Smugness

Let me tell you about something I hate - smugness. You want to know something that bothers me even more? I can think of many times in my own sordid past when I have been the one committing this sin. I'm going to admit something to you that I hate to admit: right around the time when I was leaving on my mission, and soon after I got into the MTC, I had an incredible air of self-righteousness. One of my friends that was also serving a mission had a girlfriend that he left behind that I thought he was maybe too focused on, so I wrote him a letter telling him to redirect his energies away from her and back toward the mission. All that may not sound that bad, but you also don't know the feeling I put into that letter and what an incredible moron I was for thinking I had the market cornered on being a haughty 19 year old missionary who knew everything about anything. Dave and Laura can probably guess who I wrote that letter to. I've since apologized, and every time I think about it, I want to apologize again, which may even happen shortly after I finish this post.

There are different manifestations of it, but it often gets expressed in a form such as, "well so and so has (or hasn't ever) done this or that," or, "I would(not) do this or that." Usually said with arms folded, with a smile showing no teeth, and typically comes as a statement that leaves a lot of implied things that aren't actually stated. Something along the lines of, "Well I would never have done that (so you are an idiot for doing so)." With the arms folded.

It also often gets an additional clause in there that helps alert you right away that the person has no idea what he or she is talking about: Well, when I get married/have kids/etc. I will always (never) such and such. The fact remains that you are not at that point so you don't have any idea what the heck you will or won't do.

Here's what I see as the source of smugness: ignorance borne of inexperience, or some other lack of knowledge. It's making assumptions about things that you just don't know much, if anything, about. In the last month or so I have run into several prime examples of smugness, which often doubles as a general overriding feeling of douchebaggery, and I could just as well punch it right in the face. I want to hit it right in the middle of the face where it would break the bridge of the nose and would leave a forever reminder of why it ever happened in the first place. Don't fold your arms at me, and wipe that smirk off your face.

You can go to hell smugness. I want no part of you.

Exploring the World of Decorative Pillows

Yup, it happened yesterday. We don't have any pillows on our couches in our living room, and the arm rests are way too high and very firm, so they're not conducive at all for napping making out, so there's a need. The problem is that they actually want more than $2 for those things. And there's also the problem of trying to match our couches, or our ugly mustardy-brown walls.

Well, I went ahead and got some. They don't really match anything. They cost me $20 for a pair, and that was actually cheap, which is news to me. But they're comfy, and there will be fewer cricks in necks from napping making out so much.

School, School, School

You know what's funny to me? Stress. It has a way of really sharpening your senses. The other day I was starting to stress a little about my thesis and figuring how I was going to turn my topic into a workable project, and while I was sitting in class with the professor that I'm supposed to meet with immediately after class to tell him about what ideas I had come up with over the break (Me+thinking over the Christmas break=just me still, because thinking over the break amounted to ZERO), I came up with what seems like will be a pretty awesome project. It's pretty simple, but I think it has a great twist on the way I want to look at the topic of same-sex sexual harassment. I'm actually really proud of my idea, so much so that I don't think I've come up with anything better since I've been in this Round 2 of grad school, but I can't share it until I carry it out. If you want to ask me privately, that's cool.

You know what else is funny? MBA students. The classes with them are so different. All of the students seem very extroverted, everyone dresses professionally, and everyone has their laptops out. You know what else? We clap at the end of every class. I had never even heard of that before, but of course I joined in while everyone started doing it.

When I'm standing on my own two feet, I feel pretty proud of myself and who I am, but when I'm in my classes with all of these other grad students, I feel like just another face in the crowd. It's hard to tell how tall a sequoia is when it's standing in a forest full of other sequoias, you know what I mean? And not to say that I'm overly impressive, but I feel pretty content with who I am overall, that is, until I get around these other people and I feel like I have do something special to shine, because everyone likes shining, right?

Today I was in my personality class and we were talking about a lot of really abstract ideas, and then I started to piece together therapies, and laughed at myself thinking that I would start analyzing people in that way. But then I realized that I was in a grad school class with one of the country's most prominent psychologists with other clinical and counseling students, and this information and these approaches to therapy actually are seminal to their professional careers as therapists. I just am in the class because I thought it was interesting and like the professor. Maybe I'll try and explain some of what we were talking about in class on here later because it has a lot of gospel application as well.

I have the utmost respect for all of my professors this semester. They are all so knowledgeable and personable, and I love it. I'm pretty sure this will be my favorite semester ever.

Peace, and be blessed, y'all!

Help Haiti

There are many easy ways to donate to relief efforts in Haiti. The NY Times posted a list of organizations that you can donate to, and you can find that by clicking here. Here are several ways you can do it just by texting on your cell phone:

• Text the word “Yele” to 501501 to donate $5 on behalf of the Yéle Foundation, the leading contributor to rebuilding Haiti founded by Wyclef Jean.
• Text the word “Haiti” to 85944 to donate $5 on behalf of the Rescue Union Mission and MedCorp International.
• Text the word “Haiti” to 25383 to donate $5 On behalf of the Internal Rescue Committee.
• Text the word “Haiti” to 90999 to donate $10 On behalf of the Red Cross in the U.S.
• Text the word “Haiti” to 45678 (in Canada only) on behalf of the Salvation Army in Canada.
  

And, always my favorite, go here to donate through the Church's humanitarian services.

A quick plug for America: when you are giving, remember that you are doing it as a member of the most charitable country in the world. It's not only because we have the most wealth, but we give more proportionally than any other nation on this planet. That's a fact. I have a post about it brewing. Anyway, any amount that you can offer I'm sure will go a long ways.

2010 Resolutions

I was going to review the resolutions I made last year and then go through a checklist of what things I accomplished and what things I didn't, but I decided against that because I didn't really keep track of most of them after a few months. I had a resolution to run 1000 miles, be better about budgeting, studying scriptures and temple attendance, to have my thesis defended, and a few others. Turns out I only ran about 700 miles, which I think is actually pretty good still. If I didn't hurt my knee in October/November, I think I would have logged at least 100 more miles than I did. I'm actually pretty good with my budgeting lately. Scripture study and temple attendance are not as consistent as I'd like them to be. Still working on my thesis. Well, anyway, on my drive back to Utah from home, I started making a list of things I'd like to accomplish this upcoming year. This is what (hopefully) I have to look forward to:

• Straight A's - I've never ever done this. Ever. I have three pretty rigorous classes, but I think I should be able to get it together this semester.
• Have my thesis completed by August.
• Run two marathons.
• Have two research projects aimed towards publication.
• Be teaching undergraduate courses by the summer.
• Start work doing the church internship in August.

I guess there should be some other ones on there too, something a little more abstract and esoteric. I also want to start swimming, read lots of books, and some spiritual things too. I need a carefully laid out plan. For those things that I was most specific and detailed with, I was also able to make the most progress. I'm not sure which direction the causal arrow goes for that, however, if I was successful because I was so detailed, or I was detailing so much because I was having success.

I'm really enjoying my life right now. A friend of mine was teasing me the other day about still being a student, but I have to admit that I actually really love my life. I don't have a set schedule except for a few classes. I have Fridays off. Sometimes I go to bed late and it's really not a big deal because I don't have to be alert for a whole day's worth of work. More importantly than all of that, however, is that I really enjoy learning. I love my classes right now, and I feel like everyone I interact with at BYU is just so darn impressive. We talk about interesting things, and I feel like I'm growing in so many great and valuable ways. And I'm good at school. I've been really lucky to be able to grasp things pretty quickly and my mental agility allows for me to explore lots of different avenues. Sometimes my dispersed energy leaves me a little unfocused, but I think it's mostly to my benefit. Hopefully.

I think last year ended up being a pretty good year. Another thing about my life as a student, I don't want to spend the next two and a half years before I finish my program waiting to be done to move on to the next thing. 2 1/2 years is a long time to wait to be satisfied with my life, and even when that time period is up, there's no guarantee I'll have any greater opportunities at being happier then than I am now, know what I mean? I want to enjoy the process as much as I enjoy the product, and I think I have a lot of good opportunities to do so.

