Delayed Christmas Present!

For Christmas, I received some cash from a few different sources.  I have been wanting to get one of these for a while (especially after seeing my sister's), and hoped to get one for Christmas, but I figured it was a little out of my parents' (or Santa's) price range, (since they told me it was).  So, combining the cash gifts I received, and supplementing any further expenses out of my own account, I purchased something to help me through the rest of my schooling:

Here it is!  A 7 X 10.3 inch Netbook, with up to 10.5 hours of battery life!

I'm pretty excited. 

If any of you have any extra Microsoft Office licenses lying around, let me know.  :)

The Dating Race!

This is exciting stuff!  For the month of January, a couple of friends from my ward and I are having a friendly competition called the dating race!  We are seeing how many dates we can go on in the month of January, 2010.  Each of the dates will be blogged about, and you can read all about it at the blog: 

http://thedatingrace.blogspot.com/

Please check it out, become a follower, and let all your friends know!  If you have any friends (Requirements: female, between the ages of 18-28, someone you think I would get along with) then e-mail me at kappyt3@gmail.com with their information (name, number, and anything else you wish to share).  I'm pretty excited.  Even if I don't win, I'm excited to get into the habit of dating a lot for the year 2010.  Also, I'd love to hear your comments or suggestions!

Cliche Christmas Post!

For Christmas every year, we draw names in my family to buy each other gifts.  This year, Chelsey drew my name, and she got me such an awesome present!  It's this Cateye Strada bike computer, which will help me monitor my speed and time, and the distances I've gone on my bike (once I get it back).  I'm really excited because it's very small so it won't be bulky or weigh my bike down or anything.

I drew Celeste's name.  For the past few months, she's kind of been obsessed with a website called "My Life is Average".

So when I got her name, I wasn't sure what to get her, but then as I was reading on this site, I saw the link "MLIA swag is here" or something like that, so I found out they have t-shirts for exactly what our set limit was!  It was a Christmas miracle!  So I bought it, and waited for it to arrive, so I could wrap it without her seeing it.  Then, on Festivus, (Dec. 23rd), I was leaving work, and saw a huge box lined with tons of bubble wrap!  If you are familiar with MLIA at all, you'll know that many "average" people are enthralled and overly excited about bubble wrap, so I wrapped her shirt in it.  I was so excited to see her face, and it was better than expected!  My sisters rock.

This is the coolest gift of them all (I think).  So as adults, we don't expect as "large" a Christmas as we used to as kids.  We each got our stockings, the exchange gifts, and then one gift each from Santa.  After it all wound down, our Dad handed out to each of us kids a small bag with nothing but a couple of pieces of paper in them.  One was a set of instructions, the other was a clue we each had to follow.  They were hard clues, but finding the small, rolled up pieces of paper at the place the clue described was sometimes even harder!  Each clue had a piece of a drawn, burned map wrapped around it.  After each of us had gathered about 8 or 9 pieces of 4 different maps, we combined our efforts to put the maps together.  They involved different allusions from The Lord of the Rings, Princess Bride, and some other made-up, similarly fictional landmarks.  We each followed the map to try to decide if the "Cliffs of Insanity" were the outside wall of our house, or the banister in our living room, if "Mount Doom" was the oven or the grill outside, or if the "Blowholes" were the heater vents or spouts in our downstairs shower.  We then found our individual, wrapped presents.  Mine was a wooden turtle-shaped box, similar to this one, but much cooler.  Inside, I found some Christmas cash and a note from my parents telling me how much they love and appreciate me.  I'm sure my sisters received the same.  My parents are so creative and so willing to spend time to serve us kids.  I'm very grateful for them.

Even more, I'm grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who loved us so much He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die for me, and for each one of us.  It's a gift I can't comprehend fully, but I'm grateful that during Christmas, I have the added opportunity to spend time pondering that sacrifice, and think of ways I can try to show my gratitude.  Oh, how I love the gospel of Jesus Christ!  (See top right widget for more inspiring thoughts on Christmas.)

Fixed!

It works again.  I knew I just had to call it out.  You can still feel free to leave your comments.

Hit Counter

It's broken.  I haven't been able to see how many people are viewing my blog since the last time I looked at it for a few weeks now!  Oh well, you'll just have to leave comments to let me know.  That's all.

Another Dating Story

This year, I met a girl who I thought was very beautiful. I didn't talk to her for a while, but then we started talking at a fireside. She was telling me about how she was training for a short race that weekend. We decided to go running together early in the morning before I had to go to school. So we did! I ended up asking her out, and she agreed!

So we went on our first date, and I had a great time. It was very casual, and we just had a nice conversation the whole night. A few days later, I called to ask her out again, and she told me it sounded fun, but for her, it would only be as friends.

Of course, I was sad that she wasn't as interested in me as I was in her, but I couldn't help but feel grateful for her honesty. It is so much less stressful and difficult to just know how a person feels than to continually have to guess. I'm still very impressed by this girl, and I think sometimes that maybe she'll "change her mind" and give me another chance - (probably not :) ).

So to all those who are honest in your relationships, I commend and thank you. :)

Connections

Being LDS, having served a mission, and having friends that have served missions, and knowing quite a few friends in Provo provides ample opportunities to find out connections between people. If I meet someone in Salt Lake, I can usually find someone that we both know fairly well. The world just becomes a small place. So it doesn't come as much of a surprise when I find out someone I know knows someone I know. (Hehe, I like that sentence.)

However, there are those times when the connection is kind of bizarre and really cool.

Today, I was talking with a girl named Rhiannon, who is in my major and we've had a few classes together. We came to find out that both her dad and both of my parents had grown up and/or gone to high school in a little place called Morgan, Utah. I decided to ask my parents if they knew Rhiannon's dad, and Rhiannon did the same. Well, later, she sent me a text saying "Did your dad have a brother named Reed?"

