Go Forth to ROCK

Visit all 50 states

2008-10-21T15:50:00.006-06:00

Everyone has that goal in life, right? I think every good American should at least have the desire to see every one of the fifty states that comprise our nation. Personally, I have 19 more to go, and I've grouped them into four trips:

Southern Sweep: Kansas (visit Carrie if she's home), Oklahoma (sing songs from the musical while in a cornfield, go hang out on the Res), Arkansas (visit my mission president), Mississippi (cross over to New Orleans, since I haven't really been to Louisiana yet, just an airport), Alabama (listen to entire Sweet Home Alabama soundtrack and pull over to watch the movie), Georgia (pick some peaches without getting caught), South Carolina, North Carolina, fly home.

Midmid Mountain Madness:
Go camping in the beautiful Appalachians! Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia.

Rushmore Race:
South Dakota (of course: see the amazing and awkwardly located Mt. Rushmore), North Dakota (watch Fargo in Fargo), Minnesota (ask Cassi's dad for her hand in marriage just to see his reaction, go swim in one of the thousand lakes), Wisconsin, Indiana (stopping in Chicago, of course), Michigan (super excited for this one, although I'm not sure why or what to do there).

Poshposh Pleasure Trip:
Connecticut, Rhode Island. Don't know what to do, but it will be cool.

If you know of things I should do in any of the above states, please let me know by commenting below. Also, if any of these trips sounds fun, I can add your name to a list of potential travel companions. A lottery will decide the winner(s). Or perhaps I'll just choose. Haha. Jk, anyone can come!

Peace out.

What does fasting mean to you?

2008-10-12T10:35:00.007-06:00

I was talking with a friend of mine yesterday about whether it is necessary to fast for 24 hours, as long as you skip two meals. Some people think you can eat Saturday night, skip breakfast, and have an early Sunday dinner after church and call that a fast. I grew up with the understanding that a proper monthly fast lasts 24 hours. My parents never forced or even encouraged me to do it, but presented it as a choice, and I chose to fast for 24 hours from a very young age. I can honestly say that the 24-hour fast has brought me abundant blessings and answers to prayers that I'm not sure I would have received otherwise. So hearing someone say that it's not necessary to fast for 24 hours made me wonder... What is the official Church stance on this one?

Well, I looked it up, and there are many references to fasting for 24 hours. For example, Joseph F. Smith said, "The law to the Latter-day Saints, as understood by the authorities of the Church, is that food and drink are not to be partaken of for twenty-four hours." (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed., pg. 243). Howard W. Hunter repeated this quote in the October 1985 General Conference. More recently, in the October 2004 General Conference Elder Carl B. Pratt of the Seventy said that a fast "should be 24 hours and two meals." He further counseled that "If we are guilty of taking our fast day for granted or simply fasting Sunday morning instead of making it two complete meals—24 hours—we are depriving ourselves and our families of the choice spiritual experiences and blessings that can come from a true fast."

So apparently it is true that we should strive to fast for 24 hours on Fast Sunday. But my point in writing this isn't to be right. I actually want to know: do you fast for 24 hours? Is it overwhelmingly hard? Do you feel like you receive blessings and answers to prayer when you do so, or do hunger pains make it hard to focus on spiritual matters? Do you, like me, find it particularly difficult at BYU to begin your fast Saturday afternoon when it seems like everyone else is partying and eating that night?

Please share your thoughts. And don't worry, I won't think less of anyone for not having the same ideas I do. I just want to get a feel for what people believe and why they believe it.

Peace out.

I found it!

2008-10-06T21:05:00.004-06:00

They slyly put the $5 movie in a less conspicuous place. It's also smaller. Although I do miss the big fat one in the middle of the aisle, I guess this will do.

Peace out.

Rovo Town WHAT?

2008-09-30T17:59:00.003-06:00

I think this sign next door to Maestro's Gelato Café used to say "Provo Town Square," but now it just says "Rovo Town Quare." I wonder if that's the brother of the Rovo Town Queer?

Peace out.

Thing that bugs me #432

2008-09-30T17:54:00.003-06:00

People that use 4 paper towels to dry their hands in BYU restrooms. Way to kill the rain forests and heat up the globe. That's right, keep on melting those ice caps. Personally, I find that one paper towel is very capable of doing the job.

Oh, and PS, I love how in Provo, UT the second language printed on paper towel dispensers is French, not Spanish. Ha.

Peace out.

Shouldn't editors at least read the headlines?

