This just had to be posted

http://artofmanliness.com/2010/12/09/5-lessons-rugby-taught-me-about-fatherhood/

Good stuff, good night.

Sports Aptitude Diagnosis, SAD

After playing some basketball with some friends today and being utterly unable to make anything further than 5-10 ft away.  I decided to re-evaluate the athletic abilities in order from best to worst.

1. Ultimate Frisbee
2. Touch Rugby
3. Soccer
4. Football
5. Racquetball
6. Volleyball
7. Aussie Rules Football
8. Basketball
9. Tennis
10. Bowling
11. Golf
12. Cricket
Pretty much after this point, I'm completely relying on basic athletic skill, and have no reasonable experience or familiarity with the sports, or in some instances, lack a necessary skill (ie skating) in order to be able to participate in these sports.

So that's pretty much it, if it's on that list, I'll probably play, if it's not, I probably will still play, but don't expect much of me.

Manliness

It was a good thanksgiving break. I got quite a bit done of things I needed to do, but I also got some good time in with my family.  Mostly, the time I spent with them was good, there wasn't actually a lot of it.  But amongst every, I was reminded somewhere amongst all the taking care of things around the house in Provo, and being ready for the storm, that my Dad really did teach me a lot of manly skills.  I'm really grateful for it, because they've helped me out on numerous occasions. But there is more to being manly than just handy man skills, there is a great website called The Art of Manliness that often has information all types of this stuff.  This recent post reminded me of something else I saw while I was at home.  The poem the Man in the Glass:

When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world crowns you king for a day,
Just go to the mirror and take a look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.

For it isn't your Father or Mother or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass,
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.


Some people might think you're a straight-shooting chum
And call you a wonderful guy.
But the man in the glass says you're only a bum
If you can't look him straight in the eye.

He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest,
For he's with you clear to the end
And you've passed your most dangerous test, if the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool all the world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass
but your final reward will be heartache and tears
if you've cheated the man in the glass.

-Unknown

I can still almost recite that poem.  It was first shown to me by my brother who was given it from the track coach. A coach I later had myself.  While that coach may not have been the most stellar example of all gospel principles, he certainly gave a good example in a lot of aspects of life.  A bunch of great talks on charity today, taught me how much good there is to look for and see in other people. I hope to develop more of the attributes of manliness I see in those around me, and I also hope to be an example to those around me.  Although, for now, I feel like I pass the test, I've always done my best, and though if I could I would make different decisions, I've always made the best decisions I could with the understanding and experience I've had at the time.

Ultimately, though, this is the true manliness I aspire to, and the man in the glass I want to see is Jesus Christ:
 Moroni 7:48
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

But for now, I'll have to be content with what I have, because as Paul talks about comparing now to that time that we will meet the saviour:
 1 Corinthians 13:12
 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

?

I'm not sure why I'm up, I've been doing better-ish about sleeping normal hours.  I've gotten a lot done, I'm keeping up with my goals, and needs.  At least, my chart tracking them says so, there is a lot of uncertainty in the future, and I'll be flat out busy to some degree for the rest of the year, but I'm okay with that.  I just feel like I'm missing something, and I'm not sure what or why.  Unfortunately, I don't like unanswered questions.

The other football

Today, I went and watched the BYU women's rugby game.  It was interesting to watch to say the least.  It's funny cause it's the same rules as men's rugby, but it plays quite a bit differently.  Almost like how men's and women's soccer turn out quite different.  It's still definitely a great sport no matter who is playing it.

Then we got a bunch of people together to play some pre-thanksgiving football.  It was fun, although it just reinforces to me why rugby is so much more fun.  In football, you run and run and run, and usually have no influence on the play.  It all depends on the quarterback to throw you the ball, while in rugby, at least touch rugby, you get to be as involved in the play as you put the effort in for.  It turns into some great fun.  Sadly, it's hard to get people to play, and admittedly it's frustrating for the first bit of learning, but mostly just because you haven't grown up with it in most cases.