Side-story: The answer is yes, I have an uncle named Reed. He passed away before I was born, when he was 13, having been struck by lightning along with my grandpa (who lived) on a golf course. I always remember seeing his picture on my grandparents' wall at their house, and I always felt like, if he were alive, he and I would have gotten along very well. Not too long ago, I mentioned this to my sisters, and they said they had felt the same way! Kind of cool.

So I answered yes, but that he had died when he was 13. She sent me this: "Yes! When he was struck by lightning on the golf course... Holy cow. He and my dad were best friends growing up. My youngest brother is named after him."

How cool is that? I of course was kind of blown away by that, so I told her, and she responded with "You can imagine how I felt, hearing 'Dave Carruth? [my dad's name] Yeah, he's actually Reed's brother.' I've heard about Reed my whole life, and I go to school with his nephew!" [Me].

Anyways, this was one sweet connection to a somewhat random person. Who do you know that I know? :)

Midterms, Madness, Mercies

This semester has been a really stressful one. My classes are not easy, and there's always something due in at least one of them. This week has been especially rough with 2 midterms and a large project due tomorrow.

I've been trying to organize my time better so that I can get more done, including homework, cleaning my room, preparing scholarship applications, serving in my calling, and having time to spend with friends. However, organization is one of the weaker points of my personality, and I can't seem to figure it out. This week I've just gone to school, then work, then as soon as I get home, I pull out the books and study until I go to bed. Kind of crazy.

This morning, I had to wake up even earlier than usual to get to school on time for one of the above-mentioned midterms (Differential Equations). I've been relying a lot on divine help to get me through this week and in general through my schooling. I've noticed a lot of help on exams and homework assignments, so much that I know that if I do my part, I'll be blessed. But this morning, Heavenly Father decided to reassure me of His love and willingness to help me in my life. I know this might sound so simple and coincidental, but to me it wasn't. I went out to my car, and as I was pulling out, I stopped for a second to close the garage door. In that second, I looked up at the bright, almost-full moon right outside my car window, and in that one second, a shooting star went flying right past the moon. I drove to school with a smile on my face.

I'm just thankful for a Heavenly Father who sends us tender mercies, even when we feel like we'd do OK without them.

Feast or Famine

It's never a consistent meal-plan.

Anyone else experience this? (I'm not talking about food.)

Confocal Microscopy and Cell Segmenting - Hearts

Don't be scared. I promise you can understand this.

So at the beginning of this semester, I started working in a research lab at the U. So far it's been a really cool learning experience for me. Sometimes it's frustrating because I feel like I'm not much of a contribution (which is true), but over the next couple of years, this should give me a great experience, and help with applications to grad schools and employment in the future.

I just wanted to explain a little about what I do. Overall the purpose is to better understand how heart cells change when they are in a diseased state vs. a normal state, so that we can know how to replace those cells with tissue engineered ones - (as one possible solution).

What I do is take rabbit and rat hearts, and slice them into very thin (~100 micrometers) slices, and then dye them with antibodies that attach specifically to proteins on the cell membrane, followed by secondary antibodies which fluoresce. Then, we use confocal microscopy to create a 3-d image of the fluorescent antibodies which outline the cell. It looks something like this, only with a bunch of cells all connected to each other, rather than separate:

My main responsibility is to use a computer program to form an outline in 3 dimensions of as many of these cells as I can, without the outlines overlapping, and as close to the actual borders of the cells as possible. These images are then processed and we are able to analyze how the cells deform given certain stresses or other stimuli.

It's cool to be able to learn more about this, and it makes me more and more interested in hearts and how they function. After all, our heart is the life-organ of our existence.

Leaf Day

Today was leaf day. For those of you who aren't in my family. Here it is:

Every year, this tree in our backyard waits until the very last moment to shed its leaves. It's almost always after the first real snowstorm of winter. All of the other trees lose their leaves over time, but this one dumps them all in one day. So it's become a sort of holiday in our family called Leaf Day. Traditions? Enjoy the beauty of falling leaves onto a blanket of snow!

Oh how I love institute!

So if you ever have the opportunity, I highly recommend taking an institute class from Bro. Frogley at the University of Utah Institute. At the beginning of this semester, I was concerned with how I was going to keep the motivation to get through the next year of hard classes after a summer semester.

Luckily, on the first day of the semester, I went to Bro. Frogley's class, and after it was over, I knew that throughout the semester, my institute class would be what would help keep me motivated about working hard and doing well in all of my other classes. It really has too.

Why?

Brother Frogley teaches differently than any seminary or institute teacher I've ever had before. He's so focused on ensuring that we not only hear what he says, but that we have a change of heart and desire to do something about what we learn from the Spirit. I'm in his 3 Nephi - (Sermons of the Savior) class. We started in chapter 11, and we're only just finishing chapter 13 right now. We take so much time analyzing every scripture by defining words, even conjunctions and their functions :) and Brother Frogley does an amazing job at teaching us what he has learned about the scriptures and how much information is packed in each verse, so it takes forever just to get through one section - and I love it. It's cool that at the end of class I think "Oh man, it's already been an hour?" and not wanting to leave because I'm learning so much about what I should be changing in my life.

