The "aughts"

How many times have you been listening to the radio and heard the DJ say "the hits of 80's, 90's, and today". Has anyone else been bothered by the idea that we still don't have a name for the decade we are living in? I just found an article that tells me I am not alone in this concern. Timothy Noah of Slate has written a great article called "Name that Decade". It is one of the best articles that I have read in a long time.

Question of the Day-What is the best song of the 90's?

Answer-You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette

Its official. I have finally decided on a major and there is no changing my mind now. I will never understand when people say "oh don't worry about it, you are young and can change your mind a hundred times" I hate hearing that and I think its the worst advice I have ever heard. I want to get settled into something and go after it, I want to pursue something and never look back. It's funny that I decided on PR because communications was what I originally thought that I would enjoy in high school, unfortunately I got distracted by all of the other fun options at the Y.

My problem isnt that I can't find something that I like, its that I think I would love so many things and I can't make myself settle on one thing. I think I would really enjoy Dietetics, I would love film, and I think I would even enjoy psychology. Photography would be amazing and Fitness and Wellness would be great. It's time for me to face reality though and decide where I am going to start taking my life. The nice thing about PR is that I know I will really enjoy it and BYUSA will give me such great credentials. So I am signed up for Comms 235, and I will hopefully get into Comms 101 and 211 sometime soon. The beginning of a new semester always gets me excited and I am ready to take on the challenge of a new school year. Most students look at the syllabus at the beginning of the year and feel a sense of dread at all the work that is ahead of them, but honestly I just get excited about all of the opportunities that I am going to have.

Its not writing for a newspaper that interests me, its running and managing programs. Campus activities is perfect for me, and I hope to be an ED next year; which means I will have to do a killer job on the talent show.

The one thing that bothers me about communications is that it seems to be a copout major. Students will say "I can't think of what I want to do with my life so I will just go into communications." I think that is why I resisted the major for so long, but my parents feel really strongly that it would be good for me and that in the end it would be something that I could really enjoy. I guess I am more of a Type A person than I ever imagined.

The holiday's were good for me. The same old routine, but I like it that way. My parents spoiled me with a brand new video camera, which I hope to put to good use this semester.

I think I found the perfect job. When I get it I will let you all know.

Question of the Day-What was the best Christmas present you got this year?

Answer-Probably the Hollywood watch the my Grandma got for me (that my mom found!)

a lesson in blogging

There has to be alot of disappointed males out there who search for the word "breasts" and ended up at my site. I decided to check out the recent searches that had brought people to my site and I thought I would share some of them with you.

naked wild women photos
Joe Francis AND girls gone wild AND superbowl
girls gone wild photo's

and my personal favorite
mormon breasts

I am finally starting to get old. Christmas has hit the point where it isn’t about presents anymore but actually about family. Something I never though would happen. I went to my cousins house on Sunday and they were counting all of their presents and trying to decide what each one was; it made me sad to realize that I don’t do that anymore. Not that doing something like that is just for children, my mom sits down and shakes her presents pretty much every day. I have the best present to give to my sister but I wont detail it on here yet because I don’t want her to read this and spoil the surprise.

I have been driving the huge Silverado this past week and I hate it. I will be excited to get back to Bella, my cute little car. My dad isn’t happy because someone knocked a dent in the drivers side, probably sometime when it was parked at the gym.

I have finally decided on a major. Public Relations; and I will reapply for the film minor and get another minor in Women’s Studies. I want to get so many majors but my dad told me I have to stop because minors don’t do anything for you really. They are so fun though!
Question of the day: If you could minor in 5 things what would they be?

Christmas or XMAS

Does it make any difference? Can you really claim that by using the word Christmas you are bringing out the true essence of the word? I will admit that I routinely feel offended when I see the word XMAS written in huge letters anywhere but if I am honest with myself I don't think writing the word out or abbreviating it makes any difference in the Christmas spirit that I feel.

Finals Schminals

Its finals week again, the time when I become a walking zombie. I have succesfully gone 3 days without doing my hair or makeup. At all. Its actually quite liberating in a way, but not something I would do all the time. Sad that so much of my self-confidence comes in a bottle.

Does anyone else have a hard time keeping track of the rap and hip-hop artists and their posse's? Does anyone else hate Top 40 like I do?

I wish I had the energy, or the time to blog about the awesome trip to California that I had last week, but its not happening. A brief snyopsis will have to do. 4 girls, 4 guys. California. LA, Anaheim, Disneyland, The Price is Right, The Ocean, Santa Monica Pier, No hookups the entire trip. The best video ever made.

I am feeling stressed about a gift I have to buy for a family gift exchange. Its got to be a unisex, inexpensive (between $20-$40) gift that someone might actually want. If I dont find anything absolutely perfect I will just choose what I want for myself and try to get it back.

I know I don't write about romantic topics often, but that is because they are practically non-existent in my life. There are two boys that I am interested in. One who reminds me of my dad (roomies if you are reading this I am sure you know who I am talking about) and one who I want to like but don't. The dad-boy is someone that I like off and on, and I cant figure out why I have no attraction for boy #2 although I really want too. My roommate has resorted to singing the Dashboard song "Jamie" to me and replacing his name with the word Jamie. I still havent come around though. Its because I cant ever imagine kissing him, or holdling his hand, or anything of the sort. I am just holding out for something, although I have no idea what that is. Dad-boy is the ward boy, way to popular to settle for just one girl so he was ruled out awhile ago. I don't have enough energy to chase that hard.

I am not sure if I mentioned that I am in charge of BYU's talent show this February but I am looking for some ideas for it. We still have not come up with our finalized theme, and I am looking to throw some possibilities out to you guys and see what you think. A few people keep suggesting ideas that play off of the word cougar and I hate all of them. I think its cheesy and overdone. Of course I wont say that to their face, so I just have to come up with something so great that the cougar idea goes right out the window.
Talent Expo
Time to Shine
Talent Fair
King of the Talent
Shine
BYU Show Off
The Quest

I am also looking for Judge ideas. We are looking into getting "celebrities" around BYU. I got in contact with Ken Jennings, got a no, but I did make some progress their. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas on how we can get people to come judge the program?

3 more finals to take. 2 of them that I really have to take today. Am I studying for them right now? Obviously not. I told myself I cant take a nap until I finish my nutrition notes so I can sell back my book. I have already got back 70 dollars from the books I have sold back. What a great feeling. Wish me luck through the next 24 hours, I am going to need it.

Question of the Day-What is your favorite movie made before 1970?
My Answer-Gigi

Take Your Mama Out

Whenever I am not posting, which happens frequently, I wish I was. But as soon as I sit down in front of the screen I start to have problems. Its not that my mind goes blank, its that my mind is running so fast I cant get it to slow down enough to type anything. I think about all of the things I should be doing (homework), things I wish I was doing, and things that are coming up within the week. Maybe that is why I am having such a hard time in school, I have a hard time concentrating on one thing. Or maybe its because I spend so much time focusing on one thing that its a problem.

Life this past semester has been hectic, and I miss the lazy days of summer that I spent posting on my blog and working at the gym. Just thought I would give everyone an update on the craziness of my life.

School
Well there isnt much to say here other than the fact that it is hard and this is the worst part of the semester. I have no idea when most of my finals are, I dont have any study guides, and it gets to stressful that I just want to give up. I wont though, because I will not go back to Royal City again.
Anatomy is killer, I have my lab midterm next Thursday. Learning the Male and Female reproduction organs has been an interesting experience. Yesterday I taught 3 boys the male parts, something that always brings some akwardness with it. I tease my guy friends that I know more about them than they do.
Nutrition isnt that bad, I could have done better if I would have remembered moer throughout the semester. Everything that I didnt do well on was a result of forgetfulness on my part. I don't even know if I will get enough grade in the class for dietetics to be an option. Retaking the class does not appeal to me at all.
Womens studies is still good, I always skip and feel bad about it. I didnt turn in my last paper, and still havent written it. I am not feeling too bad about it because I just found out that I aced the last one I turned in (the one on breasts).
Intro to Allied Health and Latin are easy. Enough said.

Romance
There is none. Whatsoever. Zip. It looks like I am going to be winning $50 from Bob Murphy after all. If I make it about 6 more months, I win the bet between on us on whether I could go 2 years without getting engaged. I do have the hots for 2 boys in my ward, we will see if anything develops. I would like to be more specific, but I have heard too many horror stories about people who write about other people in their blogs and regret it later.