Playmobil: Security Check Point

I came across this post in the Corner at NRO and thought it was priceless. Yes, it's a real toy. You can find it by clicking here. The best part, however, are the customer reviews. Here are a couple:

I was a little disappointed when I first bought this item, because the functionality is limited. My 5 year old son pointed out that the passenger's shoes cannot be removed. Then, we placed a deadly fingernail file underneath the passenger's scarf, and neither the detector doorway nor the security wand picked it up. My son said "that's the worst security ever!". But it turned out to be okay, because when the passenger got on the Playmobil B757 and tried to hijack it, she was mobbed by a couple of other heroic passengers, who only sustained minor injuries in the scuffle, which were treated at the Playmobil Hospital. The best thing about this product is that it teaches kids about the realities of living in a high-surveillence society. My son said he wants the Playmobil Neighborhood Surveillence System set for Christmas. I've heard that the CC TV cameras on that thing are pretty worthless in terms of quality and motion detection, so I think I'll get him the Playmobil Abu-Gharib Interogation Set instead (it comes with a cute little memo from George Bush).

My family was planning a vacation to Europe, so I purchased this item to teach my twins about what to expect at the airport and hopefully, alleviate some of their anxiety. We also downloaded the actual TSA security checklist from the American Airlines website and then proceeded with our demonstration. Well, first we had to round up a Barbie and a few Bratz dolls to play the other family members, so that cost us a few extra bucks at the Dollar General and it is aggravating that the manufacturer did not make this product "family-friendly." Of course, since the playmobil Dad could not remove his shoes or other clothing items, unlike the Barbie, the playmobil security agent became suspicious and after waving her wand wildy a few dozen times, called her supervisor to wisk the Dad into a special body-cavity search room, (which incidentally led to quite an embarasing and interesting discussion with my twin daughters about personal hygiene and a slight adjustment to the rules we had them memorize about touching by strangers). But worst of all, since the suitcase did not actually open, the baggage inspector made a call to the FBI and ATF bomb squads which then segregated the family's suitcase (which btw was the only suitcase they provided for our educational family experience) and according to the advanced TSA regulations, had to blow it up, (since they could not otherwise mutilate the luggage, break off the locks and put one of those nice little advisory stickers on it), which we had to simulate out in the backyard with a few M-80s and other fireworks. The girls started crying. They became so hysterical by the whole experience that we could not even get them in the car when the time came to actually take our trip, and so we had to cancel the whole thing at the last minute, losing over $7,000 in airfare and hotel charges that we could not recoup do to the last minute cancellations. We've now spent an additional $3,000 to pay for the girls therapy and medication over the past year since this incident occurred, and the psychologists have told us that this will affect them for life, so much for their college fund and our retirement. Then, to top it all off, when we tried to use to playmobil phone to call the company to ask for reimbursement, as you might expect, of course the damn thing didn't even work; neither did our efforts to e-mail them using the computer screen on the baggage checkpoint; and our real-life efforts to contact them to obtain re-imbursement have also likewise been ignored. Worse yet, we had the product tested and found out that it was positive for both lead paint and toxic chemicals, having been manufactured in China by workers holding formerly American jobs, so now we all have cancer and have been given only another year or so to live. My advice - educating your kids about airport security with this toy may actually be more harmful to them than just packing them in the damn luggage with some bottled water & hoping they survive. :)

Impromptus, I Guess

I'm about to go to bed right now. I have lots of blog posts brewing, but for whatever reason I just haven't gotten around to writing them. Maybe some of you have noticed, but I haven't even been spending as much time online lately. It's kind of funny/dumb, but before I would sometimes jump online just to be distracted, just to start conversations and chat and waste time, but I haven't been as apt to do that lately. I don't know why, but I just haven't. I'm not even reading as much political stuff as I used to. It's a phase. I'll be back.

That personality test that I posted last week is interesting. It's obviously not perfect, but of all the personality tests that are out there, it's the most validated one. Yes, more than any other. Many companies even use it for personnel selection. I've been thinking about the extroversion component lately, just because that has come up in conversation a few times. I used to consider myself pretty highly introverted, and to a certain extent I really can be. I really don't mind alone time all that much, and sometimes I even really seek after it, but I think what's more telling is context. I think I've mentioned that on here before. For example, parties or ward prayer type scenarios where there are lots of people who don't know each other that are just intermingling, I oftentimes withdraw. That's not my scene at all, and that's when I'm feeling the most introverted. But this last weekend, we went up to a cabin and there was a lot of game playing, sledding, and just all around being active, and if the events from Friday-Saturday was the only snapshot you had of me, then you would think I'm a highly extroverted person. Games, activities, sports, really bring out my personality more than anything, and I even kind of get to a point where I can't stay quiet. I can find stimulation on my own, but I definitely do draw my energy from other people given the right setting. I was even realizing tonight that about five nights a week I'm hanging out with different people doing different things. I really don't often spend an evening alone.

Soccer is the most beautiful sport. It really is. You can do a lot of awesome things in other sports, and there are some really incredible feats, but in soccer you have so many players that have to cover so much ground so quickly that all 11 people really have to be working as a cohesive unit. It's kind of like a collective consciousness. I had an indoor game on Saturday night, and I passed the ball to a guy in the midfield out of the back, continued on my run, that guy passed the ball up to another guy, I still was sprinting the length of the field, and all of a sudden I saw an opening where the goalie was moving on our guy with the ball, and I had outrun my defender, I called for the ball, he slotted it perfectly passed the keeper and my guy, and I scored on the open net. Sometimes you just have these plays unfold and they're really breathtaking. It's so awesome. Football, basketball, and hockey have those elements too, but I think since I'm so partial to soccer, that's where my heart really lies.

Attraction is a funny thing. You know what always gets me interested? There is a certain style of communication that always just really lights me up, and I can't even tell you what it is that I love about it, but I always know it the second I come across it. Months ago I went to a birthday dinner and this one girl I had never met before sat on the opposite end of the table, and we probably said about 20 words to each other, but in my 1-2 minutes of interaction I could already tell I how much I was attracted to her. Yes, she was pretty and all that, but what really drew me to her was the way we were able to talk. This past weekend, there was a girl at the cabin and I've known her for a good amount of time, but what really opened my eyes to her over the weekend was just how much she was excited about trying new things. Maybe that's not attractive to everyone, but it was cool to see just how interested she was in doing everything. I loved that about her. Then tonight at FHE, this other girl that moved in not too long ago, there was just something about the way she asked me a question that kind of woke me up to her. Anyway, attraction is a funny thing. It's fun to meet people and learn about them and their nuances, those things that are like the unique siren songs that just suck you right in.

Any day now I'll be posting about resolutions, my deep thoughts, and other things. But not now. I'm going to bed.

Free Trade Works

Just recently Chile gained entry into the world's elite through invitation into the OECD's club of developed countries, achieving the distinction of becoming a first world country. How did it get there? Two words - free markets. Here's an excerpt from this article:

It's not like Chile was born lucky. Only 30 years ago, it was an impoverished country with per capita GDP of $1,300. Its distant geography, irresponsible neighbors and tiny population were significant obstacles to investment and growth. And its economy, dominated by labor unions, wasn't just closed, but sealed tight.

In the Cato Institute's 1975 Economic Freedom of the World Report it ranked a wretched 71 out of 72 countries evaluated.

Today it's a different country altogether. Embracing markets has made it one of the most open economies in the world, ranking third on Cato's index, just behind Hong Kong and Singapore. Per capita GDP has soared to $15,000.

Besides its embrace of free trade, other reforms — including pension privatization, tax cuts, respect for property rights and cutting of red tape helped the country grow not only richer but more democratic, says Cato Institute trade expert Daniel Griswold.

I was there from October 1999-August 2001, and it's crazy to think of all the economic progress the country has made. And it's not just them either. Brazil's economy has quickly been ascending the ranks as they have aggressively pursued oil exploration and drilling off their coasts. Both of those countries owe their growth to the benefit of free markets, but somehow we keep missing this point here in the United States. Even China's explosion in the last decade is directly related to their embracing free market principles rather than the closed economy that they had been favoring for so long.

