Books! Check 'Em Out!

I was going to do a post on a bunch of random items, but then I started going into way too much detail on this one point so now it's becoming its own post. You're welcome!

There are a couple of stores that I just love walking into. Home Depot has become a favorite of mine ever since I did the home remodeling stuff. Electronics stores are always fun too. But I think my favorite might be just a plain old bookstore. Not used bookstores, because that's like a thousand different house smells combined into one and they just have a weird stench, but places like Barnes & Noble and Borders. I guess you can smell the coffee, and I do enjoy that smell, but I love the smell of all that paper. I love walking the aisles and picking out books that I might spend hours with over the ensuing few weeks.

When I'm deciding what to read I'll usually read the summary, then the first page, and if I'm still interested in reading after that point then I'll usually buy the book. With one girl I dated, we used to go to bookstores all the time. She was my favorite to go with because I knew she was just as interested in finding her own stuff as I was so I was free to wander, and then we'd find books that we could read together also. She loved being read to, and I loved reading to her. We did a lot of fun things together, but that time with her was probably one of my favorites.

What's funny is that even as a kid I loved going to bookstores as much as any place else. There is a children's bookstore by my mom's shop and that was always the first place I would run to when I went with her to work. Whenever other people tell me about the books they loved as kids I never have any idea what books they are talking about. I think that has everything to do with the fact that I was the one picking out my reading, and you want to know what I picked out? Ghost stories and mythology. Weird, right? But I couldn't get enough of scary stories or stories that featured some kind of mythical hero. That is probably why I transitioned so easily into comic books.

My appreciation for reading came entirely from my brother because I have never seen my parents reading a book in my entire life. Not once. Not ever. You have to remember also that neither of my parent's even graduated high school, I'm pretty sure. When we shared a bedroom, I would ask my brother to tell me stories and then he would tell me about whatever it was that he was reading and I loved it.

If there are three things I hope to instill in my children, they would be a love for the gospel, physical activity, and reading. Recently, I've been asking seasoned parents how they get their kids to love reading, and I think it just boils down to reading with them, and also doing it yourself. Kids are naturally loving, and they will gravitate to those things that their loved ones enjoy most.

Over the summer I read:

• Lone Survivor
• A collection of short stories by Elmore Leonard
• The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard
• To Kill A Mockingbird
• Who Really Cares by Arthur Brooks (with its own post to follow)
• I Love Yous Are For White People
• 3 Weeks With My Brother
• The Green Mile

And just yesterday I finished up reading The Shining and Lectures On Faith. Quite a contrast, huh? I'm in love with Stephen King. Yeah, he's the master of horror, whatever, but he doesn't get enough credit for just how good his writing actually is. It's a talent to be able to write things that paint vistas and capture perfectly the essence of people, but it's also an incredible skill to write things that can make your warm blood turn cold. And it's not just through graphic horror either. I would also add that the movies based on his books seem to be more graphic than what he writes. At least from what I've read of his so far.

How about a quick excerpt:

Danny turned and ran. Bolting through the bathroom door, his eyes starting from their sockets, his hair on end like the hair of a hedgehog about to be turned into a sacrificial ball, his mouth open and soundless. He ran full tilt into the outside door of 217, which was now closed. He began hammering on it, far beyond realizing that it was unlocked, and he had only to turn the knob to let himself out. His mouth pealed forth deafening screams that were beyond the human auditory range. He could only hammer on the door and hear the dead woman coming for him, bloated belly, dry hair, outstretched hands - something that had been slain in that tub for perhaps years, embalmed there in magic.

The door would not open, would not, would not, would not.

And then the voice of Dick Halloran came to him, so sudden and unexpected, so calm, that his locked vocal cords opened and he began to cry weakly - not with fear but with blessed relief.

(I don't think they can hurt you...they're like pictures in a book...close your eyes and they'll be gone.)

His eyelids snapped down. His hands curled into balls. His shoulders hunched with the effort of his concentration.

(Nothing there nothing there not there at all NOTHING THERE THERE IS NOTHING!)

Time passed. And he was just beginning to relax, just beginning to realize that the door must be unlocked and he could go, when the years-damp, bloated, fish-smelling hands closed softly around his throat and he was turned implacably around to stare into that dead and purple face.

Scary as hell, right?

With all of that said, you just can't beat how great it is to buy stuff off of Amazon and how cheap it ends up being. I bought two books this morning for the cover price of one of the books, including shipping for both from different sellers. I love capitalism. This morning I bought a biography on Chief Justice Roberts and also What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. The more I read about Roberts, the more enamored with him I become. The second book is by a Japanese author and it's some memoirs of his that I happened upon in one bookstore excursion.

This post is a smattering of thoughts so I'm not really sure how to end it, but I'm pretty sure it needs to be literary so here goes...

This poem always makes me laugh when I read it because I know it's written in a different time, and is meant to be fawning over the exquisite beauty of the female form, but when I read it now it just seems so typical guy to me:

My love in her attire doth show her wit,
It doth so well become her;
For every season she hath dressings fit,
For winter, spring, and summer.
No beauty doth she miss,
When all her robes are on:
But Beauty's self she is,
When all her robes are gone.

Isn't that funny? It's basically this: My girl is really witty, which is awesome, and she dresses really cute, but nothing beats seeing her goodies.

This doesn't feel like a post that will generate any comments, but it would be nice to hear what you've been reading lately. In any case, I'll see y'all later, dearhearts!

I Dreamed A Dream

Most of the time my dreams just seem to feel like a random sampling of thoughts or events that occurred throughout the day that my brain attempts to process at night. There isn't really anything significant about any of them, so consequently, I don't really remember any of them.

Other times they're recurring dreams. One that I used to have was my teeth falling out or decaying rapidly, although I haven't had one of those in years. Another I used to get was of falling from great heights, which has since been altered into balancing on top of incredibly high places - bikes, towers, etc. I still have those ones every so often. Those ones are usually easy to figure out because they seem to center around some kind of anxiety I'm feeling about my appearance (teeth) or ability (or inability) to handle/balance/juggle all of the demands in my life. The thoughts and feelings associated here are known and understood, both before and after the dream.

And still other times there are those dreams that feel like they are windows into parts of myself that I either never knew, or had forgotten about entirely, and having the dream alerts me to reality - what I'm really feeling, or even what it is that I really want. Last night I had several incredibly vivid dreams, and one of them had everything to do with this last type that I mentioned.

I won't bother going into the specifics, but the general feeling I had was one of renewed faith and hope. In my heart of hearts I know that there are certain things that I cannot live without, other things that I yearn for, and all of these things are worth waiting for until they come to fruition. I guess what was important about the dream was being reminded that these things are in fact real, not fleeting, and attainable: they are within my grasp if I am true and faithful.

In thinking about these things this morning it reminded me of this verse from Abraham 1:2:

And, finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers.

I've been reading the Lectures on Faith recently, so that has been a theme of mine. Connected to this scripture, are several found in what is probably my favorite chapter in the Bible, Hebrews 11. With respect to Abraham, Paul writes:

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

Like Abraham, I also seek a better country where can be found greater happiness, peace, and rest. I am so grateful to be reminded of these things from time to time. It's funny to me that sometimes I have to become a captive audience, and be spoken to when I'm in the grips of sleep in order to get the point.