So, if I could explain it all to you in greater detail, explaining every verse like we have in class, I would. But I can't right now, because of time. So I recommend taking a class from him and actively participating so you can understand what I'm talking about. However, as a brief example, I will explain a couple of verses from chapter 13 that we talked about today:

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal;

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

22 The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

I'm even going to have to shorten this, because I think we spent 30 min. talking about these few verses. Basically, we were trying to determine how we can become "grace-giving servants" to those around us. When we talked about treasures, in the context of v. 21, we discussed how the heart is the center of the soul, and whatever is in our hearts (our treasure) will be what determines our confidence, our power, our support, etc. Treasures on earth (money, prestige, even family) are corruptible, and therefore are not guaranteed to be eternal. Really, the only thing that we know is incorruptible is God. So our treasure, we decided, should be the Savior, which should be the focus of our hearts. The next couple of verses (some of my favorites) are "next" for a reason. They answer the question "How do we keep the Savior in our hearts all the time?". Because the eye is a "conduit" to the heart, if we view good things, or if we view the Savior in all things, then our hearts will automatically become focused on him, and the result is that "[our] whole body shall be filled with light".

Again, this is a watered-down version without a lot of the amazing comments that people give in class, and reading this is probably less influential on you than hearing it was for me in a spiritual setting, but even then, isn't that cool how many new insights you gained from those few verses? We do that with every scripture we read.

So yeah, take institute, because it'll give you the boost and motivation you need to do better.

Tribute

To awesome dates!

Sometimes, it's easy to get tired of going on dates when you don't see a lot of "fruits" from your efforts. By "fruits" I mean getting along with someone well enough to see a relationship grow.

Then, there are those times when you go on a date, and it's just refreshing to be able to talk with someone, and because you're similar enough, you can understand each other and just have a great time. It is my experience that these types of dates are rare, and should therefore be treated as such. I think that's what most single people are looking for.

So this is my thank you - to those whose personality "rings" with mine.

Post-Fall Break Post

Last week was fall break at the U. I love fall break. Especially when you have an awesome Dad that picks that week and the week of spring break for your houseboat share for the year, and you get to go waterskiing in October. How awesome is that??? I had a great time. I think I'm skiing better, I got all the way around on a backflip again, I got a nice pre-winter tan (along with slightly bleached hair), and discovered what I'm going to be for halloween. Plus, I got to sleep in and relax with very little homework to do. Did some sweet rock-climbing, played on one of the best sand dunes I know of, tried to flip a kayak, played with my little cousins, and got to spend some quality time with my family. That's the best possible scenario I can experience right now, and I loved it! I'll try to get some pictures of our trip to post on here.

So it's kind of hard to come back to school and work and just... responsibility. lol. But life doesn't stop for a vacation, so I've gotta get back into the grind of working hard every second of the day and going on little sleep and food.

And finally, this is kind of a funny story, and I hope you enjoy it:
Today, I found out that I wouldn't be able to do anything in my research lab, so I headed over to the institute to get some studying done in the couple of hours before my institute class. After a little while, a couple of girls came into the place I was sitting, and I recognized them, I had seen them before in the same place on a Monday. They wore white uniform shirts with some sort of badge on the arm that I was too far away to read. One of the girls, I really thought was beautiful, and seemed very nice. I spent the next hour and a half reading a paragraph, then looking up at her, reading another paragraph, taking another glance, etc... So for the last hour (not joking) I sat there thinking about ways to go and talk to this one girl without being too strange or awkward, or making her friends laugh at me, or getting rejected and embarrassed. I racked my brain, and nothing seemed like it would be normal. I hoped maybe her friends would leave before my class started, or that she would get up and walk past so I could pull her aside and ask a "curiosity question" about their shirts or something. Of course, neither of those things happened. I tried getting up the courage as I gathered my books, but I just stood up and walked downstairs and into my classroom. It was empty, and I put my stuff down and started hitting myself in the head for not talking to this girl! lol, this story's making me laugh as I tell it! So, I knew I would feel so stupid if I didn't, so I went back upstairs (a different way, to give me more time to prepare - [this ended up being useless]), and after a couple of hesitations, I walked back there without my stuff, walked right up to the table and said "Hi. I was wondering what these shirts are for." or something like that. I didn't get names or anything, I just blundered along through my words, and then said "Well, see ya." and I left. So girls, if a guy come up to you and asks some stupid question, and looks like an idiot just standing there not really knowing what to say, it means he thinks you're attractive and would like to get to know you better. Anyways, it wasn't a total disaster, but I just wish I had gotten up the courage earlier and not waited, or that I had spent just a few more minutes and at least gotten her name or something. Now I can only hope to see her again and have another chance. So guys, get up the courage, and remember that Nike was right when they coined the phrase "Just do it" (and the apostolic addition - "Just do it right").

HAHA! So, immediately after finishing this story, I got into my car to drive home and plugged in my phone, which is on shuffle. The very first song that came on was "My Stupid Mouth" by Jon Mayer. It's not exact, but I feel very similar...

tfehT

It spells theft backwards. Why? Because I'm getting my bike back!!!

The amazing campus police found my bike (and a few others that had been stolen) in a pawn shop. They had been sold for $50 a piece! That's it! Can you imagine stealing something in order to get 1/16 or LESS of its worth? Ridiculous. Anyways, I'm just really excited to get my bike back. And you can bet I won't be taking it to campus anymore, that's what 20-dollar D.I. bikes are for.

So, this is me today:

Prayer

So this is a somewhat unusual post, but it's something that's been very important for me.

I'm amazed at the power of prayer. I think a lot of the world thinks of prayer only in dire circumstances, or as an in-church ritual (maybe I'm wrong). For me, prayer is a daily activity that blesses my life in enormous ways.

I've always been taught to pray, and even though I haven't always been perfectly consistent in my daily personal prayers, as I've grown and matured, I've noticed a difference in my attitude about life between those times when I'm consistently praying, and when I'm not. The first time I noticed a huge blessing from prayer was in 10th grade in High School. I was taking an honor's english class from a teacher who was well-known for having extremely high standards in grading. We had to write an essay that was due the first day of class on a book we were to read over the summer. The grading scale was 0-9, with 9 being the highest possible score. Well, I got a 4 on that summer assignment. The next essay we had to write was to be an in-class essay on the next book we were assigned to read. I'd never written an in-class essay. 50 minutes to answer a specific question and compile all of my thoughts about a book intelligently into a well-written masterpiece was somewhat frightening.

