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It’s good to be back in Austin again and it’s nice to eat free food again too. Oh how I’ve looked forward to home cooked meals, because ramen and pop tarts can only satisfy one so much.
Since I’ve gotten back I’ve had the chance to see some of my high school friends again and surprisingly enough none of them changed much appearance wise. I expected them to all dress differently, have beards, and have their ears pierced. Not that I want them to look weird like that, but I just kind of thought they would. Anyway, it was nice to see them again and go rock climbing with them.
I’ve also seen some of my church friends again this week. On Sunday I was able to finally see Emily and Jarom again. And later that night I went to a game night dealy with them and had fun being around them again. Then Tuesday night I took Emily to the trial of lights and we’ve decided to get back together. Woot, woot!
This break is also a break in which I started working on my mission papers. I’ve finished almost all the paperwork on my end and have finished with the medical side of things. All I need to do now is go to my dentist today and take a picture of me in a suit. After that the paperwork on my end is about done.

Two more weeks!

Well, I only have two more weeks of school left and then I'm finished with my first Fall semester here at BYU-I. I sat down this morning and plotted and scheduled out my last few weeks here. I now know what I need to study and how much time I need to spend on each class. It's a daunting task, but the grade report of a 90.8 in my Humanities class has given me enough positive pressure to push through this last stretch.

I can't wait till I come home and eat some home cooked meals. As of right now I eat basically eat the same thing every day. It varies a little, but the selection I have is limited. I also can't wait to see Emily and Jarom. I'm looking forward to seeing them the most.

Random

I’ve really enjoyed coming down to Provo and visiting the Princes so far. At least that’s what Devin says I’m doing. I like how random and spastic they tend to be. Paula will mention she wants to go to Target to buy some shoes and the next thing you know a group of us is off to Target. Paula also really does seem to treat all the guys here as her little boy toys. “Devin, you want to give me ice cream, right”? The next thing you know Paula’s got a bowl of ice cream… sorry to point out all of this Paula, but it’s funny to me... Yay, doctor Mario!

Thanksgiving

Already my first semester seems to be coming to a close. I'm going down to Kaysville with some of my friends later today and then late tonight I'll make it down to Provo. It'll be interesting to spend my Thanksgiving week down in Utah with Devin family. It'll be the first time I've ever had Thanksgiving at Grandma's and It'll be the first time I've left Rexburg this entire semester. I so want to get out of this boring town for a change! I miss driving around in Devin's red car... Oh well, after Thanksgiving week I'll only have two weeks of classes left and then I'm on a plane home, which is good but some of my friends here don't have Winter semester. It'll be a bummer seeing them go.

Schedule

It took me a long time and countless revisions, but I finally got my schedule together for my next semester. A special thanks must go out for Emily keeping me company on the phone as I first signed up for classes. =)

FDINT 202 _T_T 7:45-8:45am (The Developing World)
FDSCI 202 _T_T 9:00-10:00am (Issues in Global Climate Change)
FDREL 122 _T_T 10:15-11:15am (BOOK OF MORMON)
FDSCI 206 M_W_F 10:15-11:15am (Light & Sound: The Science of Vision & Hearing)
B 275 M_W_F 11:30-12:30pm (Business Law and the Legal Environment)
FDCOM 201 M_W_ 2:00-3:00pm (FOUNDATIONS PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION)

Ultimate!

ugh! Only six people showed up to yesterday's Ultimate Frisbee game and you need seven to play, so we played six on six. The other team had 13 players on their team, so needless to say we lost the game, but we were still able to put up a good fight without any subs.

The tournament started today and it's single elimination and once again only six people showed up for the game. Despite this major disadvantage the game was a close game. At half time they were only up by one point and the end score was 12 to 15. Oh well, the season is now over for me.

I'm disappointed in my teammates that basically quit the week before the tournament. They signed up for competitive Ultimate Frisbee and should have taken the games more seriously. That's what the competitive league is for... Us guys that showed up to the game are going to have a party this Tuesday when practices usually would be held. I really look forward to it.

Protein shakes... yum?

It looks like it's finally time for the Ultimate Frisbee tournament. I have a normal game today at 7:00pm and then tomorrow the tournament begins at 9:00am. I'm totally stoked for these games. We Hawks are going to kick some tail!

