put up nearly none. Against the nation's top rushing teams, we've been slaughtered. SDSU is 24th in rushing and in the 1st half we held them to -3 yards and in the 2nd half only 53. Our rushers put up somewhere around 270 yards, setting some season highs as a team and many personal highs as players. We still have lots to improve on, but if we improve as much this week as we did in this last week, we will be in good shape to still have a 6-6 season, put up points on TCU and scare Utah. The win was great to have yesterday though.

To make things sweeter, our womens volleyball swept UVU (we swept SDSU the other night) and our womens soccer team beat Air Force. 3 homecoming games, 3 victories. I am content.

I had a good Friday today. Work kept me busy. Lots of people renting vehicles for homecoming things like the parade. The weather was, of course, fabulous. High of 59 with it changing between clouds and sun. The mountains stayed in the clouds all day, but the valley opened up a couple times and the sunlight flooded in. This evening I went and hiked the Y with some friends from my freshman ward. I brought Mike along too so he could have some social interaction. It was the perfect weather for hiking. Cool, cloudy and the sun was low in the sky. On the way up we watched a marvelous sunset over Utah Lake. At the top we sat and enjoyed the scenery as dusk came upon us. Right as we left the lights on the Y for homecoming were lit. It was cool to be on the Y with lights around. Lots of people were looking at me, but didn't know it from so far away.

Tomorrow is the big day. Parade in the morning, big brunch planned at my place after. Then we'll hit up some tailgates, win some prizes, pray a lot and see if our team can pull off a win. I think we can if our defense can settle in and our receivers can make catches. I have hope.

My little rant I will keep brief. I could go on and on about it, but I just wanted to point out that this week I've given some thought to gays and their reaction to President Packer's talk and also to any notion presented by anyone that they can change. Now, I do not and probably can not understand how it feels to be gay, but I have noticed a truth. The gay community (and I mean the people who speak for the gay community, I understand there are probably many who do not share this sentiment and do want to change) is so caught up in trying to stand out and solidify their differences with society that they have completely lost all sense of truth concerning gay temptations. These so called leaders of gays spend so much time fighting society and bickering with non-supporters, I doubt any of them have ever really tried to overcome being gay. It's easy to give in to a problem when the solution is not easy and that's exactly what I think they have done. Because psychologists and other professionals were unprepared with research and studies on the matter, there was little they could do. So, rather than really fight the fight to overcome it and seek out help in every manner possible, they gave in. They dug a trench, made themselves seem alienated and abandoned by society and basically pissed and moaned about every little thing they could. And how dare they be so selfish that they neglect the negative effect they have on everyone. If you are gay, do not tell me you are cursed. Do not tell me you are just going to accept it. I expect you to make every effort to overcome those temptations, just like I make every effort to overcome the temptations for women. I have the utmost faith in you if you will really give it the time it needs. I'm sickened by those "leaders" who are blind to the true needs of those who want help. They have no authority and if they continue on the path they have chosen, they never will. I'm sorry for speaking so boldly, but I can not and will not sit idly by as these people cause a scourge among people I know and will possibly know in the future. My observation is not up for argument, but I welcome civil, honest and true discussion.

Well, today began ok. I was totally prepared for my tap dance test. I had the routine down and I had no worries. But, I always forget that not everything goes according to plan. We test in groups of 3. I had 2 people I thought would be great. Unfortunately, one of them began speeding up, which caused the other to speed up, which left me behind but trying to stay with the music. I had to kind of stop and just follow them for a few beats before we hit a good point to jump back on track. I really hope that doesn't hurt my grade too much. I wasn't the one who sped up, but in a group, that doesn't matter and I don't think the teacher can really determine who it was that sped up...oh well. I'm not concerned.

Work went fine. It was another gorgeous day and I just went right to it getting cars prepped. Speaking of the weather, it really is unbelievably awesome. The peaks of a few mountains are lightly covered in snow, just enough snow to look inspiring, but not enough to make you worry for winter. With the mountains in full sunlight backdropped by storms moving in, the sunset this evening was breathtaking. Tomorrow should be similar and then Saturday will be sunny with a high of 65 and low of 44. Perfect football weather...if our team decides to play football.

