Honest Scrap

I got tagged by my friend and former co-worker, Brandy, to take part in this. It is called the honest scrap award and these are the rules...A) First list 10 honest things about yourself--and make it interesting even if you have to dig deep.B) Pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you feel embody the spirit of Honest Scrap...

1. After six rejections, I only have two potential schools to be accepted to this year - and I am on the waiting list for both of those (Purdue & Minnesota). I am starting to wonder if I am going to get into a PhD program this year. I have started applying for full-time, long-term work all over the U.S., in case school does not pan out. If I don't get into school this year, I'm not sure if I will re-apply next year or not.
2. I do almost anything I can do get stuff for free. As of right now, I still have a number of free Nabisco cookies/crackers coupons and recently cashed in a coupon for a free 12-pack of Diet Mountain Dew (even though I rarely drink carbonation, and even more rarely drink caffeine). We also went to Einstein's to get a free bagel numerous times last month (we had a "free bagel on Fridays in March" coupon). We also have free coupons for eating at The Factory, ice skating, going to the movies, and Aggie ice cream.
3. I have had an extremely difficult time getting a CD cover together for my latest CD. My most recent disappointment in that regard will probably be blogged about within the next week or two.
4. In addition to this current CD (my second), that will hopefully be finished for release this year sometime, I already have enough material to record a third CD and would also like to record a CD of cover songs.
5. I am currently living in one of the happiest and most care-free times of my life. I get to work from home for more money than I could probably make working anywhere else in Logan. Deidra doesn't work (except tutoring a couple of times per week), so we get to spend a lot of time together. I'm not even in school, so I don't have to worry about homework, tests, papers, etc. But come the end of April, my current contract runs out and the company is not sure they will have funds to continue my employment. So I'm just trying to enjoy this stage in life while I can.
6. When Deidra and I got married, we both came into the marriage saying that once we were done with school, there was little chance we were going to continue living in Utah. But we've since come to the conclusion that Utah (particularly Logan) is a fairly nice place to be, and having tons of family close makes it even better. So we've backed down on that pledge, but we're still open to live pretty much anywhere work/school takes us.
7. For April Fools Day, I wore a three-piece sky blue denim suit for Stake Bishopric meeting, hoping to get a good reaction. But few people even mentioned it at all, so I hope people don't think that was my normal business/church attire.
8. We've been in out current apartment for almost three years, and are itching for a change in scenery and/or new neighbors.
9. I'm temporarily returning to a job I left two years ago to help out as a former co-worker heads off on maternity leave.
10. I love watching Primetime in No Time on Yahoo!, so I get to stay up with what's happening in the primetime TV land without actually having to watch the shows myself.

(I did a similar thing a while back, but with 100 things, so I tried to not repeat myself.) 

As for tagging people, I think it would be great to hear from some people who haven't blogged in a while: Patrice, Warren, Tameka, Whitney, Chod, Kamilah, and . . . anybody else who has something to say and wants to give this a try.

Phatdippin'

Rhett and Link have outdone themselves with this one. I personally like the Obama cameo.

Eagle Eye vs. Wall-E

I watched Eagle Eye earlier this week (which I found utterly unbelievable and unneccesarily laced with gratuitous profanity) and thought "Isn't the ami computer in this movie (ARIIA) basically the same computer as the movie WALL-E (Auto Pilot)?" You be the judge.

ARIIA - a round structure, suspended from above, with a glowing red eye in the center, trying to override human commands.

Auto Pilot - a round structure, suspended from above, with a glowing red eye in the center, trying to override human commands.

Aspiring to the honors of men

I finally put up these frames in our spare bedroom (a.k.a. my office) after receiving my Master's diploma in the mail. It's supposed to help Deidra and I feel like we're smart or something.

The Golden Oreo conclusion

Remember the Golden Oreos debacle?

Well, I received a letter in the mail that told me that they had analyzed the cookie and that the discoloration was "product residue," whatever that means.