2008-09-30T17:51:00.005-06:00

I'm glad to hear that the entire universe, which houses... everything... received national honors. This article appeared on the front page of today's campus newspaper. Obviously, they were referring to the Daily Universe, the name of the paper, but that's not what I thought of when I read the headline.

Peace out.

Farewell to the $5 burrito at Costa Vida

2008-09-30T16:25:00.008-06:00

Today is the last day of $5 burritos at Costa Vida. I feel like a part of me will die tonight as I walk out of one of Provo's most delicious restaurants. So in memory of the most beautiful $5 worth of food to ever enter my mouth, I send this ode out into cyberspace. May God be with you, my pork-black-mild-smothered lover.

You fed me well, I ate your cheese.
You heard when I said, "smothered, please."
Diría yo que lo suyo es rico,
Even though you didn't say "¿Quieres pico?"
"Lettuce and pico?" is what you said,
Up in the clouds must have been my head.
But it's all good, cuz your food's delish.
Now I've got to admit, I'll miss that $5 dish.

Peace out.

*editor's note: they extended this special, and at least as of yesterday (Oct 12) you can still get $5 pork or chicken burritos with your student ID!
** editor's note again: now (November) the deal is freal gone. Sad.

Come into my bedroom.

2008-09-14T16:22:00.006-06:00

Hey, check out this collage I made in my new apartment. The Facebook version is a little bigger if you want to watch that instead.

Peace out.

No, actually. I'm not.

2008-09-13T17:53:00.001-06:00

When I saw this flyer in the Cougareat, my natural reaction was "No, I'm actually completely comfortable with my current age, thank you very much."

Peace out.

So what are you going to do with that?

2008-09-12T00:33:00.001-06:00

Upon hearing that I'm graduating with a degree in French Studies, many people ask me, "What are you going to do with that?" I should answer, "Avec mon diplôme je vais te dire que t'est un c*****d m**deux. Va te faire f*****, fils de p****n."

Eek. Pardon my French. But seriously, it bugs me when people ask me that. While seemingly innocent and friendly, to me this question has a demeaning undertone that says "Humanities majors are worthless, right?" Even a simple "So are you going to teach French?" strikes me as ignorant and accusative. After all, don't most people enter careers that are unrelated to their major field of study anyway?

I guess another part of my bitterness comes from the fact that I don't really have post-graduation plans. The options are all there (Teach for America, intern for the UN in Geneva, or even [*gasp*] graduate school), but honestly, I have no idea what will fall through and what will actually work out. I could truly see myself anywhere from New York to Ouelessebougou to Sydney five months from now. No, really.

So the next time you're wondering what I'm doing with my life, would you mind just keeping your snide remarks to yourself and simply waiting to see what happens? Thanks. Oh, and by the way, I'm not nearly as irrationally spiteful and harsh as this post would indicate.

Peace out.

Yay for socialist systems in a capitalist world

2008-09-11T16:25:00.004-06:00

I'm not exactly what most people would call "well off." I know you might argue that claim after having seen my apartment or car, but those are things that I worked hard for and made sacrifices so that I could have. I've had numerous jobs ever since I was old enough to work (and even before that I worked at my dad's accounting office). I got good grades in high school and didn't completely slack off in college. All I need right now is a little financial help from Uncle Sam so I can finish my education, but I have learned that the financial aid system isn't at all set up to help hard workers like myself. It rewards slackers: those who don't get jobs, those who begin college later in life, and those who don't prepare for college in high school. Based on the things I've learned about the financial aid system, I offer this advice to high school students who hope to go to college one day and don't have a lot of money:

Don't take any AP classes. They probably won't fulfill any general or major requirements and will only decrease your eligibility for financial aid. Because of my AP credits, I am now over the 180-credit limit and thus ineligible for financial aid.
Take a 6-year break after high school graduation. Backpack through Europe, find a job in New York, go on a mission or two, or just chill at your parents' house. You won't qualify for financial aid until you're 24, so just wait. I, like most students, completed most of my college years before I turned 24, so this, my last semester, was the only one in which financial aid was even a possibility. So much for ambition paying off.
Do NOT earn any money during the calendar year before you want to apply for financial aid. Your previous year's earnings (not current earnings) are used to determine financial need. So my hard work and modest earnings of the first half of 2007 (which, by the way, went to pay off Study Abroad loans) significantly reduced my determined "need" even though I didn't have a job for the second half of 2007 nor any of 2008 up to this point.

