Graduated!

I'm finally done. Five years later and I'm done. I ended up finishing with degrees in Economics(Managerial) and Spanish. I've been applying for full time jobs, but as of yet nothing.

I am just waiting for all the grads schools I applied to, to tell me how much they love me and want me to go there. I think the school that I want to go to the most is Brandeis University. It's in Waltham, MA. The university is a Jewish university. I seem to fit their guidelines for being admitted. However, I really need to get some funding from them as well. I guess if some company offered me an awesome job I take that instead. At this point that doesn't look like it is going to happen.

Life is pretty good. The snow is now covering the ground and it's looking like it might be a White Christmas. I also need to grab my skis so the winter is doable. It's not bad right now. Come mid-March, it is extremely important to have something you enjoy doing in the winter, otherwise you go nuts. I'm excited to see what's up next in life. Either way, it should be fun.

Just filling the time.

Becca has officially left. I will miss her, a lot. The circumstances of our parting are not that common, at least for guys. That is what frustrates me the most, I'm in fairly uncharted waters. I don't know the future and I can't plan for it. For those of you that know me fairly well, you know I like to plan. At this point I will date more, but as I told Becca, the next lady I date has a lot to live up to.

Eighteen months isn't too long, but I don't know exactly where I'll be in eighteen months. Plus, Becca will be crazy when she gets back; most missionaries are. People try to cheer me up with success stories of women or men that ended up waiting for their boyfriend or girlfriend. I don't know if I have the time to wait. However, I might end up unintentionally waiting for her. The only thing I'm afraid of is that I won't find anyone else equally suited to my special needs, plus I loved her. In the end it will work out as it should, I know this. Knowing this doesn't make it easier. She will be a great missionary and I wish I could go again. When I think about it, I would make the same choice she made.

My next big life event is the GRE on the 24th. I'm not too worried about it. I know my life is great. I see blessing in it.

Dating Fun

It has been awhile since I have written. I blame dating. Don't get me wrong I'd rather date than write, but if you must know I haven't written because I've been doing other things, wink. Anyway, Becca is great. However, she will soon be gone to California. She will be an excellent missionary.

Many of the dates we have been on have been great: we went to Bear Lake and floated around on an inflatable raft, hikes, Halloween stuff, diners, read to cats, and the list goes on. One of the most memorable was the reading to cats. First of all, I'm allergic to cats and I don't really like them. However, Becca saw something in the paper about reading to cats so we went. It was crazy. We showed up to animal shelter. I think it is important to the story that you realize I had a mustache at the time, which I still have. When we walked into the room there were about eight six to nine year old girls. I felt like a real creeper. If Becca wouldn't have been there I think the people in charge would have called the cops. Basically we got to hold a bunch of kittens while one of the employees read a story.

Another funny part of the date was a little girl that entered that cat cage and almost didn't leave it. The cats apparently didn't take kindly to strangers in their cat cage. There was a lot of hissing but the girl avoided catastrophe.

Also look for more post in the future; Becca will be gone come November, so I'll need to occupy myself somehow.

Lets be intamate!

I recently got a new job. I'll admit it's pretty sweet. I'll be able to go to school and maybe even study a little bit at work. This past week I've been training in West Jordan and reliving the good old days of living in my parents basement, I know, I'm a few steps away from being that creepy guy. As a note, my mom would never let this happen, so I'll never reach that last step. Knock on wood.

Training for my new job was a blast, slightly inappropriate, but a blast none the less. To start off with my training group had 5 guys and 1 girl. Let the hilarity begin. In reality there are almost too many funny experiences to list, so I'll write up one of my favorites. Also, don't worry I haven't quit my translating job. The allure of another opportunity to translate about breast feeding is just too great.

As we all know customer service is important. We don't want to shun the customer or they'll shun us, or rob us, or kidnap us, or stab us, well you get the idea. In order to have the best customer service around the company that hired me wanted us to get creative. Our task was to come up with a "signature". Basically something we did that made the members feel loved. One guy in the group said winking. I said crazy ties. It was pointed out that I should only wear appropriate ones. I guess I'll have to leave my naked lady riding a dragon with a Confederate Flag background tie at home, it's kind of a shame, but rules is rules.

One of my favorite "signatures" was eye contact. I believe in eye contact, just ask any of my past conquests. They loved it. The explanation sealed eye contact as my favorite. It appears that eye contact is the most intimate a person can be with a customer without touching them. In my past jobs I've always wondered how I could be more intimate. I finally have the answer. Staring into someones eyes will give me the ability to get closer to customers without doing things that would normally get me fired. Now, when I see a creepy guy that holds eye contact too long, I'll just say to myself, "He cares and I want to shop here more!"

Bum rush the stage!

