Just Going Through Life Trying Not To Look Like An Idiot.

Apparently I'm an Adult Now

2010-12-21T17:22:00.000-08:00

It was come to my attention that I am now an adult. This is weird to me. I've never felt any different than I did when I was younger so this realization came a little bit as a shock to me.

I first realized that I was an adult over Thanksgiving. I went out to eat several times with my mom and my sisters and each time, we took turns paying. My whole life I've always just been treated to a free meal by my parents, but this time I took a turn having to pay -- like an adult. It was weird.

Additionally this Christmas I have received a number of Christmas cards addressed to me -- not simply to the family. Only adults receive Christmas cards on their own. Apparently others also see me as an adult. It's weird.

Thoughts on a Funeral.

2010-05-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

This past week my dad died. I'm sure that this is something that will take me some time to come to terms with as I can't help but feel unbearably sad at times and unbelievably grateful for dad's memory at others. At any rate as I've had to go through the whole funeral/burial process I have there are several things that I've been thinking about.

Often as people have been leaving condolences they have said something to the affect of "If there is anything I can do, please let me know." Define this "anything." Like I have several papers that need to be written, can you work on those please. Or perhaps you could finish building a bookcase for me, or I heard that my sister needs a new roof. Can you work on that for us? Is there a limit to this "anything?"

Dad was in the Cleveland Clinic when he died, so people asking about his condition leading up to his death. Does it not occur to people that maybe having to describe, in detail, the progression of dad's health problems and hospital visits may not be something I want to do? I mean, who would actually want to talk about the details how one's parent died at the freaking funeral, burial, or viewing?

Finally if you are a friend of my dad's, who I have never before met, maybe you shouldn't ask me about if I'm dating and why I'm not married yet. Hell, even if you are a close relative or friend of mine maybe you should understand that asking about when I plan to "settle down" is a wee bit awkward at the moment.

At any rate, who really knows? Have a good one.

Pearls Before Swine

2010-04-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

Pearls Before Swine is easily my new favorite comic strip.

It's that time of year again!

2009-11-17T23:27:00.001-08:00

Saturday is "The Game." I'm very excited. Let's hope we can make it six in a row.

I thought this was really funny

2009-11-13T09:16:00.000-08:00

This made me laugh really hard. I figured I should share it.

Time

2009-03-03T16:09:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, it's really amazing how must time gets away from you. I'd often think about updating this only to have something else come up. You pile up enough of those occurrences and bam, 11 months pass by. At any rate let's hope that I'm able to stay on top of things before another year goes by. (Also I'm sick of being at the end of Kathy's blog.)

Writing Class

2008-04-04T07:39:00.000-07:00

So here at The Ohio State University I'm required to take another writing class in order to graduate. I've choose Art Education 367, Ethnic Arts: A Means of Intercultural Communication simply because it fulfills other GECs too. I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to take the instructor too seriously though. She pronounces the word library like LIE-BERRY. Would I found really odd though was that she kept referring us that we should be very careful that we don't PLAY-GA-RISE anything. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that she was referring to plagiarising things. It was just one of those odd things.

I don't understand the Japanese.

2008-04-02T23:06:00.000-07:00

What is that thing at the end of the line? Creepy.

Kroger

2008-02-05T22:14:00.000-08:00

Apparently at night, Kroger is run on the honor system. I went to Kroger tonight at around 1 AM. The whole time I was there I only saw one guy mopping the floor and two guys restocking cereal. In the front they had the four self check out lanes open with no one there monitoring them. I could have totally robbed the store without paying. It was really bizarre.

Reasons that Kathy should visit or move to Columbus

2008-01-12T20:07:00.000-08:00

1. Columbus is awesome.
2. Columbus as the Crew, Blue Jackets, and the Buckeyes.
3. Columbus is in Ohio, which is awesome in and of itself.
4. Columbus is full of medical students for Kathy to date.
5. Columbus has a replica of the Santa Maria.
6. Columbus is the world headquarters of Abercrombie and Fitch.

Basically Kathy should totally begin planning her trip/move here. She should let me know when I need to pick her up.

I dislike having to share apartments

2008-01-10T20:15:00.000-08:00

For the past 3 months I essentially lived in an apartment by myself. It was really nice. Then right before Christmas I got a roommate. I was not pleased, as not only did I have to share my apartment I also had to share my bedroom (I have since moved to another place where I at least have my own space). I think that what really bothered me about having a roommate was my roommates lack of sense. For example the whole three months that I lived by myself I used 3 rolls of toilet paper -- just three. Then in the two weeks that we lived together my roommate and I went through 2 packs of 4 and my roommate thought that I was the "toilet paper" hog. It was very irritating.

