Before I step on any toes, allow me to preface this post by saying that I have really enjoyed going to BYU this semester and had some professors I really enjoyed and met some people that are super cool. This experience is (generally) atypical. Now that I've said that, allow me to elaborate on a particular annoying experience while at the Wilkinson Center (the center of BYU)

So Phillip and I were eating lunch together when a girl asked to sit down at the table with us. Now Phillip told me that he knew of her but didn't really know her. Phillip and I continued our conversation about missions/missionary work, since he is leaving soon on his mission. I told him about my last roommate and how he lived in Virginia and was called to serve in North Carolina. I also said that my roommate's father told my roommate that he was "sorry" (direct quote from my roommate's father) for his mission call.

This incredibly PRICKISH girl chimes (picture with snobbish inflection) "Well, your on the Lord's errand and where you go shouldn't matter."

Totally true. Let's pause and reflect upon my story. Did I ever mention that I felt sorry for my roommate's call? No. The irony/humor of my story came from the fact that my roommate's father, the one person you would expect to be the most supporting of a mission call, expressed a very atypical reaction. The point is humor, not to mock the mission experience.

I tried to explain myself by in various ways by saying that being called to a mission where you live or very close to where you live would be difficult because of how close you would be to your "regular" life, making the temptation to leave/slack off much higher. No, this girl would hear none of it. Every mission is perfect, as is every missionary. My point was only that certain mission calls could have very different challenges.

This girl continued to make equally snide remarks as the first quote! What's up with that? I think I know the answer, but I want to emphasize that this next portion is my opinion.

Because I have been extremely sick over the past few days, I haven't shaved. I was still feeling under the weather and woke up late today, missing my first class. I had forgotten to shave and so I looked a little scruffy running out the door. I felt that the snobby girl (as I will refer to her from now on) judged me because of my scruffiness and then made comments based off this superficial observation accordingly. Not even that, she heard a snippet of the conversation and decided to call me to repentance, if by nothing else than a snappy tone and "holier than thou" comments.

What does this mean for me and the rest of humanity? Your accomplishments do not determine who you are. They certainly provide indicators, but they are not you. In the case of snobby girl, just because someone attends BYU, does not give them any higher spiritual qualifications over anyone else. In contrast, at BYU there are many opportunities to hear from general authorities and have a very spiritual experience. But just attending BYU does not make you perfect.

Moral of the Story: Don't eavesdrop on conversations and then snidely interject. Offer an opinion, join the conversation before refuting the character of the people involved.

Check this out. Scientists in England have engineered heart valves from stem cells. Apparently, this is the first time any part of the heart has been engineered in a lab. From what it looks like, we (the human race) could benefit from stem cell heart tissue within three years. That would mean that many people with heart problems could delay heart transplants or avoid them entirely by replacing portions of the heart with stem-cell-grown tissue. Even better, scientists also hypothesize that within 10 years we could grow entire hearts from stem cell tissue. This would increase longevity of patients and eliminate the need for lots of rejection drugs when replacing/repairing organs. Interesting to consider, eh?

Hello fellow blogger people. If you have never read a post on this blog before, READ THIS ONE. I've compiled a short and sweet list of the must-haves of internet goers. If you use the internet, check these out.

Google News
Number one on my list is Google News. This is an oldie (in Internet years). Google News has been around since about 2004. It has been out of beta for a little over a year. And it is one of the most useful sources for news-alcoholics. Google News compiles news articles from all the major news providers like CNN, MSNBC News, ABC News, Fox News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, etc, etc, etc, etc. Right now, Google News pulls news from 4,500 different sources. Instead of browsing through different news sites to find out what's happening, Google News sorts out current events by topic and lets you pick which news provider when you want to read the full article. Trust me, just go to http://news.google.com and browse around. It's pretty cool. The first time you visit Google News, you will see some default categories on the left like "World," "U.S.," "Health," "Entertainment," etc. You can browse through these popular headings or do a search (like Xbox 360 if you are me) to find news relevant to you. Now, here is THE cool part. While browsing Google News (you must be signed in with your Google account), Google will start to figure out what interests you. It will then automatically compile a "Recommended" section that contains articles that you would like to read. Now, when I go to Google News, I rarely leave the "Recommended" section. Google News also lets you create your own sections (like "Xbox 360") so you don't have to do a search. Also, you can create e-mail alerts that notify you when "big news" is happening to a topic of interest. That's about it for Google News. Check it out, love it, use it. I never go a day without checking it.

