On the sixth day of Christmas...

If you're reading this, it's because I'm in Dallas watching BYU play Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl! (Front Row!!!) Too busy to post anything.  :)  Happy New Year!

A Merry Christmas From My Professors!

Who could be sad with a 3.88 GPA this semester?  I did better than I thought I would this semester.  There must have been some adjusting of grade cutoffs at the end of the semester, because I did so much better than I thought I should have.

This week has been awesome!  Good grades are good news.  I'm looking forward to an entire year of saying, "Double Deuce" when asked about my age.  And I got to spend most of the week with an awesome friend.  And I've learned a lot from her, even though she didn't intend to teach me anything.  I don't really know how to explain it, except for that I felt more gentlemanly this week.  Maybe it's because I'm 22 now.  But I think I've proven to myself that I actually could be normal around girls.  Well, somewhat normal.  And that I can still be myself and people won't think that I'm that weird.

Now I've talked myself in circles.  Merry Christmas everybody.

No more finals!

Well, now I can only pray that the graders will be nice.  Especially for O-Chem.  I really just want to keep my scholarship, though I know that if I don't, it isn't the end of the world.

And that's pretty much been life for the last week.  Studying, worrying about finals, sitting in the testing center, being exhausted, even though I didn't physically do a whole lot.  That still boggles me sometimes.

Believe it or not, I saw miracles this week in the testing center.  On every test, I sat, and stared, and sat, and stared some more, and just couldn't think of the right answer.  Then, suddenly, something would come to my mind.  Enlightenment!  Honestly, it was like a light bulb turning on in my head.  Totally reminds of me this scripture in John.  I know that there is no way I could have ever come up with some of those answers on my own.  But someone is looking out for me.

The magic shows I do are like this, but not quite.

In other news, I get to do two more magic shows this week at Diamond Fork Junior High School.  It's going to be super awesome!  If I could support a family during chemistry outreach, or whatever this is called, then I would have a dream job.

GKTAEF Update

The winners of Round 1 of the GKTAEF tournament have been selected. Click on the link above to see who moved on.

Something Interesting

Here we go...

Well, I'm trying to post interesting things, and this something isn't that the GKTAEF is advancing a round tomorrow.

The last day of class for the semester.  I think I'm actually going to miss my Book of Mormon class.  Sister Johnson was such a wonderful teacher, bringing in insights like I've never experienced.  Hopefully my experience with the New Testament will be similarly enlightening.

I'll also miss Dr. Bergeson's wonderful lectures about Physics.  I actually understood it this time around.  And that's good, since I'll be using a lot of this in my other classes later on.

Interestingly enough, my chemistry classes are the ones I'll miss the least.  As much as I love Dr. Savage, and as much as I'll still have him next semester, I wish I didn't have to take O-Chem.  It really is hard to keep things straight in my mind.  But that's probably my fault.  I'm also glad the stress of Chem 113 is over.  But I had tons of fun in there.

Well, I wish I could let you in on my secret, but I can't.  Get a hold of me and ask, if you really want to know.  And I might maybe tell you.

College Football and Finals

Front Row Tickets!

College football is coming to an end.  BYU's last game of the regular season is this week, along with a bunch of conference championships.  Needless to say, I'll be making my selections for the GKTAEF tournament this weekend.  Check the GKTAEF tab above for updates on how that's going for me.

I think that the most exciting about the bowl games this year is that I'm actually going to one for the first time.  Yes, I'll be at the Armed Forces Bowl watching BYU play some sweet football against a team from Conference USA.  And yes, I'll be on row 1.  It's going to be awesome!

The potential 2012 GKTAEF trophy

I've also been working on a trophy that I will probably send to the team that wins my tournament.  Check it out.

Anyway, only 2 weeks until the end of finals.  Whoo-hoo! [Insert jokes about students being the only group of consumers that doesn't want a high quality in what they pay for here.]

Happy Thanksgiving!