Start Blogging Again

2008-01-09T16:33:00.000-08:00

I know that I have said multiple times that it is my intention to update my blog more. This time I have to start updating this more or I can't be on Kathy's links anymore. I'll have to do better.

Since I have moved back to Ohio I've noticed something different between Ohio and Utah (probably something different between Utah and the rest of the free world). In Utah in the grocery store they have a row labeled "cold pop" where you can buy pop that is being refrigerated. Here in Ohio that same row is "cold beer." It's sad since I really liked being able to simply buy cold pop and not have to wait for it to cool down at home.

The other old thing about going to school at Ohio State is that I now have a class at 11 on a Tuesday. At BYU this is devotional time so there are no classes. It's just a wee bit different.

I hate LSU.

2008-01-09T05:15:00.000-08:00

A lot.

Little Things Amuse Me

2007-08-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about writing for the 100 hour board is the occasional random emails that I get from people. My favorites are usually the ones that are like you're so and so aren't you? I just get a kick out of them since I really don't go through any effort to hide who I actually am. Most people I know who read the board know who I really am anyone. It just makes me laugh to think that people have undergone intense investigation of Facebook just to see who I really am. It just amuses me.

A few quick things

2007-08-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

I'm still almost positive that no one actually reads this, but I figured I would quickly take a few minutes and update it anyway. Over the past few weeks I seriously considered retiring from the board simply because I lost interest in it. However, over the past few days I've come to the conclusion that I will stay on, if only to express my opinion on what the future of the board should be.

At any rate life is still just grand. I throughly enjoyed book seven in the Harry Potter series, as well as several of the movies that have come out this summer. While I may have decided to complete my education here at BYU it sure as well doesn't stop me from dreaming about the day I will be able to leave Provo and never ever look back. I promise that there will be much rejoicing among the peasants.

I'm Back

2007-04-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

Most of February and March got pretty crazy, especially since I was often gone. While I doubt that I'll go back update the last couple of months I think that I'll start updating this again. Life is good although I think that I need to develop a better sense of urgency. My personality naturally is pretty apathetic so often it is hard for me to actually care about things that are probably important. I just think, meh, and move on. I should probably work on that.

I hate Florida.

2007-04-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

A lot.

Southern California

2007-03-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

So I know that I should have posted commentary from my last vacation by now, but it will have to wait. Today I'm leaving to drive down to Orange County and I'll be there for a few days. It should be fun although I've never been there before. I hope I don't get too, too lost.

Back From Vacation

2007-02-24T19:01:00.000-08:00

I'm now back from Florida. It's very depressing to be back in the gray, cold, nothingness of Utah. I will try to persevere. I offer no promises.

(It is actually sort of weird for me to think that people actually read my blog, but over the next few days I will put up a vacation summary and what not. It's just not in my today.)

I think that I might be a horrible person

2007-02-17T22:33:00.000-08:00

Tonight I invited people over to watch a movie. It was fun as it allowed me to get better acquainted with friends I don't often see. The thing is this: there is this girl who often comes over to our house, always uninvited, and just lingers here. I was a wee bit embarrassed as she really just dominated the conversation with facts about nothing and left us with lots and lots of awkward moments. It wouldn't have been a big deal if the people who were over were close friends of mine, but they weren't -- just people I was trying to get to know better anyway. I suppose I'm just venting since this girl seems to be always here in the house for absolutely no reason. Usually when she is over I hide in my room and make my other roommates deal with her, but tonight all of my roommates were gone so I was forced to be a gracious host to everyone. Also I often come home to find her in our living room watching t.v. by herself with none of my other roommates home. It just freaks me out. I should probably just accept that she simply wants company, but to me it really just gives me the willies and forces us to have very, very awkward interactions. Basically I think that I might be a horrible, intolerant person. On the bright side I only have 12 hours before I leave for Florida so I don't have to even deal with her for a whole week. There will be much rejoicing.

Vacation

2007-02-17T15:37:00.000-08:00

For some odd reason I have the Go Gos song Vacation stuck in my head, since hey a vacation is all I've ever wanted. Today I'm finishing the last wee bit of work that I need to get done before leaving for vacation and then I won't even have to think about school for a whole week. It's going to be really nice to be away from Provo, especially since the weather in central Florida is going to be pretty nice this week. Who could possibly ask for anything more?

Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T20:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day. Today was sort of an odd day mostly because engineers are a wee bit old. First off all of my classes are about 90% guys. One of my classes starts with a joke and the professor insisted on a love joke for Valentine's Day. It turned out that the only one anyone knew was the girls are evil math derivation. I'm sure that you have all seen it, but I'll include it anyone.

We all know that girls require time and money, thus girls = time x money.
Time is money so girls = money x money or money^2
Money is the root of all evil so girls = √evil^2
or Girls = Evil

I thought it was funny although I had seen it before. It became funnier throughout the day as a lot of my professors thought that they needed to remind us that even though we are engineers today is in fact Valentine's Day and we should probably try to do something. I think that it's just funny that world thinks that engineers are oblivious to everything. At any rate I hope your Valentine's Day was great and take it easy.

One Week

2007-02-12T01:35:00.000-08:00

I only have one more week of school before I get to take a vacation. The downside is that I have a lot of work to do between now and then, but hey it's only for one week! There is currently much rejoicing among the peasants.

Life is Still Odd

2007-02-11T23:12:00.000-08:00

It's amazing to me how sometimes tings seem to work out well in the end and how other things leave you more and more confused and frustrated.

First last night some of my roommates and I went to see a movie. The movie itself was terrible and there were some morons sitting in the front yelling the whole time. These idiots eventually also got bored and decided to leave the movie early and on their way out pulled the fire alarm, interrupting our movie. After the movie was over we got rain checks (free movie passes) to make up for the trouble. It was just nice to essentially get my money back (with another free ticket to boot) for a movie that I thought was really dumb and stupid. Although I'm not sure what I'll do with these passes since it is unlikely that I'll ever muster up the courage to actually ask someone to go out with me.

I thought from my movie experience things were looking up, but then life always has a way of keeping the score even. I ran into that same girl on whom I have a on again off again crush. It's just frustrating to me that I can't decide if I like her, if I don't and what I should do. To me the only vexing thing is that she is really cool and fun to be around, but I just don't see her very often and I'm not really the type of person who can call people out of the blue to see what they are up to. It really would be easier for someone to simply could up and say "Hi. I like you. I heard that you have some movie passes to use. I'm free Friday and Saturday." I suppose that I should just accept life for how it is and move on.

Guns etc.

2007-02-10T02:38:00.000-08:00

Today one of my roommates and I went shopping for guns. It really made me want one. It just seems like it would be one of those fun things to have. I'm sure that I can probably find better ways to spend my money, but yet I'm getting a lot of money back from taxes this year so I can probably afford one. I suppose I should just want and see how I feel in a couple of weeks before I make a solid choice.

Church Today

2007-02-04T22:49:00.000-08:00

Today was Fast and Testimony meeting. I hate Fast and Testimony meeting. It really wouldn't be so bad if people actually bore testimony, but most people just ramble on about nothing and we always go over because of it. I also have a late sacrament meeting so the longer we went the better the chances were that I would have to sprint home to watch the super bowl.

At any rate I got to thinking. Lately I have been thinking about what I want to accomplish in my life and it occurred to me that I often plan for the success, but not the work that is required to achieve that success. I often see myself reaping the results of future actions, but fail to take into account for the work necessary for that success. For example before my mission I planned what my life would entail, being a returned missionary, but failed to take into account that I would have to actually serve a mission before becoming a returned missionary. As a result, my mission was really hard, harder than it would have been if I had adequately prepared for the work part of a mission. I think that in general to accomplish more in life I need to plan the work and let success take care of itself.

Back Up Date

2007-02-02T00:25:00.000-08:00

Back in high school life was a lot easier because I had a "back-up" girlfriend -- a girl who I bring places where a date was required. As I came to school I've found it difficult to find a really good back-up girl friend. I have tickets to a show here at BYU for Saturday and I don't have anyone to go with, since I was too shy to flat out ask someone. I could really use a back-up date about now.

The Streak Goes On

2007-01-24T16:55:00.000-08:00

Today I was again successful in my on going streak of "Days in a Row that I have Somehow Managed to Keep Myself Alive." The current streak is 8836 (I'm very proud). If all things continue to go as planed the streak will hit 9000 on July 7, 2007 (which is hopefully the day the last Harry Potter book will be released).

Also I managed to go to most of my classes today and even do homework for them. What a great day.

Kids on the Bus

2007-01-23T18:02:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been driving the same bus route, which means I see the same kids everyday. The particular route that I drive happens to be kids with "special needs" or kids that have severe mental handicaps (this is the route that is commonly called "the short bus"). We have one girl on board, who sits in a wheelchair and just screams and screams. Today I have never felt so blessed. Sure I have my problems like the next person, but I am healthy. All of my limbs function the way they were designed to. I have the ability to think clearly. It is just humbling to look at someone with mental handicaps. What sort of life is it to need someone to care for you all the time? It really is just amazing to me that most people just take their bodies for granted, not thinking about those who don't have it so good. It sort of just puts everything in a clearer perspective.