Unfortunately, waking up early, and a few other late nights, resulted in me being basically asleep the rest of the afternoon, and missing out on some friend's things. :(

In other news, I'm getting old, and it definitely takes more effort to stay in shape, and recovery is slightly more painful.  The good news is that I"m still in good cardio shape. 55 bpm heart rate even still.

Life is good, and I'm looking forward to slowly sharing with people the glory of rugby.

Top Ten

As much as I love the other topics... (except for zucchini bread, not that good )

The top ten things I'm thankful for sounds like a good idea.

10.  Fire and guns
9.  Modern conveniences
8.  Outdoors
7.  Athletics
6.  knowledge and intelligence
5.  My friends
4.  My trials
3.  The education I have
2.  The gospel
1.  My family, all of them

maybe I'll do a funnier one sometime.  Cause, there a lot of funny things I'm thankful for.

Topics?

I'm feeling like it's time for a blog post, but honestly, I'm not sure what to post about.  I'll accept whatever topic is proposed that I find the most interesting.

Those Boys

I got to spend a good part of the afternoon playing with my wonderful nephews.  They're so much fun.  I'm always a little sad when I leave.  We spent a good amount of time chasing each other, and hiding, and getting each other like dinosaurs and running around.  The older brother was so cute playing with his 9 month old brother.  And the 9 month old LOVED playing with his brother and chasing him around as much as he can while crawling.  At one point he was biting him.  So much fun.  I just love those little boys SO much.

Not to wax philosophical all the time, but it reminds me of something that I was thinking about a week or two ago, that and waxing philosophical is what I do.  I was up at my grandpa's farm doing some concrete work, and I couldn't sleep.  There's been so much stress in my life lately, it's not all that unbelievable.  But somewhere in my ponderings of my failings, and my struggles, and repenting of my weaknesses, I caught a glimpse, only the faintest glimpse, of what our Heavenly Father feels for all of us.  I'm somehow a sweet little boy to Him. It was really overwhelming to be honest.  It also really helped to renew me.  Although, I'm not sure what's going to happen with all the plans I have in life, and things should hopefully begin to unfold soon on some fronts.  I know what I'm really looking for, and it's worth more than anything the world can offer.

The Greenwashing Revolution

As many of you now know, we're currently in the middle of the so-called green revolution.  I say so-called, because I believe that it is dubious to say that any of the current methods of most greenies are even close to effective.  Rant at me if you will, but for the most part, it is optimistic hooplah on unproven and so far incapable technologies and systems.

A clear example of this in my mind is the mighty Prius.  Almost the symbol of this revolution with it's .29 drag coefficient that is so bragged about, compared to... what...a .30 drag coefficient, hardly worth mentioning.  But that's the least of my concerns.  The real concern lies at the heart of that little machine.  The battery.  That Prius is totally incapable of being mass produced for less that it currently costs.  In fact, it and any other electric vehicle will increase in price if produced for the general consumer.  Why?  the materials that are available for these purposes are in fixed supply, a very fixed supply, and increasing demand is only going to make prices double/triple/quadruple.  It's basic economics. If you think technological increases are going to save it, you are mistaken, 96% of the costs of these batteries is in said rare raw materials. 

Besides, the only advantages of the technology are regenerative braking (helps in stop in go traffic) ability to turn off when idle, and high efficiency at low rpm (ie starting moving) of electric motors)  Steady state on the freeway, you're just driving a normal car buddy.

Just go buy a turbo-diesel and get better mileage anyway.

Follow this up with what currently is my second favorite mockery of the intelligence of the human race.  The Windturbine.  Sure it's cheap easy electricity...but your as much at it's mercy as 16th century sailors were to the doldrums.  So you've got a 1.21 gigawatts of capacity, that is generating... let's see 0 Watts. What a great way to step into the 21st century, by jumping back 4 centuries...
 I get's worse, most of what is "generated" by wind turbines isn't actually used anyway, because they never power down the base-load station just because the wind picked up a couple mph's.  Seriously, I think wind can have a big effect on our energy security, but not for generating electricity on demand for the grid.  Not unless a sufficiently good storage technology comes along...and, oh wait most high tech batteries are out (if you don't understand why, you should probably just stop reading and start over again).  Lead-acid batteries, although not ideal, could do at least part of the trick, but ironically are not "green" enough.