Well, a friend of mine (yeah, Moomby, you get that title too) had posted this song and a related point a few weeks ago so I thought I'd do the same.

Love Me Some Karaoke

Last weekend I went with some friends to a little house party and someone had a karaoke machine present. Only one of us knew the host, so the rest of us were a little bit at a loss for getting time on the mic, except that the people there were all really inclusive when it came to letting us sing. Luckily, me and a friend kind of really love karaoke, so we jumped right on it. And then again...and again...and again. We kept offering up the microphone to other people, but everyone was too shy to really give it ago so they started suggesting songs for us to sing and they would do backups. I may have loved it, so much so that I was hoarse by the end of the night, stayed up way too late, and had to push off my long Saturday run for another day because I wasn't going to be able to get any rest.

Well, last night a friend of mine had a house warming party and a friend of hers brought Rock Band 2, and the new Beatles Rock Band as well. I quite possibly played for five hours straight. You couldn't kick me off the vocals or the drums.

When did this happen? When did I develop such an intense love for singing popular songs at get-togethers? When did I become the obnoxious person who never tired of singing for his friends? I'm NEVER one to like being the center of attention in these kinds of settings, but the music just calls to me, I guess. It's a little bit ridiculous. Surprisingly, I'm not terrible at it either, but then again, I have participated in a ward choir or two in my time so I guess it's to be expected.

Anyhow, now I've been left seriously contemplating buying a game system and one of the versions of Rock Band. I'm such a sucker for that stuff. And you know what song is right in my wheelhouse? This one..it's available for download on Rock Band. I could sing this one a thousand times and not get tired of it.

Am I slightly ashamed of the fact that I have a secret love for Papa Roach? Yes, but it's at about the same level of embarrassment that I have for loving karaoke-type games.

Rosh Hashanah - The Feast of Trumpets

I know it was actually celebrated last weekend, but I haven't been able to get around to putting together this post, so forgive me (I was thinking this morning on my way home how funny it is how much reading and writing I do for this blog, but whatever...).

Just in case you were wondering, the appropriate greeting is L'Shanah Tova, which is shortened from Leshana Tova Tikoseiv Vesichoseim, Hebrew for "May you immediately be inscribed and sealed for a Good Year and for a Good and Peaceful Life".

If you didn't know, Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the new year in the Jewish Calendar, celebrated on the first and second days of the seventh month of Tishri (go here for more information). The holiday marks the last harvest of the season, or the great and final time of ingathering for the season. Today it's referred to among both Christians and Jews as the Feast of Trumpets. A BYU religion professor recently blogged about the holiday here, and mentioned the following:

One of the most festive of all Jewish holidays, Rosh Hashannah is one of the two High Holy Days in Judaism, the other being the solemn fasting day known as Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), which falls ten days afterward. The period between these two High Holy Days is known as “the Days of Awe,” a period when the Jewish faithful consider their trespasses, personal and national, reflect upon the need for repentance, and consider the future. It is significant that such a period is commenced with a festival as joyful and full of hope and anticipation for the future as Rosh Hashannah.

Anciently, the holiday had a different meaning and was referred to as a day of remembering, when the Jews were commanded to blow trumpets on this day for remembrance - to remember their bondage and captivity, and also to plead that God would remember to keep his covenants and for Israel to remember their God.

Where this gets really interesting for latter day saints is when considering the statue of Moroni blowing his trumpet placed at the top of each temple. Where did this idea of him blowing a trumpet come from? You might want to answer by referring to Revelations 14:2 which says, "And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps." But nowhere in that verse does it mention him blowing a trumpet. Well the answer has to do specifically with this holiday, Rosh Hashanah, or the Feast of Trumpets.

For several years, from 1823-1827 Joseph Smith had been preparing himself for his eventual mission of restoring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth, just as it was in ancient times. Part of this preparation included yearly visits from the angel Moroni. After several several years, Moroni visited Joseph Smith on September 22, 1827 to deliver to him the golden plates that contained what we now have in the Book of Mormon. That day also happened to mark the first day of Tishri, or The Feast of Trumpets. The cool thing is that you can search for a Jewish calendar converter, put in the dates and see that it corresponds. In fact, try it out here.

Moroni blows his trumpet from atop our temples because he came to officially mark the final gathering of souls before the second coming of Christ; he sits atop the temples because that is where we go to make the covenants that help us to remember God, and we hope will keep him in reminded of the promises he has made to us as his children. Not too long ago there was an article in the Ensign that goes into much more depth about this subject, here. It also mentions:

The blowing of the trumpet is the major ritual of the Feast of Trumpets. Because the first mention of the trumpet is at Mount Sinai, these instruments are seen by Jewish writers as a symbol of revelation (see Ex. 19:16, 19). The trumpet sound is therefore understood by them as a memorial of the revelation and covenant given on Mount Sinai. Yet Rosh Hashanah’s trumpet blasts have been accepted by many Jews not just as a memorial of the ancient covenant revealed at Sinai but as a prelude to a new and future covenant to be revealed, one that would result in Israel’s ultimate redemption. The day’s ritual includes a prayer regarding revelation named “Trumpets.”

...

Was the coming forth of the Book of Mormon on the Feast of Trumpets coincidental? Latter-day Saints who know about these events do not think so. Scriptural and prophetic truth is often manifest through fulfillment. The golden plates were delivered to the young Prophet Joseph Smith early in the morning of 22 September 1827. The Feast of Trumpets, with prayers pleading for God’s remembrance of his still-exiled people, had begun at sundown the previous evening. The services continued that morning, with a worldwide sounding of the ram’s horn. Unbeknown to Judah, all that those horns represented was now to be fulfilled. For on that day, God remembered His people and set in motion His plan to regather them. On that day, God’s final harvest began. On that day, new revelation was granted which would bring a return to renewed covenants. From that day onward, Israel would be called to repentance in preparation for Christ’s return and reign. The Book of Mormon exists to serve these ends. Today, Moroni’s image trumpets from temple spires around the world a final call to awaken, repent, and prepare.

So as you continue to celebrate the Jewish New Year, and go through the next several Days of Awe until Yom Kippur (which is this Sunday the 27th), remember your Heavenly Father, and be aware that He remembers you.

School Kids Taught To Praise Obama

What the hell is this?

This has been a consistent theme ever since he's come into the public consciousness, but over and over again, Obama is praised and elevated passed the stature of his office into his own echelon. This should be alarming to anyone fearful of anointing a leader who is seemingly beyond reproach, e.g. Castro, Chavez, Kim Jong Il, etc.

Yesterday he gave a speech to the UN General Assembly, and many conservative commentators are up in arms about how self-aggrandizing it is, at the expense of all US achievements in the past. I won't bother posting quotes and links this time around, but you can visit the links at the left if you're interested in finding out for yourself.