Google Reader
I do apologize for the "I'm in love with Google tone," but the services they provide are certainly unique and par above the rest. So, what is Google Reader? Google Reader is just as essential (in my opinion) as Google News. Google Reader is a web based RSS/Atom feed viewer. Some of you are quite familiar with RSS feeds on your Google homepage. For those that aren't here is a post explaining RSS/Atom feeds and how that relates to your Google Homepage. Anyway, Google Reader allows you to subscribe to all your feeds, place them in folders, e-mail them, share them, sort them, organize them, star them (like Gmail), add tags (similar to "labels" in Gmail), etc. Basically, Google Reader is the perfect (web based) way to view RSS/Atom feeds. In order to make this applicable, here is how one would use Google Reader to view multiple blogs. If I were Kristen and had 15 blogs that I visited everyday, I would get tired of hopping from blog to blog and sifting through annoying load times. Google Reader would eliminate that. It automatically downloads THE ENTIRE POST from blogs (including pictures) and sorts the downloaded posts by date. Basically, you can view entire posts for every blog you frequent from one place. I won't go into features too much, but go to http://reader.google.com and check it out. It's worth your time.

Google Notebook
Google Notebook is no longer part of Google Labs. What this means: Google Labs looks cooler, has more settings to tweak, and allows for more control of sharing. You can allow people to read a notebook only, read and edit, or publish the notebook for the world to see. It's cool. Head over to http://notebook.google.com and play around. Its cool.

Google Homepage
Google Homepage has gadgets for these Google services: Google chat, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google News, Google Reader, Google Notebook, Google MP3 search, Google Docs, and some others. If you've used it, there is a Google Homepage gadget for it. Click "Add Stuff" from your Google Homepage and then search for "Google." All of the aforementioned Google services will be available to add to your homepage. They are very useful and very cool.

April Fools
This is one I wish was true. Head to http://mail.google.com and read about the new paper archive feature. Unless I'm way off here, looks like an early April Fools joke. My favorite line is the "Photo attachments are printed on high-quality, glossy photo paper, and secured to your Gmail Paper with a paper clip." However, Gmail was launched on April Fools day, so keep your eyes open for new changes to Gmail....ones that are real. Also watch out for Google's TiSP April fool's joke. This one made me laugh. It advertises free broadband by flushing a optical cable (provided by Google) down your toilet.

So there you have it. Technology from around the web. Enjoy, use them, and let me know what you think. If you want more details on certain features, just comment me. Until then, sianara

Here is my podcast...








Here is the link to download the file if you don't want to listen to it on my blog.

I think of my blog as a place to post personal thoughts and feelings, however random they may be. Anyway, here is another musing I had as I walked up to campus. Its about 3 or 4 blocks, so I had quite a bit of time to ponder. So here it is.

I was contemplating my ordination to Elder and the nature of the Preisthood. We all (for the LDS population that reads my blog, readers of other faiths can still understand the analogy) know what the Priesthood is; that is the power to act in God's name. That's a pretty standard saying in LDS culture. But what does that mean?

I really pondered over the phrasing "...to act in God's name." I related that to my life. Giving someone the power to act in my name would be the same as givng them everything that makes me, me. For example, giving my father my social security card, my ID, my bank account information, etc. He would then have the power to do anything in my name. Giving someone that power shows a tremendous deal of trust. Imagine giving someone close to you the power to make every decision in your life. Things like class registration, getting a job, earning money; they have all that power. That is tremendous trust. That is the same trust God gives to us. He gives us the power to act as him, in his name.

Just some thoughts.

So why is life like a swimming pool. That's a good question that I'm about to answer. I had this amazing analogy a couple of days ago when I was pondering about the course my life has taken up until now. This is what I came up with.

When we are born, we start in the kiddie pool. We wade around through elementary school/primary amidst toys while our parents watch over us and occasionally splash around in there with us.

As we mature we venture into the shallow end of the pool. Our family is all around us, as well as our friends. We play through high school, carefully shielded from the entirety of the pool around us. We realize there is more to the pool than where we are, but its too big to really understand.