So, I prayed. I didn't just pray, I read the book. During the week before the in-class essay, I reviewed the important parts of the book, and prayed, and thought about what possible questions I might be asked to write about. I did this consistently each night, with lots of prayer. The day of the essay, I prayed again, and again, and again before the essay (in my mind). It was so cool to look at the paper and notice that the question was very similar to one that I had thought of in my studies that week! I started writing, and felt I had done well. I would have been happy with a 6.

A couple of weeks later, the essays were graded, and this teacher posted a few "excellent" examples of essays (without names) on the wall. As I walked into class, I heard some people by the wall say "Someone got a 9! That's crazy!" I walked over, and saw that it was my handwriting!

I know that's a really simple example, and a lot of people will say that it was just due to the fact that I studied hard. I partially agree. However, I know I couldn't have done that without the help of Heavenly Father. Since then, I have had many similar experiences with my prayers being answered as I tried my best to fulfill my end of the "deal".

My life is busy. Not nearly as busy as some people I know, but busy enough for me. I wouldn't be able to keep my head above water without prayer.

Without prayer, my life would be much more difficult. I'm so grateful for the availability of a "phone a friend" to a loving Father who knows all the answers, and that He speaks to us, both through Prophets (yeah for General Conference!) and through His Spirit.

Theft

Someone stole my bike today.

I know that there are a lot of much worse things that could happen to a person, but still, getting something of worth stolen from you is awful. I bought this bike about a year and a half ago, and have loved it the whole time. I've taken it riding up in the mountains several times, and at Lake Powell. Plus, I ride it around campus every day, which makes it possible for me to get to all my classes on time. So today, someone decided to deprive me of my mountain biking "pride and joy". I'm amazed that some people think that they have a right to take something, even if they haven't worked for it. When I noticed that it was gone, I just felt sick.

Really, it's like this person just stole a bunch of money, time and love from me. Because that's what the bike represented for me. I spent a lot of time working on it, enjoying riding it, and earning the money to pay for it. All of a sudden, it's gone.

Anyways, I'm trying to keep a smile on and remember that it's just an expensive piece of metal, and that there are much worse things that could happen to me that haven't. I'm hoping it will turn up (unharmed) somewhere, and that I can get it back. If not, I guess I'll just have to start saving up for a new one in a few years.

Moral of the story: Don't steal. It's rude. Not to mention it's one of the 10 commandments! Sinner. lol

Frustration vs. Optimism

I guess this is kind of an explanatory post. If any of you have noticed that I haven't been quite my cheery self as of late, there is a reason, and it's not that I'm depressed or struggling a ton. Really, it's mostly from school, and then it effects the other aspects of my life.

So, as explained in my previous post, I have kind of a hectic schedule right now. The main classes that are getting to me are Biostats and Differential Equations.

Let me start with Diff Eq's: The professor is obviously amazing at math, and luckily, he's american, so I can understand every word that he says. I just don't always follow what the words mean. He assumes that we know a lot more than I think most of the class actually knows. For homework, he requires a very strict format, including a form of the question, every step written out, with explanations of those steps, and then an answer check at the end. It usually takes longer to write the homework than to actually do the problem! Anyways, it's a hard class.

Second, Biostats. For the first couple of weeks, I thought this class was going to be a breeze. Then we got a homework assignment, and I realized that I had no idea what I was doing! How frustrating is that? So I stayed up late trying to figure it out, with little success. Luckily, (again), he gave us some extra time to finish and turn it in, because he realized that very few people in the class understood how to do the assigned problems. So really, I should be grateful and excited because of the two "luckily"s.

On a happier note, I think I aced the physics exam I had today, and my other class isn't really too difficult - Strengthening Families. Anyway, I occasionally (meaning about once every year or two) have to set a goal to just BE happier, without expecting things to MAKE me happier. So that's what I'm doing now.

Business

I mean business as "busy - ness", and I mean business.

There's just too much enjoyable in life to let it slip by without making the most of every second. I've been amazed at how much it's possible to accomplish in the short period of 24 hours, including the 7-8 hours of sleep that I (attempt to) get. Here's a "run-down" (hilarious office episode) of one of my busy days:

6:10am- Wake up, eat
6:30am- Go running/excercise in some way
7:00am- Get ready (Breakfast, Shower, etc.)
7:40am- Rock out to some tunes on the drive
8:30am- Class (Biostats)
9:20am- Study/Work in Research lab
10:30am- Institute
11:40am- Institute
12:55pm- Class (Physics)
1:45pm- Ride bike back up to car
2:00pm- Rock out to some tunes on the drive
2:30pm- Work
5:30pm- Go home, eat dinner

From here on, my days vary from one to the next. Here are some suggestions (to myself?) of the best things to do at this time of the day:

-Water-skiing
-Ultimate Frisbee
-Dates
-Homework
-Ward Activities
-Chill with the fam (watch psych, talk, make cool stuff, water-skiing [I can put it as many times as I want], etc.)

10:30-11:30pm- Prepare for and go to bed!

That's not even that busy!

Isn't it amazing how much we can do? ("Yes" is the correct response.)

School! And over 100 views!

Well, it's official. School's started. It actually started on Monday. Also, today my blog passed 100 views! Thank you to all my faithful readers (all few of you) for helping me achieve this greatness.