I was just reading this morning about the cutthroat competition among Google, Amazon, and Apple as they are fighting over competition for wireless communication and how much of a benefit that is to consumers. Think about the cell phone industry and just how much competition has forced the major carriers like Verizon, AT&T, and everyone else to lower their prices and expand coverage and provide better services, and remember that most of this has happened within the last decade. But government regulation and expansion continues to encroach on so many different areas threatening our viability as a nation. We'll see how this plays out as the attempts at health care reform roll forward.

In the meantime, go Chile!

What A Lovely Personality You Have!

For one of my classes, the professor asked that we take the Big 5 personality test and then we had a class discussion about the test and it's inclusion as a personnel selection tool. If you have 15 minutes to kill you can take the short by visiting this website here. If you have about 40 minutes to kill, you can also find the longer at the same site. They're both reliable, with the added benefit of the longer one being even more reliable than the shorter one. Just take the shorter one. It's kind of fun.

Extraversion	59
Friendliness	65
Gregariousness	55
Assertiveness	63
ACtivity Level	27
Excitement Seeking	26
Cheerfulness	90
Agreeableness	86
Trust	99
Morality	81
Altruism	89
Cooperation	80
Modesty	5
Sympathy	82
Conscientiousness	90
Self-Efficacy	90
Orderliness	98
Dutifulness	88
Achievement-Striving	26
Self-Discipline	47
Cautiousness	96
Neuroticism	13
Anxiety	2
Anger	8
Depression	9
Self-Consciousness	58
Vulnerability	19
Openness to Experience	48
Imagination	28
Artistic Interests	92
Emotionality	84
Adventurousness	28
Intellect	79
Liberalism	0

So the bolded categories constitute the "Big 5" personality traits. The assumption is that all traits can be collapsed into those five categories. It's on a 0-100 point scale, with near 50 being average, obviously. There are several outcomes that I think are kind of funny - I'm totally immodest. I'm about as far from liberal as can be. I actually kind of think that most of the stuff is pretty on about me. A couple of notes about the scale. The traits are supposed to be stable, meaning that they don't change over time, but people who take these things say that the results do change for them. A lot of it depends on your mood, or your current situation in life. And, this might be more a reflection of how you perceive yourself than what your actual personality is like.

Something interesting you might want to try is take it yourself, and then have someone else that knows you well take it also. That could cause some fights, but it'll be interesting.

In class yesterday my professor asked if we thought that there was a perfect personality. For whatever reason, the discussion kind of went elsewhere, but I thought it was an interesting question. I'm going to have to say no, and this response is informed by my perspective on the gospel...

If salvation were an individual thing, then maybe there would be some kind of perfect personality, but it's not. Salvation comes with husbands and wives, in families, and learning to live peaceably and happily in communities with other people. I think the main benefit to salvation coming that way is that it allows for variety among us as people, to become saved with all of our quirks and idiosyncrasies. When I imagine Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, I actually imagine them with different personalities. Am I alone on that? Where that comes from for me is when I think about people who are super righteous (prophets and apostles, for example), and they all have their distinct personalities, but I would think it safe to assume that they are all going to be exalted. Joseph Smith had his personality that was entirely different than Brigham Young's. Gordon Hinckley was known for his humor and cheer. Anyway, there are a lot of great people in the kingdom of heaven and I'm pretty sure they're not all going to be carbon copies of each other.

So Sue Me

I like this stupid show. A couple weeks ago a friend of mine was having a housewarming party up in Midway and I met up with a friend that I hadn't seen in a little while. I don't remember how the movie came up, but she started talking about Steel Magnolias and I was like, yeah, that movie is a little too feminine for me. Surprised by my response, she then said, "yeah, but you're Chris," meaning that my tastes are broader than other guys (hopefully that's what she meant). It really made me laugh though to hear that. Dang it! I am Chris. I'm not always sure what that means.

Anyway, so another season of SYTYCD ended, and I think maybe it was just too much too soon. Most people I know who love the show weren't as excited about this season as they were about others, myself included. However, there were some really amazing moments during the season.

I have to say, Jakob for me was head and shoulders above the rest. I thought he was just amazing in everything that he danced. I figured he wouldn't win, and wasn't disappointed that Russell got the title. That reaction of his, tearing off the shirt, was kind of priceless. There is something just so primal about that response, you know? Like it mentions in the Bible when David heard that Saul and Jonathan died that he rent his clothes in anguish. Soccer players take off their shirts when they score goals. It's something just kind of animal and raw, like a very primitive form of expression. I think it's cool.

Anyway (again), I think this dance particular dance was my favorite. It kind of stopped my heart when I saw it the first time. Jakob is awesome, and Kathryn is just so beautiful in it. It's choreographed by the two male contemporary dancers. I think they've done one other routine, and it too, was kind of amazing. The way Kathryn walks up to Jakob at the end of the number, pulling her hair with her hand on the opposite side of her head is just so incredibly sexy. And the Michael Buble song is just perfect for the piece.

So, without further ado, Jakob and Kathryn.

Christmas Vacation

Being at home was pretty great. This is what happened:

• Like three Christmases between the Reids, my parents, and then at my cousin's.
• Lots and lots of eating with no regard for type of food I was ingesting.
• Very little exercise. I went to the gym once, and played soccer twice, and I'm feeling it now. I think I only ended up gaining a few pounds over the entire break, but it's funny how much of an impact exercise has psychologically. I probably look exactly the same as I did two weeks ago, but I feel like a fat load.
  
• Sleeping in. Everyday. Pretty much.
• Lots of time with the kiddos. I feel like Mason is pretty familiar with me, and I got to renew my relationship with my niece, which is really fun.
  
• Bowling. Soccer. Batting cages.
  
• Dozens of hours of boardgames. I'm pretty sure that is pretty exact actually and not at all an exaggeration.
• Multiple lunches and dinners with friends and loved ones.
• Unwritten Law.
  
• Drive to and from California with some younger guys who feel like little brothers to me.

I don't really think there is much else. Here are some of my thoughts during the break:

• It probably shouldn't surprise me, but my friends and family really love me. I'm totally serious. They really do. They want to spend time together all the time. They always want to hang out. They always want to know what I'm up to. Sometimes it gets a little tiresome, but mostly it's just really, really welcome. I would be gone from the Reids for just a few hours and I could always count on a text from one of them asking what I was up to, when I was coming back, and if I wanted to play trains again, etc.
  
• I think it's funny how there is family that you love and there is family that you have to tolerate. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who feels that way. I love some of my family and am okay with spending all the time in the world with them, and then there are some other family members that I just really have a hard time with. I think I'm mostly a pretty peaceful soul, but there is one person in particular that just always makes me feel so tense. I can do without it. The problem is that this person is attached to another person that I really appreciate, and so it's hard to enjoy one in the presence of the other. Hopefully that's vague enough that nobody can be identified...
• The guys I drove home with are one- and two-years removed from their missions. It was fun to talk with them about the mission and life. They just feel so much younger in certain respects. One of the things they brought up is how one of their friends had been dating a girl and they didn't like the fact that he changed when he was around her. I remember thinking that when I was younger too, but it's impossible for someone not to change when they're around someone else, unless that person is exactly like the original. The real question is whether you like the person that you're changing into.
  