These pieces of advice might seem kind of ridiculous to you (they certainly do to me), but in all honesty they will help you qualify for the financial aid you need to get through school.

Peace out.

They took away the $5 movie rack at Walmart. I think I'm going to cry.

2008-09-10T12:43:00.000-06:00

This image shows some of the movies I have purchased from what was formerly referred to as The Five Dollar Movie Rack/Bin/Shelf at Walmart. Others knew it as Entertainment Utopia or My Reason For Living. Ok, maybe I was the only one that used that last term. I lived for that place. My one escape from a cruel world of low-quality downloads and overpriced DVDs used to be found in the electronics section at the back of any Walmart store. I just returned from Walmart only to find that the rack is gone. I don't know if this is a global issue or if the Orem Walmart is the only one, but this is very difficult for me. I feel injured, injured bad.

I've tried googling the issue, but found nothing, so I hope this is no more than a managerial mistake or a temporary shortage. I'll give Walmart the benefit of the doubt today, but if my $5 rack isn't there on my next visit, there will be problems.

Peace out.

University and Bulldog

2008-09-09T09:05:00.000-06:00

Part of my daily commute includes crossing the intersection of University Ave and Bulldog Blvd. On days when I make this trek à pied I frequently see drivers in the left turn lane, with a green left turn light, just sitting there until eventually their light turns red, the opportunity passes, and it is someone else's turn. WHY ARE PEOPLE SO BLIND??? When I happen to be driving behind one of these people, I politely honk to wake them up, but often I am the innocently bystanding pedestrian with no personal investment in the situation other than the satisfaction of witnessing efficient traffic interaction.

My theories on why so many drivers miss their left-turn green light:

Unlike most left-turn lights, this one comes after the main light rather than before it. Unable to adapt, Driver X falls into old habits like a drug addict after unsuccessful rehab.
The combination of the scent of roses from The Flower Patch and the thought of bowling at Fat Cats is enough to distract Driver X from noticing the light.
The reason I notice this so often is that it only happens when I'm there. In other words, I, rather than roses or bowling, am the true distraction.
A strange atmospheric reflection of light, visible only to Driver X, blinds her at the precise moment of opportunity.
People are stupid.

Peace out.

Eliminating the default extra space between paragraphs in Word 2007

2008-09-08T12:29:00.001-06:00

Sometimes I'm a little slow to catch onto new things. I just bought Microsoft Office 2007, the controversial "new" version of the transcendent office suite, and overall things are going well. Then again, it's been installed on BYU computers for well over a year now, so I had already worked out some of the kinks.

However, one particularly annoying change that has plagued my user experience is the extra line that is automatically inserted when you begin a new paragraph in Word. You can't delete it, and for a long time, I didn't know how to get rid of it. Now I know how to permanently disable it, and I thought I would share this information with anyone who is suffering from the same oppressing phenomenon.

In Word, click the Office icon (extreme upper left), then click "Open."
Select "Templates" on the left, and double-click "Normal.dotm."
In the new document (which is actually a template), with the Home ribbon selected, find the Paragraph section and click the tiny button in its bottom right corner, which will open the Paragraph dialog box.
Check "Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style."
Click "OK," save the template (Office button, Save), close it, and from now on your new documents will not include that annoying little extra space between paragraphs!

Peace out.

Um... what exactly is a blog?

2008-09-07T20:56:00.000-06:00

So my friend told me on Friday that I should start blogging. I have to admit, I can probably count on one hand the number of blogs I've visited in my entire life. Needless to say (what a paradoxical phrase), I don't know much about the whole blogosphere or whatever y'all call it. But I'm here to learn.

The whole choosing a name thing was probably influenced by the fact that I am getting ready to finish my college "career" here at BYU. It's been a good few years. Yes, it has taken me more than the planned eight semesters to get to this point (early on I even absent-mindedly aspired to being done in 3 years), but you know what? It's ok. It's been a fun ride. And by the way, the benefits of spending the last 7-ish semesters as a "senior" are pretty sweet. You can get into any class you want, and you always have an option when telling people what year you are in school: real time or credits earned. Anyway, if all goes well, G-day is T minus 3 months away, and although I don't feel like I have a whole lot to show for myself as a student, saying Peace Out, Provo should be a bittersweet experience to which I am, at the moment, looking forward.

Without further ado, I'm now going to click that little orange "Publish Post" button and put this out there, taking my first step into the brave new world of publicizing my life. Peace out.