Break Time

Finally, Christmas break... been waiting for this time for a while... I love Utah and school and all... but everyone needs a break. I do like how BYU has it set up for the fall semester with a Thanksgiving break, and a Christmas break... I am NOT looking forward to next semester where there are no breaks.... at all... not gonna lie... I think BYU is pretty lame for doing that. We need a break! We will do better in school if you just give us a break during the semester! I'd even be willing to add a week longer of school if the took a week out after the hectic midterm weeks. I think a lot of people would agree with me about this. Funny thing is for those people (such as myself) who want a spring break, will make one not matter what. I have a friend flying in from Minnesota during his spring break, and by golly I will be having my spring break along with him. Anyway... I think BYU should relax a little and give us a spring break, even if that concludes to adding a week of school at the end of the semester. I think we would have happier, and better performing students.

Ughh

You know those times when you just can't get out of a funk.. and everything that can go wrong does go wrong.. along with the realization of everything you need to do/improve? Yeah, I'd say I'm in one of those... Tests aren't going too well, I just got cut hours at my job, I have more expenses coming in, and my hair is bugging me. All I want to do is go on my mission and take a 2 year break while dedicating myself 100% to the Lord's work. Only one more semester left until that can happen. I hate being a Debbie-downer... but this sucks!!!! I am wayyyy excited to go home and be with my family. I miss them like crazy and seeing them over the holiday without the stress of school is going to be amazing. I will miss my M COM class though... gotta say this class is one of my favorites that I've been apart of.

Chocolate or Vanilla?

Why does everyone have different preferences? Why are some people more picky than others? I'm not sure why this has been on my mind... maybe because I have been around people who are very picky eaters, while I am the least picky eater you will find. There is only one food I've tried and did not like, and that is goat cheese. And what is the likely hood of eating that again... anyway... it still boggles my mind as to why some people wont eat anything that is the color green, or has any slight "fishy" smell. What's the hurt of trying new food??? The worst case scenario is you end up eating something that you don't like and tastes disgusting... but you will lose the taste in your mouth within minutes! I guess I'm pretty easy going with this stuff.. my motto with food is "I'll try anything twice." I like to give things a second try.. in case it requires a quick required taste. Well there you go!

Christmas!

After the week from (you know where)... comes my favorite holiday of the year. The thought of being with my family without the stress of school, and enjoying the spirit of Christmas brings a special warmth in my heart. I'm not trying to sound corney or mushy... but it really does! The only thing I'm not going crazy about is the wonderful winter temperatures in Minnesota. Whenever I think of Christmas, I always have the same visual in my head. It's me looking out my upstairs window with my Christmas tree all decorated in front of it. I can't wait to get home and celebrate this wonderful holiday with them. And to all who read this, go do something special for your family this Christmas, especially if you are a college student or someone who doesn't see their family often. I hope you all have a great Christmas holiday!

Gotta love finals week...

The week of all weeks... the week we have all been waiting for... the week everyone can't wait TO BE DONE WITH! I love school... I really do... but the stress of finals week can be to much to bear. It reallllllly sucks knowing this one test can affect your entire grade which affects your GPA which potentially affects your program of choice AND even graduate school! (if you are going into that). So far, I've taken 2 finals... For one of them, I did the calculations and found out I missed an A in the class by 2 points... gotta love that. I wont find out what I got on the other for a couple weeks... which bugs me because I actually feel like I did alright on it... So that's 2 down and 3 to go... tomorrow will consist of me working, taking 2 finals, and packing for home! Thursday will be interesting... taking a final at 7 then trying to catch a flight at 12:30... I hope Brother Clarke is right about that final not taking to long!

Opps...

So I didn't know we needed 17 posts to receive full credit for this assignment. I thought I heard we only need to do 6 (3 points each). So I hope Brother Clarke doesn't mind that I'm going to do 7 in the next couple days.

My friend brought up an interesting point today. She said if we were taking as many religion credits as we do here at basically any other school, we would have a minor in religion.... umm..... that kinda irritated/boggled my mind. I love my religion classes. I wouldn't trade them for anything, but really? Could receive a little more credit for taking 14 hours of religion classes? Or at least make them a pass-fail class? I know most religion classes are fairly easy A classes, but for the ones that aren't... jeepers... they should be a 4 credit class. I think they need to do something about this... and they should also make associate degrees available. I know an associate degree wont do you any good in this world, but it would be kinda nice to have after a couple years of school. Just for a half-way point of recognition for the effort you put in school.