• Brothers bickering is hilarious to me. A pair of brothers (not the Reids) came and played soccer both weeks, and it's so funny listening to them prodding each other. This also happens with the Reid boys, and it's pretty funny then too. And sometimes I take part in that dynamic with them because of my closeness to the family.
• I think what makes Dave and I such good friends is that we're completely non-competitive with each other, which is interesting because we're both very competitive people in general, but never with each other.
• Dan Brown is a good storyteller, but he's not a good writer. I can read Jack Kerouac write about jello hardening and think it's the most enthralling thing ever, but sometimes reading Dan Brown is grating because what are supposed to be really climactic moments is diffused by poor word choice. Plus, why hasn't Robert Langdon evolved at all as a character? I'm reading Lost Symbol, and it's like the guy learned nothing from his previous experiences in Angels and Demons and Da Vinci Code. It's still interesting though.
• I hate the question, would you prefer extreme heat or extreme cold? Well, it's neither, obviously, because both are miserable. But what about just hot to cold, like 90 to 30 degrees. I would always take 90 degrees over 30 degrees. I hate not being able to go outside and just stay out there. I prefer sandals and t-shirts to layers. I prefer warm weather activities to cold ones. That's just me. The thing is, when you're outside and it's 30 degrees, it's 30 degrees or colder. When you're outside and it's 90 degrees, it's not that way in the shade, plus you get cool breezes. I love summer nights. Plus I tan really well, and my complexion gets much clearer with sunshine. All good things. I'm saying that I prefer California still, but I have had a much better attitude about Utah for the last year or two.
  
• I love concerts. I cannot emphasize that enough. I haven't seen Unwritten Law for over a year, and they are really good live. Music is meant to be heard in person. I was counting how many times I've seen them and Strung Out in person - it's at least 13 and 15 times respectively. Pretty crazy, huh?
• As much as I love being home home, I still like being in my home. I liked taking a shower in my shower and using my towels, and tonight I'll love getting into my bed. Those are nice things.
• My friends are all really impressive people. Just good souls. I love them so dearly, and I'm just so grateful to have the privilege of their association.

That's the short of it.

Hello, World

Today is my last day in California. It's been wonderful to say the least. Just a ton of time with friends and family, and I couldn't be more happy about that. I always forget that coming home involves never really feeling like my time is my own, not to say that I haven't been able to do pretty much whatever I felt like, but it's different, you know?

Is it okay if I sleep in everyday when I'm off vacation too? Can I just continue hanging out and playing board games, taking naps, playing with baby Mason, and not doing anything that requires me being responsible?

Isn't it funny that when I'm on vacation I'm not blogging at all? I think about 10 different people said something to me about my blog while here that I had no idea were even reading it. Most of them have been guys, which begs the question, should I be posting less about SYTYCD and more about sports? Nahhhhhhhh. But it always surprises me when I hear about who is reading the blog. Only a few people dig the politics posts.

Anyway, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. Get yourselves ready for one long decompressing vacation post.

Hope your holidays were great. Thanks for coming around, and I'll be back next week for sure. After all, back to real life means trying to avoid it, and that means lots of blogging.

See y'all later!

Merry Christmas

I am only assuming that nobody is really checking up, but if you are, or will be in the next few days, know that I hope you have (or had) the merriest of Christmases this year.

There's no better time than the holidays to just feel tremendously grateful for all of the many blessings of which we partake. This week has been so fun seeing friends and family, shopping for Christmas presents, and just killing time in general.

Last night I got to play Wednesday night soccer as has been going on for the last 3 or 4 years, and I can't think of anything I love more than to play with my friends and just have that time with the guys, playing sports and just making stupid jokes. I've been staying with Dave, and it was a chilly night for California, and when we walked into his apartment, I honestly felt just so grateful to be able to walk into a warm home. My first thought upon entering was reflecting on how sad it is that not everyone has that available to them. It's a little corny, I know, but still, that's reality and I'm grateful that mine allows me to have a warm bed and reside with people that I care so much about.

My brother has been hounding me about playing soccer with my niece when I got back here so this morning I went out with her to the park, and it was honestly one of the highlights of my last several months. She's 8 years old now, and just so chatty. She managed to beat me in two of the three games we played, but I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to take her down next time around. My favorite, though, might have been the walk to and from the park, and just asking her about her friends and school and everything under the sun. Her mom told her that if she scored a goal in her next game that she would get a pet hamster. I asked her what she should name her hamster when she got one, and she exclaimed, "I don't know! Squiggles?" I just thought it was the most darling little kid response I could have gotten to that question.

Every time I come back I'm always surprised at how much fun it is to be around the kids here. I even had a dream about seeing Mason last Saturday before coming out here, and that's not something that ever really happens to me. Doug's boys are so much fun to hang around. Cameron and I played Xbox after playing soccer today. It's just awesome, awesome stuff.

Anyway, I think I'm becoming an adult. Christmas time has evolved from being about presents and much more about people. I'm so grateful for the gospel, for the Savior, and for my knowledge of all of these things. I have the best friends and family anyone could ever ask for. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

...

(Don't get me wrong, I still love presents, so don't hold out.)

Rocket! Yeah!

Do you ever wake up and just know it's going to be a good day? Last night I was watching Karate Kid 3 while taking a study break, and then I ended up having a dream about it. In the dream, I ran a half marathon without any real training, which of course made me feel awesome, and then I had to fight the ridiculous long-haired guy who is the real owner of the Cobra Kai dojo that also owns a multinational company that pollutes the environment with toxic chemicals (can you think of a more villainous character?). I win the fight, even after having just run the half marathon.

Then on the way to school this morning what song comes on during my drive to school this morning before my final? Def Lepard's Rocket. Awesome. I'm so stoked on the song that I even stay the extra two minutes to hear the end of it even though I'm running a little late to my last final.

I think I'm becoming more of an adult. When I got up this morning, way too groggy to really understand what I was up for, I was at least coherent enough to think that I needed protein and fresh produce because I needed to jump start my metabolic system so that I would think more clearly, and so that I would have sufficient energy to exercise once I finished all my school stuff for the day. I didn't have any other thoughts than that when I got up. Isn't that weird? Oh, that and kicking ass in my Karate Kid dream. Yup, still feeling awesome.

One of the things I ate this morning was a banana. Did you know that monkeys open up bananas by pressing on the bottom of the banana because there is a little air pocket there, and not by using the stem? That's how I open my bananas now. I figure if I'm supposed to be descended from them, I may as well start behaving more like them. It's a little too cold these days and I'm not hairy enough to go without clothes, but next time you see me I might be throwing my feces at you and then laugh about it. Maybe.

I still have my dating survey project that I have to finish up, but I should be done pretty soon. Upon completion I will then play upbeat music while cleaning, and then working out, at >100 decibels of volume.

I gotta say, today was (will be) a good day. Much love to you, Ice Cube, but since I already featured your song once on here, let's go with TWDY.

Peace, and be blessed, y'all!

Real Dangers Await While Leaders Talk Global Warming

In Jay Nordlinger's Impromptus column this morning, he made this great point:

Every now and then, reality breaks through dreamland, as in this bit of news: “Iran on Wednesday test-fired an upgraded version of its most advanced missile, which is capable of hitting Israel and parts of Europe, in a new show of strength aimed at preventing any military strike against it amid the nuclear standoff with the West.” Iranian missiles that can hit Europe: Will this development concentrate the European mind, no matter what that mind thinks of Israel?

I have quoted from this report. It goes on to quote Britain’s prime minister Gordon Brown, who said that the Iranian test showed the need for tougher U.N. sanctions. Well, best of luck with that. Brown said, “This is a matter of serious concern to the international community,” blah, blah, blah. And he made his statement, according to the report, “after talks with U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon in Copenhagen.”

That is just perfect. The panjandrums of the world were in Copenhagen to talk about global warming, and the alleged giant threat that comes from the same. But there is a definite threat, an urgent one: the threat of a nuclear Iran, and the threat of rising, armed Islamofascism generally.

I remember being at a particular Davos meeting where everyone was gravely concerned about global warming, saying we had to act now now now. A nuclear Iran and its associated menaces seemed to be an afterthought, at best. In other words, the wolf was at the door — but the world’s elites were looking past the wolf to some gauzy threat out in the blue.

I made this observation, at the time: Confronting global warming is relatively easy, because it means confronting good Western capitalists and industrialists. Confronting Islamofascism is much harder, for some: because it means confronting Third World radicals, about whom good Westerners harbor all sorts of myths and hopes.