I got another update in my life for ya. My friends and I bought some protein shake mix at Wal-mart the other day and we're starting to get a bit Sirius about our work outs. As Tyler would say "I'm going to be huge!" But in reality I'm mostly doing it as a social thing, though I suppose being fit and looking nice for the ladies is a plus too. =p

Halloween

Well, Halloween night started with no real plans for the my group of friends and I. After a while we almost watched The Village down stairs in the lounge, but Amy called Adam and invited us to trick-or-treating with them. Now I know I'm to old for it and that its somewhat rude, but I wanted to be apart of the crew and decided to go with them. I at least I didn't really go up to the houses to get candy much. I liked to think of myself as a parental unit last night. jk.


After our hunting out we went back to the girls dorms. The girls counted their loot and then we took group picture. Which reminds me, I didn't really dress up for Halloween. I just wore my nifty hat for fun.


Anyway, after leaving the girls dorms us guys decided to go to a warehouse dance that was near by. Lets just say it wasn't a Mormon dance... Yeah, it's sad that girls use Halloween as an excuse to dress immodestly. Soon enough we left the dance.

We got back to the dorm around 1:30 and did not quite want to go to bed, so Noah got The Village from down stairs and we stayed up till 3:30 watching it. Then this morning I had a Ultimate Frisbee game at 9:00am... Which I lost.

19

Well, it looks like I'm going to turn nineteen tomorrow if I make it till then. Who knows, I may have some freak accident and break my neck before then. =) If I do survive long enough I'll turn nineteen during my Ultimate Frisbee game. What adds more to my joy is the fact that I'll get to miss some boring mission prep class because of the game. woot woot!

I think this weekend will go a lot slower then most of my weekends. A few of the guys I know went down to Provo for the weekend and the rest of us really don't have any plans so far. I would try to set up a date, but I really have no desire to do something on campus. It really does hinder a guy date wise not to have any access to a car... I did in fact go to a The Caucasian Chalk Circle last night as group assignment for my Humanities class. I really like plays. They're a lot like movies in that you can't really discuss them till they're over, but I may try to find some girl that likes plays and take her to one some time. Anyway, those are some ideas running through my head right now, so there you go.

I'm also thinking about messing with my hair style a little bit. I went to the temple and did baptisms for the dead the other day and saw myself in the mirror as I started to dry off. My bangs were completely pushed back and I had never really seen my hair like that before. It was rather interesting. Then at the play I was sitting next to a couple of my group members and two of the girls asked me if I have ever gelled my hair like this one guy in the front row. I said no and that I really never have done anything to it. They told me I should experiment with it and I might. Of course these are just random thoughts that are going through my head right now.

Busy Bee

Mondays and Tuesdays are my busiest days of the week. On Mondays I have classes till 3:00pm, then I study till 6:20pm, go to fhe, and then come back to the dorms to study some more. On Tuesdays I have class till 1:45pm, I then go to devotional from 2:00-3:00pm, practice Ultimate Frisbee from 3:15pm till 4:45ish, eat dinner, meet with my science group, and then finally get back to my dorm to study.

I don't mind the busy days much, but I would mind if I had a schedule like that every day of the week. So all in all I'm happily busy.

Snow

According to popular Intel Rexburg is going to get some snow either today or early tomorrow. In fact I saw a couple of flakes at 4:00pm yesterday. This news brings forth both excitement and dread to us residents. I look forward to seeing and playing with the fresh snow, but I also think it’s already cold enough. Oh well, it looks like I’ll be buying long johns or thermal underwear this weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, I have an ultimate Frisbee game at 9:00am Saturday. Like the snow I both look forward to it and don’t. I don’t have any sweats to wear under my shorts yet, so I’m going to be uber cold throughout the game. On the other hand my team, the Hawks, is playing some team that has two of my dorm friends on it. I truly look forward to crushing both of them.

I guess everything revolves around it being cold for right now, because I think I’m going to stop going to the gym early in the morning when the snow hits. I don’t know it’s worth the effort to get to the gym. However, I will still go to the gym during the day regularly.

Curfew is not a battlefeild.

Attention Biddulph Hall Resident:

Recently we have had issues with students staying out past curfew for reasons not condoned by the church or university. If you are a part of this group please understand that even though “no one is checking” the Lord knows the intents of your heart and it is not worth selling your soul for an extra thirty minutes of play time.