My school schedule this semester is going to be kind of rough. I'm taking "calculus-based physics", "differential equations and linear algebra", "biostatistics", and "strengthening families". That's 14 credit hours of mostly-math enjoyment! I've realized that taking summer classes is helpful for reducing later semesters' stress levels, but it makes it a lot more difficult to jump right back into school for the fall and spring semesters after only a 2-week break.

Anyway, I am now officially accepted into the Bioengineering Major! That just means I get to start taking more difficult classes. I'm excited though. It looks like it will still take me 3 years (including this one) to graduate with a bachelor's. That's a little longer than I would like, but I guess it'll be ok just as long as I finish sometime. Plus, I don't mind school. I enjoy learning, it's just the expense and the stress of it all that are annoying/frustrating.

So, if you'd like to donate to the "Education for Life Fund - for Eric Carruth" just send me an e-mail or give me a call! Or, my bank account number is 3 at that one bank. Thanks for all your support!

Ultimate!

How have I not devoted a post to this sport yet? I've mentioned it (see "Sports") but I have more than just an interest in the game.

If you've read my profile, I explain very briefly that one of my greatest motivators is watching and imagining what people are capable of, physically, mentally, spiritually, etc. It is my belief that this is the reason why I love to play ultimate frisbee. There is something that happens automatically in my mind and (dare I say) even my soul, every time the frisbee goes up into the air. Immediately, subconsciously, my reaction is "Is it possible to catch?". I don't think it, it just happens, and I go. My favorite plays are when someone on my team throws the frisbee toward the endzone, but either they throw it too far, or they try to push my limits, and I have to really book it to even come close to the disc. As I run at full speed, it seems like the frisbee is so far out of my reach, I'll never get to it in time. It starts its inevitable descent, still yards in front of me, and just as it's about 6 inches from the ground, I dive, barely get my fingers under the edge, with my wrist just grazing the grass, and slide for a while with the disc in my hand. Mmmm...

Anyway, I've loved this sport ever since I first played. I think I was about 12 years old, maybe younger, and we went up to my Grandparents' house in Mt. Green. A bunch of my older cousins and uncles went down to the park to play. I'd never heard of it, so they explained the rules to me, and we played. I wasn't very good, so they didn't throw me the frisbee a lot, but when they did, and I caught it, I felt elated. Every time we went up there, I wanted to play again. One winter, I missed playing so much, that after a snow-storm, I geared up and headed over to the elementary school field with my dad's purple "Ripper" frisbee in my hand. The field was white (not already to harvest, covered in snow). I threw the frisbee as far as I could, and started rolling a snowball toward where I had thrown it. I got there, threw it again, and rolled the snowball. Eventually, it got to the point where I couldn't roll the snowball anymore, so I just threw the frisbee around a little. My dad and sis. came over and tried to help me move the snowball more, but it just cracked down the middle.

The next significant chunk of time we spent playing was in High School. We played a lot. About once every other week in the summer. Mostly, it was because people would say, "Hey, let's do something." Someone else would say "What?". Then I would say "Let's meet at Southwood [a park] and decide." I think I gained a few enemies out of our female friends at the time, because they hated playing all the time, but I just couldn't get enough. We played for hours and hours.

At one such game, the injury period began. It was 2 weeks before our Senior trip down to Lake Powell, just after we had graduated. I was running behind the ultimate wizard, trying to catch up before he grabbed the frisbee (which he did in the end). He tripped over something in the ground, his leg stuck out, and I tripped over his leg. Fell onto my left shoulder and broke my collar bone. That hurt.

At another game, I ran into a hill, and really hurt my foot. I couldn't walk on it for a while.

After my mission, the streak continued. A day or two before I reported on my mission in our Ward, I broke my thumb. Ran into another guy. I didn't think it was broken, until two weeks later when I finally went and got X-rays. Had to have surgery to fix the 35-degree angled thumb bone.

Just after my thumb healed, I got the torn cartilage in my knee stuck in the joint playing ultimate. Had to have surgery to sew the cartilage back together. 6 months of healing time.

It's been two years now since I've seriously injured myself playing ultimate. I kind of had to tone down my playing style to avoid those injuries, but I think it's smarter. We play about once a week, sometimes more. There was one week where I played about 11 hours of frisbee in 3 days, with 3 consecutive games (all unrelated). Basically, it's a passion of mine to play, especially with my friends from High School, and my Ward, (and the girls that come and play - awesome!).

The last significant thing, is that we (my High School friends + 1 and myself) won the Intramural championship at BYU. We got t-shirts. If I can, I'll post a picture later. Right here:


Anyway, I love the sport.

Wow, I think this is one of my longest posts. Hope you're not too bored.

10:00

I've decided 10:00 is a crucial time of the day. I will try to explain why:

10:00am-

This is the point of the day that determines how happy you will be for the rest of the day. If you wake up early, exercise, eat right, do some service, or get some productive things done by this time, and have a good attitude, I think that the rest of the day will take care of itself. If you're still sleeping at this time (literally or figuratively), you'll probably be in a similar state of mind for the rest of the day.

10:00pm-

This is the point of the day that determines how you will spend your night. If you're already out and about with friends at exactly 10:00pm, you'll probably stay out 'til midnight or later. If you're not doing anything at all, and you're not on a date, and 10:00 rolls around, you might as well go to bed.

If you're on a date - two options -

1. If you're already doing something really fun, you'll probably end up saying "whoa, where did the time go?" when you see that it's midnight or later (which is a good thing).

2. If you're not doing anything, you spend the next couple of hours worrying about what to do.

I don't know why this is, but 10:00 is an important time of day (and night).

Who loves summer weekends? OOH! OOH! ME!

So.