And Black Friday!

Hopefully this link to a sweet video we made at work, works.

I would just like to point out that I think some of the Black Friday craziness is crazy!  Do people really fight over what there is in the store?  Low prices actually cause us to lose all sense of decency?  Well, I remember the last time I saw this kind of behavior.  It was yesterday when I helped my grandpa on his farm.  We fixed up the water for the pigs and, not having had quite enough water recently, 7 or 8 piglets came out of nowhere and kept fighting each other for a turn.  But this was acceptable because they were animals!  Come on, people.  We're better than that.  I'm fairly confident that our conscience can, and should, override our animalistic instincts and behaviors.  Just try it.  Please?  Some of the behaviors shown during Black Friday make me sad to be an American.

Reflection on Fatherhood

As I read this article, I had the following thoughts.  Perhaps it is what I am supposed to learn from Sister Dalton's talk this last conference.

I realize that my children, especially my sons, will decide to become like me for no reason, other than that I am their father. I need to be a good example to them. What a tremendous responsibility! I would be very afraid of ever becoming a father, of being wholly responsible, along with my wife, for the well-being of one of God's children. But that's the thing. They are God's children as well. He will help me and my wife, as we consult with Him in prayer, as to the things that we should do that will best help each individual child. And at the same time we get to enjoy watching this child grow, learn, and develop, becoming each day more like each of his fathers.

Chestnut

I'm a chestnut.  I'm prickly on the outside, awkward with people, inadvertently keeping them away.  On the inside there's nothing valuable or extraordinary.  Unless you love chestnuts.  Then the inside becomes pretty special after all.

Random Thoughts

A collection of thoughts I've had during the week, which have little to do with one another:

It's interesting that the more we come to know another person, the more we learn about their imperfections.  But because we love them, we are accepting of their imperfections, willing to work with them on perfection as they are willing to work with us.  And I think that is one of the distinguishing characteristics of true love, as opposed to selfish "love."  It is one of the ways we can tell them apart, both within ourselves, and with others.

Having friends on Facebook is no substitute for having friends in real life.

It's already November!  That's crazy!  And this post just keeps on getting longer and longer.  Time is just flying by.  During my chemistry lab I figured that we only meet eight more times this semester.  Pretty soon, Christmas will be here and I'll be wishing it was still Fall semester.

This might be irreverent, but I couldn't help thinking of BYU football when I read this verse:

"And he commanded them that they should arise and stand up upon their feet.  And they arose up and stood upon their feet." -3 Nephi 20:2

In other news on the internet, Rory Williams is the new Chuck Norris. I thought they were pretty good, though you'd have to be caught up on the show to understand some of them.

Will I one day be a good husband and father?  I hear about motherly instincts all the time.Is there such a thing as a fatherly instinct that will help me know what I'm supposed to do?  Is there a way to prepare for that, besides doing it?  I will never have been a husband or a father until it's important for me to be a good one.  There doesn't seem to be any practicing built into this life for this kind of thing.  All I have experience in is being a son and a brother, and I don't think I'm very good at either of those.

Arrrrrgh!

How I wish the whole game would have gone

Why does life have to be so frustrating!  BYU couldn't win their game against, even though they put up a good fight.  I would like to blame it on the slippery field, but it really comes down to a couple of plays that were just a lot worse than they should have been.

You are unauthorized. Your death will now be implemented.

That, added the fact of failing to say the things I want to say, two days in a row, has made this a pretty frustrating weekend.

GOP Debates and Stuff

So, the other day we were listening to the presidential debate while we were working in the lab.  They started talking about Cain's 9-9-9 plan and how it wouldn't work. (I like calling him Cain better.  It makes him seem evil for some reason.)  There was this discussion about how the states that don't have sales tax wouldn't want to increase their tax, blah, blah, blah.  So, this is my idea.  And I'm probably not the first person to think of this, since it's been done before.

