BOM reflection

As I was casually reading through the assigned readings, I missed one particular aspect that was very influential to me. In 3 Nephi 22:7-11 There is a phrase that says “For a small moment I have forsaken thee” then later goes on to say that “ In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness ill I have mercy on thee” This was very impactful because I have my own struggles in my life. I have read and reread this passage and the one thing that I love about this the most is that for a moment He hid His face but with everlasting kindness will He show mercy unto me. Our trials, our hardships, and even our mortal existence are for but a short moment but his kindness and mercy are everlasting. This was very important for me to realize that no matter how hard life seems to get, it is for but a short moment and I can handle it.
As I prepare to serve a mission, I have kept this chapter marked well because missions are hard. I have never heard of a missionary that came home and said “I did not really work hard. I got to relax a lot.” That is not how missions work. My mission is going to stretch me and work me very hard in a good way. The reason I am telling you this is because when I get overwhelmed in the mission field, I can always turn to this chapter for comfort. No matter how hard or physically taxing it seems to do the work, it is only for a short moment and I will receive blessings for the rest of my life.
On a side note, there is a song by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir entitled “My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee”. If you have a spare moment after reading this, please take the time to listen to it.

Last blog post.

For my final blog post, I want to write about absolutely nothing in protest of the 5 billion blog posts that I have had to write.  In all actuality I think I wrote all of my blog posts for the semester in only 7 days.  I do not mean that I wrote blog posts for 7 consecutive days but out of all of the times that I have posted blog posts, I think that they pretty much all came from those select 7 days.  I am not really surprised that I only have 7 days of blog posts.  I am lazy.  I am looking at a calendar of this last semester and I have missed a lot of work that I needed to get done.  I hate statics class.  It is a bunch of bull.  They do not have the grades posted so you do not know how well or poor you are doing in that class.  The highest grade I can get in that class is a D-.  That is bull crap! I could have done so much better in that class if only I knew what my grade was all along.  Thanks a lot college of Engineering Technology!

Batmanning

Have you heard of planking? How about owling?  Have you heard of the newest trend called coning?  Well let me tell you about the coolest trend of all that is taking over.  It is called batmanning.  Batmanning is when you hang from some object by your feet.  Then you suspend your body in the air with you head being the closest part of your body to the ground.  Your body should be in the vertical position with your feet as the highest part of your body.  Once you are hanging upside down, you cross your arms across your chest.  Do not fold your arms or you will look sillier than Bill Cosby when you give him a briefcase full of monopoly money.  You put your fists near the opposite shoulder the same way that you are supposed to do when you ride down the ride at Seven Peaks Water Park called Free Fall.  That is the position that you should have your arms in.  Then you take a picture of yourself because if you do not take a picture then no one will even know how cool you are.  The evidence is in the picture.  That is how you batman. 

Breakfast at 4 am

It is late and I am hungry.  It is almost four in the morning and I am still working on homework.  I have an awesome roommate who not only thoughtful and endures my constant complaining, but he is nice enough to get up and make a full meal of breakfast burritos.  He did not even ask to use my potatoes for the hash browns or my eggs for the… eggs.  Also he did not do it because he owes me one.  He did not do it in hopes for a favor in return.  He just did it out of the goodness of his heart.  I am so happy to have a good roommate who is so nice that he would be willing to get up in the middle of the night just to cook me food.  I was not even whining about it yet.  I was just wasting time on the computer.  Maybe he cooked it because he was hungry.  Either way I got some of the breakfast burrito so I am not upset about it.  I have the best roommate that anyone could ask for.  He is always nice to me even when I do not deserve it.  The end.

First College Goal

My first college goal as a BYU ice hockey player was an impactful goal.  It was the first goal of the game for the cougars.  We were playing against SR Junior College.  As I recall it was my second shift of the game.  I was in front of the net and my defenseman took a shot from the point.  His shot went wide and the puck ended up behind the goal.  I skated back behind the goal and wrapped the puck around right behind the goalie’s left foot.  I was so happy that I had scored my first goal I was flipping out and did not know how to react.  I was super excited and finally gained my composure before skating past the bench to knock gloves with each one of my teammates.  Because I scored the first goal of the game, I was allowed to start the next game which was a dream of mine.  I started the next game in the arena that the Idaho Steelheads play in.  I was super excited but I got lots of jokes from my teammates because I am the worst player on the team.  All in all I was pretty happy though.

Working for bishop

I am trying to earn money so that I can serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I want to serve for a period of 24 months.  In order to earn a few more dollars I asked my home bishop how best to find a good paying job that I can get a lot of hours at.  Then he told me that I could do some seasonal work at the gas stations that he owns.  The gas stations that I was to work at needed to be swept because of the rocks that accumulated over the winter.  I went to go work my first day and it took me a total of 7 hours to work to get one of the three gas stations swept.  That was not very much fun.  I got blisters on my hands from sweeping so much even though I had work gloves on.  I do not mean to complain because it is not that bad but I do not think anyone enjoys having blisters on their hands.  The wounds dried out and started cracking. This caused them to bleed and it began to be very painful.  But I am okay.