California
We leave on Friday for a 5 day trip to California. We includes my roommates, and apt 11. We will be in Disneyland on Saturday, having a bonfire on Sunday night, and attempting to get on the Price is Right on Monday. It should be the greatest time ever. I made shirts, and my parents sold me my car for $1 (to get rid of some of their liability). I don't think we realized what we were doing when we planned the trip, we will get back 5 days before finals and I hav ea final the day after we get back but we dont care. The thought of 5 days with nothing to worry about, with the coolest people I know is very liberating in and of itself.

I have no idea what I want to do with my life, and I dont know what to do about it. I guess I will just take GE's again next semester and apply for the Film minor. We will see how all of that goes.

Question of the Day:
What is your pet peeve?

My answer:
People who will not say what they think. I hate dragging it out of them.

Another paper-nutrition this time

Posting my papers is pretty easy, and most of them are about things that really interest me. This paper is concerning an article that I had to read for my nutrition class. It is about how to feed yoru children, soemthing that I think many parents struggle with, and its something that I will be reading when I have children of my own. I would have liked to make the paper longer, but there were restrictions concerning length and content. Let me know if you would like to know more about it, I thought the entire thing was very interesting.

There are many parents across the country that have the same questions you do. They want to know how to feed their children, when it should be done, and what is best for them to eat. This can be done through the “Division of Responsibility”, which clearly outlines the tasks that parents and children should each follow to make eating a positive experience for all.
Division of Responsibility
As a parent your responsibilities are going to be much easier than you might imagine. You are responsible for choosing what your children eat, where they eat it, and when they eat it. You should not “short order cook” for your children, but don’t make their task of eating impossible by serving a meal of lima beans and meatloaf and a bitter fruit. Children need at least one food that is negotiable and easy for them to recognize and like. Bread is your best bet for this, as it is soft and chewy, as well as having a taste that most everyone can love. Sit down as a family and eat your meals, don’t rush through them or eat in front of the television. Talk to your child, but don’t make him the subject of the entire meal. It is important to teach him how to eat but don’t pressure him about what he eats. Respectable table manners are a must for individuals of all ages, and it is important that children learn what is expected of them at a young age.
Before you can accept your own responsibilities you need to realize that your children will eat. We are all born with instinctive drives concerning food and eating. Your child has the ability within himself to eat the right amount of food today to account for what he ate on previous days. Offer him a variety of food; though it may take him some time to adjust his palate to the sensation of these new foods, over time he will accept and even come to appreciate this new source of nutrition. Many parents push or restrict their child concerning what is being consumed, but it is up to you as a parent to accept that your child’s body has a specific genetic code determining how fat, short, thin, or tall he is. Pushing a seemingly heavy child to eat will only cause them to reject the food when you serve it, and secretly make up for it at a later time. Young children should not be taught to take on the adult views of what is or what isn’t a healthy body, they do not have the maturity nor the capacity to understand the terms healthy or unhealthy and it is important to let their bodies tell them what is or isn’t right concerning eating. Let a child decide for himself how much he should eat at each meal, he is obeying those natural hunger signals that are built within each of us.
Basis for Recommendations
The Division of Responsibility was devised by Ellyn Satter, MS RD LCSW BCD. She is an internationally recognized authority with 40 years of experience behind her. Her methods emphasize an individuals own aptitude for proper food behavior to develop.
Personal Experience
I see the contrast of this method in two of my Aunts, both my mother’s sisters. One short-order cooked, fed her child whenever he desired, and bought high-fat or high-sugar foods. She is dealing with an overweight, always snacking, unhappy child. My other Aunt fed her kids regularly scheduled meals, always healthy yet familiar, and kept nutritious snacks on hand for her kids to find for themselves if they were hungry throughout the day. She also kept all of the “unhealthy” foods locked up in a cupboard reserved for special occasions. Her children today are very healthy and active, with a positive relationships towards food and its benefits.
Over time, though the changes may be slow, you will see your child start to take on a naturally healthy view towards nutrition and you will find it is easier to provide them with the food and let them decide what they want to eat when they want to eat it.

Main Page - Provopedia

Main Page - Provopedia: "Provopedia is like a pot-luck dinner: it's the sum-total of our contributions, except instead of food we're dealing with information (which apartment complexes are good, what auto shops to avoid, how to throw a sweet house-party, etc)."

Check this out!

BTW, I updated my Firefox and found out about this nifty little extension that lets me blog anything really quickly. I just highlighted that text and right cliked and a window opened up for me. Pretty sweet.

Another Women's Studies paper

My last post seemed to be so popular (5 comments is alot for me) I thought that I would post my last paper as well.

See Image Here ( I cannot get the link to work. It says the tag is wrong so I will have to work on that later)

This image brings to mind a song that was very popular during my high school years titled “Barbie Girl”, by a band called Aqua. Its lyrics included lines that said

I'm a barbie girl, in the barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic!
you can brush my hair, undress me everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation

Almost every little girl grows up playing with Barbie’s. I read somewhere once that the percentage of girls ranging in age from 2-12 who played with Barbie’s was somewhere around 90%. Any young mind can spend hours imagining the different worlds of adventure that they can visit with their perfect, yet hardly realistic, plastic friend. By presenting this young model as a Barbie, the makers of Moschino Jeans have objectified a human being to the point that she actually becomes that unattainable shell of a toy that we all grow up playing with.

Objectification is to present or regard something as an object. This woman has lost everything that makes her a living breathing human being. Because of this we can almost allow ourselves to treat her as a “thing”, impersonally, without feeling. By turning her into an entity, the advertisers have made her into an unattainable shell that other woman idolize yet never become. Women will cut out this picture, hang it on their refrigerators, force themselves to compare their bodies to this woman’s as they forbid themselves that last bite of dinner for the night. This woman, like many other fashion models, does not represent 98% of the American female population. She represents what is the unhealthy, unrealistic goal of far too many women.

The woman in this picture is bound in an awkward position to the wall behind her. Her stance in wide with her feet and knees pointing inwards, making her look unbalanced and unsteady. If she is unable even to stand up straight and support her weight, how can she face the world around her? Her arms are bent at unnatural angles, not only making her look odd, but unwilling as well. As in many advertisements, there is an imbalance in the careful lighting of this photograph. Closer inspection reveals that the lightest part of her body is her pubic area and legs; her face is darkened and covered by shadows. Highlighting the sexual areas of her body, while hiding her face, gives us an excuse not to recognize her for the human being that she is. The advertisers hope that the viewers of this add will desire to buy their products in the same manner one might desire after the body of this young woman.

The position of this woman and the lighting of her body make her look powerless; anyone who wanted too could take control of not only her body, but her mind. Barbie’s can be molded to become anything that the imagination desires. Do the makers of this advertisement and this brand of clothing want to mold the women who buy their items into whatever they desire? If this ad had been truly been designed with a woman in mind, clothes would actually be sold, not sex. Avenues to accomplish this can involve stunning photography and amazing set design; there would never be any need to stoop to the degradation of the pornographic image above. It is the mind of a man that believes showing half-naked and submissive photos of women will sell clothing or products. Ads such as this one can considered the illustration of how men view and value women’s bodies. They would rather turn her into a defenseless doll, this woman is easy to manipulate and control, just as they would like to do with the women around them.

By using images of sexually stimulating young women in their ads, advertisers for major clothing brands across the world hope that they can convince women that buying their clothing will turn them into the young woman they see before them. Women are smart enough to realize that this woman has a physique that is very desirable, and may fall into the trap of thinking that if they do not look like this presently, buying this brand of clothing may help them become like this woman in the future. The marketers behind this ad for Moschino may also hope the women who do represent the ideal will identify with an ad featuring a girl who is bound and confined. Many beautiful women are just as unhappy as the other 99% of the female population who are not considered alluring by the world’s standards.

At first glance this ad may be considered slightly appealing. The color scheme is well thought out, and Barbie’s are thought of as the ideal toy as well as image. Just like a young girl molds her Barbie into what she wants it to be, so will the designers of this ad manipulate you into becoming what they want you to become. Just as they took advantage of this young woman, so will they take advantage of their consumers in an effort to make a little extra money.

Paper for Women's Studies

I wanted to post this paper that I wrote for my Women's Studies class. Kim it was inspired by your post on breast feeding in public. I never realized that I felt so strongly about Women's rights and the sexualization of women. Let me know what you guys think.

Breasts and the Sexualization of Women

If a child were to learn everything he knew about breasts from television and the media he would think that breasts are meant to be shameful, sexual, forbidden, big and upright, and existing solely for the pleasure of men. Exposure of breasts is considered indecent exposure in many places, and a man by the name of Joe Francis is now a millionaire from a home video series called Girls Gone Wild that features young women frequently baring their breasts to the world. Young girls who are exposed to the “fake and perfect” breasts of Hollywood develop a distorted view of their own bodies, eventually yearning for this perfection and attempting to realize it through plastic surgery. In all actuality, breasts are only reproductive organs because they produce milk. As a culture we must realize that though breasts are a part of what makes a woman female, they are not intended for a sexual purpose.