In August, Ban-ki Moon said, “We have just four months. Four months to secure the future of our planet.” What did he mean? He meant that there were four months until these climate talks in Copenhagen. If only the world’s elites felt half the urgency about a nuclear Iran. Our priorities, and sense of reality, seem terribly askew.

It is interesting to hear Iran’s defense minister, Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, on television — on Iranian state TV. He said the following about his country’s new missile: “Given its high speed, it is impossible to destroy the missile with anti-missile systems because of its radar-evading ability.” True? I wonder what the state of U.S. missile defense is at the moment — and what it would have been if we had gone all-out after Reagan’s original call. I wonder, relatedly, how Israel is doing in this field.

One more thing, before I leave this subject. Iran’s new missile is called the Sajjil-2. And, according to the report I have linked to, “the name ‘Sajjil’ means ‘baked clay,’ a reference to a story in the Quran, Islam’s holy book, in which birds sent by God drive off an enemy army attacking the holy city of Mecca by pelting them with stones of baked clay.”

These are interesting times, ladies and gentlemen, and, of course, all too interesting. (Pardon the triteness.)

The emphasis is my own.

Gandalf Tells A Joke

Some of you will think this is dumb, and others of you will think it's pure genius. Mike showed me it this afternoon and I was in tears.

Angels Talk

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond to your email. Here goes...

This has been a particularly rough offseason for Angels fans not only because our two biggest free agent players have signed elsewhere, but they have gone to rival teams.

I was reading an article yesterday that was talking about how the Angels didn't make a big push to sign John Lackey when they had a chance last offseason, but I distinctly remember them making the effort to get him to sign an extension, but he was set on testing the market. I also read earlier this week that the offer they had given him was for over $70 million, so not completely off the $85 million that he ended up signing for. I think it was always about money for him. He was going to squeeze every last dime out of his next contract, and that seems to be what ended up happening. I think 5 years for a guy that's already 32 years old is too long. Even Halladay's extension is for only three seasons. I think the Gary Matthews Jr. contract given out several years ago still has them filled with regret to giving out a contract too lengthy for a guy that is on the downside of his prime. This leads to both Vlad and Chone.

I was all for bringing Vladimir Guerrero back, but I'm almost positive that he was looking for something with guaranteed years beyond what the Angels were willing to give him. The guy is already 34 and had a pretty big drop-off this season, albeit, due mostly to injury, but still, I think in two seasons or three he will have a severe drop-off to the point where he will hardly be playing at all. Hideki Matsui is a year older, also has injury problems, but they only signed him for one season. That's the difference and I think the entire reason why they signed him instead. He's also a lefty that provides some balance to the order.

Now that everything has kind of played out with our major guys, Lackey and Figgins, I think the biggest regrets we should probably have concern both Chone Figgins and Roy Halladay. From what I heard, the biggest sticking point for Halladay during the summer was the fact that Blue Jays were supposedly dead-set on getting Erick Aybar, whom we value very highly, but the recent trade for Halladay didn't include any shortstops. Although that may be due to the fact that Toronto's asking price had to come down from asking for the moon and the stars. Still though, we were apparently a major partner in the Halladay talks, we need a front-line starting pitcher, so how in the hell did we miss out on Cliff Lee moving again, also?

With Chone, I think he ended up getting a four-year contract upwards of $40 million, give or take a few million. Why did that seem unreasonable to them? Did they think at the time that they still had a shot at re-signing John Lackey and so that's why they passed up on him? If Lackey had signed before Figgins, would they have made the investment and ponied up and signed him? Maybe. I think it has more to do with the way they value their prospects. They have Brandon Wood whose only option is to come up to the big league level. He has hit his ceiling in the minor leagues and needs a shot to play everyday. They probably thought they would bring him up, find a cheaper alternative in another player (enter Matsui), and explore a trade for another starting pitcher either now or during the regular season. This is the only way any of this makes sense to me. Signing Matsui is purely a DH move, so now we still four guys to rotate through three outfield spots - Abreu, Hunter, Matthews, and Rivera. Matthews has been wanting to go, and sooner or later, we'll be getting rid of him. Unfortunately, we'll probably have to eat much of his contract in a similar way that the Red Sox were going to pay for nine of the $12 million still owed to Mike Lowell if he did end up getting over to the Rangers.

I'm nervous about this upcoming season. Somehow the Mariners transformed into a very serious contender and may even be the favorites now to win the division. This offseason has pretty much played out exactly as I expected it to. You just have to hope that our young guys will continue to step up. Last year we didn't get any major signings, and then Kendry Morales and Erick Aybar had monster seasons, and all of a sudden we were two games away from the World Series. Who will be those guys for us this year? Brandon Wood? Howie Kendrick? Joe Saunders? Jeff Weaver?

My roommate, who works for the rookie team of the Angels, told me last night that Mike Scioscia will be coming in January to speak to the team and to anyone else interested enough to buy tickets, i.e. ME. I think I'm going to ask him about Figgins. If you have anything else you're dying to know, send me your questions.

The Sympathetic Nervous System

The nervous system is normally divided into two main parts, the Central Nervous System (brain and spinal cord) and the Peripheral Nervous System, which includes the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS is further divided into two more parts - the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. In times of emergency, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is what initiates the fight-or-flight response.

The fight-or-flight response includes:

• increasing heart-rate (so more oxygen, nutrients, and adrenaline are delivered to the organs)
• increasing the breathing rate (thus providing more oxygen)
• dilating the pupils (resulting in greater sensitivity to light)
• moistening of the palms (thus providing better grip)
• reduction in digestive functions, including salivation (putting them on hold) and
• relaxing of the bladder (suspending another function not crucial for an emergency)

I always think it's interesting when SNS gets activated, and I wonder whether I'm the fighting type or the flighting type. Because most of what we face in our lives isn't life or death kind of ordeals, the SNS has also adapted to other situations that we identify as "emergencies": public speaking, taking tests, etc.

Almost a year ago, I posted about a run-in I had with the guys from downstairs. I don't know if they did it as much last year, but this year they've taken to pounding on the floor whenever they think we are too loud, which turns out is all the time because they're pounding like 4-5 times a week. It'll be for things like Rock Band, karaoke stuff, but then also if we (I) are cleaning and moving some chairs around, talking too loudly, or just walking around in church shoes. It's the most obnoxious thing in the world really.

So last night my roommate and I were watching a movie a little loud when the one guy comes over and asks us to turn it down. I let my roommate answer the door knowing it was one of the guys downstairs, paused the movie, and listened to the conversation. My roommate is a really nice guy, and has talked about how he was going to let him have it, which I thought would be interesting. To his credit, he didn't back down, but was still really nice about asking the guy to cut us some slack. I thought the conversation was nearing an end, but then the neighbor started getting belligerent about it. I couldn't believe my ears. He just started becoming really rude and insulting, and that's when I felt like I had to join in.

I reminded him of the several recent weekend nights when we were woken up to screams of "help me" at 2-3 in the morning because someone is tripping on something they had taken, how every time our windows are open we have to smell them smoking out in their apartment, and how we never complain about a darn thing. I said that we would be happy to oblige, but that he was going to have to be more discriminating about those times when he was going to bang on the floor. Then he finally started to back down.

The conversation ended well enough, but I thought it was interesting that I felt all of my fight responses ignite - quickened pulse/breathing, moist palms, etc. It took about ten minutes for the parasympathetic system to kick in and tone everything down.

I just think it's funny those times when you've reached your limit and you don't feel like holding your tongue anymore. All of a sudden something snaps and things that you had been letting go just cannot be tolerated anymore, then boom! Mt. Vesuvius erupts and anyone in your vicinity is covered in the ash of your indignation.

I have really unkind feelings toward those guys. And you know what else? I even shoveled snow off their sidewalk and driveway last week to try and counteract some of the hostility I had been feeling towards them. But that's it, I'm through with them.

Look Out Now, Angels

John Lackey has reportedly signed with the Red Sox for five years, and the Phillies are receiving Roy Halladay and sending Cliff Lee to the Mariners in a three team trade.

Next year is gonna be a tough season.