Just to interject, I can't really complete the analogy, because I only can relate my feelings up until this point in my life.

Anyway, as we graduate high school, we climb out of the shallow end and wander towards the diving board. Our parents have yet to realize we have wandered off. Suddenly, we find ourselves poised on the end of the diving board, looking out at the pool, finally seeing everything for the first time. We find ourselves separated from our parents, poised over the deepest and scariest end of the pool. Its something we have to do alone, and the decisions we make on that diving board will affect the rest of our lives.

I feel like I'm at the end of that diving board, finally seeing my life for the first time. My mission, marriage, a career, my education, my family, all lays in front of me and for the first time I'm rushing to meet it. In the shallow end, we wade around without a grasp of what lies in front of us. Now, life is staring us hard in the face, and we have to dive.

Yep, that's my analogy. Enjoy.

Alright, what is up with Rexburg weather? I mean I thought weather forecasting was the same everywhere. Apparently not. So before I go to bed I check the forecast. The forecast is 'light snow.' Now being from North Carolina, I thought 'light snow' meant 'light snow,' when, in fact, 'light snow' actually means 3 inches of wet snow blowing in your face at 29 degrees with a windchill of 2. Ok, I'm exagerating; the windchill was closer to 14 degrees.

More to the point of the story, I thought that being only 29 degrees (that's reasonably warm by my Rexburg standards) I went out in a t-shirt with a AE sweater overtop and jeans. Whew! Snow was blowing hard enough into my eyes to make my eyes start to water! I think a few people thought I was bawling and have me some odd stares on my way up to campus. Rexburg natives, pugh! The point of the story is: weather forecasting is different for every area. So to prevent weather forecast confusion, I've added a North Carolina/Rexburg translation guide:

North Carolina Forecast	Rexburg Equivalent
Midly warm, high of 62	humidity 100%, heat wave of the century
Slightly Chilly, high in 50's	Getting toasty out there, DON'T BRING A JACKET
Very cold, possible ice on bridges	Standard weather pattern
Bitter COLD, lows in the 20s	Nippy in the morning, wear a hoodie
Blizzard of the century! STAY INDOORS	Light snow expected, wear a jacket, no gloves
Blizzard of the MILLENIUM	Mild snow, add the gloves
--no NC equivalent--	Mild to heavy snow---expecting 24-36 inches per hour

So there you have it, how to interpret weather in Rexburg. Seriously, there was 2-3 inches of snow on the road and not a single snow plow. I asked someone why and they said the snow plows don't come out until it snows!! I looked incredulouosly at her as I politely pointed at the 2-3 inches of white powder on the ground. I maid a mental not "not to talk to crazy."

Back in NC in t-minus 6 days.

Ok, before I dive right into this post, let me comment on how hard it is to write a post entitled "Why I Don't Like My Roommate" when your surrounded by people who are your roommates. The one time I leave my room to put away some dishes, my roommate (who has been out all weekend, which was wonderful) walks in. I run (casually of course) back to my room in time to exit out of that screen before he could see the title of my post.

Now, on to the meat of this post. This semester draws to a close and I have built up quite a list of dislikes of my roommate. At the beginning of the semester, I though he would be pretty cool. The problem is, roommates who are complete opposites simply avoid each other and don't talk. Suffice it to say my roommate is in love with me and has no concept of "proper social courtesy."

Case 1---Listening to Music While Sleeping:

Every night, my roommate listens to music while going to sleep. This wouldn't be so bad, except that he listens to it from the speakers on his desktop PC. And the music is Gwen Stefani, and I despise rap/whatever-it-is-she-sings. So I go to bed 30 minutes later than him so I can turn off his music without waking/disturbing him. Keep in mind my roomie does have an mp3 player and could listen to his music through headphones. Anyway, in the morning he acts all upset that I turned off his speakers in the night. Pardon me for liking to sleep in silence like the rest of the world.

Case 2---Talking on the Cellphone at Night:

One night while I was going to sleep he was chatting it up with a girl at around 1:00am. I tried listening to my iPod to drown out his voice, but his piercing, high-pitched laugh (I'm not making this up) kept me awake. I ended bringing my blanket and pillow into the living room and slept on the couch.