There's probably a flaw in this plan.  But, like in Physics, assume we live in a perfect world.  (frictionless, infinitely small, spherical)  What if the federal government, instead of taxing individuals, divided that same amount of money they're looking for among the states based on population.  Then the states could collect that tax however they wanted and pay it to Uncle Sam by whatever day.  Nevada, for example, could collect it all through gambling, or at least a large part of it.  Oregon could collect it through a property tax.  New York could collect it through a sales tax.  California could collect it through an ignorance tax.  Utah could collect it through a consumption tax.  However the state wants to collect it.

That way, Samwise would get his money, people would pay the money, and they would decide what was fair in each state.  This all should sound familiar because it's what happened before the 16th amendment was passed.

But I doubt that anyone will ever take me too seriously on a national tax code level, but you never know.

Will Amy find her Rory?

BCS - A better method

So, here's my little rant about the BCS system.  Basically, most conferences already have a pod system.  For example, the Pac-12 divides the conference into North and South.  And they're planning on having a conference championship game.  Why can't we all just play as though we're in one big conference?  Here's the math:

There are currently 11 conferences in Division I-A football:

• ACC
• Big 12 (which currently has 10 teams)
• Big Ten (which currently has 12.  Ironic, isn't it?)
• Big East
• Conference USA
• Mid-American
• Mountain West
• Pac-12
• SEC
• Sun Belt
• WAC

Suppose that each conference was treated as a pod.  Conference winners get invited to the tournament I'm instituting.

For a good tournament, you would need 16 teams.  The five remaining teams would be the five highest ranked teams that hadn't been invited to the tournament yet.  So, if you think it's unfair to have to win a conference, or if you're BYU, Notre Dame, Army, or Navy, just rank higher than everybody else and you won't have to worry about it.

A 16-team tournament would require 4 rounds.  We're going to keep the last round on New Year's Day.  That puts the first round this year on the week of December 10th.  That's the first week after regular season play.  Four weeks later, you have this awesome game, that would end up rotating between the traditional four BCS bowl games, just to keep them happy.  This year it would be played in the Louisana Superdome.  I would call it the 2012 Allstate Sugar Bowl.  Of the other three bowls, two would be the semi-final games the week before, and the third would be played between the two teams from the final four that didn't make it into the final game.

Alternatively, we could possibly have the semi-final games played on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, with the final on January 2nd, as has been done in the past.  That would give teams an extra week after the regular season to do whatever they want.  Probably practice, if they're going to the tournament.

Also notice that this doesn't eliminate all of the other bowl games in the country.  You can still have one, but your conference champions won't be there, since they're playing in my tournament.  If one of your bowl game spots was guaranteed to a conference champion, you get one of the quarter-final, or first round games, depending on how "important" that conference was.

So, I'll be posting my tournament layout and handing out my own championships.  The inaugural 2012 Glen K Thurston Award for Excellence in Football (GKTAEF) goes to the team that wins my tournament.  That causes a few problems because the teams probably won't actually play in my tournament.  So, I'll hand it out based on the following method.  If the teams happened to really play each other, I'll use the real scores, regardless of when the game was played.  If they didn't really play each other, I'll either use an online poll, or some other method of figuring out who would win.  Check out the tab at the top of the page for the bracket.

Mormons are Christians

In light of recent political happenings, here's my personal statement.

I define a Christian to be someone that believes in Jesus Christ.  They probably read the Bible.  They probably try to do good in the world.  By that definition, Mormons are Christians.  Our beliefs are outlined here.

Merriam-Webster defines a cult as:

1

: formal religious veneration : worship

2

: a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents

3

: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents

4

: a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator <health cults>

5

a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fadb : the object of such devotionc : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion

By this definition, I think all religions are cults.  Unorthodox has to do with a frame of reference.  Anything could be unorthodox to someone.  What person do Mormons have a great devotion to?  Jesus Christ!  We don't worship Joseph Smith, don't pray to him, nothing.  He was a prophet.  Moses was a prophet.  Abraham was a prophet.  We don't worship them either.  But we study their words.  We still have a prophet today.  We have twelve apostles.   John was an apostle.  Peter was an apostle.  We don't worship them.  We do listen to their words, when they speak as the mouthpiece of God.  