To understand how outrageous it is for breasts to be regarded in the way that they are, it is important to understand what other cultures value, as well how they view a woman’s bosom in their own culture. In our own culture during the 1920’s a flat chest was seen as the ideal. Bra’s were invented during this time to flatten a woman’s chest; strange to imagine in our society of push-up bra’s and implants. It is not just our culture that resorts to strange methods to changing the natural shape of a woman’s body. Padaung women in Burma are considered appealing if they have long necks, through the use of metal rings introduced around the age of five a young engaged girl can have a neck that is stretched up to 25 cm. In Vanuatu, Malakula a young child’s head is bound from the time that it is 1 month old. This process is continued for about 6 months to produce the desired, elongated shape of the head. A person with a finely elongated head is thought to be more intelligent, higher in status and closer to the world of spirits. Ironically, the women of the 1800’s worried about being too thin. In an advertisement from 1890 Professor Williams comes to the aid of women who would like to gain a few extra pounds.

Don't look like those poor unfortunates who, shorn of her artificial inflationary devices & pads, must, in the confines of her bedroom, through shame, try to cover her poor thin figure from the gaze of her beloved spouse.

"In four weeks Professor William's famed FAT-TEN-U Foods increased my weight by 39 pounds, gave me new womanly vigour and developed me finely."

Professor William's "Fat-Ten-U Foods are guaranteed to make the thin Plump & Rosy with an Honest Fleshiness of Form!

As we reflect on what we value as American’s today, it is easy to see that the things that makes a woman beautiful change extensively over time. Today when women are seen wearing leggings, extremely big hair, and gaudy makeup, they are termed to be “living in the past” or “living in the 80’s”. Yet, twenty years ago those things were the very height of fashion. Just as the view of what makes a woman’s overall appearance enticing has changed, so have the ideas about what is the ideal shape of a female chest. Not all men in the world have such a distorted view of the mammary glands however. Carolyn Latteier, the author of Breasts, The Women’s Perspective on American Obsession, relayed some of her views on the subject.

"Well, we do have a peculiar obsession with breasts in this culture. A lot of people think it's just the human nature to be fascinated with breasts but in many cultures, breasts aren't sexual at all. I interviewed a young anthropologist working with women in Mali, in a country in Africa where women go around with bare breasts. They're always feeding their babies. And when she told them that in our culture men are fascinated with breasts there was an instant of shock. The women burst out laughing. They laughed so hard, they fell on the floor. They said, "You mean, men act like babies?"

The women of the Mali culture were amazed to hear that men could have such a fascination with something that they had to deal with every day. The sexual attitude that the Western culture has developed concerning a women’s chest has classified them as sexual organs, another part of the female genitals. This assumption is incorrect; breasts have no part in producing a child, merely in nourishing one. The basic anatomy of the breast is the glands, fatty tissue, ducts, and nipple. Instead of honoring it for the miracle that it is, men have turned the breast into an obsession. It is interesting to note that it is the nipple itself that seems to be causing all of this stir. Some of the string bikini’s seen on music videos are nothing more than two tiny triangles on top, but as long as her nipple is covered the soft porn on display is allowed. The nation was shocked to see Janet Jackson bare her breast during the halftime show of the Superbowl game, yet they had know problem with the provocatively dressed dancers surrounding her who were bumping and grinding with everything they had.

Many women across our country, as well as countries much like ours have attempted to confront this backwards way of thinking. The Topfree Equal Rights Association was started to fight back against this view of breasts by emphasizing that fact that if a man is able to take his shirt off in a public facility, so should a woman. Many people will attempt to fight against movements such as these for varying reasons. Conservatives will simply not approve, but it would be the pornographic industry that would fight back the hardest against the de-sexualization of women. Without the mystery and forbidden nature of a woman’s chest the porn industry would lose billions of dollars each year. Arguments will also be given that defend the biological and chemical differences in men and women and in their brains. These arguments cannot hold their own, since it is not all cultures that feel this way about breasts.

Though the concept of women walking around topless equally with men is a bit extreme, as a culture we need to change our view about women and their bodies in general. Women should never be rebuked for breastfeeding in public, and young women across the country should not feel so extremely bad about their bodies that they would resort to methods as drastic as plastic surgery. It is unfortunate that the upcoming generations of children will be raised to think that the purpose of the breast is to sell beer, instead of providing the best possible nutrition for the baby.

Trivia Question

An examination of the 1989 issues of Sports Illustrated Magazine found that of the 644 photographs of females, only __% were of athletes, and these were concentrated in a very few sports, especially tennis.

Trivia Question

This has turned into "What can I do to stump Kim question"

What are the permeable capillaries that recieve the tissue fluid, but also allow any bacteria, viruses, or cancer cells in the loose connective tissue to travel throughout the body with ease?

Hello Everyone

I went home last weekend and it was so fun. Trevor Safford went with me, and we visited the pigs, picked some apples, visited my grandparents dairy and watched a calf be born, went to the homecoming game (Everyone is asking Shaylene who my boyfriend was), went to a hockey game, went to a haunted house, played some playstation, carved pumpkins. Basically did everything you could ever want in 2 days.

I have been running around like crazy for the past few weeks after I got involved with BYUSA (the student leadership association) as the Program Director for the Baby Pageant during Homecoming week. I dont think that I ever could have guessed how time consuming that job would be, but now that it is all over, I definitely think that it was worth it. I did skip a few too many classes and I havent seen my roommates for a long time, but I am stil really glad I did it, and I think that next year I would like to work in the offices Luckily I have awhile before I decide on that because it is such a big deal and such a large time commitment. I really like the people that I work with in the office, and it is a great feeling to know that I helped such a large group of people have a good time. Everyone I talked too said they walked away from the pageant with a really good experience. There were about 100 babies who particpated, and I was even in the Daily Universe (BYU's newspaper). Newsnet still does not have the article up on their website.

When I was getting the prizes ready for the baby pageant, I did something so cool. One of the categories had a football signed by the football team, and a volleyball signed by the volleyball team as a prize. When I took the volleyball and football down to be signed, I took an extra volleyball and an extra football down with me and has those signed as well. Now my aparment has the football on display, and I am going to give the volleyball to my sister for Christmas.

Things are going pretty good with my roommates, I hardly ever see them because I am so busy, but I dont regret living with them. We do have a few minor arguments (nothing verbal, girls never say anything to each other, they just vent to the other girls that they live with), but nothing too out of the ordinary for college life. We have cleaning checks on Tuesday, but we arent worried about that becaue I am friends with the girl that checks us off and I dont think that she will fail us.

School is hard, and I am basically failing every class that I am taking. I am going to have to devote my life to the lab this week, somethign which I am not excited about because spending time with dead bodies is anything but fun. I dont hate it as much as I did when I started, my TA taught me that sucking on Jolly Ranchers will keep me from getting sick, and it is pretty cool to learn about how the human body works. I have started looking into majoring in Dietetics, which I think I would love, but if I do I am going to have to try a little harder in nutrition. I dont think that they will appreciate an F on my transcript for the basic nutrition class. If I do go into Dietetics, I will reapply for Film, this time for the minor, which I think will be so perfect me, as well as a minor in women's studies.

When I right click and drag the mouse around in my Firefox browser it makes some red lines. Does anyone know why this happens?

Us and Apartment 11 are going to Disneyland the first week of December and we are so excited about it. Any suggestions on places we should visit in LA?

Questions of the Day (Feel free to post your answers as comments!)
1-If you were starting a rock band what would you name it?
2-Do you prefer Peanut butter on both slices or peanut butter on one slice, jam on the other?
3-Who is your favorite superhero?
4-If you could have one super power what would it be?
5-What scares you more than anything?

Trivia Question

What Native American tribe does this story originate from?

Before the beginning, water was everywhere. But no people, animals, or earth
were visible.
There were birds, however, who held a council to decide if it
might be best to have all land or all water. "Let us have land, so we can have
more food," said some of the birds. Others said, "Let's have all water, because
we like it this way."
Subsequently, they appointed Eagle as their Chief who
was to decide one way or the other. Eagle decided upon land and asked, "Who will
go and search for land?"
Dove volunteered first and flew away. In four days
he completed his hunt and returned, reporting, "I could not find land anywhere."
Crawfish came swimming along and was asked by the council to help search for
land. He disappeared under the water for four days. When he arose to the surface
again, he held some dirt in his claws. He had found some land deep in the water.
Crawfish made a ball of the dirt and handed it to Chief Eagle, who then flew
away with it. Four days later he returned and said to the council, "Now there is
land, an island has been formed-- follow me!"
The whole bird colony flew
after Eagle to see the new land, though it was a very small island. Gradually,
the land began to grow larger and larger as the water became lower and lower.
More islands appeared and these grew together, creating larger islands into one
earth.