I heard a somewhat funny thing today. My classmates were talking about slow movies and someone said something like "It's a slow movie and it doesn't really pick up until the climax." To me that was kind of funny because that's kind of what the climax is supposed to be. Movies today do start pretty quickly compared to older ones (which is what they were talking about), but they are supposed to build up to the climax, so I chuckled when they said that.

Tomorrow is Friday. I have no plans. I may go hike the Y with some friends and random people...we'll see.

For the first time in weeks, time dragged by today. Work seemed to last an eternity, class (which was half as long as work) seemed to go on for two eternities. I slept great last night too, so I'm not sure what caused time to go so slow. Despite the absolutely gorgeous cool weather that alternated a few times between sunshine, partly cloudiness and rain showers, today was bleh.

Tomorrow I have a tap dance test, which I think I am prepared for. I should have gone to practice tonight. Every Wednesdays the tap room is reserved for classes to practice, but I had a bit of a headache and opted to not go. Hopefully I do well enough to not have to regret that. This week will be quite busy with midterms. I should say, for me it will be busy. Compared to everyone else, my week will be a piece of cake, but my brain can barely comprehend the simple schedule I have. The next week for me has a tap dance test, two midterms to study for in Music 201, grammar worksheets in writing as well as starting a 5 page rhetorical analysis paper for writing. Intertwine that with regular homework and for me, it's enough. I bet most people would kill to have it that easy though.

That's all I really have for today. Not much going on. I am planning a brunch for Saturday after the homecoming parade. With my luck, since I actually made plans for it, no one will come (besides Mike who always wants a free meal) and it will be an utter failure. But, I still try. One day the world will surprise me and I'll have a successful event...I say that as my fireworks sit there...

Oh...by the way, I was looking back at those pictures I put on recent posts from the victory over Oklahoma...you'll never guess who was in one of the photos:

IT'S CIGAR GUY!

Today was another great day. The weather was unbelievably nice, work went quickly and easy, classes were fun. The Y on the mountain is lit for homecoming (and also to remind everyone to pray a lot for Saturday).

I would like to share a song I recently heard. I first heard this song about a week ago when I was having a bit of a tough day. I was worrying too much about the future and the present and decisions and things like that. I was at work, listening to my ipod, thinking too much about those things when it played. The lyrics came with all my John Denver songs, so once the song started and it caught my attention, I read the lyrics. The song really put me at ease and helped me feel good about life. The title of the song is "Gravel on the Ground".

Here is a video with the song, just ignore the pictures, at least the first time, they just distract you from the music: Gravel on the Ground

For your convenience, here are the lyrics:

Gravel On The Ground

I would also like to say more about what I mentioned (and indicated I would say more about) in yesterdays post regarding how people see me.

I try to live my life the way I learned was right. The boy scouts program taught me a lot about life and trained me in leadership, as well as countless other things. The church also taught me a lot. Between the programs in the church and the boy scouts, I grew in ways I still do not realize. The way I act and manage myself is not always apparent to me. At times, I admit that I have faltered in my honesty and integrity. One thing has surprised me though: People do notice how you live. People do notice what you believe. People do base their respect for you on what they notice. I can think of a few occasions where accusations were made about me, whether it be something someone thought they heard me say or something they heard that I did. In those occasions, where many people were rumoring and conjuring up all sorts of thoughts about me (as is human nature), someone stood up for me. And it was usually a person who would do the things others were accusing me of doing. That really inspires me. That someone who does not believe what I do and does not live as I try to live would stand by me and say, "No, Jon would not do that, you are mistaken" really gives me a whole new perspective on things. It makes me try even harder to live by the standards I chose to follow. I am grateful for those people who have stood by me in those times. They taught me a lot and have helped to humble me. I can always use some humbling. As long as I'm still here on the earth, I need humbling.

A quick note here. I re-read yesterday's post and I was astonished and embarrassed at the extremely abnormal amount of typing errors and grammatical mistakes. I was typing from a very awkward position hanging over the edge of my lovesac. It was uncomfortable and my post went WAY longer than I thought it would...so I blame that. For the record, I am still highly proficient in writing, grammar, usage, etc...