If you can understand all that, I commend you for understanding my confusing writing style.  I don't mean to offend anyone.  I'm just pointing out the Mormons believe in Christ and are just as much of a cult as any other religion.  I should know.  I'm a Mormon.

And happy birthday Mom!

Who loves conference? I love conference!

If you missed it, click here.

Important highlights/what I thought was awesome about conference:

• The Provo Tabernacle will be converted into a temple!  I'm excited for all the celebrations and things associated with dedicating a temple - and it'll all be here in Provo.  What a wonderful blessing to have two temples in our city.  
• President Thomas S. Monson - what a character!  He's so excited about the gospel and just transmits his happiness straight through the television screen.  I especially enjoyed this poem he shared.  Even though he's shared it before, it had more personal meaning this time.

Dare to be a Mormon;
Dare to stand alone.
Dare to have a purpose firm,
And dare to make it known.

• The power of covenants.  I think that this was brought up over and over again.  The marriage covenant is the most important covenant we can make.  After understanding this concept even more fully this past week during my Book of Mormon class, I would say that even the word welded almost isn't accurate in describing how linking this covenant can be.  I would go so far as to say that it fuses the two individuals together.  If they keep their covenant, they will receive their eternal glory.  
• The eternal perspective.  The gospel gives us a greater understanding of what is going on around us.  There are things that seem unfair, unjust, but they will be made fair through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  As we learn from modern-day revelation, doctrines found in the scriptures are clarified and can have even more meaning and application in our lives.  

General conference, combined with BYU winning their football game and the end of this season of Doctor Who, made this last weekend the best weekend ever.  And I have feeling that things will just get better from here.  Of course, it depends on everyone using their agency righteously.

As a footnote, or something, congratulations to Joe and Emily who got married yesterday.  I don't know why we say congratulations.  To me it sounds like saying, "Way to fall in love with each other," or, "Good job at getting along and deciding to spend the rest of your lives together."  I just think it should be something more along the lines of, "I'm so happy for you.  Remember to forgive each other."  I guess congratulations is just shorter and easier to remember.

Turns out the library is cool

Who knew the library could be so fun?  I went down there last night and got to look at some pretty cool stuff about the history of the Chemistry Department on campus.  I learned that James E. Talmage once taught Chemistry, as did Karl G. Maeser.  And that Franklin S. Harris, for whom the Harris Fine Arts Center is named, was trained as a scientist.  Also, the Chemistry Department was one of the first (I would say the first, but I don't remember for sure) to be allowed to award PhD degrees at BYU.  Pretty much chemistry is cool.

Last episode of season 6 of Doctor Who this Saturday.  Conference this Saturday.  Thankfully I can watch both, or else I'd miss Doctor Who.  That would be sad.  But conference - watch it.  The book is true; the book is blue.  You can click on another link up above if you're interested in knowing how I know that.  

And midterms are done for me, I think.  For now...

Speaking of class, I should go to it.

And I'll try to do better at posting every week.  It's hard to remember with school and everything.

Reminder

I really need to get back to this and at least post something to keep people interested and reading, for whatever weird reason they have for reading my ramblings.

Anyway, some should remind me to do that at some point tomorrow.  That would be nice.

There are other things that would be nice, but that sounds like another blog post.

That last sentence sounded nerdy.

Thoughts About Learning

Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again.   - 3 Nephi 17:3

I really enjoy this verse for a reason that I can't quite explain.  Maybe it's because it tells us how to learn spiritual things.  Maybe this is just the learning process.  First of all, we go to church, go to class, or in the case of the Nephites, listen to the words of Christ from Christ himself.  There has to be information conveyed.  In this case it's Christ's doctrine to the Nephites.