Crazy Suicide Story

1994's Most Bizarre Suicide.
At the 1994 annual awards dinner given by the American Association for Forensic Science, AAFS President Don Harper Mills astounded his audience in San Diego with the legal complications of a bizarre death. Here is the story:"On 23 March 1994, the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound of the head. The decedent had jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commit suicide (he left a note indicating his despondency).
As he fell past the ninth floor, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast through a window, which killed him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the decedent was aware that a safety net had been erected at the eighth floor level to protect some window washers and that Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide anyway because of this." "Ordinarily," Dr. Mills continued, "a person who sets out to commit suicide ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what he intended. That Opus was shot on the way to certain death nine stories below probably would not have changed his mode of death from suicide to homicide. But the fact that his suicidal intent would not have been successful caused the medical examiner to feel that he had homicide on his hands. "The room on the ninth floor whence the shotgun blast emanated was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing and he was threatening her with the shotgun. He was so upset that, when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his wife and the pellets went through the window striking Opus. "When one intends to kill subject A but kills subject B in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject B. When confronted with this charge, the old man and his wife were both adamant that neither knew that the shotgun was loaded. The old man said it was his long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her -therefore, the killing of Opus appeared to be an accident. That is, the gun had been accidentallyloaded. "The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple's son loading the shotgun approximately six weeks prior to the fatal incident. It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus. There was an exquisite twist. "Further investigation revealed that the son [Ronald Opus] had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder. This led him to jump off the ten-story building on March 23, only to be killed by a shotgun blast through a ninth story window. "The medical examiner closed the case as a suicide."

Trivia Question 18

Name the female athelete who, while competing in a national amateur track meet for women, entered the meet solo (in a team event) and still took the gold, scoring thirty points total.

Trivia Question 17

Today's trivia question is a story. Your only hint is that this story comes from Russian History. Your job is to find the name of the Princess who did all of these mean and nasty things, and what tribe it was that killed her husband and caused her wrath.

The greatly revered and later canonized _______________, the grandmother of _______, took over the ________ throne upon her husband's demise. Her first action recorded in the chronicles was to avenge her husband's death. And she did it not once, but twice, and in a very creative fashion at that.

Now it must be said, in all fairness, that Princess_____ husband had it coming. After all, what could you expect, as a prince, if you tried to collect taxes twice in one year? Nevertheless, the ________________ should not have tied the Great Prince's legs to two saplings, and... You get the idea.

After the deed was done, the ________ chieftain sent a marriage proposal to Princess ______. In his mind, since he had killed her husband, he had a duty to take over the role, and since he had defeated the said prince, he thought _______ should be flattered by his proposal. But she wasn't (would you?). Yet she dissembled, and persuaded him to send his envoys. _____ pretended to show them great honor by having her men carry the ________ boats from the river ________ towards the Prince's residence... and straight into a huge pit where they were buried alive, lock, stock, and barrel, or should I say ship?

But that was not enough. ______ pretended to enter into peace negotiations with the ________ and urged them to send a dove from each house in their city. When ______ received the doves, she sent them back with a burning branch tied to each one. The doves returned home and set a great many fires which burned the _________ city to the ground. Only then was ______ satisfied.

_______ went on to rule for a long time, first by herself, then as regent during the long absences of her son, with great ability and wisdom. But let this be a lesson and a warning: Russian women are not frail and helpless damsels in distress!

Trivia Question 16

What is the proper name for the heel of your sock?

True Blue Baby

Trivia Question below this post.

I am eating a very huge and delicious pomegranate with blue fingernails. My feet are blue, underneath my arms is blue, and my face still has a slightly blue tint. Yes, tonight I participated in the marvel known as True Blue Football. I think its one of my favorite activities on campus, and tonight I heard a great comment "Its probably the closest that BYU gets to putting on activities like other colleges have all of the time."

I really agree with that comment for 2 reasons. First, because BYU is trying so hard to keep people from getting drunk and partying too hard, that some of their activities arent as fun. The second is because this is an activity without all of the attempts to impress the opposite sex that other activities have. The girls that I saw who were dressed up just looked stupid when they ended up getting blue dye all over themselves.

For some strange reason, I really loved running the grill. I cooked hamburgers and hotdogs for about an hour, and I think I could have done it all night. (Other than the smoke that is). I also made a new friend.

I quit my job today. Yes, I finally put in my two weeks notice, and I am not looking back. No more job for me for the rest of the semester. I have to pass anatomy, which is going to take everything I have. I am not meant to be a doctor.

The baby pageant is over, and I loved every second of it. I think that I would really enjoy being a member of BYUSA for next year.Maybe I will be lucky enough to be present when they pass the torch. As an Executive Director of course.

I have decided what I am going to go into, for sure. (I know you have heard this before, but I am not letting myself change after this.) A major in dietetics, with a minor in film (hopefully) and Women's Studies. I love Women's Studies. I could discuss it all day long. Sometime I will bring up some of the issues that interest me and see what everyone else thinks.

I hate this Letter of the Week, that was published in the Daily Universe. Get a life sweetheart, turn on the lights, pee, and leave the rest of us who need a nap in peace.

Site of the day (Yes its back!)-My children will all have one of these.

Trivia Question 15

What band recently did a disco-cover of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" and is fronted by an ex go-go dancer?

Trivia Question 14

What movie is this quote from?

Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room.

Trivia Question 13

How many flowers must a honey bee tap to make 1 lb of honey?

Trivia Contest Resumes

I am starting back up again with a bang. Question 12 is worth 3 points.

As for Trivia question 11, I am going to give the point to Kim because he kept trying so hard, and I dont know if I was clear enough on what I was looking for. I was looking for "Earth's oldest living inhabitant "Methuselah" at 4,767 years, has lived more than a millennium longer than any other tree." The Bristlecone Pine found in California.

Trivia Question 12-Salem Witch Trials
Approximately how many people were arrested? How many were actually tried? What year was this in? How many of those who were tried were sentenced to death? How did they die? (Specifically how did they die, for instance you could say that 12 were hung, 3 were decapitated, etc etc.)

Its That Time Again

Running on 2 hours of sleep, I am completely exhausted. Give me some time to recuperate and study and I will be here for you all yet again. Yes the trivia contest will resume. Unfortunately I need to memorize all of the muscles and bones of the body first. As well as a few other things. Wish me luck. The average score on these tests is below a 75% percent. But of course I am above average.

Community Laundry

I know that it is normal for all blogs in the bloggernacle to post their thoughts on conference the day after. I am going against the grain and posting on something totally different. Maybe I will get around to conference later.

Last year I lived in the female dorms so we had a female laundry room in the basement. If I remember correctly boys werent even supposed to be allowed into the laundry room. I dont know why any boy would be interested in going in there, unless he was a perverted underwear-stealing-kleptomaniac.

This year I live off-campus and have had to come to terms with what I call "Community Laundry". Its almost like a sporting event with activities like the "Drag and Haul" (Just how far can you drag a laundry basket with 6-weeks of clothes in it without looking as tired as you feel?) and my personal favorite "Handful and Hurry or the Armful and Shuffle" (In other words, should you grab your laundry by the handful and move back and forth from the dryer to the washer faster, or should you try to cut it down to one trip and risk dropping your undies?) I am more of an armful at a time person, although I would resort to the handful and hurry if I got the washer furthest from the dryer.

Its just weird for me to be carrying on a conversation with someone while moving my unmentionables around. Doing my laundry during the day is the only way I can thing of to solve this problem. Otherwise I must resort to stimulating discussions of whether Tide and Cheer work better, and why Fels Naptha is the best thing ever invented.

Then there is the question of whether you should move people's wet laundry out of the washer when they forget to change loads. What do you do with it if you do? Carry it over to the counter, leave it on top of the washer? Dump it in a dryer? Leave hate notes for them? Rewash it with something bright red and ruin all of their clothing? Of course this is the type of thing that you would only attempt if you are alone int he laundry room, you don't want to get some kind of reputation. I think it is everyones pet peeve when people leave their laundry in the washer for 6 hours, especially since most college kids wait to wash their clothes until they are on the last pair of underweare to their name. Washing them in the sink is not an option. Plus how would you dry them, with your blowdryer?