PS- I saw snow again for the first time this year! The white top of Mt. Timpanogas graced my view this morning and as oddly as this sounds, really boosted my morale. I love snow, it's so pretty. Something about it always makes me happy.

More to come later today.

I have to admit that, in recent months, my Mondays have really improved. I used to try my best to have good Mondays, but it seemed like to matter what, Mondays always sucked. Now, even without me even trying, Mondays turn out to be good days. Today was a good day. Nothing bad happened. Nothing spectacular happened either, but with no troubles and no worries, how could it be a bad day?

I did win a little game at work. When people pick up the vehicles they are renting, there is one piece of paper that we print that has all the information, like the renter, the department, the mileage, the vehicle type, special instructions, etc. etc...A slow day sees 10-15 vehicles going out, with busier days having maybe 30 or more out. Each one that goes out means one sheet of paper. Those accumulate fairly quickly. I would estimate that we easily go through 100 of those a week. When the vehicles are returned, the new mileage is recorded as well as the time and day they returned it. Those papers are then used to bill the department for the proper amount, a process done by the boss. After billing and entering in proper information, I guess those papers get kept for a bit. When the boss gets a big stack, he puts it out and we do a game. This was my first experience with this. Everyone (all 5 or 6 of us that work there) tries to guess how many sheets of paper there are. Today, the stack contained 604 sheets. My guess was 625 and I was the closest. I narrowly defeated someone who guessed in the 640s. Supposedly the loser has to bring donuts, so if that happens, I guess you could say I won donuts for everyone. Funny...since winning that backyard BBQ nearly a decade ago, I NEVER win anything. Though this was a small victory, I'm happy to have it.

We had our first storms in what seems like forever today. The storms here are nothing compared to the powerful tempests of Texas, or the gusts of the East. There were some good wind gusts today though. This morning one moved through, blowing dust everywhere for 15 minutes before the rains came. It only lasted a few minutes before clearing up, but later this afternoon more came. Within seconds rain was blown completely horizontally, soaking the 7-8 feet of patio to my doorstep and even managing to wash the front windows to the top. We received a large amount of water in the afternoon storm. It dumped on us for 10 minutes before moving on. From now until the end of the week, the temperature will slowly fall. By Friday, the high should only be in the low 60s, with lows going down to as cool as 42. It will be a glorious week.The mornings have been a cool 50, but for the past month straight almost, we've had highs in the 80s. Fall has officially arrived.

Now for some real news.

I have made an important decision that I hope will make me a more honest person. I have gladly admitted for some time now that I download movies often. I have rationalized my illegal downloads with the couple times a year I pay to go to the theater. While I have my beef with the entertainment industry, I also feel that if am going to be the person I want to be and the person that many people see me as (I'll say more on this in a moment), then I need to not download pirated movies so much, or even at all. After work, I wanted to watch a movie. I looked through what I had, but, as usually happens, I found nothing that appealed to me today. Then I remembered that my family has a netflix account. I used to have one, but years ago discontinued it for financial reasons. I logged into the family account and found many things that appealed to me. I clicked to watch some tv episodes I love, but it said that the 6 registered viewing device limit was reached and that I would have to remove one of those devices (a computer, wii or the like) to watch from my computer. I figured it would be no problem to remove one of them, but then I started thinking. I'm sure my family would have no problem with me using their account. I am, after all, part of the family. But, having mooched countless hours of free videos already, I did not feel right about doing that. I came to the conclusion that the best thing for me to do would be to sign up for a basic account. Though a small monthly fee is required, I know that it is within my budget and would be an honest investment in entertainment. Because of the numerous movies and shows you can stream live in addition to getting DVDs in the mail, I'm going to pitch the idea to Mike to see if he will split the cost of the 2 DVD plan with me. Then he too can stream movies free and get an occasional DVD.

Now if I can just get those dadgum fireworks up to Wyoming, I can be a law abiding citizen in every aspect of my life!

Well, conference has ended. But it was really good and certainly won't be forgotten.

