It has long been my belief that if you are not moving forward, you are moving backward. There is very little leveling or stagnation, for if you are content to never change, it does not take long before your contentment leaves you sliding back in your progression.

I have had a very blessed past six months that has found me on a strong upswing, though recently, I felt as if I was beginning to stall. I took a look at where I am in this current chapter of my life and then looked at where I would like to be in the next couple chapters. One thing was absolutely clear. Regardless of what I do next, I need to better position myself to get there. There are steps I need to take to be prepared financially, physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. The wheels are now in motion to achieve my goals.

This weekend, I moved. I now have a room in a four bedroom house about a mile down the road from my old residence. This move will alleviate my finances a fair amount and hopefully growth in other areas will follow. I will be in a new ward at church, which will be an interesting challenge.

I reactivated my Facebook account this weekend as well. However, I pared down my account significantly to reduce the need to frequent the site. Essentially, I want to enjoy the ability to share my blog there and allow other people who no longer see telephones as a means of communication an extra resource for contacting me. My month and a half away has been extremely invigorating. I definitely found far more value in my conversations and associations with friends. It is amazing how much more you can talk about when you have not shared your every thought already. I do not refute that Facebook is a powerful tool, but I irrevocably believe that friendships and relationships built as far outside the virtual realm as humanly possible will always be stronger, more meaningful, and will lead to a real and true happiness that cannot exist online.

Now to venture off topic for a moment, though I suppose this does fit well into the topic of moving forward and change. I am excited to announce that beginning next Wednesday, I will be writing a weekly blog post for the Catering/Dining Services blog "Exceeding Expectations". The management has been chasing me down for over half a year attempting to force me to do it. I hate feeling forced and I was very confused with what they wanted and though I tried several times, I could never come up with anything of substance. Then, somewhat out of the blue, I had an idea, sat down, and the series I will write was born. Here is a little teaser for you:

Food is a fact of life. It is all around us. In our homes, in our workplace, even in our cars; food is always present. Food is more important than you may believe. Aside from the obvious vital nutritional benefits to our bodies, food connects us socially. Think of a time you participated in a social gathering; a wedding, a birthday party, a funeral, a holiday party, a farewell, a business meeting, a conference, an interview, a sporting event, or even a simple day out enjoying nature. Food was likely involved, and even more likely, was a large part of why you attended. As people, we see food as a means of uniting us. If you feed them, they will come.

My name is Jon and I am a Catering Chef for University Catering. I would like to invite you to join me on a journey to see food differently. Throughout this journey, I will introduce you to our entire dining establishment and our staff, who have dedicated their careers to food and the coming together of people it brings. Each week, we will explore a new dining operation on campus and the purpose each place serves. We will meet workers from all walks of life who passionately provide service to loyal customers each day. Together, we will discover how food affects us daily and how Utah State University provides for the culinary demands of an ever changing world.

The series will run through the end of the semester and should be loads of fun. I will be sure to link each post to here for you all.

Our Song of the Day comes from a fantastic movie I always love watching. It is "Keep on the Sunny Side" from the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Enjoy and have a great weekend!