The second step is pondering what was taught.  I find it significant that Christ tells the people to return to their homes before he counsels them to ponder His words.  There is something about studying in our homes, during our own personal time, that shows we are willing to incorporate this into our lives and are willing to sacrifice in order to understand it.  to some extent, I think this is the role that homework plays in the classical learning experience.

He then tells us that we must pray and ask the Father for understanding.  This is becomeing a patttern I see more and more in the scriptures - ask for direction and heavenly guidance, then do the best you know how until that direction comes.  Heavenly Father wants to help us, but giving us the answers to the test with effort on our part isn't helping us.  It actually keeps us from learning.

The final step in this process is to prepare ourselves to receive more knowledge the next day.  i think that in both gospel learning and secular learning, this includes writing down or making note of the things you feel you need help understanding.  It means taking care of things that could keep you from getting to church, or from reading your scriptures.  It means cleaning up any sins that may impede you from fully feeling the Spirit teaching you.  If our minds are not open to new knowledge and at least the information from yesterday is true, even if we don't understand it completely, we won't be mentally capable of moving on and learning the next day's material.  It's so interesting how the Book of Mormon, under the guidance of the Spirit, can teach you anything, even how to learn, if that's what you need at the moment.

Other scriptures related to this verse:

D&C 11:22
Isaiah 34:16
John 5:39
2 Nephi 31:20

If you're going...

...to San Francisco, like I did this last weekend!  Whoo hoo!  Weird as it may sound, my favorite part may have been driving across the nothing-ness of Nevada.  That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the earth is in no danger of over-population; there's plenty of space in Nevada for everyone!

My dad took us down to Chinatown

The speed limit on the Golden Gate Bridge is 45, if you ever get going that fast.

This bridge, as a side note, left Esther with a very important question: Why is it called the Golden Gate Bridge if it's red (definitely not golden), and there's not even a gate in it?

The hills in San Francisco remind me of the hills of Câmara de Lobos

A police phone box.  It's like a mini-TARDIS!

Not a police phone box, but shaped more like a TARDIS.  It's bigger on the inside.

What happens in San Francisco gets blogged about.  There you have it.

Ahh! It's already Friday again!

First of all, sorry if you were used to clicking on a link to see this blog.  I didn't want to force anyone to sign in to see this, but I didn't want people who are looking for my campaign information to come here looking for it, since it isn't here.

Lots of exciting things have happened this week.  First of all, Chandler Childs is home!  So, welcome home, Elder Childs.  Looking forward to causing all sorts of trouble with this kid (which is code for somehow having a groundbreaking scientific discovery in his backyard/garage).

Second, I've already been contacted by two different groups that have at least said that they want to interview the candidates, or something like that, but they haven't shown much interest in doing what's necessary for that to happen.  One group still hasn't emailed me like they said they would (twice!), and the other didn't really seem accommodating of my schedule.  It's not my fault that I've had this trip to San Francisco planned for months now, which puts me out of town until late Tuesday night.  So, you can understand why I'm frustrated when I receive a call on Thursday asking for a meeting on Tuesday.  That's less than a week's notice.  And I'm running for a part-time position.  That means that I'll have a life outside of politics even if I do get elected, so why would you assume that I don't right now?  Does it make sense that people would be available to meet on Tuesday at 2 pm, assuming they have real jobs and are trying to support a family?  Lucky for them, I'm not and I only work part-time currently, but school will start soon and I'll definitely get busy.  I'm looking forward to fighting the stupidity of bureaucracy and government policy in the coming weeks, while trying to balance school and work, and then somehow find time to meet and date girls, in order to eventually find someone that wouldn't mind marrying me.

Well, I'm off to San Francisco to get away from the madness.