Which brings me to my last thought, who chooses to spend money on this stuff anyway... oh yeah politicians, who really have no business making these decisions.  Or alternatively self-interested and clever scientists who are more interested in preserving their jobs through government funding than doing actual work to benefit society.

My Solution:
Jeremy for President 2030

Scratch that, Jeremy-- Dictator-for-Life...whenever I get around to it. ;)

In all honesty, I don't care for the tea-party movement or a lot that junk, but I sincerely think the world needs help, environmentally, morally, socially, economically, pretty much all around the board.  Unfortunately, too many people are content to check out and let things go on because they don't know any better.  Don't be those people.

A good succinct version of what I looked through the data myself for:
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/09/alice-in-evland-six-impossible-things?cmpid=rss

The wind stuff... I'll get around to posting stuff that I looked up on that sometime, if you come up with some good info let me know, I'd be happy to see it.

Star Wars vs. Star Trek

Various things on my mind lately resulted in this.

A brief synopsis of the train of thought is this.

Lots to do, need to focus
Translate-Stay on Target
which leads to this:



after following the mental equivalent of a pretzel, led to this:



Is it nerdy?
Yes
Is it ridiculous that a train of thought of focus led to this?
Yes
Do I regret any of it?
Absolutely not
:)

Uncovering the Book of the Left

Tomorrow is regional conference and I'm quite excited for it.  Unfortunately, leadership meeting is about 4 hours from now and I've only moderately slept.  oh well, such is my life.

The amusing thing is I decided to look through my old missionary notes from meetings in order to sort of mentally prepare myself.  I really could have been doing better with my gospel studies considering the free time I have.  There are a lot of really good things in those notes.  It made me happy to read them.  But the funniest thing is on the last page I have a whole bunch of what looks like a kindergartner's handwriting of the alphabet.

It is:

The Book of the Left

I hadn't really forgotten I'd done this, but it was really funny to see.  It was when one very boring P-day with nothing to do out in the middle of nowhere's nowhere.  I practiced writing with my left hand.  It was interesting as an understatement and left me with a headache worse than the first time I learned calculus or quantum mechanics.  I did ultimately do it a few more times I think in my daily planners.  All things considered, it isn't that bad of handwriting... at least in comparison to my dominate hand.

Odd I know, but then... it's me so what would you expect

Life and Lessons

Psalms 119:105-- Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path

“I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way."

Minnie Louise Haskins “The Gate of the Year,” The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 2nd ed. (1953), 239 

Elder Boyd K. Packer said: 

“Shortly after I was called as a General Authority, I went to Elder Harold B. Lee for counsel. He listened very carefully to my problem and suggested that I see President David O. McKay. President McKay counseled me as to the direction I should go. I was very willing to be obedient but saw no way possible for me to do as he counseled me to do.

“I returned to Elder Lee and told him that I saw no way to move in the direction I was counseled to go. He said, ‘The trouble with you is you want to see the end from the beginning.’ I replied that I would like to see at least a step or two ahead. Then came the lesson of a lifetime: ‘You must learn to walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness; then the light will appear and show the way before you’ ” (“The Edge of the Light,” BYU Today, Mar. 1991, 22–23)

The Savior said:

I am the light and the life of the world. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end (3 Ne 9:18)

School's Out Forever...?

So, it appears that this may be in fact for the first time in nigh unto 20 years, that I will not be starting school in the Fall.  Yes, for other than the two years I spent as a missionary, which most certainly was not a break, I have been in school since kindergarten.  It is really an interesting feeling to not be prepping madly for classes, organizing binders and notebooks, buying books and other school supplies.  No, in fact the real challenge is watching all my friends do so, and not be doing the same.