The Moth

I was listening to This American Life while running the other day and the episode was about Infidelity. I don't think there has been a time when I wasn't feeling engrossed in a TAL podcast, but after listening to the first act I was feeling pretty disgusted, not that it was explicit or anything like that, but the subject matter was just so disheartening. The problem, however, was that I still had about another thirty minutes to go and I had deleted or listened to everything else on my Ipod, so I just kept going with it.

I'm glad that I did. The next story was about a married couple traveling in Germany who met a pair of sisters in a train station that they spent the rest of their vacation with. As always with TAL, the storytelling was fascinating and real, and it's told from the perspective of the husband who is in complete agony the whole trip because the reason they even started traveling with the women was because he couldn't stop staring at one of the sister's because he thought she was the picture of beauty. At the end of the story his wife parts with one of the sisters back to the hotel, while he is left with the one that he is struggling against. As the two of them head back for the hotel, he fights every urge he has to indulge in the opportunity of adultery, and heads back to his wife with the satisfaction of not having cheating, but the disappointment of the total awareness of his weakness. I just loved that story, I guess, just because it felt so real.

It's kind of one of those times where you absolutely know what the right thing is to do, and you summon the strength to do it, but even in victory over your darker half, it still feels like defeat. In the moment, sometimes doing the right thing still feels like you've done the wrong thing. It's not until some distancing has occurred when you realize how right that decision was.

Anyway, that particular story came from The Moth, which is a storytelling group based in New York. They have had some rather famous people come and perform stories, and of course, they have to be the hyper-liberal crowd whose world views I largely disagree with, but there are a lot of other contributors who are really great. They have a free weekly podcast that you can subscribe to.

I just thought I'd put that out there for anyone interested.

Man, I love me some good storytelling.

Master of Time and Space

If I could have any super power, it would be that of Hiro Nakamura from Heroes - master of time and space. Aside from all of the obvious fun you could have from being able to stop time and travel through it, I think practically it's a pretty useful power to have.

It is always the thing I have the most trouble doing - knowing how to properly allot my time to the things that matter the most to me. A big problem I have is too much energy going in too many different directions. I'm interested in everything, so I tend to get easily distracted. Elder Packer calls it "getting caught in the thick of thin things."

This next week will be a good exercise for me on this very subject. I think I've been doing a better job recently of not wasting all of my time. I do a lot of good things - study scriptures, read, exercise, go to class, absorb as much as I can out of my education - but I'd just like to maximize on all of these things a little bit more.

I found this blog the other day and I just love all of the author's advice. He is a PhD student at MIT who is working on his doctoral dissertation, submitting a manuscript for his third book, and managing multiple side projects. So that's impressive, right? But what's really amazing is that he does it by strictly adhering to a 9am-5pm work schedule, M-F, and then Sunday mornings. His doctoral defense is the week before the due date for his next manuscript. And the guy never works outside of those hours. His blog is devoted to helping people achieve the same in their own lives, improve efficiency, etc. Go to this post here if you're interested in learning a bit, but here's an excerpt:

Fixed-Schedule Productivity

The system work as follows:

1. Choose a schedule of work hours that you think provides the ideal balance of effort and relaxation.
2. Do whatever it takes to avoid violating this schedule.

This sounds simple. But think about it for a moment. Satisfying rule 2 is not easy. If you took your current projects, obligations, and work habits, you’d probably fall well short of satisfying your ideal work schedule. Here’s a simple truth: to stick to your ideal schedule will require some drastic actions. For example, you may have to:

* Dramatically cut back on the number of projects you are working on.
* Ruthlessly cull inefficient habits from your daily schedule.
* Risk mildly annoying or upsetting some people in exchange for large gains in time freedom.
* Stop procrastinating.

In the abstract, these all seem like hard things to do. But when you have the focus of a specific goal — “I do not want to work past 5 on week days!” — you’d be surprised by how much easier it becomes deploy these strategies in your daily life.

From a related article by Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, he mentions:

One day, Rochelle pointed to my ferocious work pace and said, "I notice, Jim, that you are a rather undisciplined person."

I was stunned and confused. After all, I was the type of person who carefully laid out my BHAGs (big hairy audacious goals), top three objectives and priority activities at the start of each New Year. I prided myself on the ability to work relentlessly toward those objectives, applying the energy I'd inherited from my prairie- stock grandmother.

"Your genetic energy level enables your lack of discipline," Rochelle continued. "Instead of leading a disciplined life, you lead a busy life."

She then gave me what I came to call the 20-10 assignment. It goes like this: Suppose you woke up tomorrow and received two phone calls. The first phone call tells you that you have inherited $20 million, no strings attached. The second tells you that you have an incurable and terminal disease, and you have no more than 10 years to live. What would you do differently, and, in particular, what would you stop doing?

That assignment became a turning point in my life, and the "stop doing" list became an enduring cornerstone of my annual New Year resolutions — a mechanism for disciplined thought about how to allocate the most precious of all resources: time.

Rochelle's challenge forced me to see that I'd been plenty energetic, but on the wrong things. Indeed, I was on entirely the wrong path. After graduate school, I'd taken a job at Hewlett- Packard. I loved the company, but hated the job. Rochelle's assignment helped me to see I was cut out to be a professor, a researcher, a teacher — not a businessman — and I needed to make a right-angle turn. I had to stop doing my career, so that I could find my real work. I quit HP, migrated to the Stanford Business School faculty and eventually became — with some remarkable good luck along the way — a self-employed professor, happily toiling away on my research and writing.

Anyway, it's just gotten me thinking is all. I'd very much like to be a more efficient person. There are a ton of things I want to do next semester, and doing them all would require a lot more discipline and efficiency to get them taken care of. Sometimes I wonder if it's really possible. Like today, for instance, I was trying to convert the dating survey data from last week into a format that would work on the statistical program that we use, and what I thought would take about a half hour ended up being about three hours of my morning. And this was while working with two other students on the project. And I swear we're all pretty smart kids. I just wonder sometimes if I'm even smart enough to not have to take the roundabout three hour route to cull enough time to make my work fit the schedule I'd like to live by.

Impromptus

• I took my first final today and I finished in about 10 minutes. Yes, it was a graduate level course. Know what else? I'm pretty sure I did awesome on it. Now just the data analysis from the dating survey, the final for that class, and a couple drafts of my thesis to try and crank out. Should be a pretty light week for me next week. Really.
  
• You know what's funny about the difference between my friends here and the friends I have at home? I can be SO sarcastic with my friends at home and they ALWAYS get when I'm being sarcastic, but here my friends don't always pick up on it. I think what makes it funny is that I think I am mostly a pretty nice person, so when I say something super absurd or mean-sounding, I would think that they would realize that it's out of character for me and realize that it's just me making a joke. Instead, they think I'm moody and then I have to explain that I'm not a total idiot.
• Today, for the first time in more than a month, I ran without any pain during my run or immediately following it. I didn't have to cut it short at all because I thought my knee would buckle because of the pressure I was putting it under. I wasn't walking around outside following my run wondering if I might have to call my roommate to pick me up or walk over to a friend's nearby house because I wasn't sure I could make it the one or two blocks to my place. It's so nice to run without pain. Sometimes when I was running these last few weeks I thought I might have to find some other form of aerobic exercise. Turns out that I'm pretty much fine now. I ran five miles today and it felt like a breeze. So nice.
• Our ward choir has been desperate for male voices and I've been meaning to go for awhile, but other things kept coming up so I haven't gone, that is, until last Sunday. We had an extra practice on Monday for the pieces we'll be doing in sacrament this Sunday, and I just love it. I love hearing everyone sing their parts separately, and then hearing everything come together, and then you're like, oh, there it is! It's really cool. Singing hymns is a really, really fun thing. It's only been in the last few years that I've figured out that I really enjoy singing. I wish I would have known sooner. Music is really fun.
• Lots of sports stuff to comment on, but I haven't really felt like it. Actually, blogging for me in general lately has felt a little bit forced. Not that I have any trouble still coming up with ideas to post about. I think I'll be going on hiatus over the break and recharge my batteries.
• Get this - I've been tracking my expenses for the last 12 weeks. My method has been crude - just a little notepad where I write down everything I spend each day at the end of the day. Here's what cool about it: I am so conscious of my spending and all of my inputs and outputs that I do a much better job of restricting my spending. Mostly. I still suck sometimes like over Thanksgiving with friends in town and eating out constantly and doing a bunch of fun things, but still, it's an improvement. What's come out of this is a Christmas present spreadsheet where I have a budget and allotted amounts for everyone I plan on buying presents for. I kind of love it. I have a budgeted amount, actual amount spent, and then a summation formula, with a tax multiplier next to it. Typically, my heart is larger than my wallet, but I think with this system I'll be able to reign in my spending, while still feeling like I'm taking care of my loved ones. Cool, huh?
  
