thenyelabs.com

so it’s sunday morning, I’m up early, and figure I could use a quick post. The rest of you guys are getting worse than I am with your never posting. I seriously have been going through withdrawals lately needing online social interaction, it hones my arguing skills, so I think I’ll go find a new online community to invest some time in akin to the kcgeek community of yesteryear. :) Actually probably not, because I really don’t have the time, but it’s a nice thought… you know, having something to read when I want it.

So I’ve been anxiously trying to decide how best to spend my time post university. It’s coming up quick, something like a month and it’s go time. Options are cropping up and I’m giving myself an ulcer having convinced myself that the rest of my life hinges on this decision. I think I’m becoming used to doing that to myself. I am very excited about life after university though, I am sick of feeling like I’m floating and just a part of a four month community. Seriously imagine your life, friends, and resources getting dumped out and rebuilt every four months, it’s attractive a few times, particularly after dating goes bad with a girl and she’s stalking you, or when you realize yer friends are lame, but after a while, it gets old. I’m ready to not be in a college town, seriously.

My biggest love right now is the NCAA tourney. This month is amazing for that reason alone (Easter is normally in april so I don’t feel bad saying that) and I get a TV then both laptops all playing a different game, I feel like I am a sports god of sorts with my head moving from amazing play to amazing play to amazing finish. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

Lastly, Easter, it’s easter sunday, and I miss the home traditions. I miss the million kids running around hopped up on sugar IV’s (aka peeps from Erinn) and crying as they get shafted on the easter egg hunt and we all just laugh at their misguided greed and excitement over 30 cents worth of candy. Now if you’re not from our family, I need to explain a very exciting tradition that our family does regarding the easter egg hunt. You see we used to hide candy and treats in the little plastic eggs you would go searching for and it was great, but problems arose when your children aren’t as smart as you think they are, or if you are a better hider than you gave yourself credit for, because come july, melted nastiness was getting carted around by hordes of very happy ants - a problem for the parents, and we were losing about 12% of the aggregate chocolate haul yearly, just having to be written off to loss and depreciation - problem for the kids. So mom came up with a great idea, cut out little paper eggs and write on there initials that would make them redeemable for real candy. So paper eggs were hidden everywhere, and the parents stand by their cars like proud stall owners at the bazar waiting to wheel and deal (the dealing comes when a parent is praying that the HPB egg, or Huge Peanut Butter bunny, is not found and when it is, alternative bundles are offered to the children who know they’ve got the parents right where they want them, salivating for what they’ve got). It’s a great tradition / solution and served us perfectly for many years. However like many holiday traditions, when introduced to Missouri, are altered slightly. Now, when I think back to easter, it’s with fond memories of children tired of searching the 3 acre plost of knee high grass at grampas come back arguing with people on what the letters on that paper egg really mean (theres a big difference between PB - peanut butter egg and PP - plastic pony) I think those egg hunts began turning into family swap meets though and leaving the tradition of strictly chocolate candy. I mean seriously, finding an AT egg that gets you an antique outta uncle daves truck, or the famous DS egg, a pair of dad’s old Dirty Shoes from the basement…. I mean the ability to get rid of unwanted goods is great and all, but couldn’t it wait till christmas like every other family? Leave it to us I guess. Seriously though, the dinners and the laughter are being missed right now, especially knowing you all will be getting together out there in CA for Jess’s wedding (congrats to her and Tommy) I’ll miss you family, hopefully I’ll get back to seeing you before too long. I suspect summer will hold a weekend trip for me somewhere.

so I am finding the good side of flying for the first time ever today. I sit in LAX and saw my name on the upgrade list, and being as cheap as I am went up there to get it taken off when the lady informs me “but sir, you’re a medallion member, you’re automatically put on the upgrade list for EVERY flight” “free?” I ask “of course” and so it is. The perks of flying 50,000+ miles a year, I might finally get some leg room.

This is a summary of a “Last Lecture” from Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon. He is a pioneer in virtual reality and CA techniques, and did pretty amazing stuff relating to technology and IT. But he has contracted cancer, and after trying everything he could, the cancer remains, so a few weeks ago, he gave his last lecture to his students, and any last lecture is a poignant showing of who someone is, but it’s even more so when it’s death and not retirement knocking at the door. If you have time, watch the full version here, or just watch the 10 minute summary after the jump
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So it’s been an interesting week this week. Monday held a big luncheon where I had lunch with the Presidents Executive Committee, which consisted of Elder Russell M Nelson and Elder M Russell Ballard, as well as Elder Cecil Samuelson and Kim Clark, Elder’s Tingey and Kerr, President Julie Beck, and on the list goes. It was great to interact with these people on a normal level and hear them having real conversations because normally as we hear them they come across in a larger than life way, so it was a real treat. I was there with 5 other students on a panel to answer questions they might have about students of this University, and I was recommended by my professors and other faculty as one who was capable of speaking his mind, or so they reported, so I was ready for some knock down drag out questions, but it turned into slow pitch softball. That’s okay though, it was pleasant all around, here’s a write up of it and I’m on the right in the last pic there.

Other big news, I was in a play, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, I’ve been practicing for 5 weeks, (continue reading…)