If you are aware of a roommate or neighbor that is having a hard time adhering to the honor code, please talk to him directly letting him know that you are concerned for his spiritual well being. If the situation doesn’t improve, or if there is a major concern, please discuss the issue with your student living coordinator, your bishop, with me, or you can talk to the honor office directly.

The following is from a devotional given by President Clark titled The Strategies of the Enemy: “The Enemy has spread fear of getting involved when someone is in trouble. The Enemy whispers, ‘Don’t get involved; it’s not your problem. Don’t tell; you will be a tattletale.’ You don’t need to be a more “righteous-than-thou” person. We are all sinners. We all have troubles. We have all been wounded spiritually. But you who have felt the redeeming power of Christ, you who know His love and His grace, you know He can heal all wounds. If you reach out in a spirit of love and humility, you can help the spiritually wounded find the Savior. If you need to, call for the medics: talk to your bishop, call the Dean of Students, tell someone who can do something that you have a friend in trouble. Don’t be silent. Don’t leave the wounded on the battlefield!”

Do I really even need to explain how silly this is?

96

Yay, Michael is very happy! I've been worried about my pre-calculus for some time now and last week we took our first test. The test was over a ton of content and only ten questions, also it was worth like 10% of my grade. Scary. Needless to say I studied a whole lot for a week. Anyway, today in class he handed us back our tests and I made a 96. Woot! It just goes to show you kids out there that studying helps. That and energy drinks. jk

First Game

My first game of Ultimate Frisbee was intense. The games are 70 minutes long and there are two halves. We had 11 guys on our team and they had 13 guys on their team. Seven players are on the field per team at one time. Every two scores the four guys resting would sub in for the four tired guys on our team. Get the idea?

Ultimate is so much more tiring then even soccer and it's much more fun to play. Within the first ten minutes of the game we were losing 3 to 1 and then by the end of the first half we were losing 7 to three. After regrouping and some constructive criticism the second half was our game. With five minutes to go the game was tied 9 to 9. We managed to stop them several times within feet of the in zone, but eventually we were overpowered and they scored.

So we lost, oh well. It was still a darn good game though. Talk about a workout. =)

Ultimate Frisbee

Adam, Colin, Tyler, and I decided to go to Ultimate Frisbee try outs Friday. I almost wasn't able to go due to the fact that I was doing laundry when I found out. Luckily for me Joesph was kind enough to take my close out of the dryer for me. I'm going to be on the Hawks and I have practice Tuesday after devotional and Thursday at 3:00pm. I don't know if any of my friends are on my team but it should be fun regardless.

Today was the first really cold day here in Rexburg and soon it will get worse. Man alive do I need a scarf.

Racquetball

I’m exhausted as of now. After dutifully studying a couple of my subjects and a visit to the library I went to the gym with some of my friends. Most of us in the group don’t really know how to work out with weights, so the Colin and Adam (the two who do know how to work out) showed us some basic work outs to try. Once we were all pumped up we decided to go swimming, but we went to exercise instead of for leisure. Colin was on the swimming team at his school and he led us in some laps. Colin looks like a somewhat overweight guy, but don’t be fooled. He’s incredibly strong and
could swim so much longer than the rest of us.

By the time we were done swimming it was three and boy were we hungry. The pizza place was the only one open, so we headed over for a slice. The food made almost everybody tired and sleep and everybody but Adam and I went back to the dorms. Adam and I still had energy, so we rented some racquetball and played racquetball for one and a half hours. Of the games we played Adam won them all. I still enjoyed it though.

Tonight there is a dance in the fields on the other side of campus and I don’t feel like going. We’ll see though I guess.

Week 1

It's been one week and already is seems like I've been here for ages. I've only gone through three days of classes for goodness sake. On top of that I haven't even done and laundry yet, though I plan on taking care of that today. Yay twenty dollars worth of quarters my parents gave me!

The guys in my dorm are okay enough. This morning at 5:45am we went to the gym and run on the treadmill for 30 minutes or so. Adam goes every morning and I'm thinking about doing the same. We'll see though, because most people think they will but can't commit. Friday we're going to go rent rackets and play racket ball at the Hart center and maybe even Saturday too.

Just so y'all can have random names the guys on my floor are Adam, Austin, Tyler, Josh, Colin, Nathan, Joesph, and Noah. We rock and the ladies know it.

