Holiday Report Teaser

So, I'm sitting in the Denver International Airport right now on my way to SeaTac and then a scenic drive down to the greater Portland area.  I didn't get patted down this morning and I didn't get naked photos of myself leaked to the net...I feel a little let down by my friendly neighborhood TSA agent, or is the photo thing like the paparazzi, hiding in the airport security...bushes...?  Did it happen without me even knowing?  I guess someone who watches TMZ or similar shows will just have to keep me informed on the "Gary Bunker streaks through airport" story if/when it breaks.

Airport food is expensive.  Airport food is gross.  I've decided against purchasing airport food.

I feel like such a high-tech traveler with my laptop out accessing the airport's WiFi.  The fact that this makes me feel special proves I am a dork.  I know it was already official, but what's better than proof?  More proof. 

At the beginning of this trip I'd never actually seen someone use the barf bag on an airplane before, I realize they are probably very discrete about it and don't announce to the world when they are about to blow chunks.  But I've been on a good number of airplanes, all of them had barf bags, so I wondered where the market for those things was.  This morning that all changed.  Thank you person in 16B  for laying my questions to rest (I was in 16C just fyi). 

As promised this is a Holiday Report Teaser.  So here goes...Chicago Deepdish, Sketchy Whitecastle, the Ole Kansas Homestead, Several wardrobe additions by my fashion consultants, Saying no to gross airport food,  Seattle, Portland, Snowboarding, and more!!!  Be ready world, when this monthlong adventure that we at Butler call Christmas break is over, it should make for some good story material.  Maybe not the stuff of legend...but Maybe the stuff of legend! 

Til then, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, a Festivious Festivus, Happy Hanukkah, Kool Kwanza, and Happy Holiday to everyone.    

God Bless Us, Everyone!

It's that time of year again.  And seeing as it is my first Christmas with a blog, I'm super excited to do a Christmas blog post!  Christmas is and always has been one of my favorite times of year.  First off (I'll say it) it's nice to get presents.  I feel like we sometimes avoid saying that for fear of appearing shallow or something along those lines.  Sometimes it's nice to receive nice things and not to have to do much of anything to receive them.  However, I will agree with the generally held sentiment that that is but one aspect of the holiday and far from the most important.

On the flip side, more than receiving gifts, I absolutely LOVE giving gifts at Christmas.  I remember being a little more excited at my siblings opening the gifts I got for them than the other way around.  I think that is what they are getting at with the old cliche, "tis better to give than to receive."  There is a certain joy that comes from seeing that your efforts on someone else's behalf have been worth it, and that they are grateful for those efforts.  I feel that joy whenever I give something to someone else that I care about. 

I also love Christmas carols.  I think my current playlist on the old blog should make that abundantly clear.  I think that has to do with the themes of Christmas songs.  Obviously, the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ, is the first big theme.  I'll get into that more later on.  Giving and receiving gifts, see above.  Spending time with family and  friends, when you've got friends and family like mine this is always something to look forward to.  Santa Claus, how could you not like a jolly old man who brings toys for kids and provides job opportunities for the largest elf demographic on the planet?  My point being, the themes of the vast majority of Christmas songs are either grateful, hopeful, or something else uplifting.  They make you think happy thoughts, and that is why I love Christmas songs.  As a side note, I understand not wanting to hear them all year long, but to those who have an aversion for Christmas songs before Thanksgiving, I say to you, where are all the Thanksgiving carols?  Until you can answer that mystery, I say "jingle all the way" through November and December! 

Another great thing about Christmas time, at least at this point in my life, is no homework!  It is so nice to wake up each day during the break without being stressed about the next paper, exam, presentation, you get the idea.  I think my fellow students will agree, after that last final exam one of the best things about the Christmas break is just soaking up the freedom and doing whatever it is you normally do while procrastinating school work...but doing it completely guilt-free.  For me that is watching sports and playing video games.  I'm sure you've all got your own favorite activities, but I have to think that the no-guilt feeling is mutual. 

Finally, I told you I would get back to it, Christmas is the time that we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  Whatever your religious persuasion may be, you must admit that with all that has been written of Christ he must have led a pretty amazing life.  Someone like that is an example and an inspiration of how we should treat others.  For me the conviction runs deeper.  I truly do feel that Christ is my Savior and the Savior of the world.  I am so grateful that so many people take this time of year to celebrate His birth and the beginning of His earthly mission.  The teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ bless my life continually, and I am grateful to have a knowledge of his divine role in the plan of happiness for all of God's children.  The title of this post quotes the words of Tiny Tim in Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  "God bless us, everyone."  In so many ways He already has by sending us His only begotten son.  May God bless you and everyone at this Christmas season!   