City Council

Well, a couple of interesting things happened this week.  I went on a trip with my Dad, brother and sister, and some of the Sanford clan to Northern Minnesota.  My aunt and uncle own a canoe outfitter business out there and a cabin.  We stayed out there a couple of days, canoeing out for one night on the Boundary Waters.  It is such a beautiful place.  I'll probably put some pictures up eventually, but just google BWCA and see what it looks like for yourself.

I also decided to run for city council this week.  There are five of us now running for the District 3 seat.  We'll just see how things go.  I would love to win and be able to more directly influence the political process, representing those in my neighborhood.  But it is an election and not everyone can win.  I'll do my best though and give it all I've got.

Also, Chandler Childs comes home this week!  That's pretty exciting.  I'm looking forward to hearing his Upper Peninsula accent.

Let's go back to having 49 states

A 49-star flag

Maybe when I find one, I'll be able to fly this 49-star flag, in protest of California being a state.  I know lots of wonderful people from California, but politically, they are just way out there.  For one thing, they refuse to honor any other state's gun licenses.  They have stricter fire resistance tests for home furnishings (which is why most have tags stating whether or not they pass California's test).  Whenever there is a controversial issue, they seem to take it to the extreme, either completely prohibiting it, or completely allowing it.  There never seems to be any gray area with them. 

Now, I realize that this is probably a very weak argument, but here it is anyway.  I don't think it's ever been done before, but we should vote them out of the union.  Make them a territory, or make them a country.  Either way, as long as they're not a state.  So, go out and buy your 49-star flag and demand that we have 55 less seats in the house, and 2 less in the senate.  Congress could probably get a lot more done that way.

PS If you're from California, I still love you.  I just don't like your state's government.

The Adventures of Señor Turtlefish, the Incredibly Awesome Guy, Part III

Continued from Part II…


****
Now, Don Carlos, aka Señor Turtlefish, was very angry at Dr. Nemesis and wanted revenge. Turtlefish decided to devise his not-so-evil plan. He would first lure Dr. Nemesis into a secret location, force him to apologize, and then send him off to jail for a very, very, long time.
So, Señor Turtlefish got to work. He decided that he would first make a nice, decorative invitation to Dr. Nemesis to make Nemesis think he was going to party. He was sure this was going to work because, as everyone knows, Dr. Nemesis wasn’t all that bright.
He labored for hours and hours. Finally, at 2:00 am, the shout came. “Eureka!” he cried. He had done it. He had created the perfect bait for the perfect trap. It looked something like this:
PART Y!!!
Dr. Nemesis,
Please come to my party at
2:00 pm
1600 California Boulevard
P.S. It’s a b’grl prty.
There was just one problem.
To be continued…

Señor Turtlefish, the Incredibly Awesome Guy #2!

Continued from Part I…
So what could all of these maps and lights have been for? Señor Turtlefish used them to track his incredibly stupid nemesis, Dr. Nemesis. Why Dr. Nemesis? Because he, unlike Señor Turtlefish, has an incredibly stupid name, which totally gives him away. Don Carlos, that being Se ñor Turtlefish’s first name(s), was able to track Dr. Nemesis because of what had happened 5 years earlier, at the bottom of the ocean…
* * * *
It was August 25th. Don Carlos Turtlefish was taking a dive and went to the bottom of the ocean. All of sudden, HE WAS SHOT A AN ANTI-FREEZING FREEZING RAY!!! His future enemy, Dr. Nemesis, knew he was there. Dr. Nemesis also knew of a great potential that Don Carlos had: The potential to become his greatest enemy. Thus, Don Carlos was shot by the ray. Being knocked unconscious by the ray, Don Carlos began to float to the surface. Dr. Nemesis was certain he was dead, or at least frozen. But he was neither. As he got closer to the surface, there was a sudden burst of sunlight. This sunlight, combined with the anti-freezing freezing ray, gave Don Carlos incredible superpowers. However, the only one Don Carlos noticed was the ability to read Dr. Nemesis’s mind. Due to this, he changed his name to Señor Turtlefish, the Incredibly Awesome Guy, or Turtlefish for short.
To be continued…




Plus a bonus video that I really enjoyed.