Problems

I have to write an essay for my Current Social Problems class by noon tomorrow.  I have not started and this is supposed to be a 4 to 5 page paper.  I am trying to finish these blog posts so that I can get around to starting my paper.  They said that there is absolutely no way that they would accept a late paper so I have to get this paper done.  That entails that I have to finish all of my blog posts so that I can start working on the assignment.  This assignment description is longer that the paper itself.  The assignment description is 4 pages single spaced.  That means that it is almost a full 8 pages of assignment description! I am not excited to start the paper but it is something that needs to be done.  I am going to write about how the fast food and availability of food is making the American people fatter.  I am not wholly convinced of the topic but I am positive that once I start doing the research necessary I will come to a realization of the effects of fast food.  I am almost ready to start my paper.

Lights on 900 East

I do not like driving up 900 east.  There is a serious problem with the timing of the lights.  The other night I was trying to drive up 900 East in the middle of the night when there are no cars on the road and I had to stop at all of the lights except for 1.  That is terrible light timing.  I ran a few red lights in protest of the horrible system that is in place.  I am not happy about the lights.  Perhaps if I can write a letter to the city I can get someone to realize that there is a problem.  I do not think that I, as an individual, can make a big difference that will make any person in power act on the problem.  University Avenue has a lot better timing of their lights.  I do like driving down University because I can drive the speed limit and I will not have to stop a single time because the lights are timed very well.  Whoever the engineer was that timed the lights on University Avenue should take the time to work for the city and get the lights on 900 East timed better.

letter

I got a letter from a missionary that is serving in Chile.  His name is Elder Porter.  He is a good friend of mine and I like to spend time with him.  I cannot spend time with him anymore obviously because his is busy serving the Lord.  In his letter to me he mentioned that the drivers in Chile are ridiculously crazy and he said that they remind him of the days that he used to drive with me.  I consider myself to be very competent in handling a car but what I may lack is judgment calls.  I can drift in my car very well and can keep my car going where I want it too.  I have a video of me drifting in my Montero posted on YouTube.  In the video I do a teacup kind of circular drifts across a parking lot.  I would encourage you to go look at my video if you have the time.  It is mildly entertaining and I could always use more views.  If you type “crazy drifting in a snow storm” or something like that into the search bar I am sure my video will come up in the first page of results.

Rest in peace dearest Gilbert

I used to have a fish.  It died.  I named my fish Gilbert.  I killed Gilbert on accident.  I did not mean to kill Gilbert.  Gilbert was cute.  I like cute fish.  I got Gilbert from my uncle’s wedding.  He had the fish.  He used the fish as a decoration.  Gilbert was a decoration.  Gilbert was on the candy table.  It was funny.  Gilbert was next to the Swedish Fish.  Swedish Fish are tasty.  Gilbert is not tasty.  I did not eat Gilbert.  I did eat Swedish Fish.  Gilbert came home.  Home is my dorm.  I had Gilbert in my dorm.  He died in my dorm.  I did feed him.  I did not feed him fish food.  I gave him croutons.  He does not like croutons.  He would puke.  He puked croutons.  He could not digest croutons.  He died because of croutons.  I flushed Gilbert down the toilet.  He is gone.  He is not coming back.  He cannot swim.  He only sinks.  He did not live very long.  He died quickly.  He is in heaven.  I know it.  He was a good fish.  He never did anything wrong.  He was a fish.  Fish cannot do wrong.  I miss my fish.

ward blanket

The blanket that is on my bed was given to me by my ward family.  It was a kind gesture that was extended to all of the graduating seniors in the ward.  I think that my blanket was sewn together by the primary president even though I am not supposed to know who sewed my blanket for me.  My blanket is warm and I sleep with it every night.  It is a BYU blanket.  This makes me happy.  The reason why it makes me happy is because I like BYU.  I like BYU because I was raised to like BYU.  I was raised to like BYU because my father likes BYU.  My father likes BYU because that is his alma mater.  It is also my mother’s alma mater.  My father and mother went to BYU together.  While at BYU my father purposed to my mother.  I do not recall how the proposal happened but I am positive it was pretty cute.  I think that it was at least cute enough for my mom to say yes.  I am fairly positive it was cute though.  I want to get married someday.  I think that I would be nice to be married.

The Wall

The wall next to my bed is white. There is a little dent in the drywall because one time I was running away from one of my fat roommates when he had a Nerf gun and as I ran I searched for security in my bed.  In my rush to get to my mattress I hit my head on the wall.  I did not think much of it.  In fact, I did not think much at all for a few moments after that.  I did get a head ache though and I did not enjoy having a head ache.  The headache lasted for a long time as I noticed it the next day when I returned to my dorm from classes.  My head started to hurt and I could not figure out why.  Then I realized that I had hit my head the day before when I ran away from an attack with a Nerf gun.  I did not think that the run and retreat was worth the headache and dent in the wall.  If I would have been shot it would not have hurt because the bullets for the Nerf gun are all made of a soft plastic material. 

Picture

MAKE UP POST

My roommate, Will, drew a picture for me and I would like to describe it in 200 or more words.  The picture is drawn on a normal piece of printing paper.  The sketching is done with pencil.  All of it is.  Although it is on a large sheet of paper, the drawing itself does not take up very much space.  When drawing faces, Will tends to elongate the faces.  I do not mind if his drawings are good or bad because it is really nice of him to draw me pictures at all.  I have the drawing posted above my desk because I love it so much.  It is sitting right next to the burned compact disks that were burned for me by another friend’s little brother.  My friend’s little brother is a DJ.  I think that is super cool but back to the picture.  The picture has a shaded background.  I think this adds depth to the picture.  That is just my assumption because I do not know anything about drawing.  I am not an artist and have never had very much artistic ability.  I think the drawing that Will drew for me is very nice and well done.