Remember the speech that he gave to the nation's school children? Did you hear about why people were up in arms about that? Is it really so bad that the American President wants to talk to school kids about education? On its face, no, but it's just another instance of him inserting himself into areas that don't really pertain to him. Who should be talking to kids about education? Parents and teachers. Rather than let government operate in its rightful place, he constantly attempts to inject himself into every public arena available to him. This Sunday alone he will make appearances of five different talk shows. He was even on David Letterman earlier this week. How many times has he appeared on these talk shows?

Fellow blogger at Welcome To My Soapbox commented recently on the abundance of speeches that he has given. She made the point that making speeches and campaigning is the only thing he really knows how to do, so he's making the most of every opportunity. He has no prior executive experience, and even his experience in the state legislature is very limited, but he does know how to win a national election, and he does know how to delivery oratory.

The bigger problem with all of his speech giving and pleading to the masses is that he is developing for himself a persona that is larger than life, that is beyond criticism and doubt, in order to pursue an agenda that is above analysis and inquiry. This fact is even evidenced by the recent call from the National Endowment for the Arts to promote art that promote his legislation. Don't think so? Remember this image?

You can visit this website for more on the NEA story. Here is the original post.

Just be aware of what it is that you are buying into.

Helping Hands

This past Sunday we had a priesthood meeting and one of the themes that the stake presidency is promoting to the brethren is creating a culture of caring. They had some kind of foreign name attached to it that has something to do with some kind of tribe, but the point is just making ourselves available to each other in every way that we can.

From the moment I began my contact with the church I have always been most inspired by the priesthood holders, probably because that is the role I will be fulfilling. It began when I would go on the scouting activities when I wasn't even a member or a scout, and would have long drives with the Young Men's Presidents and the other advisors. Brothers King, Briggs, Ostler Chapman, Greggorson, Cornwell, Reid, Gassin, Muir were all men that I aspired to be in so many ways. I guess it's just funny to me because I still look for those kinds of influences in my life almost 15 years later. I wonder if that will ever change, even when I'm a grandfather and looking down instead of up, in terms of age.

Anyway, my current bishop and stake president have felt like those kinds of men to me. President Baker mentioned how important it is to make an effort to show people, even strangers, that we care. At the time he said it, I wondered if doing those little things (e.g. holding doors, donating generous fast offerings, provide a listening ear, making meals, letting people in during traffic, etc.) really made any kind of difference, if people really noticed that kind of thing. I've been thinking about it for a few days, not constantly, but it comes up every now and then, and I have to conclude that it does. A couple of examples:

• At the last fast and testimony meeting one guy that I have a man-crush on got up and mentioned in his testimony how he was in a Smith's parking lot, and this woman was asking everyone in sight if they spoke Spanish or not. She finally approached him, and he talked about how he was deciding in his mind whether he wanted to make it known that he did actually speak Spanish. When he didn't respond either way, she just assumed that he did, and asked him for a ride home. On that car ride she began to unabashedly talk about her faith, and he marveled at her forthrightness. Anyway, I just loved his testimony because it was entirely self-effacing and speaking well of the woman, not of himself. Not even a week after hearing his testimony, I was walking out of the Wilk into the parking lot where the bus stop is, and this little latin man was asking everyone if they spoke Spanish. I had my Ipod playing in my ears, but immediately recognized what he was doing, and the immediate thought I had was of the testimony I heard, and how I owed it to the man to help him out. It was really simple, just explaining that the forms he had were for student aid for his son. After chatting some more I found out he was from Chile, and we had a nice little conversation.
  
• For years the Reid family home teacher was President Muir, my first stake president and the person who gave me my first set of scriptures when I was baptized. During one of President Muir's visits, he mentioned how the father not only responded to a call of service, but in doing so asked when there was the least amount of help available and that he would go then. Greg would have never told that story about himself, but even after hearing that story more than a decade ago, that example is still something that inspires me to want to serve.

These simple acts of kindness inspire people to be and do better. I know that if it weren't for the men in those two stories I mentioned, I wouldn't have responded so easily, or maybe at all, to the calls to help.

This commercial illustrates my point well:


In a conversation I had over the summer, a friend was telling me about an acquaintance he has and how completely selfish he is, and asked what it takes for someone like that to change. The first thing I thought of was Jean Valjean and the Bishop in Les Miserables. Jean was a convict, living a selfish life and rejected by society, and had been taken in by the Bishop when no one else would. As payment for the Bishop's kindness, Jean leaves in the middle of the night, stealing various items as well. When the police catch him and ask the Bishop if he had stolen the items, the Bishop pretends that he had sent Valjean on his way with the goods, and chastises him for leaving so quickly and not also taking two silver candlesticks with him. So touched by the graciousness of the Bishop, Jean Valjean changes his life forever and lives wholly dedicated to the service of others.

The little things we do matter. If not to ourselves, then to the people we are serving, and if not them, then maybe to some unknown bystander who is watching your actions. Sometimes you'll be rewarded for your kindness, and other times it will feel like you're being punished, but that's the gospel, isn't it? From Matthew 5 (and 3 Nephi 12):

38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy bneighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Your Pioneer League Champions, The Owlz!

No, not a typo, they really spell it with a 'z'. Not sure why it took me so long to take part in my first minor league baseball game, but I finally went two Saturdays ago. The game was entertaining. I thought at first that maybe I wouldn't find the game as entertaining, but as it turns out, I just really love the atmosphere of baseball games and watching live sports. It also helps that my roommate is the assistant general manager and got me free tickets.

They won the first game that I went to, and the following week I went to a playoff game. What was really surprising was that Tommy Lasorda was at the first game, and then Luis Gonzalez was at the second game as a scout for the Angels. I think maybe only one person would recognize the name Luis Gonzalez, but Gonzo was the guy who hit the World Series clinching hit in Game 7 for the Arizona Diamondbacks off of Mariano Rivera against the Yankees in 2001. Pretty awesome, huh?

What was even better was that while we were walking up to the ticket booth for the playoff game, we started hearing all of this commotion from people in front of us, "foul ball!" And I looked up to see the ball bounce about 10-20 feet in front of us, and then off to my left. I think it caught everyone by surprise because no one moved once it landed. Thankfully, instincts kicked in and I jogged over to pick it up, beating the nice man with scraggly mullet and handlebar mustache.

The Owlz lost the playoff game we went into in the top of the 9th inning, but traveled to Mizzoula and destroyed the Osprey (whatever those are) in the two games up in Montana to take the championship.

On another baseball note...between Dave and myself, we have 20 tickets for Games 1, 2, and 3 for the ALDS that will be against the Red Sox. We're not going to be using all of those, so any interested applicants can begin to submit inquiries.

Just in case you wanted to see Luis in action...


Does watching that give you the chills too? Love it. Can't wait for playoff baseball.

Curse Me For Trying To Love You

I was fortunate enough this past weekend to get invited to the BYU/FSU football game, as well as take part in the wonder that is the Cougar Club. However, this is why I can't commit myself fully to BYU Football:

54-28

What's really sad is that this debacle has reduced me to female/little kid fan status where instead of the game itself being the main source of enjoyment, I'm reduced to focusing on everything in the periphery - all of the wonderful, FREE stuff I got to partake of. So rather than focus on the game (which was MISERABLE) let's focus on all the free (which was GREAT!).