Friday at around noon, I left work. That was when it started. I drove my car (pre-packed the night before, with tent, bag, sleeping bag, AIR CHAIR, etc.), with Shayla up to Bear Lake for our HUGE Stake Boating activity. Seriously, there were 500-600 people up there! It was crazy. Anyways, so we got there, waited around a few minutes, then decided to head down to the beach to take out my air chair, which is why I went. (See previous posts.)

We got out to the beach, and lucky enough for us, President Plumb's brother and his son were there with their boat, beckoning (well kind of, they were pretty tired of being out on the choppy water, and I'm sure they were hungry too, but they were nice enough to take us out) for us to come onto their boat. So, they let me ride my air chair. I jumped a couple of times to get used to the tower, then tried the backflip again - no good. Then I decided I would try the flip off the wake, because I usually get more air that way - again, no good. So I rode it back toward the shore (I had ridden for quite a while already). As we were coming back toward the beach, I realized my turn was just about over, so I decided to try it one more time outside the wake. I cut out, waited for the slack a little, pulled back, jumped and threw my head back. I kind of expected to land on my head again, or my stomach, since that's where I usually do, but I landed on my butt! I landed it! I had the rope in my hand! It kind of caught me by surprise, and water was splashing me in the face, so I kind of unconsciously let go, as I heard the people in the boat cheering. It was awesome!!! I can't wait to go again, and hopefully get it more consistent. Unfortunately, we didn't have a camera. For second witnesses, ask Katie Kelson or Shayla Dickson.

So, from then on, it didn't really matter what else I did, I would have had an awesome weekend. The rest was awesome too, though! We headed back for a free steak and baked potato dinner that our Stake had made (yes, for 500-600 people, they provided STEAK!) Then, we drove up to Lava Hot Springs to camp out. Sat around the fire with a nice little group of friends from our ward, and laughed until about 2:30 am. The next morning, we ate a cold breakfast, went to the hot pools, floated the river, swam in the pool, ate lunch and drove home! That night, I washed my car, watched a movie and listened to awesome music.

Sunday I slept in (always a bonus), then woke up to prepare a lesson for Elder's Quorum (yes I procrastinate, but this time I was told I would be teaching late Saturday night). At Church, our ward boundaries were changed, and we got a new bishopric called into our ward. It was definitely an eventful Sunday.

And overall an eventful weekend!

Towers

There was once a time when I never really thought I'd say this, but I wish we had a tower on our boat. Lately, if you can't tell from reading my posts, I've been kind of obsessed with air chairing. Only those of you who have actually "flown" on the thing realize why this is. Maybe some of you who have cleared the wake on a wakeboard can come close to understanding, but the air chair/sky ski is just a whole new level of fun. It's amazing to be able to jump wherever you want, and even though I don't get way high all the time, it's even better to land, and not be jarred by hitting the surface of the water. Every time I switch from a boat with a tower to one without, or the other way around, I'm amazed at the difference that it makes in how easy/hard it is to fly. So, since a lot of people aren't familiar with hydrofoils, I've decided to give a little info. on them:

I'll summarize here, but for the full article, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrofoil

So the concept of a hydrofoil is very similar to an airplaine wing. As water passes over the rear blade of the foil, which is angled slightly downward, the front wing is tilted upward. When the water passes over the front blade, the water going over the blade has to travel faster, and the pressure above the blade is reduced, thereby increasing the net force upward, providing lift. (Sorry, I have to sound scientific when I talk about stuff like this.)

Because of this physical property, some genius people (including Alexander Graham Bell - see above article) realized that they could lift a boat up out of the water, reducing drag, and increasing speed. Which is what they did. Several hydrofoil-equipped boats were made, and used in the military. Because the blade rides beneath the surface of the water, turbulence is almost eliminated, and it really feels like you're flying.

I'm amazed that there aren't any postings on wikipedia for hydrofoiling as a water sport, for air chair or sky ski. So, I had to gather the rest of this info. from their respective sites:

http://www.airchair.com/rider/history.htm
http://www.skyski.com/

Basically, it took a few years to get to the types of foils they have today. I have a 5-6 year old sky ski, and I love to ride it!

I've posted a few videos of one of the best air chair gurus in the world - Geno Yauchler (see below - just ignore the break dance instructions). Also, you can watch these:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoGqdZNdb_o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpbCQp9vlEE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBYuDgt05Pg&feature=related

And you can watch one of my several attempts at a backflip on my facebook page.

If you or anyone you know wants to try it, let me know!

Except, we don't have a tower... ;)

Backflips!

So, I know you're all wondering, "Was Eric's weekend as good as he hoped for???".

It was AWESOME! So, as stated, we drove up to Morgan on Friday night (me, Celeste, and Jill). My Granparents were so nice, and made Jill some dinner (Celeste and I had already eaten, but we ate a little with her too). My Grandpa is hilarious, he gave her some raspberries, and then said, "You want some cream with those, don't you?" and she just had to agree with him. Our Grandma came in saying "Stephen, kids don't eat berries with cream anymore!" It was hilarious. But I tried some too, and it was actually delicious! My Grandpa is funny though, he kind of forces you to agree with you by saying things like "Now isn't that just the best thing you've ever tasted?". So that was fun. Then we headed over to where my Aunt works, at the "Dance Shack" in Morgan, where she teaches dance and tumbling. I had her watch my backflip and teach me how to do it better. At first she was correcting some things, then she said "Wait, you don't use your arms!" I said "Ok, how can I fix it?" and she said "No, that's awesome! Most people aren't able to do flips like that." So I was kind of happy about that. I still had some form issues, but it was cool to hear. She also showed me how to do a front flip, and I did it! (Just fyi, front flips are harder.)

That night, we slept out on the trampoline, and in the morning, headed up to the lake! We got there around 6:20 and I skied about 20 minutes later. Here's a picture. It was pretty nice water, but freezing cold air! Right after I skied, there were some dark rain clouds coming over, so we grabbed the cover to our boat and just chilled underneath it for about an hour, waiting for the ward to come up. Oh, and David and Andrea were there early too, so they were in the boat with us.