Festival of Colors

MAKE UP POST

The festival of colors was very fun.  The Krishna Temple is near my parent’s house so I would attend the festival of colors very frequently.  The annual tradition is one that I have not missed out on since last year.  I particularly enjoy the festivities because everyone there is so happy.  It is not like a concert or something where people are just there.  At the festival of colors, there are all kinds of people that come together and don’t judge because everyone looks the same.  One of my friends was walking around and he offered free hugs to all of the girls he could find.  He thought he was pretty cool until we saw a couple making out.  Anyone who has been to the festival of Colors would know how incredibly disgusting that really is. There is a plethora of chalk that literally get everywhere on the body including the mouth.  The chalk tastes something like what I imagine licking a construction workers boots would taste like.  Did that make sense?  But all in all I would say that my favorite part was when we burned the witch.  It symbolized burning the bad parts of us and forsaking them.

My date with Rachel

Last night I had a great adventure.  I asked Rachel Easter on a date to go hike to the Y on the mountain.  This may not seem extraordinary but I asked her at 11:40 PM.  When she answered my phone call, she had just finished getting ready for bed.  Lucky for me, she agreed to accompany me on the hike.  I picked her up a few minutes after midnight.  The hike was really fun especially because there was a full moon last night.  I thought that it was going to be a bit chilly because it was the middle of the night but when we started hiking it proved to be much warmer than I initially thought.  It only took a few hundred yards before Rachel nearly ripped my shirt off my body.  What actually happened was we both had hoodies on and our body temperatures were elevated because of the hike.  Since I had two shirts on, I offered her one of mine since she did not bring one or something like.  I am not really sure how that works but you can ask her.  Anyways, we got home from our date just after three in the morning.  Thanks for the fun date Rachel!

Gymnastics career

As a little boy, my loving mother enrolled me in gymnastics lessons.  I was 5 years old when I started.  I did well and excelled quickly.  When I was 10 years old, I my skills on the floor exercise routine would consist of back hand springs, back flips, and various other skills.  I was probably best on the pommel horse.  My pommel horse routine consisted mostly of swinging my legs around the pommel horse with my hands firmly planted.  I would do about 15 to 20 circles by the end of my routine.  On the rings, I did not do very many impressive tricks.  When I quit gymnastics I was trying to do sweet tricks on the vault.  Parallel bars were hard and I did not do very well on them.  High bar was fun but that is the event that forced me to quit.  When I was doing a reverse giant, my grip slipped and my body flew away from the 9 foot high bar.  I landed with my chest on the mat and my face implanted into the mat.  My back was arched and my feet were around my ears.  It hurt and the injury ended my gymnastics career.  

hot pots on Monday

I went to the hot pots up Spanish Fork Canyon again on this last Monday after I had already gone on Saturday.  I had a much better time on Monday than I did on Saturday.  When I went on Monday, I went with a good friend of mine named Maddie.  Maddie and I went on choir tour together when we were 14 and 15 years old.  When we were 16, we went on a few dates together.  Then she got a boyfriend and decided that she did not really want to spend time with anyone anymore.  Anyways now that she broke up with her boyfriend, I decided to take her on a date again.  We went up to the hot pots and talked the whole way up there.  I was pleased to find that the best hot pots were not yet occupied.  We promptly took them.  The pots were so hot that we could not sit for more than a few moments before we jumped out.  We found that the cold water intake pipe had been blocked so we went and unblocked it.  That cooled the pool down and we talked about why her ex was not worthy to serve a mission.  All things considered, I had fun.

Hot pots last Saturday

This last Saturday, I went on an adventure to the hot pots that are up Spanish Fork Canyon.  I went up there with my roommate Will and John.  It was supposed to be a group date but it seems that everyone was able to find a date except for me.  I asked all of the girls I could think of that would go with me but no one wanted to go with me.  William asked a girl that he knew from summer semester.  Those two have become chummy and he now owes the dorm ice cream (if you know what I mean).  John asked a girl named Andrea.  She is nice and I am glad I got to see the two of them together because they are cute.  Anyways, when we went up to the hot pots, there was a group of drunken losers in the biggest pool which is fine.  Live and let live right?  So I ventured up to another group of hot pots only to find a man happily displaying his body.  All of his body was hanging loose.  So we were stuck with the hot pot that was only mildly warm.  All in all, it was fun though.

My xbox

A few weeks ago, I decided that I wanted an Xbox 360.  I planned to pay for my Xbox by donating blood plasma at the new Grifols facility on 900 east in Provo.  By donating plasma, I would be able to raise enough money to pay for my Xbox in a matter of only a few weeks.  This was a brilliant plan except for the part that was not planned for.  I was permanently deferred from donating plasma with their facility because I have tested positive for a Coombs test.  I do not know what that means but I do not like it because it means that I cannot donate plasma anymore.  I had already purchased my Xbox for $100.  This does not bother me because I recently sold it for $150.  I was happy to sell it for a $50 profit.  Now I am currently trying to sell my Banjo Kazooie game, wireless controller, and Call of Duty Black Ops 2.  All of those things are fairly easy to sell I just have not gotten around to it.   When I sold my Xbox I sold it to a big fat guy.  He was nice but he looked old and still lived with his parents.