I decided to make a tape...

...And here it is.  It'll eventually get better as I think of better things to say.



Here's a video to make up for how lame I realized my "tape" is:

Reintroducing Señor Turtlefish

So, this is a story I started back in high school, that I thought would give me some time until I thought of other things to record and blog, like how funny it is that Representative Wiener last name is really Wiener.  It is not even pronounced differently, like VAY-ner, or vee-EN-er.  It's Wiener.  How did he even get elected?  It must have been the 18-year-olds in his district thinking his name was hilarious, which it is.  The irony of what he did, given his last name, is mind-blowing as well.  It could have been written any better for TV.

Anyway, here's part I of the Señor Turtlefish saga:


If you are reading this story, you are either incredibly bored or incredibly stupid.
So, this story begins in the little town of Over-Here-ville. In this town there lived an Incredibly Awesome Guy: Senor Turtlefish (there’s supposed to be a ~ over the n but I’m too lazy to put it on right now.) He was incredibly awesome because… I don’t know. But he’s got the coolest last name you could ever want.
So, anyway, Senor Turtlefish was just sitting in his house, which was a cave of course, in the Himalayan Mountains, because that would be totally awesome. It appeared to be a typical cave on the outside, but the inside was filled with blinking lights and large maps of the world.
Stay Tuned Until Next Time…(allow 4-6 weeks for delivery)

You might be a redneck...

...if you can find the same people more than once on your family tree.

Check out this image from the sample photos for Legacy Charting Companion, a program that draws family trees for you.  It's really on their website!

The people circled in the same color are the same people!

Art Gallery 1

Crayon on plain paper

Crayon on plain paper

Science and Religion

First of all, Happy Mother's Day!

Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a chemistry major at Brigham Young University, and having been given the ability to think and reason for myself, I feel that I might be in somewhat of a position to discuss the subject of science and religion.  Recently, I've been reading "The Faith of a Scientist" by Henry Eyring (father of President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency), which is why I've decided to write about this today.

Happy Easter!

We believe that through the ^aAtonement of Christ, all ^bmankind may be ^csaved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.  - Third Article of Faith

Crazy Week, More Pictures

So, another crazy week.  I'm finally home from Nauvoo and the Midwest.  I'm starting to realize just how busy life is going to become, and just how simple I had it on the mission.  I only worried about one thing all day: helping people come unto Christ.  Now I'll soon have school, work, Church callings, girls and dating, among other things to make me worry and almost lose my mind.

I read this scripture from the Book of Mormon in Alma 7 this week and thought I'd share it with all of you, however few you may be.

11And he shall go forth, suffering pains and ^aafflictions and ^btemptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will ^ctake upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12And he will take upon him ^adeath, that he may ^bloose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to ^csuccor his people according to their infirmities.


13Now the Spirit ^aknoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the ^bflesh that he might ^ctake upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

And here's some more pictures from the rest of our trip!

Nauvoo Pics... Part 2!

So, I don't want you to get all the fun all at once.  Here's some more pictures from my trip to Nauvoo.

The Nauvoo House

Welcome to Old Nauvoo!

As promised, here's some more pictures from my trip.  Enjoy!

St. Louis and Nauvoo

I'm on vacation this week visiting some cool places in the Eastern United States.  Check out these awesome pictures and videos from St. Louis!

Latter-day Saints should join the ACLU?

There was really brief story on the news recently quoting the president of the University of Utah, I believe, stating that in his opinion members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should join the American Civil Liberties Union because members of the Church should be large supporters of freedom and rights.

The Most Complicated Bell Schedule in the World!

If it's the second Tuesday in March, what classes should you go to?  What about the fourth Friday in October?  Well, if you need this calendar to figure it out, maybe your system is just too complicated.