Case 3---Running Tabs:

How many roommates keep running tabs of how much their roomie owes them. My roommate does. Thats understandable if your roommate constantly borrows money, but my tab on the year is less than $10.00! I mean honestly, how petty is that? Anyway, let's not forget how much he owes me. For example, my printer, which I let him use, and my paper in my printer, and my ink in my printer, etc. Ironically, Marc uses my printer more than I do! Anyway, I could go on and on but that's just the most obvious example.

Case 4---Music:

While I'm in the room alone, I typically play some music to listen to. Whenever Marc enters the room, and I mean nearly every time, he sits down at his computer and starts to play his music over my own! He doesn't even ask if he can listen to some. He doesn't put in headphones just blasts me into submission.

Case 5---No Personal Space:

Most people observe Personal Space Boundaries, or PSB as I like to call them. Marc does not. He constantly rearranges my things without asking me so it's hard to find my things. Not to mention he always uses my bed as a desk. Book, clothes, sheets, he puts it all on my bed. At the beginning of the year, I carefully placed his things back on his bed, but now, he places his stuff on my bed, and I place it on the floor.

I'm sure there are plenty more things that I could name off that annoy me, but these are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head. I'm not trying to be mean, but sometimes you just have to vent about somebody. Don't worry, my next post will be much more uplifting than this one. Oh yeah, as a side note, I will be returning to beautiful North Carolina in approximately 8 days! December 19th/20th I will arrive in RDU. See you then!

So you were probably stunned by the sign-in page at the beginning of my blog, plus once you got in, surprised again by the new template. These are just a few of the new features of the beta blogger by Google. So, tell me how you like it and be prepared for my next post, which will sum up the things that drive ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY about my roommate. (Which is why I have a sign-in page to view my blog). So yeah, tell me how you like the new blog....give me any suggestions...and be prepared for a full-blown roommate bashing. The post after the roommate bash will be of a more sentimental nature and offer my reflections on my first semester at BYU-I and my first semester away from home.

Have you ever seen something that took so much time and was so specialized that you sat in a stupor and wondered "How much time did that take?" or perhaps "That guy must not have a life!" Well, I have found such a video. Of course it's really cool to watch and will give everyone a chuckle. Even watching it twice, I must ask myself, where do you find out that you are good at rollerblading through a street full of bottles and making music by placing metal strips on the outside of your skates to hit the bottles and make individual tones. Yeah, head over to www.youtube.com to check this video out.

Ok, I went to see a movie tonight and man was it good. Now don't get me wrong, this movie is not for the faint of heart. Still, it is one of the best movies I've seen in awhile. I would especially recommend it to dad, Ethan, and Logan. I don't want to give anything away, because it's a movie I would like to watch again (possibly as a family, over Christmas break). Actually, in order to preserve suspense, I won't give away any details, above that of the basic premise. The basic premise is that two magicians aren't big fans of the other. I can't give away any more details than that, and I won't even give away the primary mechanism that drives the plot. If you watch it (which I highly recommend), you'll find out soon enough for yourself.

So if I just spent a paragraph praising a movie and giving away absolutely zero details, what makes a movie good? Well, I think the most important part of a movie is the story. The Prestige does not dissapoint there. The story is expertly told. One of the more interesting things is that nothing is really given or spelled out for the viewer. The movie utilizies some flashbacks and other such techniques but gives no warning of its occurrence. I think it adds to the movie because it makes you more engrossed in it and more captivated by it as the story progresses and reaches toward the climax. Above all else, this movie will make you think.

One last paragraph here will be devoted to life at BYU-I. Hmmmm, let me see, what's new. Classes are wrapping up. With only 10 days of actual classes left, the year is rapidly drawing to a close. This year at BYU-I has been really interesting and enlightening in many ways. I've gotten a taste of the college life and know what it means to live on my own. Its tough but also rewarding. Another lesson of the "I" is how to survive in arctic-circle climates! I've also learned a ton about what I enjoy doing (career wise) and what things I should pursue over the course of my education and life.

Before I depart, just a little weather update. The high over the past couple of days hasn't gotten above 20°F, at least to my knowledge…and that's not including the windchill! Biking on snow is tough, but I manage. Certainly my daily 30 mile ride has been drastically reduced to around 5…possibly 10 depending on my mood. Side note: I would LOVE to do some biking over Christmas break. Anyway, all is well here. I love you all and can't wait to come home for Christmas. Thanks for all your love and support.