Tyler.

I have a friend by the name of Tyler Porter.  He was a good friend to me before he died.  Just kidding he is alive and well but he did go on a mission to Chile.  Tyler was a nice kid to hang around and was pretty funny.  His nose is so massively large that he looks like a Navi from the movie Avatar.  The only difference is his face is not always blue.  I like Tyler and appreciate his friendship.  He introduced me to my good friend Tennyson.  I like Tennyson too.  He is also on a mission.  When Tyler went to the Missionary Training Center, I did not even know that he left.  I am happy to report that he wrote me a letter once.  I never wrote him back.  I should write to him since he was nice enough to write to me.  I would like to be around when he gets home from honorably serving the Lord but I will most likely be on my mission.  I cannot wait to see him again after I return from my mission.  On second thought, I think I can wait but I am excited for his return to America.

McDonalds

I went to McDonalds to satisfy my hunger late in the evening.  McDonalds has a wonderful menu of delicious food all for a low price.  When I order from McDonalds, the staff is always intelligent and can communicate clearly in the English language.  Perhaps my favorite part of ordering from the folks as McDonalds, they all look like they love their jobs.  It definitely does not smell like little kids smash their food on the walls before letting fall to the ground where everyone has the opportunity to walk all over it and grind it into the grout between floor tiles.  The tables are cleaned constantly and do not have ketchup remains smeared from one end of the table to the other.  I like to think about where my food came from before I eat it.  I hear that McDonalds treats lots of animals with high ethical standards.  Then they do not include parts of the animal that no human should eat.  They realize that it is worth their time to throw away those parts.  Are you ready for the conclusion? 

I am kidding.  McDonalds is despicable.  I do not like the food they serve or the ambience they foster.

Reflection

As I was reading through what are commonly referred to as the “war chapters” I read about how many of the people were slain of both the Nephites and the Lamanites. According to the account given by Mormon, there were in total approximately 230,000 Nephites slain. In his account, Mormon mentions that they were mourning; however, they were not mourning unto repentance. They were instead mourning for their losses and for hatred toward their brethren. As I was contemplating this, I thought of the scripture in Matthew 5:44 that instructs us to love our enemies. I put myself in the shoes of the Nephites and thought about what I would do. I believe that I would tend towards taking care of the ones I love even if that means to be vengeful. It would be very hard for me to know that there was a man that brutally murdered my friend and left his family without a father, husband, and provider. If I really cared about him as a friend I would make sure that I did everything I could to make sure that the murder would not walk away from his crime. Then I began to think about what Jesus Christ would do. I can picture Jesus caring for the murderer while teaching him that he must pay for his sins. While it is very hard for me, it is more important for me to become more like Jesus and live by the teachings that He has asked me to live by.

ALL ABOUT RACHEL EASTER!!

So there was a time when Krispy Kreme threw away a large quantity of donuts.  It was at this time that I, along with some friends, joined my good friend in grabbing donuts.  My good friend is known by the name of Rachel Easter.  Upon collecting nearly 50 pounds of donuts, little Miss Easter asserted that she could eat more donuts than me.  This erroneous notion was fueled by Miss Easter’s roommates who degraded me into thinking that she could possibly have a chance at competing with me.  At the beginning of the doughnut eating competition, I pulled ahead by eating 3 donuts.  Rachel answered by stacking 3 donuts and eating all 3 at once.  This was impressive, but no competition for my doughnut eating ability.  I quickly gobbled until I was at 8 donuts.  Rachel’s next triple stack, as she called it, was no match for me.  When finishing her second triple stack, she tossed a portion of her doughnut into the bushes hoping that I would not notice.  Cheater.  After polishing off my twelfth doughnut and beginning my thirteenth, Miss Easter wept and nearly gagged as she walked a shameful defeat out the door and tossed her half eaten twelfth doughnut into the bushes.  Defeated and broken, she walked the long walk back to her dorm as I triumphantly carried my bag of winning donuts back to my dorm.   I was very impressed by Rachel’s ability to eat donuts, but it was no match for my superior skill.  Thanks for playing Miss Easter.

Backpacking

If I were to go on a backpacking trip I would take my close friend Tennyson Renner.  Tennyson is a tough and rugged character.  Right now he is currently serving a mission.  He is 20 years old but is at the MTC still.  He leaves to serve the Lord for two years in the Bangkok, Thailand mission.  The reason that I would choose him to accompany me on a backpacking trip is because he is a righteous, knowledgeable, and experienced person.  His set of moral values his high and similar to my collection of morals.  Also, he and I get along really well and have a similar outlook on life.  Tennyson would be a very competent person to take with me into the mountains.  He has knowledge of the outdoors and a mountain sense.  This would be beneficial to me as we trekked through the woods.  Also he is a gun owner and goes shooting regularly.  This would provide an added sense of security and protection not only from wild life, but also from crazy people and zombies.  Basically I would choose to take my friend Tennyson because he is a lot like me and I would have fun with him.

Why we have to make blog posts

I am trying to think about why I am writing these blog posts.  I do not feel like I am doing anything other than wasting time that I could spend researching my topic for my issues paper.  Is blogging a skill that you need to survive in the professional world?  Absolutely not.  I am not learning how to write any better.  Perhaps the reason that we are required to keep a blog is to improve our gross words per minute when we type.  I definitely feel like my fingers are flying with elegant grace over my keyboard.  Is a blog anything more than an online journal that anyone can read?  I know that my blog posts are not very insightful.  So what is the purpose of writing blog posts?  Perhaps one reason that we are required to write blog posts is that it keeps us writing constantly.  If we are in the habit of writing and committing our thoughts to paper, or a Microsoft Word document, then it will be easier for us to write our essays.  Or even maybe it is so that we can spend more time out of the classroom thinking about writing.  I do not really know why we have to post on a blog.  

Girls at the G Eazy concert

I have had a craving that I have never had before.  I wanted to smoke weed for the first time in my life.  I did not act on my craving for some obvious reasons.  While I was in high school and junior high school I was never offered the opportunity to light up.  Because I never had the opportunity to smoke a joint, I never did.  When I was in attendance at the G Eazy concert, there were people smoking pot on my left, right, in front, and behind me.  This did not bother me because it was not that bad.  What did bother me was that the girls that had the marijuana were as young as 14 years old.  I do like girls but I do not like 15 year old girls that are baked out of their minds trying to grind up in my business.  I have a hinting suspicion that those girls are not the girls that I am going to be seeing around BYU campus anytime soon.  I wonder how those girls are going to end up.  I tend to think that girls are innately virtuous but the girls I saw at the concert did not strike me as the temple goes.  I have no idea what the point of this blog post is.

G Eazy

I had the fortunate opportunity to attend a concert by an artist by the name of G Eazy.  G Eazy is in the hip hop genre.  Even though he is classified as a hip hop artist, his rap is laid back.  His music sounds like the way you would sound if you wrote music while you were high.  Now that I think about it, that is probably what happened.  Anyways, the concert was at In the Venue.  This venue is located somewhere in Salt Lake.  When I got to the concert with my friends that were with me, I started to look around at the crowd that I was going to be spending the next few hours with.  I realized that this was a very different crowd than my family home evening group.  I was excited to be there at the concert because I have a lot of fun at concerts.  Skizzy Mars opened the concert for G Eazy and he sounded pretty good.  When G Eazy came out on stage, he asked the audience if he could light up with us.  Then he proceeded to pull a joint out of his pocket and take a few hits before passing it along to a groupie.  After everything, I had a lot of fun.

Deaf or Blind?

Would you rather live a life being deaf or blind?  I think that if I had the option to choose, I would rather be deaf.  I love to listen to music, but what I love more is being able to create things with my hands.  If I were blind, I would not be able to work on my car, or thread a fishing line as well as I would with my vision.  I love creating things and I think that if I was deaf, I would learn a trade such as welding or woodworking to support myself.  This is something that I would thoroughly enjoy.  I already have experience in a metal working shop and am currently a certified entry level welding technician.  Some of the things that I would be able to create include items such as boat trailers, custom car frames, porch swings, and weight lifting equipment among many other items.  For example, boat trailers can sell for thousands of dollars.  That way I would only need to make about one trailer per week.  That would allow me to work hard for only a few hours each day and I would be able to create enough trailers to support myself.

Reflection on BOM

As I began to ponder about my last post and how the Lord is merciful even if it seems like a punishment, I tried to relate this to my own life as I try to do with the principles taught in religion class.  I was thinking and I realized that there was one particular instance where the Lord was merciful to me and I did not realize it.  When I was a child, I was jumping on the trampoline when I decided it was time to head inside.  For my dismount, I thought I would try a front flip into a shallow pile of leaves.  Midway through the air, my body was caught by a trash can around my midsection.  This was very painful and I began to cry.  As I reflect back on the experience, the Lord was merciful for letting me land on the trashcan because if I had not, I would have landed on my head.  This could have broken my neck, paralyzed my body, or caused severe brain damage.  But instead I was protected.  I think back on this experience on contemplate how many other times it seems like I am a victim of misfortune, but in reality I am being protected from a more fateful trial if it had not happened to me. 

BOM

As I was reading through the assigned readings, I was reading about how all of the destruction and all of the terrible calamities that came down upon the Americas.  From the description given, it would seem like the worst punishment to ever be enforced upon man.  In 3 Nephi 9:3-10, the Lord talks about the great and powerful cities that He has obliterated.  There is every kind of painful death that you can think of from the burning of Zarahemla with fire, to the city of Moronihah being covered with earth, and Gilgal being sunk by water.  What I found particularly notable was that in 3 Nephi 9:14 the Lord says “mine arm of mercy is extended toward you” I found this to be somewhat contrary to the description of the suffering that was being experienced by the inhabitants of the earth at this time.  I was not until Bro. Griffin mentioned that it was indeed merciful of God to bring calamities like that for a number of reasons.  One reason being that if all of those people had been killed and their bodies were not destroyed, they would have plagued the land with a terrible smell and would pollute the soil similar to the land of Desolation. 

On the athletic field

As I was reading and pondering through the assigned readings, story of Pahoran, Pacumeni, and Paanchi really stood out to me.  The story goes that these brothers were contending as to who should fill the judgment seat.  Pahoran ends up winning and getting the judgment seat.   Pacumeni, although a loser, recognizes that he lost the election and becomes a supporter of his brother Pahoran.  Paanchi on the other hand, becomes very bitter and does not like that he lost the election.  Paanchi is wroth to the point that he stirs up the hearts of the people to anger against Pahoran.  Kishkumen, being a devious and wicked man, goes to Pahoran and murders him.  Now Kishkumen was not at this time caught by the people.  Pacumeni was appointed to reign in his stead.  Now keep in mind that these are brothers that were contending for the judgment seat.  Very often when we are competing, it is easy to get mad and to hate the person that you are competing against. I want to relate this to the field of athletics.  I am a very competitive player on the field and I perform best with tough competition.  However, it is sad to me to see fathers, brothers, and coaches get so involved in the game that they become sore losers like Paanchi did.  In the grand scheme of things, it really is not important and we are all people that want to win.  When I play sports from now on I will remember to think of the wickedness and the sins of those who let a loss get the best of them like Paanchi.  This will help me to become a more tolerant athlete.  

BOM reflection

As I was reading through Alma chapters 60 and 61, there was something that really stood out to me about the way that Pahoran handles the accusations that Moroni writes to him in a letter.  In the letter to Pahoran, Moroni accuses him of using his position to get gain.  In Pahoran’s response he acknowledges that Moroni writes some strong accusations against Pahoran but instead of being upset with Moroni, he is not mad about it. 

When we were sitting in lecture, Bro. Griffin mentioned that Pahoran could have reacted in two different ways to the letter that Moroni wrote to him.  He could have used the experience to become bitter or he could become better from it.  I think that this is a really important concept to remember because every one of us faces this kind of choice many times.  Today when I went to the writing center, the girl who was helping me had an opinion almost completely contrary to mine.   She was quite combative when she was editing the ideas that I expressed in my paper.  I, like Pahoran, had two possible responses to her criticism.  I could have been bitter that she expressed her opposing point of view, or I could listen to her reasoning in order to strengthen my argument.  Since I have read the passage about Pahoran and saw his example in the way that he dealt with Moroni, I chose to listen to the criticism.  This helped me develop a better counterargument and rebuttal.  

Temptation

As I was reading through the story of Amalickiah and Lehonti in Alma chapter 47, I came to a realization that this chapter is the perfect insight into the tactics of the devil in trying to entice you.  In this chapter, Amalickiah sends a message to Lehonti asking him to come down off the mount to talk.  Lehonti is not fooled and he refused Amalickiah’s offer.  To this, Amalickiah came almost all the way up to the camp of Lehonti and requested that he bring his guards to talk to him.  Feeling like he had security in his guards, he agreed to go talk to Amalickiah.  Because Lehonti gave in to the request of Amalickiah, he eventually was poisoned by degrees until the day that he died.  I think that Satan’s power and influence is revealed to us by Lehonti and Amalickiah’s example.  When Satan makes a blatant attempt to direct our lives down unrighteous paths it is obvious to us that it is wrong and to stay away.  However, just as Amalickiah made it easy for Lehonti to come talk to him, sin and temptation will make itself easily available in our own lives.  In addition, we might be invited to bring our guards to surround us so that we feel secure when we are lured in.  Giving heed to these kinds of temptation will eventually drag us down until it destroys us just as Lehonti was poisoned by degrees until he died.  One thought that always brings comfort to me when I feel that I am tempted is the scripture mastery verse in Corinthians 10:13 that says “There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it.”  This comforting to me and reminds me that I always have power to escape temptation.

Tips to Install Car Subwoofer

If you are planning on installing a sub woofer and an amp into your car there are a few important things to remember.  First, depending on what kind of head unit you have, you may need to get a converter box that will allow you to splice into your speaker wires and plug in RCA cables.  As a general rule, if you have a stock head unit, you will probably need to buy a converter.  Second, make sure that you splice your remote wire into the power line for your head unit.  If you fail to get a good connection for your remote wire, the amp and sub woofers will never turn off, essentially killing your car battery over and over again.  Next, run your power wire and your RCA cables down opposite sides of the car.  If they are too close you can get a lot of interference which results in poor sound quality.  Lastly, don’t forget to install your ground wire before your power wire.  Pay close attention and make sure there is a good ground for your amp before you insert the power wire.  This will hopefully minimize damage to your equipment and reduce the risk of personal injury.  

Frontrunner

During the Christmas holiday, it was my pleasure to take a beautiful date with me up to see the lights at temple square.  Because of the long distance drive to temple square and back we decided that it would be a good idea to ride on the newly designed Frontrunner.  The cost to ride Frontrunner from Provo to Temple Square cost approximately twelve dollars per person.  That’s twenty four dollars for two passengers round trip.  Now if I were to put twenty four dollars’ worth of fuel into my car, I would be able to drive just over 300 miles.  Since it is only about 100 miles to drive a round trip to Salt Lake City and back, Front Runner was not a cost effective way for me to travel to Temple Square and back.  In addition, it was about thirty minutes slower than if would be to drive.

On the flip side of the coin, the Frontrunner is a very luxurious.  It was a smooth ride and it eliminates having to drive on the same road as morons.  Another convenient thing was that we did not have to find parking or pay to park in some garage.  After all things considered, I do not think it was a good idea if you are taking a group of people or if you plan on spending time in an area where you would have to pay for parking. 

The Dirty Dishes

For most of us we share our living space with others.  Not all living partners share the same standard of living cleanliness as the people they live with.  I never realized that I was indeed raised with a clean paranoia until I began living with other boys my age.  In a dorm with five other boys, we have a wide range of standard of “clean”.  One roommate never has dirty dishes as he washes his dishes and puts them away immediately following his meal.  Another roommate will leave his dished until Sunday and do them all at the same time.  As a precaution, I only brought one bowl and one plate so that I am not able to continue eating without washing my dishes.  This is helpful for me because it never allows me to have more than two dirty dishes.  There are times that I walk into only to be sabotaged by an unsightly sink filled to its capacity with dirty dishes.  This is frustrating because having that many dishes in the sink makes it hard to clean your own dishes.  In addition, when occationally a female enters the dorm, I like to exhibit a sense of my cleanliness.  More than once I have had a girl tell me that she was “grossed out” by the filthiness of my dorm. 

The Blue Van

There is a blue van across the street from me of curious workmanship. It would appear that the van most probably journeyed down the assembly line long before the time of my birth.  To add to the style of the van, there are no hub caps as that would detract from the visual appeal.  Luckily there is at least one headlight that appears that it could possibly be functional.  This is always the better than having no headlights because that would inhibit driving in the dark.  The tail lights are all present but not necessarily where they should be.  Some of the lights are in pieces on the ground by the rear tires but they are all here.  Unlike many of the old cars that plague hoarders backyards, this beautiful blue van has all four tires inflated.  Whether this van can turn its engine is entirely a mystery that I do not intent to explore.  It is not because I am lazy, but rather because I have no desire to every come near to the blue van.  Perhaps its true beauty comes from observing from a distance.  I believe this blue van was once a mighty van that ventured out for miles at a time but no longer has the power to move.

On campus printers student POV

It is the last minute and you have to get your paper printed and get to class in twenty minutes.   Luckily your class is in the MARB so you can use the printers in the lobby of the Clyde Building.  There is no line for the printer and you have 18 minutes until class.  Your pace slackens and you stroll up to the printing station.  Smiling, you slide your card through the reader.  Stupid card reader, better slide your card again.  Frozen? Was the system overloaded because you swiped your card twice?  Maybe if you fiddle around with the components it will fix itself.  No luck? No matter, just walk over to the SWKT there is a printer there too.  Classes are already getting out? That’s ok you can speed things up a bit and still be on time to class.  Alright no one is using this printer either, perfect.  Call Maintenance? You do not have time for that you have to be sitting in your seat in five minutes! Can you think of another printer that is close by?  There is always the library and you have not spotted another printer that you can think of.  But the line there is always massive.  Well you best not spend time thinking about it; you can do that while you wait in line.  You will probably be a few minutes late but if you tell your teacher the printers were not working for you, they will probably understand because the printers on campus have always been subpar.  Come on girl don’t you know how the printer works? Just print your paper so that others can get to class.  Inconsiderate people everywhere!  Oh the printer is out of paper? That is what happens when you have to print 5 billion fliers for your club that no one cares about.  Ok go ahead and fill every paper tray because no one else wants to print their stuff.  Gosh, you are going to be really late to class.  Alright you have your paper printed but what are you going to do about a stapler? Hurry up class ends in 25 minutes!  Come on library you don’t have a single stapler! Fine I am sure your professor will be nice enough to take your paper without a staple and not dock you too many points.  Gee whiz, alright 17 minutes left of class just act cool like you were trying to be late.  “I know the essays were due at the beginning of class but I had troubles with the campus printers.  50%?!? But I was only a few minutes late! I don’t care about the real world I busted my butt to get here on time!”  You got a solid 45% on your paper because it was well written and 40 minutes late. You wrote the entire essay and left yourself enough time to print it and get to class on time but you did not plan for the poor quality of the campus printers.  As a result, your well written essay received a failing grade.  Congratulations, you now understand what using a BYU campus printer is like.

Book of Mormon Reflection

As a part of the class discussion in Book of Mormon, we talked quite a bit on Alma 36. This chapter is an example of Chiastic writing. It is designed to point toward a main topic in the middle of the text and fade back to the points at the beginning as the text goes on. This is quite an advanced form of writing and could definitely not be done by a boy who has a 3^rd grade education level such as Joseph Smith. This goes to show that Joseph Smith merely translated the plates and could not have conjured them given his education level. 
I wanted to share a story of a friend that is dear to me. For animosity, I will refer to my friend as Bill. Bill is perhaps the best person I know. He is extremely kind and very generous. There are many occasions where I think to myself that I should aspire to be more like Bill and less like myself. Bill is not perfect though. It pains me to see my friend Bill suffer with the consequences of his sins. Without going into details, I would like to share that my good friend Bill rests in the back of my mind while I read through Alma 36. I have heard Bill tell stories that pull at the fibers of my heart and to see the pain he goes through makes me want to weep. I want so badly to help and do everything I can to help Bill. What makes me happy about Bill’s experience is that he meets with the bishop often and works every day to become a better person. I am excited for Bill to progress and have happiness as Alma did when he exclaimed “My soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain” I love Bill and want nothing more than to see the happiness he could have from following Alma’s path and actively seeks to become a better person.

Oatmeal makes the best breakfast

Oatmeal is definitely the best food that you can have for breakfast because it is quick, nutritional, cost efficient, and it keeps you warm in this cold weather.  For a breakfast food, it is nice to have a meal that is quick in the mornings because it allows for more to make sure that I look as good as I do.  In addition, oatmeal is packed full of nutrients to keep the body healthy.  As a college student it is always a priority to be nice to my wallet, which is why I choose to eat oatmeal for breakfast.  At five dollars for a pound of oatmeal, the price cannot be beat.  If you get cold walking to class, you should try a healthy bowl of oatmeal in the mornings.  You will feel the difference immediately because the oatmeal feels like an internal furnace.  One might argue that oatmeal might be good and all but it does not really taste that good.  What they did not consider is that you can add all sorts of delicious foods to your oatmeal.  Brown sugar, apples, blueberries, cranberries, bananas, and many other things can be added to make your oatmeal the most delicious of the day.  With all these advantages to eating oatmeal, why would you choose anything else?

Winter Wonderland

It is quite amusing to see the variety in the student body as students flood back to campus.  Every day I observe students to whom I would grant the "Excessively bundled for how cold it really is outside" award.  To my amusement, there are multitudes of contestants, thousands of honorable mentions, and hundreds of grand prize winners.  Some students look as though they are prepared to spend an extended visit in the arctic tundra, and they probably could.  I have a personal testimony of the cold weather nipping at my nose and ears but find it is much more endurable if one adapts to the cold weather instead of trying to fight a constant battle with it.  I thoroughly enjoy the cold weather and find that I rather enjoy taking time to “chill out” after a long day in a classroom seat that has residual heat from whoever has a rear end that radiates heat like a brick oven and sat in my seat right before me.  I particularly enjoy that the crisp air outside keeps my body cool throughout the day.  This way, I don’t get sticky with sweat and feel smelly by the end of a long day. 

Don't let college unplug my future?

It is quite apparent in Dear Students: Don’t Let College Unplug Your Future that the writer is trying to appeal to a younger audience.  I think it is a possible but not plausible claim to say that “The time will come when a college degree will be suspect if not complemented by an admirable online record.”  It seems quite far-fetched to imply that a college degree will become inferior to a blog or online social media.  To draw an analogy that sits a little closer to home; email has become an incredible way to communicate but it did not put the postal service out of business.  While online presence may, and probably will become more influential on one’s personal reputation, it will never become paramount to a college education degree. 

It is also interesting to note that Gideon Burton, the author of the article, mentions that we do not need to follow the system.  His verbiage belittles college professors and paints them as what Jerry Rubin might have referred to as the ‘Creeping Meatball’.  Why not cater to the wants of your college professors?  It would be unwise to disregard their years of studying, for it is true that a smart man learns from his mistakes, but a wise man learns from the mistakes of others.

About Myself

As the oldest son and the youngest of three children, I drew my first breath in the comfort of a hospital in homely Provo, Utah.  When I turned three years of age, I became a Native American, howling at anything as I carried a wooden spear that greatly resembled a fallen oak branch.  My life as a Native American drew to an end around my sixth year when I took rule as the mighty King Sterling.  My reign extended over all of the creatures who fell under my mighty wrath.  I resigned from my rule over three cats, a dog, and a meager collection of fish when I was old enough for baptism.  I could no longer live a civil life but felt as though the woods yearned for me.  That is when I became a courageous explorer that traveled the o’er hill and vale, through the forest to discover lands untouched by mankind.  This fantastic forest through which I ventured encapsulates the small neighborhood of Woodland Hills and keeps a watchful eye on the commotion of Utah Valley.  Around the time that I began to notice a girl about my age, sporting commitments, social obligations, and increasing school work, snatched my curious soul and bound it mercilessly with the bands of responsibility.  I was doomed to be subject to this new power, never to return to the life I once lived. 

Being forced to forsake my former interests, I focused my athletic talents to the area of ice hockey.  A feeling of freedom filled my countenance as raced around the rink despite the eight foot boards that encircled me.  When I play hockey, I am free to skate and feel the wind on my face until my heart is content.  The freedom I feel is not freedom to do anything I want, but rather a freedom from the responsibilities that pulled me from the haven of childhood.  The happiness I feel while playing ice hockey is relieving to me and relatable to the happiness I felt as a child running through the trees around my home. 

As life rushed at me with intimidating speed, I joined a faction commonly known as the Timpview Thunderbirds.  With my athletic skillset, members of the soccer team succeeded in sparking an interest in representing the team as a left midfielder.  As the seasons passed, I played with less soccer players and began to play on a field of brothers.  Finding comfort in the security of the soccer team, I was once again wrenched from my cozy state to attend Brigham Young University.  BYU only appeared to be hostile once I journeyed to the front gate.  I soon found refuge among members of the ice hockey team.  Even with the guard of the hockey team, I was not sheltered from the brutal blow of freshman year; but I rise from the fall, ready to weather the wintry storm.  I stand determined.  I am determined to fight.  I fight to conquer.