It stayed cold all day, with clouds and wind. I rode our Stake President's wave runner, and afterwards I couldn't stop shivering for about an hour. Finally, at the end of the day, Bro. Linton took me out behind his boat on my newly polished sky ski, which really improved its riding capabilities. And... I almost landed the backflip!

I tried it three times, and the 3rd time was the closest. I'm planning on going up to bear lake this weekend, and I think I'll be able to land it then! I can't wait.

So then we drove home! It was a fun trip up to East Canyon. I'll let you know when I land it. :)

Weekendish awesomeness!

I just finished summer semester today. Can you say "AWESOME!"? That's what I thought. So to celebrate, tonight, Celeste and I are driving up to Mor-Gan to sleep at my Grandma's house! lol It's gonna be sweet, and then in the morning we're headed to the lake for some water playin' with the ward. I'm excited to try out my sky ski after I polish off the tarnish that's been building up on it. I'm really really really hoping that it fixes the problems it's been having. If not, I'm probably going to have to sell it and look for a better one... :( I love the weekend, especially one right after the last day of finals!

Also, I realized that I haven't posted this or told many people, but on Sunday I was released as Ward Clerk (bitter-sweet), and called as Ward Mission Leader! I'm excited for the change, but it's kind of sad to not be able to work with the Bishopric as closely, even though they're being released soon as well. It's going to be fun to get back into the missionary mindset a little bit, and help the missionaries look for people to teach. Know anyone? :)

So I'm not having a lot of success with getting into a research lab up at the U, and it's getting kind of frustrating. I have a meeting pending with the professor with whom I would like to work - (check out that English) - but I have to wait a week for that one, and even then I'm not sure if he'll want to have me work for him like I want to. I'd really like to get something set up BEFORE fall semester starts, but we'll see if that actually happens or not.

My Sisters

Since I have the best three sisters in the world, I figure it would be a good idea to post a little tribute to them here.

Chelsey.

Super power: Mind-reader/Telekinesis.

I wouldn't put it past her. She's super-smart, and talented. When she plays the piano, it's like the nerve signal doesn't have to travel all the way down her arms to her fingers, it's just immediate processing.

She also reads books. Lots of them. Fast. This, along with other things, is what, in my opinion, makes her so exceptionally smart. Not that she wouldn't be without it, but all the reading makes her just that much smarter. She's almost always cheerful, and she's been a great example to me throughout my life.

Chels and I talk. Every once in a while, I'll head down to Chelsey's room at around 12:30am and just start talking with her. She's an awesome sounding board for me, and takes the time to listen to what I have to say, and then gives her ingenious input for my life. I don't know if she thinks it's as awesome as I do, but it really has been a blessing to have her to talk to.

Thanks Chel!

Christine. Super power: (Take it as I mean it, please :) ). Christine is like the Jaggernaut on X-Men.

She has momentum that is unstoppable. She's not some huge ugly guy with a ridiculous-looking helmet. She just doesn't stop for obstacles. I mean this both literally and figuratively. Although this picture isn't of her, it looks a lot like her. She's number 1 on the BYU women's lacrosse team, and there have been several instances both in lacrosse and in soccer when she has taken on girls much larger than her and just ran them over like a bulldozer. Also, when Christine puts her mind to something worthwhile, she doesn't stop until she feels like she's satisfied about the job she's done. She can run right over any obstacle. Not to say that it doesn't jar her sometimes, but she keeps trying, and that's as inspiring an attribute as I've ever seen.

Christine and I play hard. She's always been the one that I can count on to play sports and do fun things with. Like snowy hikes, water skiing at 6am, and running a half marathon. She helps me have more motivation to reach higher ("to be that shining star").

Thanks, Christine!

Celeste.

Super power: Lifting spirits of those around her.

She reminds me of a mix between Alice and Jasper from Twilight.* She is very good at making people laugh, which, (I have experienced this) can cure any illness or bad feeling. If you ever feel down on yourself, or sick, or bored, give Celeste a call, and within a few minutes, you won't remember any of those things. She just clears them away like the sun clears dew.

Celeste and I laugh together. She's nice enough to laugh at my lame jokes and make me feel like I'm funny even when I'm not. We watch Psych together (easily the most hilarious tv show ever made, with The Office at second), and have about a gazillion inside jokes.

Thanks, Celeste!

So those are my sisters. Please don't mistake them for my girlfriends. :)

*Yes, I have read the Twilight books. I thought they were good, because of what the vampires could do. I had to take breaks to stop dry-heaving sometimes at the ridiculous girly parts, like when Edward's skin sparkles. What's up with that? Yeah, that made me gag.

Utah

I live in one of the greatest states ever.

Today, for work, I had to drive up to the U (not the campus, the letter). I had to go up there to take some pictures of a lot that someone wants to build a house on. Someone wealthy, obviously because the view is incredible up there. I could check how much taxes would be just on the lot, but I won't.

Last night, I went up to my Stake President's house for a Bishopric date night. When I say "up", I mean it. His house is the highest up the mountain just East of the I-215 3900 S exit. He has a pool that overlooks the whole valley, and we had a steak dinner out there, and then swam in the pool after watching the beautiful sunset. If I get the chance, I'll hook up my phone and post the picture of the sunset from it right here. It was amazing.

Also, tonight I'm headed up to the Uintah's for a campout with my friends from high school. It's an annual thing we do, and it's tons of fun!