A little slice of life

At the end of the Get Connected there is what's called I-night. They have all sorts of fun things set up. Like Laser tag, wheel chair basketball, sumo wrestling. Just tons of activities. Anyway, my roommate and I didn't just want to go to I-night alone so we called up Emily tillo and asked if we could join her and the girls in her apartment. Then when we were about to leave we ran into all the guys in our I-team and they joined us. We all ended up picking up the girls that were in our I-team. When we got there there were about 25 of us. From there we split up into smaller groups. I went with Lisa, Alora and Tyler. My roommate josh went with some other group.

Lisa, Alora, Tyler, and I rode a mechanical bull (which throw me off the padding and onto the cement), rock climbed, skated, got in some weird NASA spinning thing, and rode a two person bike. While waiting in line for the NASA thing we play all sorts of social games. We even went by turn and name animals be the ABC's and had to remember the previous animal's.

It was way fun and I got to meet a lot of people. =)

Single

As planned, yes I know the fact that we planned it is a little weird; Emily and I have broken up. Four months is to long for a long distance relationship and it'll be four months before Emily comes up to BYU Idaho as well, so we decided to break up or at least put things on hold… A good friend of mine told me that I need to "taste" the "31 flavors" and I'm taking that advice.

I've learned a lot from my first relationship with Emily… I still Love Emily but this isn't what's in the cards of life for now. It's time to focus on having some fun (not that being with Emily wasn't enjoyable), lots of college study, and tons of mission preparation.

Packed

I've only got a couple of days left and I'm leaving hot, humid Texas. Due to my future lack of Texas, and my Texan friends, Jarom, Paula, Emily and I played Conspiracy at Emily's house as a last little hurrah. I'm really glad Jarom told me to try and set up something to do together. I'm going to miss all three of them very much.

Afterwards took all of my close and personal items and dumped them all in the middle of the living room. Devin had packed the day before so I decided to pack as well. It took a lot of shifting and weighing, but I finally got every thing together.

So I'm all packed and ready to go! woot!

Alumni

There is a tradition in the Connally Band to allow the band seniors to go up to the roof and watch the band perform that years show for them despite all the holes the senior members leave. Two years ago a senior’s kneecap popped out while up there, so the tradition was crush for my senior year. We got to watch them from the stadium, which isn’t the same. =/

But today I went and watched the band learn new charts and near the end some techs and I were allowed on the roof and watch the band perform the first movement. The band sounded really good for what stage they’re at and I can tell that their show is going to be awesome. I even enjoyed the color guard’s contribution to the show. Which honestly is always a little questionable to me.

Picture Collecting

For a while now I’ve wanted to have a picture of me at various locations around Austin. Places I’ve seen all my life and am going to be without for a while. The problem though was that I don’t have my camera because it’s in the shop getting fixed. So I just gave up on the whole idea. Then Emily and I made a day available to go out on a date and it feel on me as the guy to come up with a date idea. After a couple of days of thinking I came up with a date that involve all those pictures I wanted.

Since I’m basically stuck at home until work or just plain stuck on non-work days Emily picked me up and did all the driving. It was a nice change to have her as the driver, because I got to experience her driving habits like she’s gotten to experience mine.



Our plan was to drive into down town Austin and drop her car off at the institute, but when we got there the code for the parking lot didn’t work. I called Devin and asked him to repeat the code again just to make sure I hadn’t heard wrong. Still no go, so I went inside the institute and got them to help me open the parking lot. After that exciting beginning we walked all the way to the UT clock tower. Once there we kind of timidly waited till I finally stopped an officer and asked him if he’d take a picture of Emily and I in front of the tower. He kindly took the picture and it turn out right with just one try.



From the UT tower we walked to the Texas State History Museum. At the museum I went inside and asked an old man if he’d take a picture of Emily and I in front of the Star that’s in front of the building. Both pictures the man took turned out just fine. Then we continued walking in the hot, humid, horrible Texas summer heat.



Our next destination was the statue of the UT Longhorn in front of the Erwin Center. I was a little worried that there wouldn’t be anyone around to take our picture, but we lucked out and a man happened to be passing by right as we got to the longhorn. He kindly acted upon our request and took a picture of the two of us. This ended the picture taking in down town Austin, but it wasn’t the end of the picture taking. It was in fact the beginning of a long walk back to the car at the institute.