Music on the Blog!

So, there is now a playlist on the blog...we'll try to make a preemptive strike here and answer some questions that could possibly be asked about it...

Yes, Ian, I did steal the idea of having a playlist from your blog, just remember, mimickry is the sincerest form of flattery. 

Yes, there are two country songs on the list, now you know two of the five that I actually enjoy listening to.

Yes, there is a rap song on the list.  There are a few more than five that I will admit to liking, there are probably less than five that I felt were appropriate for all audiences (trying to keep the blog PG or at least a questionable PG-13).

Yes it seems like a very random jumble of different songs and genres, I prefer just to say that my tastes in music are very eclectic...another example of how word choice helps you put the right spin on a statement.  Some others:  "It's not you, it's me..."(is it?), "I did not have sexual relations with that woman..." (so much for the PG), "Yes we did!" (uh-huh, did what exactly?), "no offense, but...[fill in offensive statement here]" and the closely related "[fill in offensive statement here], I'm just saying...".  So in order to put the right spin on how I'm feeling right now and  to once more mimick...or should I say flatter? you Ian, let me just sum up this post by saying, "Damn it feels good to be a gangster!"

DC, Thanksgiving, and other random thoughts.

My fans have been clamouring for it, my followers have been waiting in tense anticipation, I've been thinking it's about time for it as well.  Okay, so only one of those is true, I'll let you be the judge of which one.  But, yes, I am a firm believer in giving the people what they want, so for the sake of the masses of my adoring readers, it is time for another post. 

So I drove out to Washington DC to visit my brother, Kyle, and his wife, Janae, for Thanksgiving.  It took about nine and a half hours each way, but for me it was well worth the drive.  The first few days I was out there I spent time catching up with friends who are out there for school/work/or just because who would be heading home later in the week for Thanksgiving.  (Oh, yeah, Butler gave us a whole week off for the break, so I drove out the Saturday before.)  My sister-in-law took me to see the zoo.  I really liked that, what can I say? there is a reason I chose biology as a major.  I also saw most all of the monuments that one must see while there.  I went to a couple of Smithsonian institutes that looked really interesting too.  My favorites were probably the night tour that included the Lincoln, FDR, and Jefferson, as well as the Korean War Memorials. 

 A couple days later I hit the other big ones, WWII, Vietnam War, Washington, as well as going by the Capitol and the White House.  The amazing thing about DC is that while I hit the major "must-see" sites, I could go back, and fill another couple of weeks with really cool attractions and never hit the same one twice.  Wednesday night, we had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with Kyle and Janae's friends Jeff and Trina who are in their ward and live not too far away.  We had brisket, which was outstanding, as well as salad, potatoes, desserts, etc.  Just stretching the stomachs for the main event, you know! 

One of the coolest parts of the week for me was the turkey bowl we played Thanksgiving morning.  Now, I've had my fair share of turkey bowls, and I love football, so they are usually pretty awesome in my mind.  However, this one beat them all because not only were we playing football, we did it on the National Mall, in the shadow of the Washington Monument.  That was pretty sweet.  It was kinda funny to see all of the Asian tourists A.) walk through the middle of our game, probably not realizing they were on our playing field and B.)take our picture, maybe they will tell the story over and over until the details get embellished enough that we weren't just random people playing a pickup football game, but that we were NFL stars who just happened to be on the Mall playing when they strolled by...  (They were about the only ones out looking at sites that day, due to the Holiday that most of the Americans in town were busy getting ready for.)  Thanksgiving dinner was great.  We went to another couples' house that Kyle and Janae know, Jeff and Trina and their baby Xander(sp?) came too.  Plenty to eat and a big screen with football on is the equation for a great turkey day, in my opinion.  Now, almost as fast as it came, the break has passed and it's time for a very hectic couple of weeks to wind down the first semester of pharmacy school.  A round of "Clusters" at the end of this week, so 4 tests in a 3 day span, a 4-page paper due tomorrow (no I have not written it yet, and yes, I am procrastinating it to write this post instead), and then just one more week of class after that before finals week.  It'll be a blur, but at the end I get to watch Butler take on Stanford here in the Hinkle Fieldhouse then I get to go home, so I'm looking forward to it all!  Anyway, that's the news from Indianapolis, Indiana, my new hometown, where all the bulldogs are butler blue, the tests come in clusters, and all my final exam grades are (hopefully) above average.  (Any Garrison Keillor fans out there???)         