I went and saw Styks, the band, live in concert this past weekend at Rio Tinto stadium. Along with 38 Special and REO Speedwagon. The music was good but the show was better. There were a lot of burned out rockers from the 80's, you know it's going to be good. Before the concert even started one of our seat buddies showed up drunk. He really liked the music and had no shame in letting you know it. There was also another lady. About 2 rows up that got progressively worse, or I guess progressively more party like, as the night progressed. If you made eye contact with her she'd tell you to get up and enjoy the music. Midway through the concert this made sense. Near the end of the concert, not so much. As the night progressed she stood as a bastion to true rockers, she never would sit down and was stammering out the lyrics like a trooper.

I also would wager a great deal of money that the next unabomber was sitting in front of us. He had a camo hat, long hair, and a garbage bag poncho. He was also balding and had some really powerful binoculars. He was the type of man that inspires fear when you meet him in a dark alley, or as he drives past you in his windowless panel van. It just goes to show, the 80's hair bands bring all sorts of people together.

Perhaps my favorite part of the evening was when some of the boozed up audience members gave a true salute to the spirit of rock and rushed onto the grass of the stadium. It was impressive. The police and stadium security where promptly on the scene and tackling the rockers. Those rockers, with too much responsibility, voiced, safely from their seats, their protest of state intervention by screaming obscenities and showing their favorite finger to the man. The smell of hops, the incoherent babel, and the screaming music combined to make for the quintessential rock atmosphere, I'd definitely do it again.

Weird handshakes.

Nothing really freaks you out like a weird hand shake. Yesterday, I saw two of my past Spanish professors. To start off with the language faculty are, admittedly, a little bit strange. I find I fit in pretty well.

One of the handshakes was an over the top, chest-high, palm squeeze. This means that there really was no grasp. It was a little odd. The next wasn't so much the handshake itself, but the after part. The professor rubbed my arm. Yep, straight up rubbed me. I didn't know if I should rub him back, or not, so I sided with caution and escaped.

My new job as a lab assistant is starting up. I'll be testing onions for the evil yellow spotted virus. I know, few are called to protect onions. I am one of these few onion protectors. Today we played used liquid nitrogen to crush up some onion sample. By the time it was my turn to crush we ran out of sample and the professor I work for had me "pretend" to crush a sample in liquid nitrogen, awesome!

I'm also starting up the old window washing business with a friend of mine in Logan. It should be fun. O'yeah, I should probably write a little bit more often, but we'll see.

April Fools!

Much like the rabbits that fear the open day of hunting season; I fear April 1st. I've done things in my life that warrant payback. If people take revenge on April 1st, they can get away with a lot. I go through the day extra cautious. I don't want to get "got". 

As part of a larger prank, it is presently about 29 degrees and there is about 4 inches of snow everywhere. Last year the snow lasted until May. I really hope this year things clear up a little, it would be nice.

School is finally coming to an end. I have two papers to write. All about existentialism in Spanish modernism and how Don Quixote exemplifies socio-economic change in the 1600's. It will be nice to be done. 

St. Patty's Day

Today as I walked around campus I was impressed. Tons of people were wearing green. I'm not exactly Irish but the Celts heavily influenced the Scottish, Welch, and even some parts of Germany. The only blood I have in me that isn't possibly Celtic would be my Norse ancestry, from Denmark and Sweden, though you wouldn't know that by looking at me. I don't look much like a Viking.

I normally wear green. Due to my complextion I find that earth tones are the best. Pink is out of the question, so is read and orange, pretty anything that is bright. My hair isn't super red and looks probably more like somebody with brown hair tried to dye their hair red. However, mine is natural, although I am ask frequently if I dye my hair.

In junior high one of my nicknames was Leppy the Lepours Leprechaun, because I looked like a leprechaun. Plus I identify well with Saint Patrick. Anybody that doesn't like snakes is okay with me. 

Let us take today and remember the Irish and show a little pride.

Translating Fun!

Every once in a while I actually get to work. My translating job is kind of random and I never really know when I'll work next. However, this past week I had one of those o-so-rare work experience, or in my case not-that-rare-but-other-people-think-is-rare work experiences.

The topic for about an hour was breast feeding. Needless to say, my depth and experience with this subject isn't that extensive. I learned some crazy stuff in that hour. Apparently there's some sort of plastic attachment to help babies nurse naturally. Yep, and I had to translate this. We spoke about pumping, production, and timing. Really, things most 26 year old guys have furthest from their minds, or at least those that aren't married.

I think it went well. It was interesting translating between the mom's mom, the mom, and the professional I was working with. Who knows what I'll have to do next.

As an update, I beat my dad in racquetball 3-0. He might have been off his game, but I'll take the wins however they come. I'm also kind of bummed that spring break is ending. Back to school!

Racquetball

I enjoy racquetball. I'm not the best but I can hold my own. I enjoy a sport where being small and weaselly is to a persons advantage. I get a lot of satisfaction from beating huge guys. Sometimes I like to make them run around. I enjoy watching them smash the ball but then just returning the ball of the back wall. I enjoy dodging and weaving on the court.