So, with all this mountain stuff, I got to thinking about how many awesome things we have in this great state! Mountains, for hiking, camping, mountain biking, with rivers for floating, lakes for water skiing. Also, we have desert and hot dry air, which is my favorite. Lake Powell, which trumps anything you could argue for any other state. Plus, my family (including most of my extended family) lives here. Pretty much, I've got a great life, and a great location for my personality. I get to do all the awesome things that I love to do, all within an hour of my house.

Sweet.

On Blogs

So, after doing some minor research into the world of blogging (as this is still fairly new to me), I've discovered that a couple of things help make blogs more interesting:

1. Pictures. Even kids understand this concept. If you're going to read a book to them, there'd better be some illustrations in there, to help their imaginations to soar. It's the same on blogs. Unfortunately for me, my camera got soaked at Lake Powell and doesn't work anymore.

2. Using either eloquent or dramatic speech. This one's harder to explain. For some reason, when things are typed on a page, and you can't hear the person's voice, it can get really monotone in your head. So when people embellish their words and throw out some crazy awesome analogies, it sounds more fun and energetic, and easier to read. I think font type and using some bold or italic fonts would help too. This would have to be something for me to work on, because I just say things the way they are, and I don't like to sound exaggerated. The sad thing is, in a blog post, non-exaggerated sounds bland.

If you have any other observations on what makes a blog a fun blog, let me know!

Sports

I love playing. This week I've played a sport every night. Monday was volleyball and Tuesday and yesterday were both ultimate.

Volleyball - This was a stake FHE, and anyone could put together a team. I was lucky to be picked on the best one. We went undefeated.

Tues. Ultimate - BYU Coed Intramurals. We aren't undefeated this time. But, we won! We were playing a very good team, that had 3-5 subs, while we were down a player the whole game, and we won 12-5! That was a good feeling. We just beat them with our hustle.

Wed. Ultimate - This was just for fun, with friends from our ward and high school and everything. I love playing, and I can't stop until everyone's gone. Even then, I love to throw the disc around with a couple of people.

So anyways, last night, after all this ultimate and volleyball (both sports in which jumping is required), I felt the effects of not stretching. I was watching psych with my sister and her friend Jill, and I just stretched, and I got the WORST cramp/charlie horse in my calf! I couldn't relax my leg, and it killed and lasted around 5 minutes. I know I'm not old, but I guess I am getting older. Maybe I should stretch before and after I play...

Ahhhhh...

Saturday night we got home from Powell. Late. I went to my room, laid down on my bed and exhaled. I love that place. It is without question my favorite. Not to mention that I went with my awesomest family and the Shoells, which just made it that much more enjoyable. I could live there.

Of course, it wasn't all just smiles. I did get my camera wet, and it won't turn on anymore, and my sky ski isn't working quite as well as it should. For some reason it keeps just randomly turning on you and stuff - kind of frustrating. I got some scrapes, but overall, we had an awesome, enjoyable trip, and had a lot of fun and time to relax! It was great!

So now I'm back to working and schooling! Hopefully I can catch up on all the stuff I've missed this week in my organic chemistry class and in lab. Because...

I'm going camping this weekend too! Vacation time all over the place. This is the annual guys camping trip with friends from high school. It's going to be sweet. Sadly, I can only go friday night to saturday morning, but it'll be fun anyways. We're headed up to the Uintahs!

The Temple

So I went to the temple last night, and it was just a nice peaceful experience. There have been a lot of talks in General Conference and other reminders in Church about how we need to visit the temple more often. I was chatting with a member from my mission, where they have to travel close to 1,000 miles to get to the temple in Frankfurt, and how exciting it is that the temple is being built in Kiev. It made me think of how blessed I am to have 4 temples in the Salt Lake Valley, plus 3 others just 20-40 minutes away. So I figured I should go.

While I was there, I read Moroni 7, which is my favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon. I've been thinking a lot lately about faith and how I can strengthen my faith, so it was good to read that and be reminded of how I could. I'm glad I was able to go.

Powell

Next week we are headed to the BEST PLACE ON EARTH!!! For any of you who don't know where this is, it's in Southeastern Utah/Arizona, and it's called Lake Powell. We are lucky enough to get to go there about twice a year, and every time, I get so excited! This year we're going with the Shoells, a family friend that we've known for a very long time, and we get to go for the whole week! It's gonna be great! Here are a couple of pictures of what we do there:

The Begog

This is something new for me. I don’t know if my life is interesting enough for other people to read about, but it’s something to do in the very little spare time that I have, and it’s a good way for me to remember my life. I’m pretty bad at keeping a journal, so I thought maybe I’d try this whole blogging thing. My sisters really enjoy blogs, and have their own. You can check their blogs out too - cxclax.blogspot.com and c-bop.blogspot.com. You’ll soon find out that they are the coolest sisters ever (including Chelsey, even though she doesn’t have a blog “BLOG!” yet).

My parents are amazing as well, so put us all together, and you have the coolest family ever made!

Seriously though, we are the best.

Anyways… to start this thing off, I figure I’d better tell you how I got to be where I am now. I’ll keep it brief:

I was born in Ogden, Utah on January 28, 1986. I grew up in Murray, Utah all my life. I went to Murray High School, and then went to the University of Utah for a semester. I then served a 2-year mission in Donets’k, Ukraine. Now I’m back at the U, studying BioMedical Engineering. It’s such an exciting major. I love all of the classes that I’ve taken, and I’m excited for all the others I have to take!

I love waterskiing. It is my favorite hobby ever. I’ll probably put a few pictures on this of us at Lake Powell and elsewhere, enjoying glassy water. It’s ok to be jealous, just try to do your part to keep the water that way. I also love playing Ultimate Frisbee, and most other sports, including running, mountain biking, hiking, soccer, football, etc... Music is a big part of my life, and of course, the Church plays an important role in defining who I am.

So that’s me!