This is in many ways good.  I'm not a very emotional person, and I don't think it ever really registered mentally the stress that school put on my system.  It really probably only registered in my body.  Let me tell you, my body is excited to not have to deal with school again.  No more long hours and late nights studying.  No being demanded to run in peak condition for much longer than it should.  No, for now, i can run until I am weary then rest, and begin again.

That's not to say there won't be demands placed on my mind and body.  But nowhere near the former 60+ hours a week of schooling and working that tended to be necessary.

Sometime, hopefully soon, I'll be back in school, but I'm glad to have at least one fall semester off

ASICS

I've spent a fair amount of time in life running.  I suppose in many ways I really enjoy running, but usually only once I've started doing it.  That's because before I go running it's easiest to remember the pain and suffering that will result from going running.  My problem with running is I either push myself to the extreme or don't push myself at all. The other reason I don't often go running, is that I play plenty of sports to keep myself active and healthy.  And yes, Ultimate frisbee is a sport, and it does involve lots of running, even if soccer involves more and is better.

There is an important part of running, and that is shoes.  Most runners take their shoes, VERY seriously.  I personally like Saucony, I have a pair or two that have lasted me a very long while and they fit very comfortably.  But another pair of shoes I recommend to people is ASICS.  Both are quite good shoes and very long lasting.  It's a matter of foot shape to me which one people prefer.  The reason the shoe is so important though, is because that's were you interact with the ground.  Without good shoes, you slip, or hit the ground too hard, or your feet aren't comfortable, basically, you're not as effective as you could be.

The reason this post is called ASICS though, even though I prefer Saucony?  The name of the company "ASICS" is an acronym of the Latin phrase "anima sana in corpore sano" which translates to "a sound mind in a sound body".  This phrase conveys something I feel I've learned fairly well over the past few years.  It's that to put it in scriptural terms, "spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy" (D&C 93:33)  It truly is a marvel that we have our bodies, to use to interact with the wonderful world.  That we are not just mental or spiritual beings, nor are we just physical beings, we are a  combination of both.  The body enabling the mind and/or spirit to act and do things it would otherwise be unable to do.  I love the feeling of strength that comes from exercise or building things.  I may not have the world's greatest body (shocking I know, close though), but it is good enough to do so many things, and for that I am thankful.  Now, to let it rest before I go and push the mind and body again.

PS Yes this post has random comments unrelated to what's going on.  Welcome to my thought process.

Graduating... isn't about time?

Still working on the final details of graduating.  That and finding a real job or a graduate school to go to.  At this point I'm not very picky, although I most certainly will be going to grad school as soon as possible.

Education

As my formal education winds down in the next few weeks, I've been pondering the privileges and opportunities I've had as a student.  I can honestly say, I've learned a lot.  A lot about the world around me and how it runs in particular.  I've been reminded of many things about history and the arts that I'd learned once upon a time.  Ultimately, I've learned a lot about myself.  Although, that is still very much a work in progress, along with the rest of my education.  Hopefully though, the road will have fewer detours than it seems to have had up to this point...



Something that has recently struck me though, is the example of my professors.  As I've had to run around to various professors and departments to deal with paper work to allow me to graduate, I've noticed the sincerity and goodness in the men who have been my instructors over the course of my Chemical Engineering career.  They are not perfect, but they are in my opinion some of the best representations of what men of God should be.  Men who stand in the world, and do their best to make everyone and everything around them better.  It definitely has given me something more to aim for.  In addition, it's made me appreciate more my father.  He, like me, has his flaws, but his heart is always in the right place.  Not to mention as I've learned more secularly, I've come to understand how much more he knows about so many subjects, and that he is in fact one of the few geniuses I've been able to know, and fortunately for me has been helping me to grow my whole life.  For which, I am incredibly grateful.

Of course, none of these people started out this way, they step by step, line upon line, grew in knowledge and stature, and favor with God, just as our Lord and Savior did.  This concept, more than any other gives me the thing I need most in life, hope, and along with it faith.  I know someday, if I keep pursuing the course that I currently am, I will someday be the man I hope to be, and the man I want and need to be. 