Prior to the game, there is a tent setup outside the stadium for all of the boosters of BYU football, as well as their guests (me). Upon entering the tent, all visitors receive a hat and program. The hat itself was none too bad, but really only fits little kids or people with tiny heads. Pay no mind to that, however, because what's really awesome is the unlimited supply of free and tasty food before the game. Here is what was available:

• Short ribs
• A surprisingly succulent turkey
• Hamburgers
• Drinks - soda, water, lemonade, beer, wine...right...the exclusion of those two items alone is probably what allows them to absorb the costs of supplying all this stuff
• Some kind of chicken something-er-other with rice and potatoes, but I was full by the time I got to that side of the tent
• Dessert bar with brownies, lemon or raspberry bars, chocolate, caramel, or white chocolate fountain with all of the fresh fruit and other fixings you can think of

And while you're gorging on everything in sight, there are TVs set up all over the tent showing other college football games. Does life get any better? I submit to you that it does not.

In this picture you can see the Y where we sat and the tent on the left.

Then we proceeded to our seats. We were on the BYU side (east side of the stadium) sitting right on the Y that's painted into the seats. If there were a laser beam cutting the field and stadium in half, I would have been split right down the middle. We were just above the middle portal, so about 20 rows up, which would have been awesome except, A) BYU stunk, and B) it was a warm day so the sun was baking us until the second half. However, to my continued delight, underneath our seats was a bag of treats that included 2 bottles of water, a bag of sunflower seeds, and a coupon for a free drink from the concession stand.

During half time we got, yup, more free treats. We filed back to the tent to have an assortment of ice cream treats, along with hot dogs and popcorn, and the dessert bar was still in full force. And more soda, then back to the game.

Under most circumstances I would have been pretty annoyed with the game, except for the fact that they started passing out cookies and cream ice cream. I'm not sure if they hand out more stuff than usual during blow-outs to keep the sugar and calorie high going, but if that is the case, then it totally worked on me. I think this goes a long way towards proving the idea that drowning your sorrows in food can cure any sadness.

Oh yeah...and there was a football game going too.

Let's Talk About Pleats

Maybe it's because my parents are tailors that I have such strong feelings about this, but I think something needs to be said. I'm not a fashion expert by any means, but I think I have at least a decent sense of style, and this one thing always bothers me:

Traditional pants have pleats, and they do so because they used to be worn around the waistline, not the hips like they usually are these days. Pleats work if you're overweight or if you wear your pants high, otherwise do away with them.

I don't know why more guys don't understand this. You would never, ever, ever, never dream of wearing pleated jeans, right? Or pleated shorts? It looks outdated, right? Of course they do. They look terrible.

You see this a lot in church especially, because for whatever reason you actually have to go out of your way and search for flat-front pants, and it's even more difficult when you're looking for suits. Maybe guys are just lazy and the pleated dress pants are so accessible that it's just easier to buy them and move on, but guys, it's worth it. If you're not overweight, but still insist on wearing pleated pants, then they make it so it does seem like you're packing on a few extra pounds.

I've bought a couple suits the last few years and I really did have to search extensively at a department store to find a suit with a flat-front look. My solution recently has been to go with Banana Republic suits because they only have flat-front pants, and the shirts and suit coats are more flattering on the torso because the cut of the shirts is slimmer (Banana Republic outlet stores, not the normal retail ones - they have 3-button and 2-button looks, with all the classic colors for just a couple hundred dollars).

Anyway, do yourselves (or your boyfriends or husbands) a favor and just get rid of all your pants with pleated fronts, unless you wear your pants high or you're overweight.

But if you're overweight, let's get you on a diet, okay? We can work on the clothes later.

Admittedly, I may sound a little queer publishing this on the world wide interwebs, but at least I'm looking good.

Why We Should All (Health) Care

Came across a poll of doctor's from the people at Investor's Business Daily that had a lot of interesting results. You can find the series of articles here. I read one of the articles and all of the comments were from people opposed to the findings, calling into question its methodology and doubting the accuracy of the results. One thing to consider is the fact that the IBD/TIPP pollsters have the most accurate pollsters over the last few elections, coming within one percentage point of predicting the actual results. What I thought was really dumb was when one person wanted them to report on response rates, sampling procedures, etc., but of course that stuff isn't going to ever come up in a news article. In any case, they responded to some of those concerns in the beginning of this article here. One quick note about statistics - it's better to have a random sample of 50 people than it is to have a convenient sample of 50,000 people.

The last article I linked to brings up some of the most common concerns mentioned by doctors in the survey. When I've talked to my MD friend about the health care proposals, the first point he usually brings up has to do with the fact that most of the physicians he knows would consider immediate retirement should the reforms take place. This is not a consequence I have heard from any other place, but finally gets attention in this poll. They found that 45% of all doctors would consider retirement should the reforms take place.

My friend also splits time in his residency between the VA and Cedar Sinai, and often talks about the poor quality of care at the VA as compared to the other hospitals he's worked at. This point is also mentioned in the article. Of course, if we want a preview of what government-run medicine looks like, we should just start modeling other hospitals after the VA.

Speaking of the reform, one doctor quipped, "All the efficiency of the post office, all the compassion of the motor vehicle bureau."

Said another doctor, "Government health care will wipe out the private insurance companies. Most of the doctors in private practice will give up ... because of a low reimbursement from the government. The Medicare, Medicaid program is a good example of government-run health care."

In the end, it seems that one of the biggest problem's of the new proposal is the massive surge in costs of health care to the nation, with no recourse for recouping that money unless there is massive debt accumulation (even more than what it has been recently) or some serious tax hikes. Although the current system is not perfect, it's still preferable to what Obama is proposing. Over at the Carpe Diem blog, the author has made available a series of posts that consider the ways in which the private sector has been able to outstrip what current providers are able to offer. I am inclined to agree - the best solution will come from private industry, not through the government.

Thankfully, public opposition to the bill is increasing, reaching an all-time high yesterday, as reported by Rasmussen. This graphic shows the pattern of support/opposition to the health care reform since June.

Against All Odds

I loved Phil Collins as a kid, I just always have. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I feel like he looks kind of like my dad, but I always liked the intensity of his music. Maybe it was foreboding for this week, but the song Against All Odds kept coming up recently and I've always appreciated the song. Now that I'm feeling pretty down, I'm going to wallow a little bit in its sadness.

I can't remember when it was, but I posted in the lasted few months about this episode of This American Life wherein a girl going through a break-up decides that she has to write a break-up song to deal with her grief, and decides that she should talk to Phil Collins about how to go about writing the song, given that she has no real musical background. If you haven't ever listened to the episode, pay the dollar and download it because it's the best episode I've ever heard of the show.

Anyway, in the broadcast Phil explains to the girl some of what went into the writing of the song. It came to him after his first divorce, and is basically him channeling all of his heartache into the lyrics and music. There have been several covers of the song, most notably Mariah Carey (which I'm not posting) and Death Cab for Cutie (which I am posting).


I think that version is pretty cool, but it's so different hearing Phil sing it himself. It's his story, born of his own pain, and you can feel the difference in the way he sings it. I like this live version because it feels so authentic, especially when he messes up on the piano. I think my favorite is how there are parts of the song that he sings, but then there are those moments where he's yelling and you get such a clear sense for the emotion that he's going through.