• How about some Christmas music to end with? Try this on:
  

My Very Own Research

Yesterday I had a really productive meeting with my committee chair about my thesis. This whole time I've been taking this approach that is pretty consistent with the literature, and trying to look at sexual harassment using written scenarios and then asking participants their thoughts on whether or not the scenario constitutes sexual harassment. This approach is what is being done in the research, but it's also incredibly boring, even more so given that the only reason I've considered studying sexual harassment is because it's one of my professor's interests, and not my own.

Well in the meeting last night, I was giving him some of my ideas about how I wanted to look at things and he ended up asking about behavioral studies looking at sexual harassment, in other words, creating real life scenarios of harassment and then observing behavioral responses. I immediately lit up. I had thought about that approach, but shied away from it because I thought it would be too difficult to carry out logistically, and then also to get that kind of thing approved by the Institutional Review Board at BYU. With that suggestion, I feel like I have new life breathed into me and I have so much more motivation to try and tackle this thesis.

I need to develop an idea and research question, but the basics are this: my interest within sexual harassment is same sex sexual harassment. I'll need to look at more specifically what it is that men find harassing, and what women find harassing, and then try and target those differences and see how that is revealed behaviorally. There are things that guys can do to other guys that would be sexually harassing, but from a women doing the exact same thing, it would probably be flattering.

If you have any ideas about how to carry this out and what things to observe for behaviorally that would manifest a person's inner feelings, I'd love to hear it.

Also, with the dating survey I'm really excited to pursue that topic and see the breakdown on all of the different groups. In less than a week we got over 400 responses just between the three of us asking friends and acquaintances. At church and my ward activity on Saturday, I probably had a dozen or so people approach me about the survey, and through the Facebook messages I sent out, about ten people responded wanting to know how it all turns out. I love the interest it's gotten from everyone, and I think the findings will be really fun to work out.

I'm hoping that this initial survey can serve as a springboard into doing qualitative interviews with people, particularly those over 25, and learn more about their dating experiences in more detail.

What's really fun about all of this is that it reminds me how much I enjoy all this analysis and trying to understand people. Sometimes I still feel inclined toward applying to counseling/clinical psychology programs once I'm done with my thesis, but this research stuff also can be really fun. My friends in the other therapy-based programs insist that I have a great temperament for the practice. I don't know, but it's at least fun having viable interests that can hopefully earn me some scratch while keeping me at least somewhat intrigued.

Sitting At The Computer Reading Jokes

For a couple years I 've been blaming it on lack of sleep and too much pressure from my job, but now I found out the real reason: I'm tired because I'm overworked. The population of this country is 237 million. 104 million are retired. That leaves 133 million to do the work. There are 85 million in school, which leaves 48 million to do the work. Of this there are 29 million employed by the federal government, leaving 19 million to do the work. 2.8 million are in the Armed Forces, which leaves 16.2 million to do the work. Take from the total the 14,800,000 people who work for State and City Governments and that leaves 1.4 million to do the work. At any given time there are 188,000 people in hospitals, leaving 1,212,000 to do the work. Now, there are 1,211,998 people in prisons. That leaves just two people to do the work. You and me. And you're sitting at your computer reading jokes.

Obedience and Compliance

My brother sent me a compilation of news stories about the McDonald's hoax wherein a person called posing as a police officer, and asked the store manager of the fast food restaurant to strip search one of the employees to see if the employee had stolen any goods. You've all heard of this, right? Apparently it happened at a number of different restaurants, a number of times, approximately 60 different instances.

Before I jump to the story itself, please refer back to this post that I put up last year talking about the Milgram experiments. The briefest summary I can give is basically this: people came in thinking they were there for a learning and punishment experiment, when really it was a study on obedience and compliance, in reaction to the war crimes perpetrated by the Nazis. The end result was essentially that people will do just about anything when ordered to by someone they see in authority.

What's really interesting about this case of the guy calling in and having these employees perform these incredibly devious and perverted acts was that they are the perfect real world examples of the Milgram findings. I wish I had a direct link to articles, but some cutting and pasting will have to do.

She was a high school senior who had just turned 18 -- a churchgoing former Girl Scout who hadn't received a single admonition in her four months working at the McDonald's in Mount Washington.

But when a man who called himself "Officer Scott" called the store on April 9, 2004, and said an employee had been accused of stealing a purse, Louise Ogborn became the suspect.

"He gave me a description of the girl, and Louise was the one who fit it to the T," assistant manager Donna Jean Summers said.

Identifying himself as a police officer, the caller issued an ultimatum: Ogborn could be searched at the store or be arrested, taken to jail and searched there.

"I was bawling my eyes out and literally begging them to take me to the police station because I didn't do anything wrong," Ogborn said later in a deposition. She had taken the $6.35-an-hour position after her mother lost her job. "I couldn't steal -- I'm too honest. I stole a pencil one time from a teacher and I gave it back."

Summers, 51, conceded later that she had never known Ogborn to do a thing dishonest. But she nonetheless led Ogborn to the restaurant's small office, locked the door, and -- following the caller's instructions -- ordered her to remove one item of clothing at a time, until she was naked.

"She was crying," recalled Kim Dockery, 40, another assistant manager, who stood by watching. "A little young girl standing there naked wasn't a pretty sight."

Summers said later that "Officer Scott," who stayed on the telephone, giving his orders, sounded authentic. He said he had "McDonald's corporate" on the line, as well as the store manager, whom he mentioned by name. And she thought she could hear police radios in the background.

Summers shook each garment, placed it in a bag and took the bag away. "I did exactly what he said to do," Summers said of her caller.

It was just after 5 p.m., and for Ogborn, hours of degradation and abuse were just beginning.

What followed is much worse than you would ever think possible. I'll leave the rest of the details up to your imaginations, but the caller got everyone involved to do exactly what he wanted.

The reactions to the acts are typical, from total dismay and disgust to sympathy for those involved. From one of the stories:

Across the United States, at least 13 people who executed strip-searches ordered by the caller were charged with crimes, and seven were convicted.

But most of the duped managers were treated as victims — just like the people they searched and humiliated.

They all "fell under the spell of a voice on the telephone," wrote a judge in Zanesville, Ohio, in an order acquitting Scott Winsor, 35, who'd been charged with unlawfully restraining and imposing himself on two women who worked for him at a McDonald's.

Chicago lawyer Craig Annunziata, who has defended 30 franchises sued after hoaxes, said every manager he interviewed genuinely believed they were helping police.

"They weren't trying to get their own jollies," he said.

Many of the supervisors were fired and some divorced by their spouses, Annunziata said. Others required counseling.

But the duped managers have been condemnedby others.

"You don't have to be a Phi Beta Kappa to know not to strip-search a girl who is accused of stealing change," said Roger Hall, the lawyer for a woman who won $250,000 after being strip-searched at a McDonald's in Louisa, Ky.

A Fox-TV commentator asked how the managers who went along could be so "colossally stupid."

While the incidents were triggered by a "perverted miscreant" wrote a federal judge in Georgia, the managers "still had a responsibility to use common sense and avoid falling prey to such a scam."

Though the Milgram experiment may help explain why supervisors went along with the caller, even Milgram's disciples say it doesn't absolve them of responsibility.