Guns, babes, and miracles

I think this song and youtube video are awesome.  It was something my dad sent to me.  Guns are fun, and I also like guns.  I think it would be fun to collect them. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TC2xTCb_GU&feature=player_embedded






In other news, I have adorable nephews.  They are both so cute.  I babysat them Friday and it was exhausting, but cuddling with each of them felt so good.  I have so much respect for what mothers do.

 Plus, aren't they both dang cute.  Holding them made me feel part of what I'm sure fathers feel for their children.  Which led me to think about life and my Heavenly Father.


This reaffirmed my testimony that there are miracles in life.  Evidence of this fact is that, I will baring strange events, graduate this spring.  It's been an interesting road, and it has taken some mental effort to stick with it.  Mental effort that I never would have suspected would be required of me.  Not in obtaining an education at least.  However, I'm grateful for the many other things I've learned and expreinced and grown because of the trials I've faced.

Meaning of Life, the Universe, and sleep deprived test taking.

This past week was the week that most people at school have been taking finals, or studying for them.  I on the other hand have been doing essentially neither.  I wrapped up a few presentations early in the week, took a low stress oral exam, and oh yeah, I almost forgot again, an easy final for my class (I almost forgot the day of... oops).  This has contributed much to catching up on other neglected tasks in life.  Ironically, all the freedom has had me so excited that I've had a hard time sleeping a few days.  One day, I even just wandered outside at 2 am to look at the stars.  The stars and universe are pretty dang amazing when you look at it.  It made me happy inside.  A good feeling

Continuing on with the big thing for the week though, I took the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, or FE.  So, in effect, I paid $150 to go take a test at 7 am on a saturday for 8 hours!  EWWWW.  This test isn't particularly hard and is one of the first steps in becoming a licensed professional engineer (my brother took the PE exam this week).  Oddly enough, Chemical engineers don't tend to need this license, but it'll be good to have should I ever need it.  Remember how I said this test isn't that hard, well it's true... as long as you've studied every type of engineering... civil, electrical, mechanical, and actually, the chemical engineering components are pretty easy (or too irrelevant for general engineers to need to know).  So in the middle of this test I found myself trying to understand, moments of inertia of beams, maximum stresses, and other things.  The wonderful part... I'd only slept about 3 hours the night before, just because I was nervous I suppose.  A lot of other guys must have been feeling the stress too, because by the end of 8 hours... that room STANK.  HORRIBLY.

In contrast to that stinkiness though, I feel the test went rather well. We'll see in a few months how I did.
Now though, I'm on my way to being done with my undergraduate career forever. Summer, you are mine! WAHOO!

The Art of MacGyverness

All of you should want to at least in some way, be more like this man:

That's right, MacGvyer, the guy that can build whatever you need from whatever happens to be lying around.
I may not yet be Batman, but I'm sure dang close to already being MacGyver.  In fact, watching MacGyver as a child may have been a motivating factor in becoming who I am (a geek that builds stuff).

The reason I bring this up, is today, I employed my MacGyver skills to repair my punctured car tire.  Fortunately I have on hand several quarts of rubber cement (don't ask why) which has proved useful on many occasion.  So I was able to saturate a small bit of paper with the glue and shove it down the hole.  Unfortunately, or maybe cause I'm lazy in a dumb way, I had to pump it up with a bike pump.  Which is as you can imagine, a lot of work.  Either way, my tire works, and saved me having to go buy (for now) an actual tire repair kit ($8).  But what if the situation had happened somewhere else... well, I'm glad to know I've got the MacGyver I need in me.

If you prep your inner MacGyver you can do some of the following too:

wire a DVD player to a TV with baling wire
fix a dryer motor with bacon grease
use a paper clip to create a weapon of mass desctruction
build a swamp cooler out of a trash can and a fan
work the most awesome mullet of the 80's, but then again... that should probably stay in the 80's

if by chance you need MacGyver's 6 seasons of instructional videoes, feel free to ask me to borrow some, cause I love spreading the power of MacGyver

Menace to Society

It's now been a few months since I'm become what in Mormon culture is jokingly known as a "menace to society." Meaning, I'm 25 and not married.  Now, until recently I haven't particularly felt any different.  I'm still looking to date and hopefully get married eventually, and spending most and/or way to much of my time in school.  Nothing particularly changed at 25

But, looking ahead, I can see it will be short order before I may become a legitimate bonifide menace to society.