So, as you may or may not know, I'm living in the "Hoosier State" of Indiana now.  Well, today I got my first taste of Butler Bulldog basketball.  It was just an exhibition, so I'm sure later this winter it'll be even better, and today was pretty good so I'm excited.  They took a few minutes to get going in the first half, but after halftime the lead went to twenty and didn't get much smaller the rest of the game.  Also, quick history lesson for the unaware, The Hinkle Fieldhouse is where they filmed the movie "Hoosiers".  "Hoosiers" is one of my favorites movies ever, so to be where they filmed the final in the movie was way cool!  It's a really cool venue.  I'm really looking forward to watching a lot of games there the next few years. 

So, being here is also my first real taste of the Midwest.  This week I also got an introduction to another part of life in this part of the country.  To set the scene, Tuesday morning I got dressed to go to class.  It looked overcast outside so I grabbed a jacket before heading out the door.  When I got outside it must have been close to 80 degrees.  By the time I got to class the jacket was off.  As I was approaching the building the wind started picking up.  It was blowing like crazy by the time I got through the door.  20 minutes into class the siren started going off, and just like that I was in my first tornado warning.  We had to go sit in the basement for the next 40 minutes.  That was about it.  No "Twister" moments.  No chasing storm cells in RVs.  Pretty bland I know, but I'd never been in a tornado warning before, so it was interesting.  Anyway, this next weekend is our white coat ceremony.  I didn't even know that we had one before orientation.  I'm looking forward to the pictures.  As for the ceremony itself, I'm more looking forward to the one at the end of the next four years.  Like I said, the pictures should be good, as long as there isn't another tornado warning going on.     

I don't think we're in Provo any more, Toto...

So, since enough pageviews have happened since my first post I figure it's worth writing things on the blog.  "I just want to thank all of my readers who made the first day of this blog a success..."  Anyway, the biggest change in life for me lately has been the move from ultra-conservative Provo, UT and BYU to Indianapolis, IN and the liberal arts college atmosphere of Butler University.  Without further ado, I give you the top ten ways you know you aren't in Provo anymore:

10. An 8 minute walk on campus went from standard practice to something I hear people complain about.
9.  There is a girl smoking two steps outside the residence hall door as I move my things in.
8.   Lavell Edwards Stadium(Provo) seats 64,045; the Butler Bowl (Indy) seats 5,647.
7.  "Wet Wednesdays"
6.  One of my professors (male) has a life partner (also male).
5.   "Thirsty Thursdays"
4.  Homecoming Saturday included a 6:00 AM trip to the bars in Broad Ripple, apparently the normal weekend drinking isn't enough on Homecoming, so they squeeze in a little bit more in the morning to get things going...
3.  Fraternities...nuff said
2.  Sororities...nuff said plus sometimes they find reasons to dress like skanks
1.  Our Basketball team actually wins tournament games.  GO DAWGS!!!

First Post

So I now have a blog. I realize I'm way behind the curve here, but with technology, that is just what I do. I didn't own a cell phone until I went back to school after serving a two year church mission. The mission was from 2003-2005, I went back to school that Fall. And even then I wouldn't have had a cell phone unless my parents decided to get a family plan and gave me one of the phones on it for free. I didn't own an Ipod until I decided to get one as my graduation gift from BYU. Once again, thanks mom and dad, if they hadn't been in the gift-giving mood at my college graduation I probably still wouldn't own one of those either. My first laptop computer (on which I am coincidentally writing this post) came at the beginning of my pharmacy program. It is a built in part of the program, hence I got one. Again, if not for the outside influence I probably still wouldn't own one. So for those keeping score that's: First cell phone-2005, from parents; first Ipod-2009, from parents, and first laptop-2010, from graduate program. I guess in finally starting a blog, I actually decided to do it of my own free will, rather than someone saying, "here, I set up a blog for you, get with the times", so I am starting to discover technology advances and trends for myself a little bit. And thus begins my blog...