There were three more free Nabisco coupons in with the letter, so that works for me! :-)

SNOW!

This was the scene as I unburied our car yesterday morning after 24 hours of straight snow.

PhD program status

Some of you read last year about my plans of applying to PhD programs. I thought I should give you an update as to what I have heard back so far:

• University of Minnesota - I have been placed on their waiting list and should hear back by mid-August at the latest about whether or not I am accepted.
• Purdue University - I interviewed with a professor at Purdue over the phone last week. I am on a "short list" of eight potential PhD students. They will be extending offers to two of the eight. I should hear back in the next couple of weeks.
• Michigan State University - I got a rejection letter from MSU in the mail. I emailed the professor who sent the letter and inquired about why I had not been accepted and what I could do to strengthen my application for the future. He responded by saying that they had only received my electronic application, not any of the supporting materials (references, transcripts, etc.). I told him that I had sent the information in, and gave him the address that they were sent to. Come to find out, MSU has two HR PhD programs - half of my application materials went to one (in the Management school), and the other half went to the other (in the Labor and Industrial Relations school). I have since had everything transferred to the Management school, and they are re-reviewing my full application.

I have not heard anything from the other five schools (UCLA, U. of Michigan, Indiana U., U. of Illinois, and U. of Maryland). I'll keep you posted as I get more information.

February Books

Continuing my goal from last month, here are the books that I read in February (much shorter than my January list):

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

by Jeff Kinney

The most recent of the Wimpy Kid novels, it continues with more humorous stories of a middle school nerdy kid. I found this book enjoyable and fresh, even after reading the previous two books last month.

Keeper of Dreams

by Orson Scott Card

I saw this book in the New Books section at the library and, being a fan of the author, I thought I would give it a shot. It is an 800-page series of short stories (between 5 and 50 pages each) divided by category (fantasy, science fiction, etc.). While some of the stories were less than memorable, I thought it was worth reading overall. Interesting concepts behind the stories (such as Santa Claus being a spirit in a purgatory-like existence or God and Satan's Job-like bet that has brought about the world's views on socialism vs. capitalism) form the foundation for good storytelling. There is even a Mormon Stories section, where I found the author's introductory explanation of Mormon culture particularly interesting.

The Gypsy Morph

by Terry Brooks

The culmination of the 5 Terry Brooks books that I read last month. The books follows the same somewhat predictable path as those preceding it, and weaves everything into a fitting conclusion to the series.

I have also starting reading Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. I have been reading it for about three weeks and am only around page 200 (out of about 700). It's definitely more dense than most of the fiction books I have recently read.

Also on the docket for next month: 

• The Stand - Steven King
• Seventh Son - Orson Scott Card
• Dune - Frank Herbert

As always, I am open to further suggestions for future books to read.

Gattaca

Ok, so I am somewhat obsessed with the movie GATTACA. It originally came out while I was on my mission, and the first time I heard about it was after I came home and I watched it with a group of friends. Maybe I'm just a big nerd, but the whole futuristic, scientific premise of the movie fascinates me. I recently had to do a research paper for my Employment Law class. I did my paper on the legalities of genetic testing and genetic discrimination in employment, and referred to GATTACA in the opening of that paper.

Ever since Deidra and I got married (and even before then), I have been passively looking to purchase the movie. Basically, wherever we went that had DVDs for sale (the supermarket, video stores, Bukoos, etc.), I would rummage through their collection to try and find.

Well, I am happy to announce that after years of searching, I finally found it this week at ROSS for $4! Deidra told me I had to buy it, just to finally be done with the whole ordeal. So now I am the proud owner of GATTACA!

(If you've never seen it, I would highly recommend it. Let me know if you want to borrow it!)

And the winner is . . .

NOBODY!!