Yeah, Gmail got an overhaul. The standard gmail interface has gotten a sleeker, trimmer look and (I think) looks more stylish than ever. In addition to the much cooler look, the details view for e-mails is improved. Gmail now includes domain keys (verifies that an e-mail from bobloblaw@yahoo.com was actually mailed from the yahoo.com domain) and a few other miscellaneous enhancements. Also, the reply button is at the top and bottom of the e-mail, and conversations update as soon as you receive an e-mail. Gmail will notify you that the conversation has changed―even if you are in the middle of a reply. Also, Gmail is now available (for those with cool phones) for download at gmail.com/apps. This only works for cell phones, but you basically download a gmail app so you can use more advanced functions of gmail through your phone. You can even open sound and picture attachments!

Yeah, so check it out today by logging in to your gmail account and check out all the new features!

Ok, instead of using my Wake Forest Take Down blog site to tell about the latest breaking WF news, I've decided to just use this blog to keep all my thoughts and such together.

Many people in NC are band-wagon fans. They like whatever school is doing well in whatever sport. For example, a band-wagon fan loves Boston College or Miami during football season (ACC teams only) but can't get enough of Coach K or the UNC tar heels during basketball season. However, very few people are die-hard fans. A die-hard roots for Wake Forest during football, basketball, golf, and chess seasons. I am a die-hard WF fan and have been since 5 or 6. And since I have been 5 or 6, I've been accustomed to cheering for an often loosing team. The other kids at school would rabidly cheer on J.J. Reddick while I would lamely add, "how 'bout Eric Williams?"

However, now that I am away from my beloved NC, WF is going on a rampage. I'm just going to comment on the WF football season. Their current record is 8-1. Do you know the last time WF went 8-1? That would be 1944. Do you know what else? 8 wins ties a school record for most wins in a season. Holy Cow! I've got to say, fate, it would seem, is not without a sense of irony. The first year I move away (and to Idaho of all places) WF has an absolutely record breaking season. WF is ranked 22 in the nation. That's absolutely amazing!

Next, WF just played BC (no 16) and won 21-14. Many people said that WF was having a fluke of a season and that the honeymoon would end with a loss against Boston College. It would appear not so. With an end zone interception, WF kept up the pressure against BC all through the 4th quarter. I'm just in awe of this WF team. It's about time WF got some intercollegiate respect. Is WF number one in the nation? Probably not. Could they beat the no. 1 team in the nation? Possibly. Many people would disagree. They would scoff and say "when the planets align, yes." Well, WF is 8-1 and if they win another game it will be a first in the entire history of Wake Forest University. Now that's saying something.

Who knows where this season will end? I certainly don't know, but its gonna be awesome!

Hey everybody, how’s it going? Yeah, it’s getting kinda late here, but I wanted to make a posting before going to bed. For all parties concerned, I’m posting this article from MS Word 2007. Yeah, what a cool feature. You can register your blog account through MS Word 2007 and then write an article from Word and then post it. How friggin awesome is that? So your typing a journal entry and suddenly you realize you’d like to post it to your blog. And for me, I often post my paper and such on my blog, so this would make that incredibly easy and efficient. Plus my grammar is atrocious, so typing the post with Word will make my articles infinitely more readable.

Anyway, those are just my feelings on the matter. With Word you can also set up a workspace so several people can view and edit a paper as one. Mom, if your writing a family newsletter, you can create a workspace and set it up so certain people can edit certain parts. That way I can edit the section dealing with me while Ethan can only edit his section.

So I’m not completely 2007 (Beta 2) pro, I will say that I have encountered a bug while printing. There’s a simple workaround and I think it’s just with my printer driver/setup. Also, compatibility with previous versions can act up, but only with documents with funky graphics and such. Overall, Office 2007 looks pretty amazing. It has a lot of features missing in any current-gen office software. Check out the beta if you want. Tomorrow’s post will have more day-to-day info., so stay tuned.

Ok, this should be a record short post, but I just found a really interesting article about a cloak (more or less) that bends electromagnetic waves and microwaves (plus visible light) around an object.