Just as one-third of the participants in Milgram's study refused to shock the subject, some supervisors refused to go along, including a supervisor at McDonald's Hillview store, who hung up on the caller the very night of the Mount Washington hoax.

"Nobody held a gun to their heads," said Blass, whose book about Milgram is titled, "The Man Who Shocked the World."

"They had the critical ability to decide whether to carry out their orders."

It's easy to judge all those who allowed everything to go so far, but we really underestimate how powerful a force the demand of obedience is. Everyday we live our lives completely dependent on the fact that people are going to do and act in the ways that we are all supposed to. We drive to work or school in safety (for the most part) because we can assume that people will obey traffic laws. Everything we do is dependent on some level of order, and without that assumption, then everything disintegrates into chaos.

I just think the story is really interesting. Yes, the people involved do bear personal responsibility for the things that they did, but I feel a lot of sympathy for them also just because some awful, awful person took advantage of a characteristic in them that in almost any other circumstance would be the right path to pursue.

Help Thou Mine Unbelief

It's funny, I always want to get up and bear my testimony now whenever there is a fast and testimony meeting. I think I started to become that person in the Irvine Ranch Branch and everyone seemed so reluctant to get up and bear testimonies. There was a string of about 4-6 months in a row when I would consistently do it every month. And it never felt contrived for me, like I was making up stuff. I guess I've slowly become a person that has something to say about everything now, although I'm still pretty good at keeping things to myself.

Anyway, I've been wanting to bear my testimony in this ward for the last few months, but I always feel like it's overkill to do it when I also teach a Sunday school lesson the same day. Both of my roommates got up to bear their testimonies, and I would have gotten up to bear mine, but then a dozen people got up before I decided to and we ended up finishing late as it was. And I never want to be the person that makes everyone stay late because I just had to say it.

Anyway (again), this is going to be my forum for the thoughts I would have shared today...

Recently I have been reading a lot from the gospels. I'm actually working on getting through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John before the end of the year. I guess I just kind of feel it's the appropriate season to be reading about Christ's life. Additionally, I've also been reading the General Conference edition of the Ensign.

As I've been reading recently, what I've really been impressed with is just how much hope these different sources of scripture give to me, and I just love it. I love reading the words of our modern day prophets and for whatever reason, I've been finding it really comforting to hear the specific counsel they give to guard ourselves, our thoughts, etc. I think because it reminds me that I'm not alone in my struggles, and that it's not out of the ordinary to have weaknesses and to sometimes - and maybe even frequently - feel doubt.

Last night I was reading in Mark 9, and probably just like everyone else, I love when the father of the sick girl asks Jesus to heal his daughter, and Christ says, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."

And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

I can only imagine how much that must have tugged at the heart of the Savior to hear that father's desperate and entirely humble plea to heal his daughter. Lord, I believe that you can heal my daughter, but please, help me so that it's enough that you can work a miracle for her.

There are a lot of ways in which I can express that exact same sentiment. Lord, I believe that you can:

• Help me to get through the rest of my program and build up a significant body of work to put on my resume
• Help me overcome my many, and sometimes, all too glaring personal inadequacies
  
• Help me find meaningful and relevant work
• Help me to get out of my own way so that I'm not single for the rest of my life
• Bless my family so that they can receive the gospel
• Heal my mother's/friend's broken hearts

But, please, help thou mine unbelief.

What's so wonderful about the gospel is that we are so not on our own. There is an abundance of earthly resources and people available to us to help us overcome, but more importantly, we have the Lord who is ever present and ever desirous for our success and eventual triumph over the obstacles that face us.

And I have to believe that God is always waiting and yearning for us to seek out his help in our struggles. I love the frequency of the injunction that he issues to us - ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

The blessings are there and they are available, but we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to allow him to tip his hand and help us. Not only the asking part, but just like the father of the sick child, we need to be asking for that additional strengthening as well, and doing what we can to make our faith manifest, however small that offering may be.

Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Legion of Extraordinary Dancers

This season has been kind of weird for me and SYTYCD. Sometimes I could care less, but then a particular routine will jump out and just blow me away. I'm not really a fan of anyone in particular. They're all pretty decent. I like Kathryn just because I think she's super cute, same goes for Noelle. I think Jakob is by far the best dancer, although the other guys are all pretty good also.

Anyway, this week I just loved loved loved this routine by the dance group whose name graces the title of this post. I was looking through some of their other videos and current contestant, Legacy, actually used to be (or still is?) a member of the group. My favorite guy is the one dude doing all of the stuff on his hands who smoothly spins to a stop at the end of the routine. I just can't believe how fluid he is, and the variation he has in his speed. Just amazing. But the best part has to be the part in the middle with the perfectly synchronized martial arts moves.


As an added bonus, a friend of mine sent me the trailer for this independent film, Babies.

Arabs Also Weary of Obama

I read this interesting article this morning about how Arabs have gotten tired of Obama's oratory. I won't go into any detail about it, but I did like this excerpt:

Steeped in an overarching idea of American guilt, Mr. Obama and his lieutenants offered nothing less than a doctrine, and a policy, of American penance. No one told Mr. Obama that the Islamic world, where American power is engaged and so dangerously exposed, it is considered bad form, nay a great moral lapse, to speak ill of one's own tribe when in the midst, and in the lands, of others.

The crowd may have applauded the cavalier way the new steward of American power referred to his predecessor, but in the privacy of their own language they doubtless wondered about his character and his fidelity. "My brother and I against my cousin, my cousin and I against the stranger," goes one of the Arab world's most honored maxims. The stranger who came into their midst and spoke badly of his own was destined to become an object of suspicion.

Even in his speech on Tuesday night announcing the addition of 30,000 troops, he started off by speaking ill of President Bush and the previous foreign policy that had been employed, also refusing to acknowledge the difficult decision Bush made to endorse the original surge in the first place, and then he went on to close his speech by talking about how we need to move past partisan politics. Ridiculous.

Sleight of Hand

The Ward Historians asked for contributions from the ward members, and this was mine. Of course, me being a moron, felt like this was such a condensed form, but I never know how much people really want to know. I always feel like I have so much more to say, but I'm not sure if everyone wants to deal with the full brunt of Chris-force coming their way. Anywho...

In all of the scenarios that I had imagined for myself when I had gotten home from my mission 8 years ago, I never thought that I would be still single and still in school at 29 years old. And never did I think that I would be doing Round 2 at BYU, but someone once said the best way to make God laugh is to tell Him about your plans. In spite of the setbacks and pit-stops I have had to take along the way, I know that God’s hand is still guiding my life, and in great abundance this past year.

Currently I am finishing up the second year of a four year program in Applied Social Psychology at BYU. I am in a program that I love, that gives me valuable experience, where I get to work with professors that I have great relationships with. More importantly, in my second go-around in Provo, I feel like I have been able to establish new relationships that make me feel like are the pieces that complete the puzzle that is my life. After I first came back here from California, when I was hoping just to make some new friends, some people in the ward invited me over just to watch TV with them. It was a small gesture and required little of them, but it went so far in helping me just to feel that I wasn’t alone even though in a lot of ways I felt like I was having to start all over in finding new friends. I don’t think those people know how much that simple act meant to me.

In Matthew 7, it says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

A lot of times when I think I’m asking for bread and fish, and all I’m getting are stones and serpents. However, given the experiences that I have had, I know that the bread and fish have been coming, but I haven’t always been able to see them for what they are. The answers are there, and maybe not in the ways that I would typically expect, but I know that Heavenly Father is always there giving the good gifts, and when I have had eyes open to see, then I’ve been able to recognize the answers for what they are – His ever loving hand guiding my life.

Dating Survey

For one of my statistics classes we are doing a dating survey to try and find some factors that predict dating satisfaction. This survey is for non-married people, and if you're interested in taking it, you can do so by clicking here. It shouldn't take more than few minutes, and the results are completely anonymous. Please forward that url onto anyone else who you think might be interested in filling it out. Thanks.