I know I am spoiled, many people have been doing their laundry at the laundromat for their entire lives. What do you do while you are waiting for your laundry at places like that? Is there food? Are there tables for you to sit at? I am guessing that they have a large supply of Reader's Digest. What place would be complete without them.

Check back later for more astute observations on daily college life.

Back on Track

Blog Entry for October 1st

I'm alive! I know that you probably didnt think so, but I am still going strong. In fact that is the reason I have been lax in my blogging, I have been going so strong I havent had time for anything other than those things that are absolute necessities. Sadly, blogging does not fall at the top of my list of things that have to be done each day, although I would like it to be. I hope to post every 2 or 3 days from now on, hopefully I can begin to settle into a normal schedule.

The trivia contest will now resume with a bang with 3 questions. Get all 3 right and win a gmail invite. The first to 10 pts will still get one as well. You are free to win as many gmail invites as you want. Give them out to your friends, do with them what you please. Its a beautiful thing.

Lately rumor has been spreading that Mt. St. Helens may blow its top again. My parents had their graduation postponed because of the eruption of 1980 and I have seen many pictures and heard many stories of the event. I am sad that I am not going to be there for it this time, but not too sad. You can't drive your car in the ash, which means that my sister will be stuck at home with my parents for long periods of time. Something that I am sure she would not want to happen. It also is such a huge pain to clean up and take care of, although pushing the ash off of the roof might be fun, Shaylene and I always enjoyed sneaking onto the roof of our house when we were younger.

I have been so busy because I got invovlved with BYUSA a few weeks ago. It started out when I became a chair for Fall Fest (I ran the X-Box station), and continued from there when they asked me to be the Baby Pageant director. I am just following in my mom's footsteps more and more every day (My mom has run and been involved with our local Junior Miss Pageant for many years). I was/am excited about it, but I dont think I could have ever predicted what a huge time commitment this activity would be. Katie, my supervisor, wants to meet with me every single day. I feel stressed about whether I should sleep, finish my homework, or work on the baby pageant. And on Wednesday I skipped all of my classes to finish the proposal. Definitely not good. I have been debating whether I would like to become a part of BYUSA (as opposed to just a volunteer) but there are so many pro's and con's to the issue that I have a hard time knowing what would be right.
Pro's
-Great leadership experience
-Good way to pump up a resume
-Meet fun people who share the same interests
-Learn how to develop business relationships
-I get to tell people what to do
-Have control over the activities that go on at BYU
-I get a name tag
-After you get a program approved you get to use the BYU credit card
-How cool is it to be given $1000 and hear "Okay do what you want with it" (well sort of, this is tithing money so they are very careful about how it is spent, but essentially I get to design whatever kind of a program that I want)

Con's
-Very time consuming
-Hard to find people to delegate work too, end up doing too much myself
-Very stressful
-If I dont like the people that I work with I will be spending 2 hours a day with them
-I have to block out M-F 3-5

Those are the basic things that I have a hard time/really like about it. I will have to keep mulling it over until the pageant happens. I know that I cant wait until the 1eth to decide because I will be so hopped up on excitement that it will seem like an easy choice. I hate choices.

I am excited for General Conference this weekend for a few reasons.
1. What other time do we have to sit around in our pajamas and watch TV and not feel guilty about it?
2. I love playing conference bingo and trying to get as many people as I can to play Don't Eat Pete
3. I think the prophet is the greatest man on the face of the earth and I love listening to him
4. Its always exciting to find out what conference rumors are true and which are not
5. You know that the a huge uproar is going to follow the actions of the protestors over the weekend. The Daily Universe will most definitely have something to say about it (whether or not that something will be good/worth saying is very subjective)

Happy Conferencing to all of you Saints, and a great weekend to the rest of you. You will hear from me soon.

By the way, I loved this little gem of a post.

Roommates

I live with 3 former dancers (all captains of their drill teams in high school) and when I came home today they were all having this huge dancing party. Micheal Jackson was blasting and they were just going for it. Now they are talking in the language of Sims (Aygay Orgay). I love my roommates.

I decided today that I dont want any of my roommates to get married soon. We just have to much fun together. Being with a male all the time can not possibly be as fun as this. This reminds me of the song "Why cant a woman be more like a man" from My Fair Lady. Except I want to know why a man cant be more like a woman.

Rocinha and Pirate Talk

This is what happens when you are very desperate for a date. Or else very crazy.

Website of the Day- Learn to Talk Like A Pirate

Blog of the Day-Maybe it isnt a blog, but it is falling under the Blog of the Day category. Rocinha. Here is an excerpt from their website telling what it is all about.

And it was fascinating. First off, it was visually intense: the tiny houses and crazy vertical separation from one street to the next made the whole place feel like an ewok village, and ensured that every rooftop had a stunning view of Copacabana beach, Corcovado, and the rest of Rocinha curving up and around the mountain.

And whether or not we were exploiting them, people were very friendly, and little kids ran out of their houses excited to see us. I let them use my camera, and showed them pictures of themselves on the LCD, and they'd laugh and call their friends over.

As we're nearing the bottom of the hill and starting to head home, I was thinking about how much the kids enjoyed using my camera, and wouldn't it be interesting to see what they photographed on their own, if they had their own cameras.

And so The Plan was formed.

Trivia Question 11

What is the oldest living thing in existence? How old is it? Where is it located?

Trivia Question 10

The first toothbrush with bristles was developed in China in 1498. What animal supplied the bristles for this first toothbrush?

Trivia Question 9

J. Francis you are up too 5 points, Suzie you have 1, Justin you have 2

What is the most popular food item ordered in sit-down restaurants across the U.S.?

Trivia Question 9

J. Francis you are up too 5 points, Suzie you have 1, Justin you have 2

What is the most popular food item ordered in sit-down restaurants across the U.S.?

Trivia Question 8

What are the two lines that connect your upper lip to your nose called?

Smittens

Maybe if I had a pair of these I might get a little more action this Winter.

Trivia Question 7

What is the only animal that is born with horns?

We Must Always Remember

We Must Never Forget

Every single night I come home so late and tell myself that it is time to post, yet when it gets down to it it never seems to happen. I want to do better though because there is something about writing on here that is slightly theraputic. I would say its a good thing that I am so busy, college is all about being social and I certainly feel like I am doing enough of that. From this point on I will commence describing my life in college. Because that is what you keep coming back for right?

There are so many things that are unique about the BYU college expereience, and the things that we dream up to do (instead of throwing back shot glasses and lighting up) are probably the biggest difference. Things like spying on the girl next door as her boyfriend drops her off, getting Maverick Yo-Cream (95 cents!) every night, and feeling slightly guilty when we realize that its 1:00 in the morning and we still have boys in the apartment. Big emphasis on the word "slightly".
Here are a few things that we have done the past few weeks.

As I tell you this story I wish I had never revealed my identity at the risk of someone in my apt. complex being angry with me.
In our apartment complex many of the girls have the annoying habit of not knowing how to park in-between the lines. I would think they would have learned something about lines when they were in Kindergarden. Isnt that when you were told that its best to stay inside them? Many times when I come home at night I will have to skip past 5 or 6 spots because I cant fit The Regal in without scractching off some paint. After a few nights with this I was so fed up that I came up with a plan. I took post-it notes, and in the wierdest handwriting I could muster wrote "Try parking in-between the lines next time". I took the huge thing of vaseline that I have and two of my roommates came outside with me as the diversion. They stood in the middle of the parking lot and danced while I smeared globs of vaseline underneath peoples car door handles. We made sure to leave each person a nice little note to let them know why this dreadful thing had happened to them. I think it worked pretty well because as near as I have seen there haven't been any more problems. Yesterday we saw one of the worst offenders with drips of melted vaseline down the side. Sucker.

As I mentioned we had been getting Yo-Cream from Maverick lately, almost every night. This stuff is amazing 95 cent fat-free ice cream, and the best part is that you can fill your cone up as high as you want. Sometimes we even get refills. If you have a Maverick near you, I reccomend that you give it a try yourself.

Lately our apartment has become "The place" to hang out. Last night there were about 20 people eating Lucky Charms, playing spoons, watching friends, and playing DDR. Most of this at the same time as well. I still dont really know anyone in our ward but I am getting there.

Last night was Fall Fest and I thought it went really good. I was the chair for the X-Box station, and other than the speakers blowing out, everything pretty much went off wihtout a hitch. DDR was pretty popular, and it was awesome to watch some of the really good people. I would love to be that good, but I dont necessarily want to be playing so much that I get there. I didnt get to see the rest of Fall Fest because I had to stay with the X-Xbox stuff the whole time, but I didnt feel like I missed out too much, and I still had a lot of fun. I did have to tell some boys that they couldn't play Halo, which I hated, but its BYU so what did they expect?