Sing it Phil...sing it for my sad, sad heart.

Yeah, It's Back

I still have mixed feelings about the having this during the Fall TV season, but I can't help myself when it comes to some of these dancers. The first dancer in this video, Ryan, tried out for last season's show and it came down to him and his brother, and they ended up taking his brother for the Top 20. He ended up making the final 3, which I cannot believe, but whatever, that's neither here nor there.

Anyway, what I really love about this audition is how artistic it is. The tapping is great, but I feel like there's a level of artistry in this that is just a little above and beyond. Following his audition, another tapper from last seasons has her audition, which ends up being a tap "battle" of sorts. It's really great.

Give the video a minute to load up. It took me some time to figure out how to do it, but I changed the embed code so that it would upload at the part that I liked, so it takes a second to stream to that point.



While passing time waiting in line, a friend of mine asked if I could be a professional singer or dancer, which would I rather choose. At the time I said singer, but I think I might have to go with dancer. I love the athleticism involved, but also creativity it allows for. I dunno, I guess my answer was influenced in part by the one that I thought would allow me to be more masculine, which I still think is singer. Maybe I could just be a JT hybrid and sing cool songs, but also be an awesome dancer. Like Usher? Or MJ?

I Love The 90s

Wanna know something kinda funny about me? I know about 98% of all music that came out of the 80s and 90s. The only person who I think might know more would be Mike Lowe, who not only knows the songs, but the words to all of them too. But I'm a pretty close second.

I attribute it to my steady diet of watching MTV all day long growing up, back when it was mostly music videos. I was pretty much a latchkey child growing up, so I'm quite amazed that I have turned out as well as I have. Anyhow, with that upbringing comes a very broad knowledge of popular music. I'm well versed in all of pop music, including anything easy listening, but I also have good depth in glam rock, rap (including gangsta rap), hip hop, and all rock and alternative.

Last week a friend of mine came across a Brandy song, which she shared with me, which in turn prompted a meander down my own musical memory lane of 90s female hip hop. Walk with me, won't you?

I kind of loved TLC - What About Your Friends, Creep, etc. I think I liked the older stuff more than Scrubs and Waterfalls, although Scrubs was a BYU freshman year anthem.

TLC - Baby baby baby

This one is a little more obscure, but I kind of loved this song. Listening to it prompted me to listen to MJ the last few days.



This one might be even more obscure, but I'm still fond of it.



And the song that inspired this stroll:

Brandy - Right Here

Here and There

I've disappeared for the last few days, not for any real reason. I've actually got several posts in mind, but they're all kind of lengthy and I feel like I've done a lot of those recently so I've been reluctant the last several days to spend too much time blogging. But here are a few things:

This stupid little comic strip captures perfectly my feelings about grad school. My program differs greatly from a law school or MBA experience. If you want to ask how my thesis is going, I'll try and politely answer your question, but this illustrates what I'm really thinking. On the plus side, I did meet with my chair today and we had a good talk about how to handle things from here on out. And today I had a revolutionary idea...are you ready? I think I'm just going to go on to campus everyday at nine and leave at five or six and do everything I can within those hours. That's it. I think it'll work wonders for me.

Yes, this image explains it perfectly.

How about a quote from the Gipper?

We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and, ultimately, human fulfillment are created from the bottom up, not the government down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success – only then can societies remain alive, dynamic, prosperous, progressive and free.

Trust the people. This is the one irrefutable lesson of the entire post-war period, contradicting the notion that rigid government controls are essential to economic development. The societies that have achieved the most spectacular, broad-based progress are neither the most tightly controlled, nor the biggest in size, nor the wealthiest in natural resources. No, what unites them all is their willingness to believe in the magic of the marketplace.

Can the guy be any more spot on? The answer is no. Wanna know why Obama's health care proposal is a bad idea? It's government in action, which has always proven to be woefully inefficient, and it also stifles free enterprise. It will cost trillions of dollars to create a system that will ultimately prove to be inadequate to meet the needs of those whom it is supposed to be helping.

Did you hear about all the protests about it, particularly in DC? Of course not. They're guessing that about 200,000-300,000 descended upon the capitol to remonstrate against the proposed legislation.

Yes, I just used remonstrate correctly in a sentence. I am in grad school, aren't I?

That's all I've got for now. Good night, dearhearts.

On This Day...9/11

What's kind of weird is that in Chile, 9/11 is a day of mourning also, but instead of being normal about it people riot in the streets. No joke. We weren't allowed to proselyte on 9/11, and power in the city gets shut down because of all the rioting. I was in this one area that overlooked the valley in which Santiago resides and it was so weird looking at the blackened city except for those areas where fires had been started. Anyway...

Do you remember what you were doing the day you found out the towers had been struck? That was my first semester back from the mission and I had a job as a janitor in the JKHB from 6-9 AM every morning. When I was done with my shifts I would come home and sleep for a few hours and then go to class in the afternoons. One of my roommates disrupted my slumber, calling me on my cell phone, asking if I had heard that the one of the towers had been struck. I was groggy and wasn't sure if I heard him right. At that point, nobody really knew if it was a terrorist attack yet either. I ended up going to class, but while walking through the Wilk all the TVs were broadcasting the days events and there were dozens of people just standing and watching all of them in rapt attention. I stood for about 20 minutes by the TV near the entrance from the Wilk into the bookstore. It was so surreal. Nobody knew what was really going on, but everyone knew that it would have huge implications. It's a singular feeling to have.View of the WTC from the International Space Station on 9/11/01.
Anyway, my brother put together an email with a number of videos and links to various tributes and commentaries around the web about the day, and I've come across a number of different items. Here are a bunch of articles:

• Steven Salinsky writes about all the posturing made by radical Islamists in the days leading up to 9/11 and how that language still persists. Although they're not always valid, they are an indication of the persistent ideology that underlies fundamentalist Islam committed to the destruction of our way of life.
  
• Victor Davis Hanson writes about the seeming schizophrenia that pervades our mentality today. He mentions:
  

  For the last two years, polls in the Middle East have shown a radical drop in support for both bin Laden and the tactic of suicide bombing. We in response have apologized to the Muslim world and magnified its glories at the precise moment when, of its own accord, it has turned on its radicals, who have brought death, destruction — and defeat — to all in their midst.
  
  Few Americans now support our continued presence in Afghanistan and Iraq. And yet even fewer ever thought that the Taliban and Saddam would be quickly dispatched, and two constitutional governments would still be surviving in their absence.
  
  In short, we are reaching a critical moment of clarity. We continue practices that we say are either futile or wrong, and we demonize their architects in speech even as we ratify them through action. At some date, the Democrats and Obama may well close Guantanamo, try our own CIA interrogators, cease tribunals and renditions, ground the Predators, pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq, reach out to Iran and Syria, and distance the United States from Israel.
  

• Ralphs Peters from the NY Post writes a somewhat inflammatory piece about how America has betrayed the dead of 9/11. Some of his points might be a little extreme, but I think he's right through much of the article.
• This is a story from StoryCorps. John Vigiano talks about his sons, a firefighter and policeman, who both died at the WTC.
  

