State of the Union

8:38 PM |
I just finished watching President Obama deliver this year's State of the Union address. Regardless of your political opinions and your opinion of the president, I recommend everyone listen to the State of the Union. If nothing else, it is an excellent and fairly quick way to catch up on what is going on in this nation and what direction things are going.

I won't go into too much detail about the speech tonight, but I did want to agree with a couple things that President Obama talked about. First, our infrastructure. I have always been a little embarrassed by the major decline in our infrastructure. There is a major lack in public transportation and we've been needing high speed rail for a long time. You would think that the nation that practically revolutionized infrastructure that we would be further along, but we aren't. I'm excited by the prospect of 80% of the nation having access to high speed rail by 2035. I believe we need a variety of quality transportation methods. We need efficient cars, public transportation, high speed trains, airplanes and more to make getting around this country affordable and accessible. The way I see it, if you have multiple methods for travel, you have more jobs and reasonable prices, which leads to people using these systems more. With more accessible transportation methods you don't have to worry about people not traveling. I know we would travel more if it were easier. It should not be this difficult to get out and see the other side of the country.

The second thing I agree with is looking for renewable energy. I especially liked how Obama said big oil companies are doing alright on their own and they don't need our billions of dollars. I really think we need to produce our own energy. Harness the winds, absorb the sun, and discover energy sources that I know are out there. I doubt there's some new element that will power the world with a few ounces, but I bet there are techniques and sciences to be discovered that can have a major positive impact on our energy production and consumption.

Lots of things were said that sounded great, but, sadly, will either never fully come to pass, or will take too long to accomplish, but I just want to say that though times seem bad right now, I am extremely proud to be a citizen of the United States of America. I am so glad I can get up every day, put on whatever clothes I want, go to school, go to work, practice my religion, own guns, cast my vote, and even write on this blog.

If you missed it, go back and watch the state of the union. Know what your government is doing. Take what goals the president set that you agree with and support and see what you can do to help accomplish them. That's how we're going to succeed.
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Update

1:14 PM |
Well, with most of the craziness of the start of the semester behind me now, hopefully I can devote a little more time to this blog.

A few quick updates on life. First, I dropped Chemistry and I am likely going to drop my major as well. I joined the major wanting to learn all about food and I was hoping to find a fulfilling job that would enable me to share my passion for food with everyone. Food chemistry does not really allow me to do that. If I could even manage all the science involved with it, I would start out doing technical work, developing products. I like creating new food, but not in a lab on a micro-level. This past week I really thought and prayed a lot about it and two times, once by a speaker from the food science industry and again by Condoleeza Rice, I was told the same thing. Find your passion, the thing you want to wake up to every day for the rest of your life and be excited about. I realized that my passion is making food in the kitchen and sharing it with people. The two things I love most are food and serving people and when I put the two together, it's just a fantastic thing for me. Another thing I realized when looking through all the majors BYU offers is that perhaps it's not that I'm in the wrong major, but maybe I'm in the wrong school. If you know me, then you know that I am BYU through and through. I didn't consider UVU's associates degree in culinary arts because I felt I would be betraying BYU. But, I have finally swallowed enough pride to look at all my options. For now, I'm still taking a full load of classes here that fulfill requirements in my major, but I'm taking ones that will be beneficial regardless of where I end up (Book of Mormon, Public Speaking, Nutrition, Intro to Food Science, and Accounting). I filled out an application to the CIA..the Culinary Institute of America...but I did not submit it because the application fee is $50 and I didn't want to shell that much out until I've looked at all my options and I wouldn't be starting this year anyway. I think I want to go to a culinary school and get a bachelors in either culinary arts of culinary arts management.

Anyhow, that's the latest on that. This week Condoleeza Rice gave a forum address. She was a great speaker and had a lot of good things to say. I enjoyed the forum very much and learned a lot from her.

I know I said I wasn't going to update my life on my blog, but until I put together a weekly newsletter like I used to have, I'll post updates on here.
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New Year, New Thoughts

7:50 PM |
As I indicated before, I was looking to change how I wrote my blog. Today, I finally realized what my vision will be for the year. My posts will be nothing more than my observations and thoughts on things I see each day. I will analyze things such as political news, and with my growing interest in social science, I will likely talk about many things relating to societies across the world. Food will likely be discussed as well and anything interesting I learn from class worth sharing. So, without further delay, enjoy my first post.