Trivia Question 6

Who was it that shot an apple off of his son's head, and what was his son's name?

Trivia Question 5

What is the part of a belt that holds the end in place called?

Unrest in the Big Apple

Many blogs are talking about the protests and general unrest that was going in on New Yorklast week becaue of the Republican Convention. I thought everyone might be interested in seeing some of the picture and hearing some of the stories of people who are in the middle of it all right now.
Pictures can be found here, here (arrests being made), here, here (picture with descriptions), here (picture along with the story of an arrest), and my favorite one so far which talks about an arrest that never should have happened.

Trivia Question 4

Which state was the first to put a seat belt law into effect, and what year did they do so?

Money vs. Love

MSN.com had an article the other day, that I really wish I could have saved. I cant find it now, but that article is the inspiration for my post today. I found an article over at Forbes.com that I think is just as good. "My Job, Myself, My Problem". Starting out my sophmore year of college has really made me start thinking about this. Should I go into something that I absolutely love, or something that will guarantee me security?

My mom tells me about how she really was excited and interested in Interior Design in college, but decided to become a Dental Assistant instead because she didnt know if being an Interior Designer was "practical" enough. I would think that there are a lot of people who end up doing the same thing in their own lives because they dont want to be worried about money, they want to be uber succesful (the CEO of a large company, succesful politician, etc.), or they feel pressure from their parents to do something that they dont really want too. So they might end up becoming a Doctor or a Lawyer because they associate money and success with happiness.

On the other side of the spectrum are the people that dwell in the Liberal Arts. They are the people who work in Non-Profit, the Teachers, the Artists, etc. Instead of focusing on the future they dive right in and start doing what they know that they love. They trade in Beamers, 3,000 sq. ft. houses, and unlimited budgets for job satisfaction and the knowledge that they will be getting up every day to go to a job that they love.

I am not saying that people who become Doctor's and Lawyer's only do so for the money, nor am I saying that if you become an Artist you will always live a poor and lowly lifestyle.

But the question does need to be addressed for me. Should I go into Film or Fitness and Wellness? 2 things that I know I will love and always be very happy with, but dont necessarily supply people with large amounts of money. Or should I go into Psychology or Business because I know that I could live a comfortable lifestyle in one of those occupations.

The article over at Forbes quotes that 55% of people used the words exhausted, confused and unsupported to describe their job. My boss at the Tennis Club talks all the time about "job satisfaction" and I think that is the key to being happy in work. Keep busy, be productive, and always look for ways to improve. That is how I can be happy with what I do. The problem is that I am still unsure of how to choose exactly what that is.

Those of you who are already out of college and in your jobs, what do you think? Those of you who are in the same position that I am, what are you planning? What is your motivation behind choosing the profession that you do?

Trivia Question 3

That last question was a humbling experience, I guess I will have to do a little more homework on these questions from now on. But remember thats how it goes with school, you win some you lose some.

I am going to give both J. Francis and suzie a point because the widespread opinion seems to be that it was something under 10. Sorry JL, but it sounds like at least one of her poems was published.

Suzie-2
J. Francis-3
Everyone else-0

Question 3
What were the original 8 jelly bean flavors launched by Jelly Belly?

I plan on posting a real post tommorow, I am so burnt out lately though, 5 hours a sleep a night is not doing it for me.

Trivia Question 2

How many of Emily Dickinson's poems were published in her lifetime?

Suzie wins, What Happens if I?, and free MP3's.

Since this is my quiz I give Suzie the point for the day. The answer was 28-29 lbs.

I decided on the Fitness and Wellness major for sure. No changing this time. Maybe.

I forgot how much walking you do around campus every single day. I already have 2 huge blisters. I would take pictures of them and post them on here, but I hate feet so I wont subject you to pictures of mine.

Today I started Weight Training and Teaching and Women's Studies. I think Monday's are going to be my favorite days of the year. We will see though because tommorow I have Latin Ballroom dancing, Anatomy, Nutrition, and Intro to Allied Health Professions. Nope I wont like TTH better, MW wins.

Site of the Day-A great place to discover new music and get some free mp3 downloads.

Blog of the Day-What Happens If I?
Run by-Jinxx
Subject-What happens when you do random things such as set a lego man on fire and cook an egg with a blowtorch?
Tagline-The spirit of the inner-eight-year-old we thought had died is brought back to life by our simple little experiments. Only this time it's no longer eight... It's 22.
Favorite post-...cook an egg using a blowtorch?

Trivia Question 1

Approximately how much does the skeleton of an average 160 lb. body weigh?

Trivia Quiz, time keeping site, and Nine-Moons

I have decided to follow Caliblogs.com's example and start a contest of my own. The prize is 2 gmail invites, which seem to be very popular. I can understand because I love my gmail account more than anything. Who wouldn't want to have 2GB of space in their email? I never have to delete anything, and if that kind of thing appeals to you then I know you will want these.

So, without any further ado, its time for the “Back to School Useless Trivia Quiz” I decided on this quiz because I usually feel like the stuff I am learning in school is useless information. Cant they teach something that will actually apply to me in life someday? Enough of my ranting, you guys know what school is like. I will post a new question once a day, you get 2 guesses each day. I will check back as often as I can to let you know if you are right or wrong. Each right answer equals one point, and the contest will last until someone reaches 10 points. Remember this is for gmail, something you really want, so think carefully and guess often! (And even if you already have gmail or you dont want to win, you could still guess because games are fun right?)

Right now is Arby's 5 for 5 deal which I could eat all day long, but I cant get because I promised Tristin that I would go 2 weeks without eating any beef or pork. I have done really good so far, but I don’t think I will do it afterwards, because I don’t believe that abstaining from meat will help my kids have straight teeth. Sorry Tristin..

There is a really dumb new movie coming out called "Team America World Police". If there is anyone out there who is for excited for this movie, can you please tell me why?

I think that Gap's new ad campaign is very clever. It flashes images of Sarah Jessica Parker with the words how-do-you and flashes a website at the end. I checked out the site because of the commercial, which I assume is exactly what Gap was going for.

I have switched my schedule around so many times, I don’t even know what I am taking any more. I love my independence but I hate that the decisions I make right now are going to be what will determine alot of my future. I was really set with Fitness and wellness, but now I am looking into some kind of major in psychology in the education department. I am really interested in working with women/girls and teaching them how to have healthy attitudes about what is good and true about nutrition and the likes. That means no more minor in film, instead a minor in nutrition along with a minor in Fitness and Wellness. Now if I could only figure out something for a major.

I think I was ripped off on Ebay. Close to $200 dollars worth of stuff. I am a careful buyer too, so I am not really sure what happened. It was a few weeks after I bought my stuff that the people I bought it from started receiving really bad ratings all of the sudden. Why does this happen to me?

Website of the Day- I cant even explain to you why I like this site, but I do. Who are these people that have the time to sit around and make stuff like this up? I wish I was one of them. No, wait I dont.

Blog of the Day-Nine-Moons
Run By-Don and Rusty
Subject-Another LDS site that talks about doctrine, asks questions, etc. I like it because its not too in depth, nothing against Times and Seasons, I read it daily, but I am not quite to that level yet. Nine Moons is a nice stepping stone for me that I can progress with.
Tagline-A place to discuss Mormon doctrine, laugh at Mormon culture, and buy refurbished electronics.
Favorite Post-Does God have a sense of humor?

Apostle guessing game, for your own reasons, and

There is a great post by Dustin over at Gnitsud about doing things for your own reasons. I think anyone who knows me well can tell you that I have always had this independent streak in me that drives me to be my own person and do things for my own reasons. I grew up in an ultra conservative, very tiny town, where gossip ran rampant and rumors were all too easily spread. This kind of environment led many people to constantly worry about what others were thinking of them. People didnt speak up in class (because why should they if nobody else was), we didnt do creative or crazy things, most of the time we just went to a movie or watched a movie (there were plenty of opportunities, farming towns dont have alot of entertainment), speaking up for what you believed to be right was almost nonexistent (not that people didnt do what was right, but expressing an opinion contrary to that of the masses was a shocking thing to do). We all dressed the same, talked the same, looked the same, acted the same.

I never went through any great rebellion (well too a point), I think I am still your typical Mormon Co-Ed, but every once in awhile I see a difference come out. Many times people will say something like "What will everyone say", or "I feel so stupid in front of anyone", my reply is always the same, WHO CARES? I do things for myself and not for other people. Dustin talks about a friend of a friend who walked out of a movie on a date. I say that you can get an idea of what kind of a movie it is from the previews, and you probably knew what it was going to be like walking into it. Or else try doing your homework next time, find out what kind of stuff you are going to be subjecting yourself too before you plunk down your hard down money for it.