Now the videos...

This one is footage from a nearby building. A man who lived nearby setup his video camera after the first building was hit, and gets footage of the second tower being struck. I haven't seen any footage of the towers being struck since the events occurred, so I thought it was pretty jarring to see it again.



This one will make you cry - a tribute video to those who died, includes some disturbing images of people jumping from buildings.



And then this one is pretty cool. It's produced by the church and is actually about a man who was working in the North (?) tower when the South one was struck, and he left the building, only to see the North one get hit also. He suffers from survivor's guilt, but then finds peace through Jesus Christ.



This one is a timeline of the events of that day.


Hopefully we can all take at least a few minutes out of our day to remember what happened, those who passed away, those who still fight for us, and also acknowledge to ourselves that as individuals and as a nation that we still must be ever vigilant for our own interests before acquiescing to those who undoubtedly still harbor all of their anger and resentment towards our way of life.

Reference Points

I've been privy to several heart-wrenching situations the past week or so, and thankfully, none of them have anything really to do with me other than just my role of being an outside observer.

• Over the weekend a friend of mine from my cohort started posting on Facebook the travails of her now defunct relationship. It started with a "w...t...f..." and then ended with "is totally heartbroken." She had been dating a guy she met while at the University of Portland, and as recently as last Thursday when I talked to her, was thinking that they were going to get married. They endured an entire year apart, somehow making their long distance relationship work, that is, up until now. She's about 22 years old, and I kind of wonder if this now changes her whole game-plan with finishing the Masters portion only here and then going back to school there so that they could be together. That kind of thing changes everything.
  
• While driving home from school last week, I was leaving the graduate student parking lot over by the law building and was driving south on 9th East. I noticed a couple talking on the sidewalk and for whatever reason I just locked in on them as I was driving by. In the short period I was able to watch them, I saw her lips moving and then stop, his face sink as his initial response, followed by his throwing down his bike in despair, walking in a small circle and then crouching down into a squatting position holding his head in his hands. From what I can gather, she probably told him that the milk had gone sour and he wouldn't have anything to eat his cereal with. It's either that or she broke up with him.
• A good friend of mine said goodbye last week to his fiancee at the airport as she left to start a study abroad for the fall semester (sorry to exploit your pain for my blog, but I have a message to deliver and maybe it'll be useful to you and my 5 other loyal readers).

Now with these in mind, I'll refer briefly to another for instance with which most people can relate. A while ago I remember a friend of mine talking about how her little sister, who was a still a teenager, was being overly dramatic about her love life, and wondered aloud about whether or not she had really any idea about what a real relationship is like. As we all get older, it becomes easy to recognize when people are being "overly dramatic" about a number of different kinds of situations, but these aren't limited to just relationships only. It's just an easy one to identify. For the examples mentioned above, it's easy to look at those and scoff at what might seem to be overly dramatic responses, but in each case the person gains a reference point from which to judge both their prior and future experience.

"All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good" is a wonderful phrase that is born from Joseph Smith's experience while imprisoned in Liberty Jail. One of my religion professors talked about how Joseph's experience while in the prison helped enable him to come out like a lion and continue on his way until he was martyred in 1844. Recently, Elder Holland talks about the prison-temple experience that Joseph had and how that transformed him into the person that he needed to become.

What I think is especially valuable about these difficult reference points is that they function as lenses through which we can better grasp, endure, and understand the current experiences that we are having. I'm not normally a visual thinker, but I think this example will help illustrate this point:

As we gain life experience, we become enlarged. I imagine it kind of like this: the band of our soul is wrapped around the four points of each square. With each experience, the points of the square are expanded outward, increasing the capacity that we have to feel and understand. This increased capacity is not only helpful in allowing us to better endure and process future experiences, but it also helps us become better acquainted with our Father in Heaven, and to become more like his son, Jesus Christ. The benefit that we have with these experiences is the growth and depth that we gain, but also the tools and knowledge that we need in the future when we encounter similar experiences.

The other night I was with a friend and a song came on that reminded her of some prior relationship pain that I had mentioned to her before, and she expressed sympathy for what I had gone through previously. Although it was hard to go through at the time, ultimately I'm so grateful for it because I honestly don't know how I would have handled the next couple of years without having what I learned from that experience handy in my backpocket.

The interesting part, is that the experience didn't only apply to other dating disappointments, but the learning generalized to other difficult settings that I had gone through. If nothing else, that prior experience gives me context and a reference point from which I can judge subsequent experiences against.

With 29 years of experience behind me, I have reference points in my life when it comes to family difficulty because of my parents' divorce; I have a reference point when it comes to not only tolerating, but appreciating people I might normally dislike because of my experience serving a mission; I have a reference point for some pretty severe relationship heartache because of what I went through dating Becca; I have a reference point when it comes to physical exertion because of my experience training and running in marathons. In the end, the reference points that we have in our lives provide a guide whereby we gain greater depth as people, and coupled with that depth comes a greater capacity to feel, and appreciation for, the joy that we can experience.

Another friend of mine confided in a close friend of hers some of the mistakes she made in her past, and expected a condemning response. Instead, the friend responded by pointing out that the strength of her position is that because of the difficulties she has gone through, she has had to learn to rely upon and draw from the power of the Atonement, which experience will be invaluable to her as she assumes the role of wife and mother. Related to this point, Elder Hollands teaches us something important in that fireside about Joseph Smith:

But the lessons of the winter of 1838–39 teach us that every experience can become a redemptive experience if we remain bonded to our Father in Heaven through that difficulty. These difficult lessons teach us that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity, and if we will be humble and faithful, if we will be believing and not curse God for our problems, He can turn the unfair and inhumane and debilitating prisons of our lives into temples—or at least into a circumstance that can bring comfort and revelation, divine companionship and peace.

In the end, these reference points give us experience, and the good that Joseph mentions in that Doctrine and Covenants scripture is the comfort, revelation, divine companionship, and peace that Elder Holland speaks of. It binds us together and to our Heavenly Father. It is what allows us to grow to become more like him.

Such Great Heights

I had kind of a killer weekend, and I'm pretty sure that you want to hear about it. I'll be brief.

• Ran 21-22 miles Saturday morning in about 3:05. Although during the run I wanted to die and never wanted to train for a marathon again, I was amazed afterward how good I was feeling, and now I'm wondering if I shouldn't figure out the next one I can run. I'm sure a lot of the credit goes to a nice little massage I got post-run, but I have little muscle soreness and no joint pain. I'm pretty excited about that.
• Went to a Latin American Festival instead of floating the river that afternoon, and I was really happy about that. I had a completo for the first time since the mission, empanadas, and a couple bites of some other latin treats. When I'm not speaking Spanish on a regular basis, I always wonder if I can just recall everything and get right back into it. Turns out that I can. It was fun walking around booths and having everyone assume that I was some sort of Hispanic and launching straight into Spanish. I was asked in church yesterday if I was Native American. Someone earlier this week asked if I was Polynesian. It's kind of fun.You're stunned at how good it looks, huh?
• Already mentioned the soccer game Saturday night...
• Loved church yesterday. I've been feeling especially inspired/insightful lately and I love it. I have a couple of lengthy posts in process right now.
• Today I went wakeboarding for the first time ever with some friends of mine. Either it was beginner's luck or I'm super awesome, but I was able to get up on my very first try, although that ride didn't last more than a few seconds. I wasn't able to really do anything spectacular, but I was able to cross the wake in both directions. I was apprehensive at first about it, but now I'm kind of in love with it and wish that I could go all the time. I'm just sorry that summer is already over. I absolutely must live near a body of water, and I'm surprised to learn how content I could be with that body of water being not limited to oceans only, but including lakes as well. Of course we all know where my loyalties lie. I'm paying for it now though. Tubing killed my shoulder, and my forearms are so tight from gripping so much this afternoon, to the point that I can barely even use my fingers to type.