The other day I was talking with my good friend Hilary about foods I want to make this year. I've been seeking new things to try and she suggested something I've never heard of. Quinoa, pronounced keen-wah. She spoke of how extremely healthy it is and how it was a staple food for the Incas in the region of the Andes in South America. My interest in quinoa turned to intrigue as I researched everything I could about it. As I read a blog on someone's travels in Peru, they talked about how often they ate quinoa and then shared a recipe I will very soon be making for Rustic Tomato & Quinoa Soup. Then today, as I was perusing the news during a break from classes and work, I came across a featured article about quinoa and it's importance to Bolivian farmers. As I read the article, I felt inspired and privileged to be reading it. I began to think of how different things are in other countries. I used to poke lots of fun at organic food and other healthy foods, but the more informed I become, the more I want to snatch up all the healthy foods I can. Especially the kinds of foods like quinoa, where the farmers sacrifice a lot to provide for their families. Food is a special thing to me and it becomes even more special when I prepare foods that were brought about with care and true hard work. A bowl of mac n' cheese may taste good, but a machine made it, packaged it, and shipped it. I'm really looking forward to making my quinoa soup and enjoying a meal that was provided by a farmer who lives a life of true devotion. A farmer who uses the extra money he makes with the growing popularity of quinoa not to buy a bigger tv, but to increase his herds of alpaca, whose manure then provides fertilization for crops. Here is a link to the article if you would also like to be a little inspired today:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110104/ap_on_re_us/lt_fea_food_quinoa_rising

Another thing I noticed (again) today is how unfair the world can be. You may have seen the article on the homeless man's amazing talent. He has a golden voice. Unfortunately, hard times befell him, bad choices were made and he is now without work and without a roof over his head. He was reduced to using his golden voice to make a dollar from passersby. Sadly, things like this happen often and great talents go wasted for a time. Luckily, I'm sure that with the popularity of the story, he will find a job soon. What was more interesting to me than the story, however, were the comments that were made. I'm sure you've read the comments below a story and been surprised at how ridiculous the things you read are. Here is an exact quote of what one person said: "he is a dirty no good homeless drug addict bum". I do not want to draw too much attention to this person, but I really cannot understand how someone could really believe that. That's another interesting thing about people. Read the opinion page of the paper. People convince themselves of the most outrageous things and they defend their convictions with a blood-thirsty wrath that, quite frankly, baffles and astounds me. And if you missed that article, here it is:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/amplifier/51933/golden-voiced-homeless-man-captivates-internet/

Anyway, this year I will take more note of things around that are worth a little discussion and I will post them here, either daily or as often as I can. I encourage your thoughts and insights as well, so I will try to find a better commenting area. For some reason the regular comment wall has never worked. I'll get right on fixing that.

Best wishes to you all this year and I hope we can all become more aware of the world around us and grow from sharing it.
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The Holidays

8:33 PM |
 
The holiday break is almost over and in a couple days it will be back to the grindstone. Here's a recap of what I did this break.
My brother, sister and I drove out to meet my family in Iowa at my grandparent's (on my mom's side). It was a bit cramped, but we managed and I had a great time. In Iowa we spent lots of time playing games and having fun. The night we all arrived the snow started falling and by morning nearly half a foot had accumulated on what was left from their last storm. We went sledding on Christmas Eve and had a blast, though it's worth mentioning that the temperature never got above 28 degrees while I was there, and hovered generally in the teens. I had lots of fun with my favorite sister Angela (aka Pootie Tang) and her dog, going on lots of walks and sticking together a lot when we went places. We had our German Christmas, which entails a delicious sausage, gravy and bread meal and doing all gifts the night before Christmas. Christmas morning we all slept in, then played games throughout the day. Monday the weather was looking like we would have to come home early, so we shuffled our plans around and went to Nauvoo. I've been before, but never in the winter. It was really nice to go see the different things again, especially with hardly anyone there. I made a rope with my sisters and Angela and I went and got bricks from the brick mason. It was in Nauvoo where the funniest moment in recent memory occurred. We walked down the Trail of Hope to the river. Angela and I walked ahead and got there first. The river was frozen so we wanted to walk a few feet out on it. We were looking for a big rock to throw to see how far we could safely go. Angela walked towards some rocks by some logs and, startled by her approach, a full grown, ginormous Canadian Goose jumped out of nowhere and started flapping it's wings running the other way. This scared the heck out of Angela and the only way you can ever understand how funny it was is if I give you a re-enactment of her reaction. It was PRICELESS! We laughed about it for the rest of the trip and I still crack up thinking about it. After walking out on the river a couple feet we went and saw an eagle's nest with a majestic American Eagle perched on it. Apparently there are lots of eagles around that area in the winter. During the trip, I saw about 6 or 7 American Eagles, some sitting in trees, some soaring through the skies. All of them were amazing and inspiring to see. After Nauvoo we went to Carthage, which is just about a half hour down the road. We had a great experience there and it was really nice to go there again. 