Those were my thought for the day!

What to write about...

This Saturday I watched the movie 9, the Tim Burton movie about 9 dolls representing a scientist's soul are the last hopes for all of humanity. The movie was creative, but wack!!! Robots controlling the earth and sucking the soul out of people... it made me greatful to know the gospel and know the truth behind everything (well mostly everything). I'm not sure what else to write in here so I'll just mention some random stuff I did this week. I must say in here I have a kick-butt group for the Case Analysis. Anywho... can't wait for the weekend... Thanksgiving break in San Diego!!! Gonna be a good time with the sister. Oh! My good buddy Spencer is coming into town Tuesday and reporting to the MTC on Tuesday. Get to spend a day with him before he reports! Makes me more exited for my mission, can't wait!

Family

I was able to see my sisters this past weekend in Idaho and it was amazing! How amazing is family.... We get to spend time and eternity with our family. Of course there are those days when you wish you had a new family... but really.. I wouldn't trade mine for anything. I get to see my brother next weekend then my family back in Minnesota in a little over a month. It's amazing how much I miss my family. Back in High School I butted heads with everyone in my family and couldn't wait to be free from my tyrannical mother. Now, I talk to her at least 3 times a week and usually I am the one who ends up calling her! My family has been the greatest blessing in my life.. I hope I can repay them for all the help they have each given me in my life.

Pondering.....

So I've had a thought on my mind all week... Going to BYU has increased my spiritual growth more than I thought possible. I also grew physically beyond what I could imagine... (at least I did my freshman year). Unfortunately I have lost ambition in both of those areas in my life to grow. How do I gain ambition?!?!?! Last year was one of the best years spiritually and physically I have had and I don't know what is different about this year that diminished my enthusiasm for growing in both of those areas... Could it just be a trail? or am I just flat out lazy? It's been bugging me and I need to find a way to get that ambition... I know the physical aspect isn't as important, but it would be nice to have that back in my life again... if any of you suggest anything please feel free!

Buying a random dude a coke

So for this assignment I decided to go to the cannon center and pay for 2 student's admission for a meal. When I got there I noticed they were arguing about who was going to pay for who... and as soon as I saw that I envisioned Brother Clarke giving me a look of "there's your opportunity" so I went for it. Even though paying for their admission wasn't the most pleasant on my meal plan, but the feeling after was worth it. The look on their faces was priceless... it was a mixture of "what do you want in return, and are you on some spiritual high?" It was a great experience and I plan on doing it again. I'm going to pass along this awkward, yet uplifting action with my friends and see if they felt the same way I did.

Good idea Brother Clarke

Enough of the BcS

College football is one of the most watched sports in the world. Why should it be treated than other sports? AP votes and the BCS is very political (and corrupt) and should be fixed to a playoff-type championship series. MLB, NHL, NBA, and the NFL all use this system and it is flawless. Sure, there are many more teams in the College Football League than the other leagues, but why not do a "March Madness" for football? Have teams qualify for "December Madness" just like how they handle the basketball games. This tournament would take a while, but it would bring the best team to the top instead of the controversial AP voting results. BYU has been screwed over this year due to 1 loss... 1 loss!!! The team we happened to lose to decided to play their best game against us and play terrible against everyone else... and WE are getting punished for it in the AP results... stupid.... I'm done venting now :) but for real... it needs to change

THE eventful week

This was the week of insanity... many tests, papers, and homework this week... and you have to love that all of the teachers manage to put everything in the same week. Despite all the hectic school work, this week was a blast. I'm finding more and more each day how the Spirit influences my life and decisions. I know this is a basic concept that everyone hears lectures on, but having the Spirit in your life is SO AWESOME! I could not have made it through this week without the Holy Ghost being by my side. I'm sure it was general conference that influenced it quite a bit, but I have realized from past experiences that it is difficult to always keep the Spirit as a constant companion. My 6 month resolution (until next conference) will be to do something each day to keep in tune with the Spirit. I highly recommend anyone who reads this to also have this as a resolution. The blessings and comfort of the Holy Ghost are like anything in this world.