Basically the purpose of this post was for me to say to everyone out there, please just do things for your own reasons. Who cares what it looks like or what others think of it. If it makes you happy then its probably okay. I am not perfect at this, but I am working at it.
Dustin states

"How exactly does the perceptions of others really effect who you are? Are you so insecure that you’re validity and successfulness in your pursuits in life are nullified by the opinions of others? If so, wow...it sucks to be you."

I couldn't agree any more.

Website of the Day-Take a guess at who will be the next apostle.

Blog of the Day-Gnitsud
Run by-Dustin
Subject-Pretty random ramblings, the highlight being the movie quotes that are thrown in throughout all of the posts. Also if you didnt catch it, Gnitsud is Dustin spelled backwards. Pretty clever.
Tagline- Me, in hindsight.
Favorite post-The one that I referenced from today.

My rant against A&F, Tie-a-Tie, and Y

We had this huge Abercrombie and Fitch poster in our living room that was portraying people who were definitely breaking the honor code, and I just took it and threw it away (well the offensive part anyways, I took a knife too it to save the good parts, it is now a PG rated poster). (The following link is rated PG-13.) The picture can be found here, but it didnt look so bad cut in half and upside like we had it. This reminds me of how much I hate Abercrombie and Fitch and companies just like them. My Aunt has always talked about organizing some kind of movement to get the soft-porn pictures that are displayed in the front windows of stores like Victoria's Secret and A&F taken down. Everyone knows that these stores are targeting Tween's (no matter how much they deny it), in an attempt to create brand loyalty.

I think this creates an interesting question. If I despise A&F and the way that they advertise, should I stop buying their clothes? Would the $50 a year that I spend in their store really make a difference? The problem is that most of the people who are spending hundreds and thousands of dollars supporting Abercrombie every year do so because they feel that A&F clothes are what they need to be cool. I think that anyone would have a hard time getting kids like that to stop throwing their (or better yet, their parents) money down for the clothes. Slate lets us know that their racy catalogue tactic isnt even working.

Their are people who believe that by ditching the Fitch we can make a difference. If that is something you would like to do, you can sign a petition here. Many sites also suggest going to stores such as American Eagle, which sell virtually the same clothes without the sex.


I have the biggest crush on Micheal Phelps. I am sure that every other girl on the planet is at the moment, but just like the paragraph above states, I do things for my own reasons and not because of what others say. I think I fell in love with him the moment I saw him take his wreath off when he was standing on the platform while the national anthem was playing. Who doesnt love a guy with respect?

Why not take a virtual tour of the BYU games center?

Do you have a date coming up that you are dreading? Do you need a way to get out of it? Try escape-a-date.

Website of the Day-Learn how to tie a tie.

Blog of the Day-Y
Run by-Someone who went to BYU back in the day
Subject-An awesome collection of memories and adventures from some guys BYU days, pictures included at no extra charge.
Tagline-stories from life in Provo, Utah. all names have been changed to protect the innocent. maybe.
Favorite Post-I would love to try this one out. I am sure we will try this out sometime.

"Suddenly it seems like the whole world is at peace"

I checked the statistics for my site this morning, and was completely blown away by my results. I was expecting the usual number, but instead I saw the beautiful number of 68 (that is visitors not hits). Thanks to all of my visitors for coming over to see whats new, and for spreading the word about my little site, an especially big thank you to "Times and Seasons" for the mention today, you guys are the reason for the recent raise in numbers. Now I only hope to continue to make my posts interesting enough that they are worth coming back too.

I have never really been interested in the Olympics before, but yesterday at work I started to watch them and realized that I was actually enjoying them. I was sad to turn them off and leave at the end of my shift. It is so awe-inspiring to sit and watch people realize their dreams. I think the other reason that I enjoy it is that it is so universal, you can talk to anyone about it, and sit down with anyone from anywhere, not say a word, but both still enjoy the time spent. Today Frances came over to get some stuff that she forgot, and she sat down to watch the Olympics with me. I found out that she was the German Rhythmic Gymnast National Champion for 4 years in a row. She lived away from home from ages 9-14 to study Gymnastics. I also found out the other day that her first boyfriend is ranked as one of the top 200 Tennis players in the world. Americans are sometimes so ignorant about the rest of the world, but the olympics gives us a chance to learn about other countries, and the people that live within those countries. No matter how old you are, where in the world you live, everyone understands the dream of winning Olympic Gold. I usually have to watch them by myself because I get so emotional hearing all of the stories of triumph, I think that people would laugh to see me get teary eyed about Thailands first gold medal, ever. On a lighter note, how do the Women's Beach Volleyball players keep their bottoms from riding up? Why isnt all underwear made like that?

Favorite quote from the Olympics "Suddenly it seems like the whole world is at peace." What a beautiful idea.

I would also like to note that I think that the commercials during the Olympics are greatly improved over the usual drivel that we are all subjected to.

By the end of the week our entire apartment will be together. I think I will probably have to do a little bit of cleaning up before Linds and Heather get here, because right now this apartment is a mess. I am sure that the only reason that Megan can stand it is because she is never home. The reason that our apartment is such a mess, I gave in to my love of all things second-hand and went through the DI trailer parked outside our apartment. For those of you unfamiliar with DI, its official name is Deseret Industries, and it is the LDS equivalent of Goodwill in other places. In fact, Goodwill doesnt even exist anywhere here as far as I know. All across Provo and Orem contracts are ending, which means that people are moving home and having to sort through their things and get rid of what they don't need or can't fit on their way home. To make it easier for all of us, Deseret Industries distributes trailers to apartment complexes so that we can easily haul our junk out. The first day I saw that trailer, I knew I would want to take a look inside, and Saturday I finally gave in and took a look inside. I ended up meeting the man and woman doing cleaning checks, gave the cleaning check man a vaccum I found, which enabled me to automatically pass my cleaning checks. Nice. What follows is the long and wonderful list that I now own from the DI trailer. It is true, one man's junk is another mans treasure.
1-Television, old, but works with my XBOX and gets enough cable channels to supply me with my daily dose of olympics.
2-A bike, might be a little too tall, but with 12 girls living next to each other, I am sure that someone will use it every once in awhile.
3-2 beanbags
4-An awesome poster from Abercrombie and Fitch. It could be considered semi-porn by conservative standards, but I am sure that we can do something about that.
5-A roxy reversible vest
6-A beautiful cream wool coat
7-A square ottoman pillow things, couldnt find an example of it online.
8-An odd but fun assortment of kitchen supplies, pots and pans, etc.
9-A glass cutting board that I really like
10-This awesome chair for in our room, covered with that ugly orange 70's color that fills many LDS chapels. I dont know if I will be able to keep this one though because it takes up so much room in our already small room, and I dont think that Megan really likes that.

I dont think the comment function on blogger is working right now, did anyone else have a hard time today? There were several sites that I wanted to comment on tonight, but the page would never load. Guess I will have to try again tommorow. I love my Haloscan.

Both the site and blog of the day are going to be Olympic related.

Website of the Day-NBC Olympics. I know that many people already know about this but it is the best way to find out anything and everything you ever wanted to know about the olympics.

Blog of the Day-Goldblatt
Run by-Scott Goldblatt
Subject-An inside look at the Olympics from a Swimmer's view.
Why should you visit? Because how often do you get to hear about the little things that go on in the olympics (such as the American flag missing from the swimming stadium)

All-Encompassingly, Typogenerator, and What Religion Are You?

Last night we went over to Tristin's Uncle's cabin to watch the metor shower, it was fun but the meteor shower was a little bit of a bust. I think we saw 20 meteors the entire night and we got out there at 10:30 or 11 and didnt leave until after 2. We did make a nice little Jenna sandwhich, which I liked because I got to be warm all of the time. Steve and Tristin are exactly the same as always, and I love it. I hope that we stay good friends all the way through college.

Tonight is Taylor's birthday and we are going over to house his, and then I think we are going up to his cabin in Sundance to sleep over and basically cause some trouble.

I have been picking up shifts like crazy at work. They hired a guy to work there the same time that I was hired and he has only showed up one time. Basically he showed up the day I didnt, maybe he felt that since I did it it was okay. He hasnt come in 3 times now, and I dont think that he has ever even called in to tell them why. I get the feeling he is going to be fired just as quickly as he was hired. It works out okay for me though because I am taking up some of his shifts until they find someone else. On top of that, a girl called me this morning, and she wanted me to take three of hers the week after next. basically I am going to be rolling in the dough for this month (which I will definitely need) but I dont expect that feeling too last long, I am sure my income will drop off a little once school starts.