Hockey

2007-01-22T23:56:00.000-08:00

Today some guys from my ward invited me to go play hockey down at Seven Peaks. Other than the fact that I can't skate to save my life it was fun. Where has this game been all me life?

Church and Life in General

2007-01-21T18:49:00.000-08:00

Today, being Sunday, I attended church with my ward. At times I really loathe going to church and at times I really enjoy church. Today church was very good and got me thinking. I grew up a member of the church and even served a mission and yet it surprises me how simple truths continue to hit me. Today I was thinking about the person that I have become and how I have become that person. A comment was made that we do in fact choose our characters which really hit me for some reason. We do in fact choose who we will be. I am the person that I have allowed myself to become. All of my thoughts, hopes, and decisions directly show the person I am. I often just sit and ponder and today I took the time to think about who I was five years ago, who I was ten years ago. It is really eerie for me to see who I was then and know that those people directly caused the person that I am today through their actions and choices. That recognition gives me peace since now I know that in order to change the future me, I need to make the choices to become who I want to be today. My today's actions dictate who I will be, just as much as my past actions have dictated who I now am.

Busy Busy Busy/ Life is Odd

2007-01-17T21:14:00.000-08:00

Today as I sat through endless hours of class, it occured to me how busy I am. I got up at 6, went to school all day, did homework, and eventually came home at around 8. As I was walking home it really occured to me just how much work I still need to get done before going to bed and how stressful tomorrow will be too. Perhaps it really will be easier to just drop out and become a bum.

No matter how busy I get, I still find life odd sometimes. Sometimes it's really fun to just sit in the Wilk and people watch just to see what sort of odd things happen. Today for example marks the start of recruiting for summer jobs at camps, efy, etc. I can't imagine wanting to do something like that and to me it really is just odd that people do end up doing stuff like that.

I recently ran into a girl that I used to have a huge crush on. Life is again odd just because the whole ritual of dating is so hard. First you actually have to plan something, and then ask someone out -- it just seems to take a lot of effort to find out if a girl really likes you or not. There really has to be an easier way.

Howdy, Happy New Year, Happy Birfday, Etc.

2007-01-15T09:22:00.000-08:00

I figure that every now and again I should probably take the time to update this (and I really should try to do a wee bit better at writing in this anyway). The only real big news in my life is that I have decided to stay here at BYU for the next few years (but mostly because my mission cost me my Ohio residency). It is very sad, but so is life.

Brutus' College Options

2006-10-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

Right now the central issue in my life is the decision to transfer schools or not. Currently I am at BYU Provo studying chemical engineering. I am pretty sure that I have two years before I will graduate if I stay here and that it will be similar should I choose to transfer. Below are my various options with some of the applicable pros and cons. To the right is a small poll. I would appreciate you taking the time to help me decide what it is I really want to do.

BYU
The options
I can either do one of two things. I have the option of taking this winter semester off, going home, and coming back in the summer to finish the math classes I need to take by this fall.

Pros: I'll get to spend time at home in Ohio, attend church in the branch, relax, and get to spend time with my parents before they leave on a mission. I would be free to use my Holland America Employee cruise in January or February.

Cons: My home town is very small and I would become very anti-social. I would have to take two hard math classes in the hot Utah sun and finish two independent study classes during my time in Ohio.

My other option is simply to continue on as normal, going to school this winter, not going home, and probably head back to Alaska this summer to work again.

Pros: I am familiar with BYU and the chemical engineering program. I have already done three and half years here and have my GEs done. I could probably return to work in Alaska again.

Cons: I don't like the Utah culture or being forced to attend a singles ward. My friends and roommates are graduating and I'll be forced to try to find places to live in the fall.

The University of Toledo
My parents are going on a mission in April and are looking for someone to live in our house while they are gone. The University of Toledo has a decent engineering program and I would have no problems finishing my degree there while looking after the house.

Pros: I would get to live at home. This school is where I have the easiest time succeeding since the program would be significantly less rigorous.

Cons: I would have to commute an hour each way to get to school everyday. I would be living in a huge house all by myself. The engineering program is less respected and I would probably have to get an advanced degree somewhere.

The Ohio State University
I would simply transfer to Ohio State and finish school there.