Once in the car I gave poor directions that eventually got us to Zilker Park. Emily and I had had a canoeing date there once so we went down to the little rent-a-canoe place and had the man there take a picture of the two of us. He was kind of into taking the picture and wanted to have the right lighting. Rather humorous really. On the way back to the car Emily wasn’t paying attention to where she was going and happened to be a bodies length in front of me. Some bikes were passing by and she just kept walking. I reached out to grab her, but she was to far away and just barely got missed. It scared me for a second there.



From Zilker Park we took Mopac all the way down to an Amy’s ice cream we’ve gone to as part of other dates. Emily wanted have pictures taken in one of those picture booth things and there just happens to be one in that Amy’s ice cream. The first picture took us by surprise but the last three were good… Behind the Amy’s ice cream there is a bunch of trees and some stone cow’s that people like to sit on and take picture. I asked some teenage girls to take our picture and the picture turned out alright enough.



From Amy’s we drove down to the pond by the church and took a few pictures by the pond using the timed feature on the camera. Then from the pond we drove to the church and took some picture inside the building and some outside by the trees in the back. Thus ended the picture taking part of the date. ;)

From the church we started our way back to my house. Along the way we stopped at a Whataburger and went through the drive through. Once home we ate, chatted, and then parted ways as Emily drove on home.

Good date, good pictures, good memories.

scramble

As this summer comes to a close I keep getting busier and busier as the time clicks down.  Speaking of busier, my hours went up this we for work as well, which makes me happy.  I mean who doesn’t want more money? What makes me so busy is my  work, of course, dates with Emily, a movie with the Fam, and a trip to Main Event with  a lot of school friends this week.  Following this week I’ll need to make sure I’ve gotten together all the little things for school and spend time with Emily… got to be with her as long as I can =)

I’m stoked for college though. I’m ready for this next transition in my life. That and I’m sick of this dang Texas heat. 

Long Hours of Church

I went and got his patriarchal blessing this afternoon from Patriarch Dwayne P Wright. It was a good experience and a lot was given in his blessing. It will be nice to get a copy to read. Then at the stake Priesthood meeting this evening I was sustained as an Elder and will set apart next Sunday.

That's all I got to say on the matter.

Sand Box

My Dad has wanted a shed in the backyard for years and years now, but has never been able to bring himself to purchase an over priced shed. Well, today he took the first step to getting a shed. Early this morning my he borrowed three wheelbarrows and put his boys to work. Dad, Devin, and I took the sand out of our old sandbox and took it it a neighbor that needed it for some project.

There goes my childhood sandbox. I guess things are just changing mood in my life. I had plenty of good times in that mosquito infested box... oh well, at least moving the sand was a good workout for my lower back.

Chick-fil-a

Working at chick-fil-a this summer has been.. interesting to say the least. My coworkers have all been rather nice and helpful and I respect the company, and that's not even including the fact that chick-fil-a isn't open on Sundays. That fact alone has been beneficial to this Mormon boy.


I work the night shifts from around 3:30 (it varies) to 10:30 typically four days a week, then they usually give me a lame four hour day as well. This means I'm not quite getting all the hours I'd like to be getting, but there isn't much I can do about it this late in the game. It's to late to get another job with the summer quickly coming to a close... oh well


As far as the food goes I'm completely sick of it. During our breaks we're allowed to order some of the items on the menu for free, but I just can't stand it any longer. Therefore I'm going to start bring food from home because I just wasn't made to eat fast food every work day. Regardless of chick-fil-a's marketing, I really have been in the mood for some hamburgers. I'd be happy to "eat more" cow. =)

Storage

In face of the fact that I'll be moving out and going to college soon, I've spent the last while organizing my possessions. I have now thrown away a huge chunk of my childish past and what remains will either go with me to school or go into the attic. I've even filled two containers full of stuff this week, but I hit a stopping point the other day. After boxing up the majority of my legos I've come to my favorite sets that probably will never be made again due to the many missing pieces... Oh well, I guess I'll just wait till my leaving time gets nearer before I crush the old sets.

Trying it out

I think I'll blog randomly and posting things on my blog for the rest of the summer and then tell others about my blog. It'll give ya'll something to read once I'm gone and it'll be a way for me to tell ya'll how things are going up in Idaho.

I also feel weird about making a blog the day I find out my girlfriend Emily has one, but I've wanted a blog sense Devin started helping his boss make one, so it's not really copying is it?