goodbye 37th ward

Today was my last day in this ward. I spent nearly a year here. It was very good to me. I was so blessed to be able to meet all of these people and to associate with this bishopric. I said my last goodbyes to the members of the ward that I wouldn’t see again. But there were two members of the bishopric I did not get a chance to say goodbye and thank you to.

Helping someone more stressed than I

I liked this assignment almost as much as the "buy a stranger a 'coke'" assignment. Sometimes it feels like i am the most stressed of all my acquaintances. But then I realize that I am not the only one with class and work and other stresses. My roommate was one such stressed individual.

Taylor is his name. He is taking accounting 310 and ISYS 201. And he is working on top of that. He is trying to get into the accounting program so his classes are extremely important to him. With finals coming up he is especially stressed.

Taylor is also a Sunday school teacher and he was asked to give a talk in church. He didn’t know how he was going to do all of his work and prepare a talk and prepare a lesson. So I offered to take care of his lesson for him.

I was very glad to be able to help. And I was spiritually filled by my preparation.

“I need to buy you a Coke” “Me?’ “Yes you.”

“Buy a stranger a ‘coke’.” I was very excited about this assignment actually. I saw a lot of opportunity here. Upon hearing the assignment I immediately began thinking of all the options. What type of person would I treat to a beverage? Homeless person? Teacher? Businessman? But then I thought with all the pretty girls that walk around campus, this is possibly the best excuse I have ever had to talk to them without any real reason. But I was so busy during the week that I had to put it off until Saturday.

Saturday morning. I was at the library and I spotted a nice looking girl a few tables away. She wasn’t alone though. But I had all day. No worries, I could wait until she was alone (if you think this is slightly creepy, you are not alone. Even writing this I feel pretty creepy). I began rehearsing what I would say in my mind. “Hello ladies, look at me, now look at your man, now BACK to ME.” A moment later I looked up and she was alone. It was game time. My heart was racing. I couldn’t believe I was going to do this. Then she got up, and just as I was about to pounce, she fled to the girl’s bathroom. That’s okay. I can wait. But then when she came out I totally froze and just sat there as she walked out of view. Darn.

Late posts: they hurt

Disclaimer: @Shayne Clarke--the time I had planned to post these last night (11pm) was taken up by the prince of egypt with my ward. I hope you understand. 

There are some things that compared to the action have a disproportional bad feeling at the result. Let me explain. Let’s say that one Friday night you had a craving for some ice cream at Macey’s. So you get on your scooter and drive the two minutes to Macey’s. At this point you can almost tasted that vanilla/chocolate swirl on your tongue. You get up to the check out counter and confidently say: “one large swirl please.” To which the clerk responds: “sorry, we are closed for the night.” Now here is the point. How do you feel? Crushed. It is a one dollar cone of ice cream and there are about a thousand ways you could get ice cream that evening, but you are still bummed. The action (no ice cream) is unequal to the reaction (feeling like you are watching the movie 2012 in real life).

So it is with not posting your blog by 11:57 on the night it is due. I feel as though I am going to fail the class for sure. That by posting on my blog a few hours late I might as well withdraw from the class, put a white cap on my head, and put my nose in the corner because I truly am a dunce. But, just as with the ice cream, I am sure that everything will be fine. Right Shayne?

Nature

I love nature. I went on a hike yesterday that was absolutely beautiful. A few friends and I went to stuart falls near sundance. It was a four mile hike round trip. About thirty steps into the hike we lost our path because there was four feet of snow on top of it. But after about 20 minutes of wandering we found it again. Then there was more snow periodically along the path. At one point we found out that we could slide down the snow very successfully. So we spent another half hour “sledding” down the hill.

After about an hour and a half we finally made it to the falls. There was a large, glacier-like sheet of snow that covered a few acres. After walking around for a few minutes we found a snow cave. This cave went about three hundred feet down into the snow and met up with the river at the bottom of the waterfall. It was one of the coolest, but scariest places I have ever been. Go to facebook to see more pictures!

Interview questions

We were talking the other day about interview questions, and good interview skills. We all were shouting out questions that we thought were tough in interviews. One person noted that they dislike the question: “tell me about yourself”. I agreed with him. But after talking a bit I think that I have a reasonable answer that will set me apart and show that I am comfortable in the interview. The key is in the details. Tell me what you think.

“I am from Denver, CO. I am an economics student at Brigham Young University. I will graduate in April 2013. I am an avid skier. I grew up skiing every weekend with my dad. So the mountains have a very strong sentimental value to me. In addition to skiing I love China and all things Chinese, but especially the language. I served a two-year mission for the LDS church wherein I spoke mandarin Chinese. The ability to speak Chinese is now a skill and a love for me…Do you want me to go on?”

I think it highlights both my skills and shows that I am an interesting person at the same time but I would be interested to get your feedback. 

Interview questions

We were talking the other day about interview questions, and good interview skills. We all were shouting out questions that we thought were tough in interviews. One person noted that they dislike the question: “tell me about yourself”. I agreed with him. But after talking a bit I think that I have a reasonable answer that will set me apart and show that I am comfortable in the interview. The key is in the details. Tell me what you think.