Megan moved in yesterday. I am excited to live with her for the year. We discovered that we are both going to major in Fitness and Wellness, which will work out nicely if we live together all through college. We can live together and take all of the same classes together.

I only gave myself 15 minutes to write this post, and I am already almost out of time. I just spend too much time reading other blogs in between paragraphs. Right now I am loving Provo Pulse. Nice work lately guys.

I made the switch from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox. Thanks to all of you who kept mentioning it on your own blogs, you were the one who inspired me to make the switch, and I am not sure how I ever survived without it.

Check out Caliblog for their latest contest. If you dont want to participate but you have some good guesses let me know, so that I can try and win. I told Chuck I would do whatever it takes, and I still mean that.

I have 2 websites for the day, basically because I really like them both, and I havent been posting as regularly so I am trying to make up for it. Hopefully you all like them as much as I do.
Website of the Day-TypoGenerator. This one is hard to explain, so I suggest you just check it out for yourself. Basically you just enter text into this little box, and the website comes up with these awesome pictures. Check out the one that I made just now. All of that was done just by entering the word girl into a little box. I have a bunch of them saved up for screensavers.


Website of the Day 2-What religion are you? Take this quiz to find out.

Blog of the Day-All-Encompassingly
Run by-Travis and Doug
Subject-The usual mormon blogger stuff, political personal, etc.
Favorite Post-The Ode to Summer. All right so the romantic girl inside of me was won over by this little number. I only hope that I find someone to write things like this about me someday. (By the way, your fiance is absolutely gorgeous Travis, and you both look so happy, good luck in the future)

Giving away money and Gluttons Photo-A-Day

I guess I didnt realize when I moved down here that I would be totally exhausting myself every single day. I thought Heather was a nightowl last year, and it looks like Meg's has caught the bug as well. We are staying up until at least 2 or 3 every single night, and I am looking for a nap whenever possible. I tell myself too stop, but I know that I will only be in college once, might as well take advantage of the opportunity now.

My XBOX came in the mail yesterday, and I took it over to Megan's house to test it out, it works great. Now I am just waiting for the hard drive to arrive, and then it will be sent up to my favorite person Brandon for his brother to modify.

Yesterday was my second day of training at work, today is my first day or working alone. I am feeling a little nervous because there are so many details that the job involved, but I think I will catch on quickly, and I can already tell that I am going to like it. It will definitely be slow alot, but I dont mind that, and once school starts up again it will be a great opportunity to keep up on my reading.

I am getting closer to working out my schedule, now that I know what my hours at work will be. I am going to be taking Essentials of Human Nutrition, Intro to Women's Studies, Anatomy, D&C, hopefully Tennis, and maybe Basic Athletic Training. Megs and I arent so sure about Basic Athletic training anymore, after looking up the class description it sounds like it is something like Taping Injuries 101. I think we will go to the first day of classes and decide after that.

I love my Costco card more than anything, and have printed off clost to 200 pictures there. They can print them with the white border around them and I love it. Plus it is done in 1 hour and costs less than Wal-Mart.

This is seriously one of the funnier articles that I have read in a while. What kind of world do we live in when we think that an 86 year old man is a threat?

This man has what you might call "A little bit of a weight problem". Didnt he think he had a problem when he hit 500 lbs? 600? 850? See the problem, treat the problem.

Website of the Day:Want to give away some money? Yeah, neither do I.

Blog of the Day-Glutton's Photo-a-Day
Subject-A photographer attempting to hone his skills by posting a new picture every day. There are no long posts here, only pictures
Tagline-A move to hone my photographic skills. The pictures posted here are amateurish, so your constructive comments are most welcome.
Favorite Post-Something about this little boy just makes me melt.

Best and worst commericials, and BCC

I am off to the rodeo tonight in Midway, with a very large group of people that I have never really met before. We are going to kick up our heels and watch the boys try and kill themselves on some bulls, and then it is off to the hot pots. Good thing I bought myself a cute new swimsuit, we are swimming every day.

Could this have been staged for more publicity?

Website of the Day-Readers crown best and worst commericals. Check out the rubber band man commercial, this one always makes me laugh. If my job at Gold's sucks I will try and be happy like this guy.

Blog of the Day-BCC: By Common Consent
Run by-A bunch of people
Subject-Liberal minded mormons expressing their views on anything and everything, largely gospel related.
Tagline-A liberal-minded, yet grossly intolerant Mormon blog: we tolerate dissent, but not stupidity.
Favorite Post-The most recent post "Liberate Me, I'm Repressed?"

Float On, The Trixie Update, and Fly Guy

Here I am again, back in the swing of things after a minor delay in posting. Yesterday I had the most eventful day that I can remember, and now that my computer is working again I am ready to share my adventures with you all. Probably some of you go through days like this all of the time (Chuck it seems like you do), but this was an eventful day for me.

You will find out why in a second, but I had to have my hard drive erased, which means I lost all of my boomarks and links, etc. If you are a visitor to this site can you please leave come kind of comment, even if it is just one word, so that I can add you to my bookmarks and make a visit on over to your site. Muchos Gracias.

The story must start back on Monday when I got the call from the Gold's Guy letting me know that I had the job, the conversation was short, but he informed me that I should come in next thursday for training. I started thinking on Tuesday night, became nervous that he meant this Thursday when he said next Thursday (some people talk that way and it makes no sense to me) so I called and left a message on his machine asking for some clarification. Because I didnt want to bother him, I didnt try to call him again the next day, and never heard from him UNTIL I woke up at 11:00 Thursday morning (I know I need to stop sleeping in so late) and had a message from him on my cell. It said something to the effect of "Hi Jenna, this is Joe Schmo from Gold's Gym and I thought that you were going to come in for training this morning, call me as soon as possible". After rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I debated going and jumping off of one of the cliffs in Provo Canyon. I called my dad to get some moral support, sucked it up and called the guy back, and luckily everything worked out, but after missing my first day of work, I still have a job.

Then I went out into my living room, where my computer is, and discovered that after I had rebooted it over night it had failed to load. After trekking over to the computer lab in the club, learning about pushing F8, trying every possible solution, I finally decided to let the pros have a go at it and take it over to the BYU computer repair department. After finding a very lucky parking spot in the lot in front of the Wilk (any fellow Zoobie knows what I am talking about), I carried my tower in (with aching arms, computers get heavy if you walk around carrying them for too long), and set my tower on the desk and told them the problem. I was then informed that I was missing the Windows XP certification that should have come with my computer. Since I had no idea where and when this computer had been bought, I had to call my parents and Teresa (the secretary at CW), and The Computer Place (where the tower came from). To do this I had to walk back and forth out of the store into the hallway to get reception, not only frustrating myself but annoying everyone around me. We finally got things figured out (I had to buy a new version of Windows XP, full price, because I am not in classes currently and they couldnt give me the discount until August 23rd), and I left my computer there to get fixed overnight. To get everything up and running they had to wipe out my hard drive, which meant a long day of installing all of the programs I was missing today.

As I was walking out to my car, I saw those cute little green envelopes fluttering underneath a few windshield wipers in the parking lot, and I knew right then that I had a parking ticket as well. $20 for parking in a 30 minute zone for 2 hours. I really needed that. I decided that I would go to Costco, which always makes me happy, and after I had been there for awhile, and found some really cool things, I realized that I didnt have my checkbook with me and that they would not take my card. So I checked to make sure there was nothing perishable in my cart and quickly walked away. I went to the mall instead. Shopping therapy works every time (have to be careful that this doesnt happen to me though)

I feel better now that I have published my story, and yes I see that it isnt so bad after all. It did feel pretty crappy at the time though. This made me laugh though. I also listened to my Modest Mouse CD, "Float On" is such a great song, and at least I didnt run my car into a cop car. Things can always get worse.

Website of the day-Can't exactly describe this one, but go check out "Fly Guy" If you are patient, I hear that you will end up on an island with a hula dancer, which would be a pretty nice place to be. And watch out for the big strong mad with the punching gloves, he has a killer right hook.

Blog of the Day-The Trixie Update
Run by-Ben MacNeill
Subject-A slightly-obsessive-in-a-good-way blog about their 1-year and 6 day old daughter. Tracking the messy diapers and amount of milk pumped might be a little much, but it will be fun for Trixie to look back on. I hope to do something like it someday.
Tagline-"keep track of the new kid"
Favorite post-Potty training is so fun.