Chilling with my Peeps

This whole being graduated thing is interesting. Although, I'd seriously like to have a better idea of what I'm going to be doing in my future, I'm going to have to say I'm enjoying the new stage in life, mostly.

I've had plenty of time to spend working on personal stuff, hanging out with friends, and doing mostly what I want to do.  But, having spent many of the nights this week hanging out with my friends who are either married, or engaged, I have to say, I don't want to spend the rest of my life in this stage, and actually, it'd be nice if this stage ended sooner rather than later.  Side note, it was great to hang out with all my buddies that I don't get to see very often. I've been able to have some great friends over the years.

Just because I can, I have to say, that I got to play with my nephews today, they're pretty much the greatest little boys on the face of the planet.  I told Max it was nap time, and the 1 year old walked up the stairs, shut the door behind me after I followed him into his room, and then looked at me and asked to be picked up, after I put him in his crib and tucked him in, the little boy gave me the nod, like yeah, I'm good. SO cute, and so funny.  And his older brother is just as cute and funny.

One other big topic on the stage of life things that seems to be a consensus from my friends, it's dang hard to meet people. I try, but I think I'm at my wits end. So far doing what I do doesn't tend to yield many prospects. So, any suggestions would be at least useful.

:)

So, after having stake conference with Elder Ballard and Elder Worthen, I feel spiritually renewed, and this talk by the mission president of my mission that came in just after I left, it just seemed like a good thing to share for anyone anywhere.

http://devotional.byuh.edu/script/thy-confidence-shall-wax-strong-presence-god

I'll post more later

Running the Numbers

Just throwing out some numbers I was looking at a little while ago, something to do with how much US cell phone companies are obviously colluding and riping off customers.

Cost of Cell phone tower = ~ $300,000
Number of simultaneous users per tower = ~ 2000
High for expected user tower usage= 15%
Tower can then hold 16000 subscribers
Tower operating costs $30,000/year
average costs collected from subscribers a tower can hold= $9.6 million or $9,600,000 in revenue
or even if tower only has as many subscribers as max users $1.2 million in revenue
Case of Verizon
Revenue from wireless ~11.1 BILLION
among ~80 MILLION customers
total company operating costs 3.4 billion (out of 94 in revenue)
enough to buy 19,000 new towers a year after subtracting operating costs and overhead
area covered by a tower at minimum expected range  (2 mi ) is enough to cover 3% of the US a year whereas at the expected distances of rural areas, it is enough to cover the entire nation with signal in a year.

These numbers may be rough, and maybe there are some errors, but add in the fact that other countries pay 1/5 what we do for cell service, something sure smells fishy.

Why? ... okay, Why? ... really, Why?

A recent conversation with a friend triggered something in my head. Part of what makes me who I am, is that I am incessantly asking the question "why?"  I'm like that little kid that every time you give them an answer they ask why again.  I think I only give the courtesy of reprieve because I'm processing the answers I get, and at least some acknowledgement of how annoying being asked why over and over again is.  But ultimately, along every line of questions I come to a question that just can't be answered.  At least not yet

Much like one of my favorite videos asking: "What are birds?"


Of course, we just don't know.

In any case, I'll get all my answers eventually, I keep looking, I keep trying, I keep working at it.  I just need to remember why I'm doing it.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year,

I'm not the sentimental type, but last year was good, hopefully this year will work it's way out.  Also, I'm trying to come up with a good way of referencing 2011, I'm thinking elevensies, kind of like what they say in Lord of the Rings.  I know it won't catch on, but sounds fun.

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.