Summertime

I just love summertime.

It's made for me.  I think my body's natural habitat is some desert with a nice clear lake nearby.  I love the hot, dry air, and so does my skin.  Basically, Lake Powell is where I belong (or similar places).

Last summer I took classes at the U, trying to accelerate my acceptance into the major (which did help).  However, after going to school constantly for over a year and a half, I decided that this summer I would not take summer classes and try to enjoy it as much as I can.  I've been looking forward to being out of school now for a year, so I can enjoy summer.

Two problems:  1.  It's not really summer-typical weather right now.  It feels more like March in May!  However, that's not the main problem.  2.  I don't have any structure to my life!  I have all these awesome plans of things to do, but then I end up not doing them.  I was worried that I might fall into this pattern.  It's hard because I'm working at nights, so I don't get to hang out with people (who mostly work during the day), and during the day, there's only so much that sounds fun to do by yourself!  I also have an expensive car repair coming up, so I don't want to be spending tons of money on anything.

So, I need to figure out some way to be more productive that will keep me going on a good, healthy schedule.  I think I'll start going up to the research lab almost every day for a few hours.  I don't like feeling lazy.

Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break.

It was SO nice to get away from school!  For the first half of the week, I stayed at home because I had to work each night (still from 9pm to 1am - I don't think I've blogged about my current job yet, maybe I will someday...).  So I realized that if I weren't going to school, my life would be fairly boring!  I slept in almost every day, (one day 'til 11:30!!!)  I never sleep in that late, so I felt pretty lazy.  I went up to the U to work in our research lab a little, and I did some shopping and stuff, but overall, I just played music and enjoyed not having a ton of things to do!  Then... on Thursday... I went... to...

LAKE POWELL!!!


Pictures are from past trips - that's why it looks so warm and calm.  I don't have a camera anymore because it got soaked on this trip

I love that place.  Even though this trip was a little different:  1. I was only there a couple of days, whereas usually I've been able to go the whole week.  2.  It was windy and cold, so I only got in one ski ride (usually I ski at least twice a day).

On the way home, we had a fun experience.  It was me, my bro.in law Paul and my sister Chelsey.  We were just driving along, everything was fine.  I was driving and we were following a truck towing a trailer.  All of a sudden, some black thing comes flying out from under the trailer, flailing around on the road, so I swerved to avoid it, not knowing what it was, and we started fish-tailing, did a 180, and slid off the side of the road sideways, into the near side of a ditch.  We were extremely blessed that we didn't roll or damage my car or get injured.  About 10 different groups of people stopped to help us.  We got towed out and continued on our way.

Two things:  1.  Prayer works.  That morning we said a prayer to get us home safely, and I know that things could have been much much worse for us, but they weren't because Heavenly Father was watching over us.  2.  People are good.  Sometimes it's hard to believe this when you get cut off on the freeway, or people are rude in lines or places.  I was so amazed at how many people were IMMEDIATELY there to help us out.  My faith in the human race was strengthened because of that.

So anyway, it was an eventful, relaxing Spring Break, and I'm so glad that we have it at the U every year.  Now, I can't wait 'til June for our next Powell trip, and for Moab and whatever other things I'm going to do this summer!

The hardest thing about Spring Break though,

is going back to school.

How long has it been?

So...

I've been pretty busy lately.  Sorry to not update all of you on my life.  Basically, I started a new job last week, it's going well, but I'll be tired for the next several months, and I'm trying my best to stay on top of school work.  Sorry it's short!

Here's a picture to make you happier:

Dating Race? Over. Dating? Still going on.

With the end of January, several things have been going on.

1. My 24th birthday was on Thursday, the 28th!  It was a great day and I got tons of happy birthday wishes from my family and friends!  Thanks everyone.

2. The Dating Race has now finished.  Congratulations to Shayla, who went on 22 first dates in the month of January!  I am very impressed by her.  Now I need all of you to go to the blog (if you missed the previous link, click here), and vote for the person you think each of us should take on our second group date!  It's been a great learning experience, which you can read about there on the blog.
Although the dating race itself is over, don't think that I'm just going to sit back and relax and not go out on any more dates.  No sir (or ma'am).  I've met some awesome girls this month that I'm excited to ask out again!  I really have learned that this is what the brethren are talking about when they say that we young men should be dating more.  Honestly it's amazing to date a lot, you learn a ton about other people, and about yourself, and it's amazing how much more fun it is than hanging out with groups of people (not that that's not fun, it's just dating is more fun).

3. This wasn't necessarily at the end of January, more at the beginning of February, but....

I'M FINALLY GETTING MY BIKE BACK - TOMORROW!  I'm super-stoked.  I haven't ridden my bike since September, and I miss it.  Anyone who wants to go mountain biking soon, let me know, and we'll go.  Hopefully it's not too snowy.