Good Week

This week, even though it was kinda crazy with school, was an awesome week. Don't you just love weeks that seem to go right? I even ended the week with seeing one of my sisters from byu-I and going to the afternoon session of conference with her. Going to conference with my sister and hanging out with her makes me more and more greatful for family. I love my family and can't wait to spend eternity with them. As for General Conference, I gotta say Dallin H. Oaks' talk was my favorite of the day.

Is anyone as mad as I am with how the football team is playing? That is probably the only negative part of the week. Sure we won, but we played like a high school team. I realllllly hope they get there act together for the next couple of games because I cannot handle another loss to Utah like last year.

Hopefully next week will go just as well as this week, but with 3 test and 3 papers... it's gonna be an eventful week.

Third (supposed to be fourth) entry

Hey everyone, I completely forgot to make a entry last week so I thought I would change my habits of doing them on Saturday to doing them on Friday. It has been an interesting/busy week. I have had homework up the wazoo and been studying like crazy for my physical science test. Along with studying, there is the evil influence of facebook that has also been taking up too much of my time. I did, however, find an interesting movie clip on facebook that I would like to share. the movie clip was titled, "Motivation" and consisted of the failures of many different successful individuals in their specific field. For example, they mentioned a boy that was cut from the High School basketball team and locked himself in his room and cried the whole night. This boy was Michael Jordan. They mentioned a man who's teacher in High School told him he was too stupid and should try to get a job in a field that would work with his pleasant personality. This man was Thomas Edison. I really enjoyed this movie, but I realized I have not experienced failure like these individuals. These individuals took their failure and used it as motivation. I take failure as a clue to try something different. I guess this can be tied back to my last entry where I talked about knowledge and how it is a great blessing if we use it to our fullest potential. I'm still trying to find that "true failure" and use it as motivation. I most likely wont experince it until my mission, but when I do experience it for the first time... I will one pissed-off/happy individual.

Knowledge, one of the greatest blessings Heavenly Father has given us

I had quite an interesting conversation with a friend of mine who happens to be a TA for a Chemistry class. My friend talked to me about the work ethic he had growing up and how he pushed himself to study and do well in school. I sadly did not have much to say during this conversation. I became very envious of my friend's work ethic. This conversation went on for a good hour or so and I became very inspired, both in motivation towards a better study habbit, and spiritually. Heavenly Father great us a great gift, in fact, this gift is the only thing we can bring with us into the eternities. This gift is knowledge. I have not shown much appreciation for this gift (yet). School has always been fairly easy and I've never had to work hard for a good grade. Unfortunatley my work ethic is not as effective as it use to be. College slapped me in the face with reality. I'm not quite use to having to study constantly but I'm getting the hang of it. The conversation I had with my friend made me realize how important this gift is and if we do not use our knowledge to its fullest potential, it will be held against us at judgment.

Don't you love inspirational nights? Even if the ones that break you down, because it helps you build yourself back up to a better you!

My first post and all about my humorous night last night

This is my first official Blog entry EVER! I'm not exactly sure what to do but I'll give it a whirl.

The first week of school was quite an adventurous week. I'm noticing my classes this semester are much more difficult than previous semesters. I've also noticed I have to start a new social life due to all my friends from last year (besides females) are on missions this year. I have been working hard to organize this upcoming year to prepare for my mission and do my best academically. Enough with the boring stuff... I had an amazing date last night that ended up being more humorous than expected! I took my date to Tucano's (ehh to much money.. but worth it) then we went on a walk through the Provo canyon and went to Spoon Me for some ice cream (or frozen yogurt... whatever it is...). After Spoon Me we decided to go on another walk to campus then back to my place. The humorous part of the night was during the walk back to my place. We were enjoying our walk, I had my arm around my date and we joked about walking near my ex's place to see if she was there and if we could get a reaction out of her. We decided not to and just continue walking back to my place. Ironically, my ex just had to be driving around last night and saw me with my arm around a girl. My ex freaked out and started sending me texts and voicemails about what a terrible guy I am. While she was doing this my date and I were getting a good laugh. Then the unthinkable happened. My ex's MOM started texting me! Telling me how disrespectful I am and to show more honor. Needless to say, my ex and her family are arrogant nut jobs. So overall my date last night was awesome involving great food, dessert, wonderful company, and I even got a great laugh towards the end.