Snow in April!

My backyard when I woke up this morning

Yesterday, it was 75 degrees during the middle of the day, which I thought was insane.  I wake up this morning and there's just snow everywhere!  I love Utah.  Only here could you get this kind of weather.  It's something about being a desert, or at least near one, having the driest air on earth, and being at this high elevation.  (I realize that there are many places in the world with much higher elevation.  I've been to some of them.)  I really don't mind it.  I kind of like having a surprise like this every once in a while.

The kind of surprise I don't enjoy having is waking up and my phone displaying an error saying "Unregistered SIM" and realizing that I can't make or receive calls anywhere at all.  Yes, I realize it's a Tracfone and not the best thing in the world, but when your parents are paying for it and you have no source of income yet, you just don't complain.

Last of all, the laptop that everyone in the family uses crashed hardcore the other day.  Windows can't load.  It looks like at least some of the disk sectors where Windows is stored were corrupted somehow.  So, Windows is corrupted.  Something I already knew.  But, it's hard to remove everything on at entire hard drive without anything but a external USB hard drive to go to.  It's a process that's been going for two days now.  It's a fun little conference project.

I highly doubt that anyone would be interested in even reading this blog.  They're just the boring ramblings of some poor college student in the middle of the United States.  Then again, I suppose most TV shows nowadays are essentially what I would see if there was a webcam following an average random person around all day, with the boring parts transitioned right out of the whole thing.  So, whatever floats your boat, I guess.  If read about someone's everyday problems is your cup of tea, then go right ahead.  (Except for the tea part.  Don't drink it.)

Quote Wall Updated

Check it out above!

Sunday Afternoons

My Mom's Laugh

Watch this video.



And then watch this one of her watching the first video:

I love my mom.

New Quote Wall

I was having dinner today and my little brother said something that wasn't too funny on its own, but it was hilarious when I thought about it being on a shirt.   Thus, the quote wall was born.  Hopefully it gets updated as time goes on with funnier things being said.  Click on the tab above to look at it.

Mission Photos

Recently, I've been uploading my mission photos to Facebook for the world to see.  That was such a fun time of my life.  Yes, it was hard - probably the hardest thing I've ever done, but it was worth it.  Those two years of my life were incredible and unforgettable, especially since I have so many pictures of them.  If anyone is questioning whether they should serve a mission, here is the advice I offer:

1. Think about right and wrong, good and evil, and think about your options.  Most of them are probably good choices.
2. God has a plan for you.  That means there's a best option in this situation.
3. Make a decision.  What do you think is best?  
4. Ask God if that decision will be the best choice for you, if it fits into His plan for you.
5. Listen for answer.  If you plan on acting on it, you'll get one.
6. Do what you feel is best.

It was a wonderful experience for me and I know that God expects every worthy, able young man to serve a mission.  The blessings I've received so far, and expect to keep receiving, are incredible and well worth the investment.

"Use the door, you freak!"

My mom quoting part of Kid History 2

The "Miracle" of Facebook

Well, I needed a date for tonight and realized that it was in less than 24 hours.  That's when the missionary, check-only-your-schedule-for-the-next-day-the-night-before planning method backfired a little.  It's mostly because I don't really do weekly planning.

I decided to post something on Facebook and see what happens.  I got a lot of comments, but none of them were all that helpful.  Here's the aftermath from this morning:

Homecoming - a couple of weeks after I come home

I gave my homecoming talk this Sunday in church.  You can read what I had planned to say until right before I stood up to speak.  It's on the "What Might Have Been" tab at the top of the page.  Isn't following the Spirit great?

I also went to a baptism in my ward this week.  I was the only one that wore normal clothes and didn't dress up for the occasion.  My excuse:  that's exactly what happens in Portugal, the only place I really remember going to baptisms, except for my own.

Faux-tography

I got bored today and decided to see if there were any interesting pictures I could take.  Well, this is what resulted from that decision.