I am so grateful to be healthy and active. This fall I'm committed to two soccer teams, taking an ice hockey class, and training for a marathon. I want to take up yoga and swimming following the marathon, and after going with the Reids just before leaving home, now I have a taste for working on my golf game. You know what else? While walking through the Wilk on my way to class I spotted a table sponsored by the Breakdance Club and walked in front of it two times wondering if I should join. No, I don't have any skilz, but I could learn, right? I'm pretty coordinated and willing. Walking passed the Wilk Ballroom and seeing the dance classes multiple times a day makes me want to learn swing, country, ballroom, and everything else under the sun.

I'm just feeling good. I love the people in my life, and I'm just feeling so content. It's not so much the words, but the tone of this song that I'm feeling right now - content.

A Good Sports Weekend

Last night the US National Team played a World Cup Qualifier against El Salvador at the Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy. We had some amazing seats thanks to a buddy of mine who knows a season ticket holder, second row in the southeast corner of the stadium. A couple of things about this game:

• Especially against a team like El Salvador, but there is almost no reason why the US shouldn't be able to physically dominate any opposing team. Those little latin guys couldn't have been more than 5'5" or so, and we have so many big guys. However, Kent mentioned this awhile ago when he went to watch soccer in Spain, but soccer players all pretty much have the same build - lean, about 5'9" or 5'10", and incredibly nimble. In other sports there is a ton of variation in body size because with specialization everyone has specific tasks that they are assigned to do. In football there are linemen, quarterbacks, receivers, and all the others and everyone of those has a very specific build. Baseball has speed guys that are agile that play middle infield and big burly guys usually play first base. Hockey has guys who act as enforcers and defensemen, but others who play on the wings and have to be fast. In soccer, everyone has to be able to run for 90 minutes. There is no variation in that, so everyone has to have a lean, runner's type body. Except for...
• Jozy Altidore. I read a Bill Simmons' article raving about the physique of this guy and I really didn't get it until I saw him in person. The guy is built like a wide receiver. He's 6'1" and 210 lbs, with these big broad shoulders. He just doesn't look like he belongs on a soccer field. He's the kind of player you build on a video game. He's just incredibly strong and powerful, but for all his strength he loses the ball way too much when he's posting up. Or at least he did last night. With his back to a defender, he lost a number of balls that he shouldn't be losing. He might rely too much on his strength and not enough on his positioning, although he did get the winning goal on a header from Landon Donovan. Then again the guy is only 19 so there is still a ton of upside to him.
  
• Clint Dempsey scored on a diving header on a set piece from Donovan also. Dempsey missed a breakaway, but he also facilitated what should have been the third goal of the game. I like the guy, but he seems to do things that are really great or really lackluster.
  
• Landon Donovan facilitates EVERYTHING. His crosses and set kicks are almost always great, and the guy runs the entire field the entire game. I have no idea why he doesn't take his game to a better international league. He could be on par with the world's best, but seems to typify the American mentality which is...
• Like hitting an on and off switch. The US defense was porous, and maybe it was because Onyewu had to sit out because of too many yellow cards, but there is not a lot of urgency with the US team. Once El Salvador scored, they seemed to finally wake up and put together a bunch of really good scoring opportunities. After tying up the game, the US kept pressing and with how aggressive they were playing, you just knew that they were going to score again before the end of the half. It was inevitable. But in the second half, they came out kind of flat again, although they did have some good goal scoring opportunities. It seemed this way in the Confederations Cup. They were terrible in the first couple games, but then were so super solid against Spain and Brazil. If they can just manage that kind of effort all the time these guys would be world class.
• I wish our all our guys from midfield up had an attacking mentality. They make way too many little passes inside the 18. I wish they'd just crank it more.

What made this evening doubly fantastic was BYU winning in Texas against Oklahoma. To be honest, I never really have high expectations of BYU football. There is only one thing that I ever want out of BYU football and that's to beat the U, and anything on top of that is just icing for me. Here comes a digression...

I know rooting in college sports is a little bit different and so you want conference teams to do well, and I get the logic behind that, but I still think that's garbage. I always want the U to lose. How in the world does anybody ever root for the archnemesis to win? That's so dumb to me. I don't care if the whole conference gets money out of it. You know what else happens? They get prestige and more power when it comes to recruiting so you still ultimately lose, right? It's a consolation prize to watch the "others guys" win a bowl game, and does anyone ever want a consolation prize? No, that's the point of a consolation prize. There is a real prize out there and you didn't get it. What's consoling about the fact that I get something other than what I originally was hoping for? Not to mention bragging rights, which we all know are HUGE, maybe more important than all of what I just mentioned. I went to a party last year sponsored by U supporters to watch their bowl game last year and all that I wanted was for the U to get destroyed, but unfortunately they played a good game and the people I watched it with had no reservations about showing their enthusiasm which felt like daggers to me. I guess I'm just the worst kind of prideful when it comes to these types of sports questions. Your victory is my loss, and your success is my failure. I think that conference collective thinking is a losers' mentality. I'm a competitive person and I want to win. That's it.

These kind of wins don't usually come our way, or least they haven't recently. What was really great was driving on University Avenue last night and seeing hundreds of people on the streets, people parading in cars and honking horns, and just feeling the palpable excitement. I have friends that even went to the Provo airport at 2am to greet the team as they arrived from their wonderful evening in Texas. Are we getting ahead of ourselves? You betcha. So far we are 1-0 in a 12-13 game season. Did it feel like we won the national championship last night? It sure did here in Provo. Is it worth having absurdly high expectations on the season? At least for now it is.

I want to go to two games this season - at home against Florida State and against the U. I've never been to a BYU/Utah game, and I think this season is the one to do it. I am willing to pay an exorbitant amount of money for it. We'll see how it goes.

Now the Angels...they're kind of up and down lately. What has been nice is that our starting pitching has finally come together. Joe Saunders went on the DL and we saw him pitch his first game back, and he was great. And he's won each of his last two starts, including today's series sweeping victory against the Royals. John Lackey has been awesome, and also Jered Weaver. I think I've mentioned this before, but I love watching Weaver's pitching motion. He's not a big guy, but he has a long frame and has this really cool fluid delivery. It's similar to Scot Shields in its whip-like motion.