Right now, its only partially invisible in 2 dimensions and there is a slight shadow, but the researchers (from Duke Unviersity) said the ultimate goal is invisibility in 3 dimensions with no shadowing.

The basic idea, is that carefully constructed materials can bend light around itself, making it invisible. We see things when light bounces off the object and some of it reflects back to our eyes.

Anyway, check out this article, its pretty interesting.

Hey guys, I'm just dropping a quick note on this one. I installed the rest of the MS Office 2007 apps and one of the ones I tried was Microsoft OneNote (which is like a really beefed-up, super cool version of Google Notebook...it even includes all the cool sharing features plus some new ones). Anyway, I have to write an Ensign article (not really, but that's the premise) about a topic in Alma chapters 13-29. Here are the notes and ideas I've collected thus far. If you happen to have MS OneNote, then use this link.

Anyway, any feedback or cool ideas you have or thoughts to share I would really like. Oh yeah, download MS OneNote...it's really cool, well worth the $1.50 download charge.

Oh yeah, if you're wondering why to download OneNote, a couple of these features might entice you.

• It's just like writing notes in a notebook...anywhere you click the cursor, you can write a note.
• Sharing, you can share/collaborate/anything you want with other OneNote users.
• You can use OneNote to create a picture file from a portion of the screen...see a picture you like inside a flash application and you can't download it...now you can.
• Text recognition from pictures---this makes it super easy to convert text documents or pictures with text in them into actual text.

So yeah, check it out and check out my notes from Alma 13-16. I'll probably publish my notes for the rest of these chapters as well.

Ok guys, I know that I'm a huge procrastinator when it comes to posting. Things have been extremely busy these past few weeks up here at BYU-Idaho. However, once this week is over, things are gonna be niiiiccceee.

First up, quick little dating review. I've officially gone on my 3rd date with Marianne, and I still can't tell for sure if she likes me or not. For my parents, especially mom and dad, I'm not too worried about the girl situation because I know that I'm going on my mission in a year anyway. However, thus far, I've really enjoyed the dates that I've gone on with her...oh yeah, and she's gorgeous. Enough about that though. The girl that hit me with her car (while I was on my bike) happens to be in my ward and the roommate of the girl I usually sit beside in Book Of Mormon. Craziness there ;)

As far as school goes, I got a 94 on my first physics test, which counts for 20% of my grade and I had my world civ presentation today, which counted for 25% of my world civ grade. Let's see what happens there. Also, I have a presentation in Physics on work and motion, etc. this Wednesday. I'm kinda dreading it, but oh well.

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On to other news, like the new Office 2007 Beta. So everyone who knows me that I seem to keep decently current with technology related info. For those of you who don't know, Office 2007 and Windows Vista (the new operating system, like XP) are coming out to consumers early next year (January or February). Also, if you didn't know, you can download both Office 2007 (beta of course) and the 1st release candidate of Vista. I'm a little too timid to download Vista since there could be some major issues with compatibility with my current software, but that means Office 2007 is fair game.

True to Microsoft's word, Office 2007 is a huge improvement over previous versions. 10x shinier, it has that "new software" feel to it. That's not what's most impressive. I have not conducted any tests, but it appears that Office 2007 loads a tad faster than 2003. Another neat feature is the absence of traditional menus. They are gone. Instead is a more streamlined and intuitive interface. It might take users a few minutes to become acquainted to, but it has a lot of new features that are easy to use and understand. Another cool feature is the level of integration. It works better than you imagine it could. One cool example is when inserting a table into PowerPoint. You click the button and in a few seconds your looking at PowerPoint with Excel open right beside of it. It gives you full access to Excel features and as you edit the tables in Excel, it changes the graph in PowerPoint. Its cool.

I haven't tested compatibility with previous versions of office, but I imagine it works smoothly with Office 2003 and Office XP. Its a cool download, although it does cost $1.50. I justify this by saying that I'm downloading a refreshed Beta 2, which is decently close to release software. Office 2007 will cost between $200-$400, and I've got it for $1.50. This should hold me over until I buy a new computer, in which case it'll come bundled anyway.

So yeah, check out the link/title of this post and see if you'd like to try out the Office 2007 beta. It's worth it, or at least I think so.