Funny story:
Last night after priesthood session, I really wanted ice cream. I had brought my wallet along with me to the Marriott, but I did not want just a little cone. As it happened, Annie was in town visiting Rachel Price (who is apparently going to school at BYU), so they came over to my apartment. I had my heart set on BYU Sparkle sherbet and I wanted to get a big 3 gallon bucket of it. The only place to get that is at the Creamery on 9th, so Mike, Annie, Rachel and I loaded up the SUV and headed over. At the ice cream section, we were met with a little disappointment. There were no 3 gallon buckets. We asked a kind employee and she said they usually have to be special ordered unless they had that flavor in the back. We got lucky, because they had a nice big 3 gallon bucket of Sparkle Sherbet! We got luckier, because sherbet is $18.99 for 3 gallons and creamy ice cream flavors are $27.99 for 3 gallons. Most people buy the 2 quart sizes, with a few getting 5 quarts occasionally and people walking out with 3 gallons usually only for ward parties and other large events. But, I threw that big bucket up on my shoulder and we literally paraded around the store to the front, showing everyone how cool we are. After making our purchase, we went to the ice cream counter and bought some of their big homemade waffle cones (only 75 cents each). When we got home we invited some friends from my complex over, took pictures with the bucket and had a mini ice cream social. I expect I'll be having a few more ice cream socials in the next month.

This week is homecoming week for BYU. We're all praying for miracles. Other than that, not much is going on. Still hoping to have my mission papers started soon. For once I'm not the one holding things up!

I better go eat some ice cream. I've had 9 scoops already today and it doesn't look like I've made a dent in it yet.

Today was a marvelous day. I got started around 8:15 this morning. At 9 there was a documentary about the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir's tour from Cincinnati to Colorado. I had planned on just turning that on while I made some breakfast and surfed the net, but I ended up completely captivated by it and enjoyed it tons! It set a great tone for me before conference. Then, conference was amazing. Several of the talks had things that pertained to me and I gained a lot from them. In between the morning and afternoon session I learned a lesson. When you ride your bike to the grocery store, do not get anything more than is on your list, even if you need it. I had a partial list of things to get today and I went to grab them. At the store, I remembered some other things I needed and there were a couple great prices on fresh fruit and I ended up with much more than I could bike home, even with a backpack. I tried loading it all up, but when I hung the bags from the handle bars, they hung too low. I thought I could hold them away from the tire, but once I started going, they quickly bobbled to and fro and it was only seconds before the front tire ripped a bag open, spilling my canned tomaters. I shuffled my things, putting all the heavier things in my backpack (including a gallon of milk) and then proceeded to walk my bike home with bags still hanging from the handle bars. My other problem was that I went the opposite way than home is, hoping to bypass traffic. On a bike that would not have been a problem, walking, however, it added as much as 15 minutes to my walk. After pushing my bike for blocks, a thought popped into my head. If you tie the bags up in a double knot, you can slide the gap under the knot on the handle bar and it will be high enough to not hit the tires. And so I did, and I was able to ride my bike the rest of the way home safely. Thank goodness! Unfortunately, it took me so long to get back that I did not get to make the donuts I wanted to make during the break.

Priesthood session was really really good as well and I'm sure I'll be going back to listen to talks from it again. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's sessions!

I did want to clarify one thing. In priesthood session, President Uchtdorf spoke on pride. My thoughts turned briefly to my summer story. I do not want anyone to think that I wrote all those things to say that I'm so amazing or that I'm better than anyone. I wrote those things because I am so grateful for my summer. I am grateful for the inspiration I found and for the changes I made with the help of my Father in Heaven and I wanted to share that joy with each of you.

I'll leave you all with a quote I saw on a wall:

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience."

Today I just have a few funny things to tell you.

First, my sideburns really are an extremely identifiable mark on me. I found this picture on the student fan club's facebook page. It was taken last year during the all night celebration of our football victory over Oklahoma. Here's a Where's Waldo The Colonel for ya. See if you can find me.
As you can see by the long brown line down the side of my head there, it is clearly me. Mike is standing next to me, if you didn't notice (look at the 1st picture, you'll never notice him in the inverted one...hehe).

Since we're looking at photos from then, here's another I found from the same night taken by some random person:
99% sure that's Mike on the right...Mary, Amelia, Annie and myself were at the car we came in grabbing blankets and such while he held our spot up front. Even if I couldn't recognize his face, this picture, taken by us, proves it: