Sunday Morning Conversations

This is the conversation I had with Thing 1, our 5 year old:

Thing 1: Daddy who is that? (pointing to the picture on the cereal box)
Me: well, that's, uhhh, the guy they picked to help represent the cereal
Thing 1: He looks like one of our prophets

Thoughts on a Sunday Morming

My new bookshelf

I added a bookshelf with some books that I believe are worthwhile. (Check it out!)The only problem is I had to update my template. Things didn't look right so I had to go in and manually change the HTML. I think that it is OK now but not quite sure. I will probably play around with it the next couple of days so you might see some changes. If you see anything that just doesn't look right it would be great if you let me know. Thanks!

Because 12 wasn't enough......

After finishing the "Holiday Hoopla" I found out that I had some things that I wanted to list but didn't.

So once again, in no particular order ( and not even numbered)....

• My mom made four very elaborate, beautiful felt stockings. One for each of us kids. They were also huge.
• We spent last Christmas and this Christmas at a friends house. They treated us like family when we had no family around. Thank you.
• I think every on should experiance at least one white Christmas.
• There was a missionary in my mission who could sing well. One Christmas he sang "O Holy Night" and every time I hear that song I think of that and how powerful he sang the song.
  

Holiday Hoopla

Because my wife "tagged" me, and because she doesn't think that I'll do, I've decided to list 12 random things about myself that have to do with Christmas. I'm not going to tag anyone else, mainly because I don't know anyone else.

12 Things, no particular order.

1. My earliest memories of the Christmas season was as a cub scout going to the old folks/nursing home and singing Christmas carols. We also handed out little gifts.
2. One reason I decided to do this is for my wife. Merry Christmas Sweetie!
3. I spent Christmas on my mission first in Chandler AZ and my second Christmas was spent in Apache Junction AZ.
4. I'm a Grinch. I don't really like Christmas.
5. I always have a deep irrational fear that people won't like the gifts I've chosen.
6. After moving to the Inland Northwest in November of 2001, we didn't know anyone. For what ever reason we accepted on invitation from someone at church to attend their annual Christmas eve party. We would not have normally gone to something like this but we did. There were lots of people there and we made some of our best friends there. This event is, in my mind, a major turning point in our life that lead us back to regular church attendance.
7. One of my favorite things as kid was seeing the present that Santa didn't wrap. For example, he would open the legos, build the space ships and then hang them from the ceiling with string and a thumb tack.
8. Christmas break during high school meant early morning wrestling practice and tournaments. It also meant watching what I ate since I was always cutting weight.
9. Growing up we always went to my Grandparents house for Christmas eve. Everyone was there. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins......We did an ornament exchange. My parents have pictures of all the grandkids sitting on the couch. There must have been at least 25 of us. now every one goes to my folks house. Sadly not everyone goes. We live in a different part of the state and will probably move farther away after college and my sister and her family lives in the southwest.
10. The Christmas eve meal was a buffet style meal. Hickory farms, meats and cheese along with jello, salads and treats.
11. My Mom would make the most wonderful goodie plates. She would wrap a piece of cardboard in tin foil and place upon it bannana bread, fudge, and about 5 or 6 different types of cookies. She went all out! She would make plates for family, friends, neighbors, visiting teaching/home teaching families and anyone else that needed one.
12. I want this Christmas to be perfect. I tried to really focus on giving gifts and surprising the family. With the current world situation and my chosen profession, I don't expect to be here next year to celebrate the birth of our Savoir.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

Where Do You Get Cheap Textbooks?

I've always bought them at the campus bookstore. I have time before the next quarter starts to get them somewhere online. The problem is that I haven't found the screaming deals that everyone talks about.

Here is another problem. I think that new and not used will be the way to go this quarter. At least one of them has software that I probably can't use if I buy a used book. Some of the book reviews that I have read have indicated that the glue in the other will come apart after a few uses.

These books are for my major and be good reference books later on so I plan to keep them and not sell them back after the quarter.

Week In Review

This last week was hectic! It has been our busy season at work so I have picked up some extra hours. I've been up at 3AM to be up and ready and at work by 4:30, worked until 7:30AM, got home after 8AM, had finals, worked in the evening from 5-8PM went home, studied for finals and then repeated the schedule the very next day. Average night's sleep: 4 hours. Not too bad I guess, it could have been worse.

Here's my thoughts on finals:

1. Desktop Mapping- Probably my favorite class. Class emphasized the artistic part of making maps. We learned about color hues, visual hierarchy, patterns and other aspects that you might expect to find in an art class. The final was hard, maybe a little too hard but I could have been more prepared.


2. Map And Air Photo Interpretation- Final went well, took me about half the allotted time. There was one tiny part that I think I got backwards but in the big picture one part of one question shouldn't affect me all that much.


3. Historical Geography of Canada- I wish that I could do this one over a gain. I spent a lot of time studying only to find out that I should have narrowed it down to a few specific points. I felt I did well but I just could have done better.


4. Introduction to Field Methods- No final, End of quarter research paper. Original research. Professor once proclaimed that it had all the parts of a master thesis but just smaller. Went well enough, but I just don't have the confidence that I need to say it was good.

Overall, the quarter went really smooth. I enjoyed all my classes and found them all really interesting. I can only hope that the next quarter will go as well.

HAPPY 371st BIRTHDAY

Here's the history lesson for the day. The picture timeline is really cool.

No time for a real post...

So you get this post instead.

The engineering department at BYU have come up a new bicycle frame. You can find out more about
their new bike here. Personally I think that it is pretty ugly but I think it is a great idea because it is fresh and new.It seems a bit too edgy for me.
Here is a better view of the frame. It is so unique. But check out these prices! You can find the prices about halfway down the page.

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be done with finals and I plan to post my thoughts about finals and the quarter that will have just ended.

Note: I had pictures but took them down for fear of some sort of copyright infringement. I haven't ever been to jail and have NO desire to go now.

The (Early) Morning Geography Quote

"Those who do not know the conditions of mountains and forests, hazardous defiles, marshes, and swamps cannot conduct the march of an army."

Sun Tzu

A Contest for the Kiddies!

Thanks to the Seattle P-I's reader blog for helping publicize this.

Save Our Wild Salmon is having an art contest for kids in grades K-12. This would be a good opportunity to explain, in a fun way, the importance of salmon as a natural resource along with taking part in a good cause.

I think that we will try our hand at being artists while the kids and I are out of school for winter break. I can't submit (a little past 12th grade) but I am going to make an art piece along with Thing 1 and Thing 2. I am thinking about doing a collage.

I hope everybody has fun!

Oh! I almost forgot there is some really good information on the website about the organization and what they are trying to accomplish.

"A date which will live in infamy"

Today.
Have we forgotten?
Is it even taught about in school anymore?

Amazing

I have nothing else to add about this. This guy is inspirational!

Here is Brian's website.