What's the difference?  A job... with a salary... and free time.

What to do with those...?

I know, how about this:

http://www.tanksforsale.co.uk/T72_tanks_for_sale_page.htm

It seems too good to pass up, I mean, my OWN TANK.  While I'm at it, I'll probably start buying parts for my own machine shop, and working on secret projects.  Building armor, debilitating weapons, awesome spy gear and devote myself to a life of fighting crime and terrorists.

So, in a relatively short time, I'll go from mild mannered Jeremy, to yeah, Batman. 

I know on some levels, most of me thinks "awesome".  Indeed, it probably is awesome as a second choice, but the first choice of having a wife and kids = much more awesome.  Which is why I probably will somehow restrain my desire for a tank and toys, because, let's face it, Bruce Wayne doesn't have the best luck with women, and that's why I'd be in that situation in the first place.

But what a fun dream...

Life is good

After having spent the weekend with the simultaneous joys of conference, and pains of probable food poisoning.  I came to a more clear and firm decision.  Life is good.  In spite of hardships, the joys of life are incomparable.  The contrast and coexistence of the two states helped made that very clear.

The fun result, is I now feel fully justified and saying life is good regardless of what trials are going on in life.  I have always been generally what I feel is an optimistic person.  Even during bad days, life is good, nothing has ever been so bad that my outlook could really be negative.  Although stressful, I've always had faith that if I do my best, things will work out, and if they don't work out like I'd like, then it wasn't meant to be, so why worry.  So responding life is good in such times, always felt like I was hiding something, even though that's how I felt.  It's like acknowledging the difference between understanding a test IS hard, and that a test was easy for ME.  Life may be hard, but I feel up for it, so it's good.

So how's life for you?

Mission Reunion

It's that time of year, right before conference, when mission reunions are held.  I have the fortunate pleasure of having my mission president live in Orem.  In fact he teaches at BYU.  So along with the others from my mission, I can see him fairly often.  That being said, I usually don't see them much, so it's  always good to see those men that I had the privilege of serving with and be able to catch up on how they're doing in life.

However, better than be able to catch up with them though, was the spiritual rejuvenation, and reminders of my purpose and mission in life.  I'd noticed recently that I haven't been progressing spiritually like I'd like to be.  So it was really good to sit with my fellow Brethren (and their wives, there were sisters in my mission, but they almost all were from the Polynesian islands) and feel the spirit, and share and rejoice in the gospel together just like zone conferences in the mission.

More interestingly and something that happened during the mission as well.  Prior to zone conference the spirit would whisper to me what I should study to be prepared.  I was grateful to have those promptings to once again prepare me to hear the things I needed to hear.

Ultimately, I'm grateful for the strength Gospel of Jesus Christ gives, and brings into my life, and the knowledge that he did not send us here to fail, rather he prepared us from the foundation of the world and we are ready for what is required of us in life.

Know it all

Knowing everything is somewhat of a joking goal I have for life. I mean really, I don't expect that I'll be able to know everything. Not in this life at least. But, there are SO many interesting things to know, and most of them help make me a better person. However, as studying economics has shown, there is an opportunity cost for everything. Although I may have learned many things in the hours I've spent clicking through the vast stores of information on the web. There are other things I've missed out on. What experiences could I have had with that time, what people could I have met that I've now forever missed out on? I don't know. Ah, and there is the problem...

The Reader Beware

If you're reading this blog, I assume this means you know me. However, I think few of you ever get more than a rare glimpse into the things my mind ponders. I make no real apologies for the strange nature of the methods and subjects of my pondering. If you don't know me, you may be even more surprised at how my mind works.

You have been warned