Pros: It has always been a dream to go to school there. It has the best engineering program of my three choices. It would be a great cross between UT and BYU; being in a large city where the church is fairly strong and is still in Ohio and close enough for me to go home should I feel the need to get away.

Cons: It is the most expensive. It is the hardest academically. I would probably have to work a lot harder to catch up in order to graduate in a timely manner.

I just don't know what I want to do as it seems to me that all are a good decision.

Golf

2006-10-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

This probably the worst sport of all time, and yet I continue to play. I'm a decent golfer and today I would have scored well if it wasn't for chipping. It was terrible. I suppose that's what I get for refusing to practice even a little bit. The sad thing is that I will probably be out playing again tomorrow. Anyone who wants to is more that welcome to come along. Just let me know.

It needs to be someone's job to remind me to update this

2006-10-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

I am really bad at updating this. I should probably try to give just a wee bit more effort at keeping this up to date. In general I am still doing fine, especially since the Buckeyes are the best football team in the country and are completely unstoppable. I just wish I didn't have to do the whole "school" thing. Such is life I suppose.

Alaska

2006-05-24T00:55:00.000-07:00

I sure don't update this real, real often, but on the other hand I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one who actually reads my blog. At any rate I'm enjoying another fun summer working for Holland American up here in Alaska. It's good times altough sometimes it's hard pretending that I actually like people. I can imagine that if my income wasn't so dependent on tips that I would just be a real jerk to everyone. So is life I suppose.

Euchre

2006-04-22T21:34:00.001-07:00

Today was an extremely interesting and/or fun day. I suppose it was more of a up and down day. I took the Chem 112 final today and it was seriously unnessicarily hard. We're talking difficult -- way more difficult than it actually needed to be. It took me three hours to quasi answer every question with lots of little notes that mostly said "I have no idea how to finish this." This final was in contrast to the Math 113 final I took yesterday which I don't think turned out too, too bad. I didn't flat out bomb it so I think that I should be able to at least pass that class.

However, today, I did get to play euchre, which was a whole, whole lot fun. It was nice to actually do something fun for a change. There's also only like 4 days left until I get to go home. I'm just a wee bit excited.

Finals

2006-04-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

Now that all of my classes are finally over I get to spend the next few days preparing to take finals. It certainly is not a happy prospect and I feel that I will not be a very happy person over the next few days. I suppose that that is just life. On the up side there is only 7 short days before I finally get to go home and have a wee bit of a break, before spending the rest of the summer working hard driving rich people around. Take it easy.

Something News

2006-04-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

I haven't really taken the time to post anything recently so I figured I show give a quick update on my life. Right now O chem is the dominate force in my life followed by Calculus and Physics. Life is not fun and every now and again I am forced to deal with little kids. I'm not saying that I hate kids, I just hate having 60 of them crammed into a school bus with little or no control from their teachers to keep them from screaming, but I suppose that so is life.

Two Pictures

2006-03-01T22:39:00.000-08:00

These are two quick pictures. The top picture is the bus that I drive in the summer. It's 60 feet long. The other picture is from a boat in Seward, Alaska. Is it okay to ever have illegal drugs?

I feel like I derseve a break

2006-03-01T22:25:00.000-08:00

I took three tests this week and had another one last Friday. I'm all tuckered out. At the very least I didn't have to work yet this week (that said I'm sure I'll get a call tomorrow morning at 6 saying that they desparately need a driver). So is life I suppose.

By the way last week I got to drive a field trip for an elementary school. How many third graders do you think go cram into a school bus? If you guessed more than 100 you are correct. Did having to drive 100 screaming kids again remind me that I never want to have kids (yes, yes it did). Seriously whose idea is it to not have enough space for everyone on a field trip. Other than the fact that I kids I enjoy my job as there seriously are some funny things that can happen. Last week I got a note that was like:

Dear Mr. Bus Driver,

My son Micheal has my perrmission to go of the bus with his friend Jason.

Micheal's Mom

(Note the works were misspelled on purpose.)

This note also looked like it was written by a little kid. When I asked the kid about it he told me his mom really wrote it. Right and I'm Santa Claus. It was funny.

28 Feb 2006

2006-02-28T17:37:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day I thought I'd have a real blog (as opposed to a fake one I suppose). The day went fairly well as I got up and managed to drag myself down to class on time. I passed my Physics 220 test (without cheating even) and I continued my streak of "days in a row that I've managed to keep myself alive." The streak is now at 8505 in case you were wondering. (Although it appears that I failed to celebrate my 8500th day alive.) I think that I'll even get to spend the rest of my day studying for an O Chem. test tomorrow. It should be good, good fun.