I've developed a few serves that keep people guessing. Still, I'm worried about playing my dad. Sure it might look like he wouldn't be too competitive. However, he can usually knock me out of the game fairly quickly. I think, however, I'm going to destroy him the next time we play. That's right, I'm calling you out on the web. You will play me and you will lose. I'm not even going to accept your loss because of your knee.

Now that that is over. I'd just like to say there was some sun in Logan today. It was awesome. I hope you all enjoy the weekend.

The thing about that.

I've had a job for the past 3 weeks. It pays surprisingly well, for a part-time-campus job, $10/hour. I have, however, encountered a draw back, it's on call. In these past 3 weeks I have worked a total of 2 hours. Yep, that's right 2 hours. Needless to say I'm reevaluating a few things in my job prerequisite search. I guess actually getting hours is important, as well as the wage you're paid.

I figured in an attempt to fit in, I'd do one of those 25 things thing.  I'm too lazy to do 25, so I'll maybe do 20.

1: I made this freaking short and stole the idea from my roommate because I'm a slacker.

2: My insides have been outside.

3: I could speak when I was really young, it kind of creeped people out.

4: I'm the oldest out of 4 siblings and the only boy.

5: In high school many people thought I'd turn out to be a mad scientist.

6: I have epic life stories.

7: A snickers bar is a primary food group for me.

8: I still watch cartoons.

9: I someday want to write a book.

10: I'm scared of most dogs.

11: I sometimes eat full meals in the shower.

12: I sleep on a slanted bed.

13: I speak Spanish and Portuguese, and can get by in English.

14: One of my friends tried to shoot me and some of my other friends with a arrow.

15: I got hit by a car. My other friend got pushed out of the way by an angel. I, however, wasn't.

16: Even though I have 3 sisters I have no idea what women are thinking.

17: At some point in my life I want to go to an Ivy League university, even if it's just to cut the grass or be a janitor there.

18: When I go to BYU it angries up my blood.

19: I can find the good in just about anybody.

20: I really like the ocean.

My Pink Bed

There's nothing in life quite as exciting as keeping people guessing. I usually do this unintentionally. It's fun to see people squirm a little bit.

It just hit me. I have an awful lot of pink for my bedding. Usually, this wouldn't be a concern for me, but my roommate has stopped sleeping in our room. He does have a girlfriend so I guess that could be the reason. I hope so. It might also be that my setup is giving him the willies. If it is my bed time getup, I've found a fool-proof way to get a private room when it should actually be a shared room. I guess if I really wanted to make sure he didn't sleep in the room I could look over at him every night, smile, wink, turn over, mutter something and then fall asleep. I'm pretty sure the effect would be the roommate deal breaker and my own room.

I don't think I'll do this. However, the card is definitely in my hand. I mean, a private room for the price of a shared room. The pink sheets might just be worth it. I'll have to post some pictures so you know what I mean.

Funny Stuff!

Dating is funny stuff! Seriously, I'm about done. With the amount of time I've put into dating I would expect a little bit more...success, let's call it. I am your typical "nice guy". Unfortunately, I'm finding the old axiom, nice guys finish last, to be true.

I've noticed a few categories that most people fit into. The first group are the ones that snub you right up front. These are the cold cruel she/he-devils. The attraction you have for them is purely physical, and in reality, it's a good thing these relationships never actually work out. Luckily I haven't had to deal with many of them. When I do, I wish I hadn't. This people will give curt one word answers to any question you ask. These are also the ones that walk on the opposite side of the hall, change class schedules, or get plastic surgery, all to avoid you. How do these people know right of that it isn't going to work out?!

The second group are the ones that: when you leave the country for a couple months, the next thing you know, when you get back, they are "dating" and no longer want to date you. This group can also be enlarged to included those that you date a couple time and then decide they can do better...after 2 dates. I don't even know if I like a pair of shoes after I try them on twice. I think people should get a little bit more wear as well.

The third group are the people that you yourself can't decide to date or not. You see the good in that person but think you can do better. I'm convinced that at some point there is nobody better. The longer I last the more I've convinced that marriage is nothing more than two people settling for the best they can get. Sometimes this works out great. Other times, not so much. A lot of the whole process comes from timing. I, however, have never been very good at timing. I'm the guy that bolted from a front porch.

I guess love exist but sometimes I wonder.

Time

Yesterday it hit me. I need to leave this place! I was getting all of my stuff together and I noticed my roommate's class ring, 2005. Yep, I graduated in 2001. I am also sharing a room, something I haven't done since my mission. I've lived in a house for the past 4 years and had a private room sometimes the entire house. Usually, most students work in reverse. Not me baby; I like to mix things up.

I also realized that if I had not gone to Brazil I would be graduating this spring, maddening. At this point it's hard to see how my foray into international finance will benefit me, things being the way they are. I, however, remain optimistic. The experience was great and I picked up some Portuguese. This semester should be entertaining none the less, and I expect a few adventures/drama to come my way.