Other than that, just trying to find a job still that will fit my schedule, and working on staying on top of school assignments.  Life is good!

Tell-Tale Heart

This was so crazy, and a friend of mine told me to post about it.

So the other night, I was sleeping (cool, huh?), and usually I don't wake up in the middle of the night.  But this night, I did.  I also don't usually sleep on my back, but this night, I was.  So I woke up, wondering "Why did I wake up?  That's weird."  Usually if I wake up it's because of noises or motion.  So I started listening really attentively.  What did I hear?  A knocking sound - in the constant rhythm of a heartbeat.

Yes, I was creeped out.  I thought of The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe.  Yeah, kinda crazy.  I wondered "what kind of animal could be right above my head and have that strong of a heartbeat?"  But, I couldn't think of any.  So I felt my own heartbeat.  It was exactly in sync with the knocking heart above my head!!!  I moved a little, and my back came up off the bed for a second, and the knocking stopped in that second.  I finally figured it out - my heartbeat was causing my bed to move just enough to make my helmet (which hangs on my bed-post) to hit the wall!  After this, I was no longer creeped out, but amazed at how cool this was!

So I discovered that I have a really strong heart. :)

Flight of the Arrow

Sorry, it's been a while since I last posted on my blog.  School has started up again, and it's keeping me busy!

As per the Dating Race, I've fallen behind quite a bit!  Shayla is rockin' the planet by dating so many awesome guys, and Jon is right behind her (dating girls though).  Me?  I've run into a couple of "obstacles" that aren't necessarily bad, but just have kept me from asking more girls out and accepting suggestions from others of people to take out.  However, I've decided to not let those obstacles stop me anymore.  Even though I don't expect to catch up to Jon and Shayla, I hope to at least stay in the game.

In school, there have been a few cool things going on for me!  Well, really just one, but it's really pretty awesome.  So you might remember that I started working in a Research Lab at the University of Utah a semester ago.  I picked a really good lab to work in, for a few reasons: 1. It's flexible, 2. It involves doing work that is less mundane than others, and 3. We have had some significant success and are in the process of PUBLISHING A PAPER on it!  How cool is that?  As an undergraduate with a little over 2 years left still, I'll have my name on a published article!  I'm hoping that we will be able to continue to progress and hopefully repeat this process once more before I graduate.  I will, of course, let you all know when the paper is done, but for now, I'm just excited to be involved in something so cool!  I think this will help increase the amount of responsibility that I have in the lab as well, because we want to get some really good images and data out in the next couple of months to include in our Results section.  Yeah, I'm pretty excited.

Also, in our Ward Missionary Committee (I don't remember if I've said that I'm our Ward Mission Leader), we've recently started to go out and visit young single adults within our ward boundaries to invite them to come to our activities and meet new people and come back to Church.  It's been very rewarding to be more involved in the Lord's work, and I hope that we'll be able to reach some people who need the light of the Gospel in their lives.

Basically, my life is wonderful.  The only not-so-good thing that's going on right now is that I have a pretty bad cold that didn't allow me to sleep (like, at all) last night.  But that seems like a minor setback in comparison with all the blessings I have.  Yeah, there are things I would like to change, like being single, not having a steady source of income, etc., but I'm finding that "it's not hitting the target, it's the flight of the arrow".  (I don't know who that quote is by, but it's cool.)

Dating Race Update

So THIS is going well!

It's been a really good experience so far!  It's only the 3rd day in, but it feels like we've been doing this for a while already!  I'm surprised (pleasantly) at the attitude change that I've experienced toward dating, and the great topics that I've had the chance to talk to my friends about with this thing going on.

After reading Elder Oaks' talk, which Jon also posted on our dating blog, I realized that this is a good way for me to take dating more seriously!  I know it probably seems like we're taking dating LESS seriously with this "competition".  But to be honest, I couldn't care less if I lost the race.  I'm just glad to have an extra incentive to ask girls out!  It's already helped me to stay in the mindset of dating as a priority in my life.  I've dated somewhat consistently in the past, but i feel like this is really helping me to focus on it.  Of course, when school starts up again in a week (on the 11th), I'm betting my "date rate" will decrease significantly.  But I will still try to have asking girls out in the forefront of my mind.

I want everyone to know that the people I take out on these dates are people I would normally feel comfortable asking out, not just people around me to take on dates so that I can beat Shayla and Jon.  Jon did a great job of explaining why we're doing this in his post, "Not Just a Number", which I completely agree with, but I wanted to explain my own personal view on it as well.

I'd like to hear what each of you think about our dating idea, whether you like it or not, what you would do differently, etc...  Make your comments as long or short as you like, just try to keep it considerate.  Thanks!

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.)