Monday ended with us going out to dinner with my grandparents. We had a nice meal at a local family restaurant. Tuesday we knew we had to leave around noon or get stuck in some bad snowstorms on the way back. We packed up and all headed to the Amana Colonies. The Amana Colonies is an area settled by the Germans a long time ago...they are not the Amish, which is what a lot of us who haven't been before thought. In the present day Amana Colonies are many different shops. A wool shop, a furniture shop, a kitchen shop, candle shop, toy shop, general store, wineries, breweries, restaurants and more. We picked the shops we wanted to go to and had a great time. I, of course, spent a lot of time in the kitchen shop, which was called The Kitchen Sink. There were so many things I wanted, but I had my dad hold me back so I only walked away with a knife sharpener, a pastry blender, a mug for a present for Phillip, and some candy sticks. At the general store I picked up some white kernel popcorn and some peach drink mix, both of which have provided me with delicious snacks since getting home. The last hurrah for us was lunch at a restaurant. We shared our final meal, then stopped at the general store, then said our tearful *cough* *cough* goodbyes. I tried smuggling Angela with me, but could not. After what is probably the longest hug I've ever had, she finally accepted that I had to go. We loaded into our separate vehicles and departed, us headed west for Utah, ironically following a similar path that the pioneers took from the point where we had stood just a day before, and the rest of the family back to the grandparents for a couple days. It was the right decision to leave early as we beat the snowstorm in Wyoming, which would close the freeway two days later when we would have been leaving originally. At the border though, having already endured some blowing snow for an hour, we had the scariest 2 hours of our lives. It was only about 80 miles from the border to the Salt Lake Valley, but it was an absolute blizzard. We immediately kicked the vehicle into 4 wheel drive, which I am absolutely certain, along with the at least 200 prayers we each said to ourselves, saved our lives. The roads through the pass were covered with several inches of snow, and the snow was blowing in high winds, making it nearly impossible to see ahead more than a few feet. We could basically see far enough to know which direction the road might turn, and sometimes we didn't even know that. We would watch the lights of semis and more daring travelers who passed us to see where the road went. Though tired from a day of driving, our fear kept us completely alert. Two hours later, we finally began our descent from Park City to Salt Lake. Even that was treacherous. We saw two accidents along the way, one a t-boned suburban, the other a flipped car. By some miracle, the only real "oh no" moment we had was when we had to pump the breaks for a second to get the car to slow down rapidly to get around another vehicle that was stopping quickly. Once we got down to the entrance to the canyon, the snow turned to rain very rapidly and our hearts resumed normal paces. From there we only encountered wet roads, rain and Utah drivers until Utah Valley, which had slush on the roads. Provo received several inches of snow overnight, so we put it back in 4 wheel drive in town. We dropped Mike off, then headed to my place, effectively ending the journey.

This New Years was the least interesting one I've had in my life. No one was really in town that I was aware of, Mike was sick, and the roads were sheer ice from the storms meaning Annie couldn't come down, so Phillip and I partied. We watched a couple movies, then turned on a countdown. I set up some fireworks to light off and put the speakers outside. At midnight, we blared music, lit off a bunch of fireworks and had a mini dance party for ourselves on the patio. It was about 8 or 9 degrees out, so after 25 minutes, when our hands started stinging with a fierce pain, we went back inside. Phillip talked to his mom, I played a prank on Evan, who is home in New York, then we went to bed.

Today I made Hoppin' John, which turned out DELICIOUS! Hoppin' John is a dish made with black-eyed peas and rice. You cook a ham hock or, in my case, a ham bone, an onion, garlic, and black-eyed peas together for an hour and a half. Then you cut the meat off the bone and add it to the pot and chuck the bone. You add the rice and when the rice is done, so are you. I had a really good ham bone with lots of meat left, so mine tastes amazing. The smoked ham flavor really makes it good. Anyway, if you eat Hoppin' John on New Years Day, you have a prosperous year of good luck.

So, there's my vacation in a nutshell. It was my first real break in a couple years, so it was really nice to kick back and have no obligations. Next week school starts and life gets stressful again. But, I still have a couple days. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!


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