I was really excited about the Scott Kazmir acquisition until I was reading that it might also be our solution for the possible departure of John Lackey in the offseason. Scott is good, but he's not a clear front of the rotation kind of pitcher like John is. Can you put a price tag on a guy who wins a World Series game 7 as a rookie? It's not just the sentimentality of it. If this guy has a full season healthy he's a likely Cy Young candidate.

At least for the time being we are well-positioned for the playoffs. If the season ends today we play Boston, but I like our chances this year. We have our starting pitching which finally looks good enough to play October baseball, and our normally very potent offense. We have an MVP candidate in Kendry Morales. Aybar is a stud, Figgins is incredibly productive, and an outfield of guys who are all 20+ home run guys, except for Abreu who is only going to have a seventh consecutive 100+ RBI season. The trade-off to possibly losing Lackey, however, is that it frees up money to re-sign both Figgins and Abreu in the offseason, and those both feel like must-have players. Kent, I undervalued Chone. You were right, and I was wrong. I think our biggest question mark is the bullpen. I'm not worried about facing the Yankees. We have their number as much as Boston has ours.

I'm also registering for playoff tickets at home for the Angels. There are a lot of great sports opportunities in the next few months and I want in on all of them. Wanna come?

Last, but not least, how sweet is this video of Kelly Slater?

I Hid Under the Porch Because I Love You

I'm not always sure how to punctuate my post titles. All caps? Sometimes it looks right, and sometimes it looks weird. Here are some things:

• I finally saw Up. Kent is right, those Pixar movies really deliver. The short that preceded the movie and then the film itself were almost unbearably adorable. Without so much as a word of dialogue you get hooked on the couple in the beginning. I think Doug the dog might have been my favorite character throughout the whole thing. "But I'm not the Alpha...OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..." So funny. Loved it.
  
• I love the first week of school. The first day of each class especially, because professors always let out early. This is even more true of my graduate courses than it is of my undergrad ones. And it was the same way over at Claremont. Professors run through the syllabus, ask for questions, then dismiss. Takes about 20 minutes.
  
• Starting in the winter, I have a lot of cool research opportunities. One professor in the business school asked me to help out then, and she does stuff looking at negotiations, ethical decision making, psychological consequences of power, and some other things. I contacted a professor in the political science department and in the summer he needs a head research assistant for a large scale study that he's doing on group discussion and deliberation. His stuff is really awesome because he collaborates with Princeton, so his studies have a lot of prestige. But this semester? Not anything really, but I guess that works out because I need to really just focus on my thesis.
• Grad school is very different. At least grad school for someone in my kind of track. I only have 2 classes this semester, and I'm a full-time student. So people hear my schedule and are like, oh that sounds great! You only have class for like 4 hours a week. Yeah, that's true, but the difficulty lies in the fact that the focus of my program and degree are not the classes. It's all about the research I do, which is entirely self-directed. Not only do I have to search out and contact any and every professor that I think might have interests that coincide with my own, but then I've gotta do everything on my own to get it going. It's not harder, just different. It requires a lot of self-discipline which I'm short on a lot of times. I do great with deadlines and pressure, but applying my own? That's really hard for me to do.
  
• This guy I blog-stalk wrote a post yesterday that made me feel a lot better about my summer. He's doing some graduate degree up at Stanford, but went back to LA for the summer. In his post he mentions this:

  Screw the fact that I will have done nothing, nothing this summer that has been successful. Fail at two jobs? Check. Fail at two relationships? Check. Fail at my summer reading list? Check. Fail at prepping my thesis? Check. Fail at applying to stanford MBA? Check. Fail at studying Chinese? Check. Fail at losing weight? Check. Fail at getting dress company going better? Check.

  I didn't even do that bad, so I must be doing pretty good, right? I read 8 books while I was home, did at least some work on my thesis, and did cut some weight. Work and relationships? Not so much, but I'm feeling good where I'm at now.
  
• There are a TON of things to look forward to over this next month. Airborne Toxic Event is playing in two weeks and nobody seems to really know or like them except for me, but The Ataris are playing here, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Colbie Caillat and Howie Davis, and then to top it all off, Strung Out is coming here at the end of October. It's a totally random mix of shows, but I think they'll all be great. Plus...the Salt City Derby Girls are having their championship bout September 26th. Who are they you ask? The local roller derby team. I've been wanting to watch one of these things for the longest time, and my schedule finally meets up to where I can see one. Want in? I think it'll be really funny. They have one in Orange County too, but I just never got around to it.
  
• There is a Bacardi commercial that I thought had a really catchy song, and the guy I blog-stalk from above posted their video so I finally figured out who is the band that sings it. Well, they're coming here on Monday. I may like the song for only the 30 second snippet that's on the commercial, but it's only $7 for the show. Can't be worse than $7, right? Here's the commercial:
  
  
  And here's the song:
  
  
• I...am...growing...to...love...Utah? Really? On my drive up here on the part I was awake, I was looking at the mountains and terrain and I felt like hiking and camping everywhere. I saw the sign for the road/highway to Bryce Canyon and I wanted to veer off and go exploring. This weekend I'm floating down the river with some friends, and I'm kind of really excited about it. I wanna run the Y. About church...
  
• I couldn't love my ward more. Aside from the fact that it's HUGE, the people that are here are just so awesome. It really is like an all-star collection of young single adults. Even though I know a good amount of people back home, I didn't feel the kind of welcome there that I did here when I came back to church. Well, that's not entirely true, but what was surprising was how much it came from people I wouldn't have expected it from, you know? People that I thought I hardly even knew were really excited to see me and that's always a nice feeling.
  
• I'm realizing that I need church responsibility. When I was in Chile, there was this awesome stake president who used to quip, "If I weren't the stake president, then I'd go inactive!" I used to have no idea what he meant by that, but now I do. Again, I do much better when I have church obligations placed on me rather than just doing stuff on my own. My bishop approached me and said we needed to meet because he had something in mind for me. I asked the Sunday School President if I could teach soon now that I'm back. I saw my Elders Quorum President and told him that I needed to be assigned a companion and people to home teach. I'm even thinking that now's a good time for me to see if I can start working in the temple. It's just nice to feel driven in that direction.
• If there is anything that California did for me, it was to help me feel rejuvenated. I can't remember the last time when I've felt so motivated and excited about all the areas of my life. It's a really great feeling.
• One thing I don't like, though, is the tone. I went to institute last night, and they have two members from the stake teach the class. One is a girl, and the other a guy. The girl just had that tone, you know what I'm talking about? It's like an urging for you to feel the spirit kind of tone. The guy didn't have it at all. I guess I just appreciate people who are real. And not that she wasn't, but just that it feels a little disingenuous when people use that tone. I guess I just don't understand why the speech pattern someone employs when they teach about the gospel has to be something other than what they would use in their normal everyday conversation. Does that make sense? Obviously your subject matter is different, but that doesn't mean that the way you talk has to be. When you talk about spiritual matters, it should just be woven into your conversation and character. It shouldn't have to be something like switching into a different role. It almost feels patronizing when people use that tone. I don't like it.

Anyway, lots of good things going on. Now that I've sufficiently wasted enough time, I'm going to go find something else to do.

Peace y'all, and be blessed!