“I am from Denver, CO. I am an economics student at Brigham Young University. I will graduate in April 2013. I am an avid skier. I grew up skiing every weekend with my dad. So the mountains have a very strong sentimental value to me. In addition to skiing I love China and all things Chinese, but especially the language. I served a two-year mission for the LDS church wherein I spoke mandarin Chinese. The ability to speak Chinese is now a skill and a love for me…Do you want me to go on?”

I think it highlights both my skills and shows that I am an interesting person at the same time but I would be interested to get your feedback. 

Online Resume

Hello!
I hope you have enjoyed my paper resume.

Welcome now to my online resume.

Here is a collection of links for you to get to know me and my creations a little better:

               

Style or Structure. Yes please.

When it comes to writing, I am no Shakespeare or Dickenson. I am no gramaticia. I am not even as good as most elementary school children are at writing. I know very little of the ins and outs of writing. But there is a question that I do feel comfortable throwing my two cents in for; which is better: style or structure? I don’t know that there is an objective correct answer. However I do believe that style is more important. Well-styled writing comes alive on the page, no matter how boring the subject matter. If style is properly applied, a piece of writing can become unforgettable. I doubt that anyone will remember what anyone the structure of any given document was, but they will remember the content and the style. Style can help make the content applicable to the reader. Structure has its place. But style is where the money is made. 

Which color is best? False. Blue.

Blue. It is the most important color.

Brother Clarke asked us this question: what is the most important color? Many of my classmates were confused at such a question. “Is this a trick?” “Surely there is no one right answer?” “How could anyone know such a secret?” they asked themselves. But I knew the answer even before I heard the question.

The future of Genetics

In biology class I had to do a write-up on genetic testing and gene therapy. To summarize, the future of science and medicine includes genetic testing and alteration in order to predict, prevent, and treat disease. Currently, doctors can test people for genetic misspellings to see if an individual is high risk for any given disease, such as breast cancer. Recently doctors have been able remove cells, replace the misspelled DNA strands and replace the cells and the patients can dramatically improve. Also stem cell research has given many people hope that their currently incurable disease will be curable in the future. Scientists can even look at a fertilized egg to see what genetic predispositions it will have. In the future they will be able to remove such predispositions. There are so many intriguing possibilities in the future. But it is not without its controversy.

Many people think that such gene therapy, and future possibilities are unethical. They believe that people are “playing God” and are meddling in things that aught not be meddled with. I don’t know where I stand exactly. But I do think that a world where sick and suffering people could be cured with relatively little pain is a world in which I would like to live. 

Summer jobs, part II

Job number two. I am also a door-to-door salesman for a company called iPreserve. It is a very interesting company. We take old media and convert it into digital formats. We can do photos of all kinds—loose, in a sleeve, album, scrapbook, or anything for that matter. We can even do old slides and negatives.

We can do all sorts of video—mini dv, vhs, Hi8, and others. We can even do the old school 8mm and 16mm reels of film. A lot of people have some pretty old stuff.

When we convert the stuff we can put it onto a DVD or a bluray disc. Or we can put it onto a hard-drive. We can usually get it done in 2-3 weeks.

Another very good service that we provide is free archiving. Whenever a customer gives us their stuff we make backups. This way if anything happens to their stuff we can make a new copy for them without any charge.

It is a really great service so if any of you have any family members or friends who would benefit please let me know.

Calling all e-socialites! I need your input.

I have two jobs this summer. And because I have this wonderful medium to freely express myself (e.g., this blog) I will take the time, and take advantage to tell everyone who follows me (2 people) about these jobs.

Osama Bin-killed

After commencing two wars and ten years of searching, Osama bin Laden has finally been caught and killed. This very idea stirs up several different emotions inside of me, and still questions remain. When I first heard the news, I was excited—happy even. But then as I watched the news more, and especially as they showed several people in the streets celebrating, I thought that my emotions may be inappropriate.

Women's conference

I have dealt with infestations before: ants, cockroaches, wasps, etc. But none have been as invasive as the women’s conference at BYU this April. I had heard that there was some sort of a conference for women being held on campus but at no point did it enter into my mind that it would be such an inconvenience.

Fingers Ready? Computer on? Ding Ding: Blogging, Round II

            In fall of 2010 I took a class called Digital Civilization at BYU. IT was a very unique class that aimed to teach us post 1500 world history, but also to make connections with any given movement or event’s modern digital counterpart. For example, when we talked about the printing press and the informational revolution that followed we then drew parallels to the recent Internet revolution and the splash that it caused. The class was one of the most interesting I have ever taken and it was certainly the best history class I have ever been a part of.

Now, why am I talking about a history class? Well, you see, in said ‘revolutionary approach to learning history’ our teacher required us to keep a blog of our research and thoughts on the subjects at hand. At first I was very reluctant to keep a blog (you see I thought blogs were only for teenage girls who needed more space to tell about their feelings, or for stay at home mom’s who didn’t have anything to do with their days). I was clearly above that lowly form of media. However, as time passed I found my regular blog keeping to be quite engaging, and, at times, even therapeutic.

And so as I begin my second leg of blogging I do so with a better attitude: excitement and willingness. Enjoy the blog!