The February 15th deadline for the CD design contest has passed, and there were no submissions. There are a few reasons I can think of that might help explain it:

1. My friends aren't really as talented as I think they are. (I doubt that reason could be true.)

2. The contest awards were not high enough to generate interest. (This reason is very possible, but it's all I could offer in my current situation.)

3. My friends don't think they're really as talented as I think they are. (a.k.a. you don't think I am referring to you as you read this.)

At any rate, I am looking into other options for CD artwork, including purchasing software (probably Photoshop) in order to do it myself.

However, if there's anyone out there who would like to try their hand at the design, shoot me an email at chris_hartwell_music@yahoo.com. Even if you are not working in a digital medium, we can work something out.

Golden Oreos - Santa's Gift that keeps on giving

I am a big fan of Golden Oreos, and Santa knows it. When I woke up at the home of my in-laws on Christmas morning, Santa had left a package of Golden Oreos with my stocking. Since we hadn't finished the package before we left to return to Logan, I took the Oreos with me.  Fast forward a week or two to when I grab the last two cookies out of the bag. I twist the top off of one of the cookies and see a grey-colored abnormality on both the inside of the cookie and the creme. Nasty!

I contact Nabisco/Kraft and they tell me that they will send me an envelope in the mail so that I can ship the cookie back to them. Along with that, they promise a couple of coupons. This was in early January, and I had not received anything in the mail by February. I contacted them again and was told that the original mail had been sent, but should not have taken this long to get to me. They resolved to re-send the package as certified mail so that I would have to sign for it.

Today there was a knock on the door. Deidra answered the door to see our mailman with the package from Kraft. She signed for it and we opened it up. It included a letter of apology, a pre-paid envelope so send back the cookie and packaging, and three coupons for free Nabisco cookies or crackers.

A short time later, I braved the falling snow to run across the road to our mailbox and retrieve the rest of our mail. Lo and behold, the original kraft mailing was in our mailbox with the exact same items (letter, return envelope, and 3 coupons). In addition to that, there was a regular letter-sized envelope from Kraft. That letter turned out to be identical to the other two, except for the signature at the bottom. It also contained one more coupon.

I contacted Kraft and told them about the situation and was told to keep and use all seven coupons. Sweet! 

I won't run out of Golden Oreos for quite some time now!

Two weeks remaining to submit. 1st prize DOUBLED!

Just a reminder that that submissions for designing my new CD are due on Feb. 15th - only two more weeks!

And GOOD NEWS! The 1st prize has been doubled from $50 to $100!

There are also a couple of questions that have been answered about the contest.

Full details available here.

Good luck!

The reading train sets off

After getting inspired by Sherpa's blog, I made it a goal to read 50 books this year. And I thought I would also copy her idea of listing those books on my blog. However, in order to try to keep up on my reading, my goal is to outline the books I have read each month (rather than waiting until the end of the year). I'm not claiming that I'm going to go for the 1,000 page Dickens Classics (I hated David Copperfield), but at least I will get to catch up on some pleasure reading that was sorely neglected during my Masters program. So here's the list of books read in January:

Armageddon's Children

by Terry Brooks

Back in high school, I got hooked on Terry Brook's Shannara series books, starting with The Sword of Shannara. They were similar to The Lord of the Rings books, except that it takes place thousands of years into a future. It's been over ten years since reading those books, and I found out while in Border's recently that there are a set of prequels. So I found this in the library and gave it a shot. It's an interesting look at a post-apocalyptic society where humans are threatened by demons and once-men (mainly humans who have mutated due to the chemical, nuclear, and atomic warfare). I like Terry Brooks writing style, even though the cliffhanger ending that continues in the next book was a little drawn out and predictable.

The Elves of Cintra

by Terry Brooks

The second of the prequels in the series, this book talks less about human/demon struggle and more about elves. These elves have supposedly kept themselves hidden since man populated the Earth and are now needed to help man overcome the demons. I found this book more cheesy and vastly more predictable than the first book. But it was still entertaining, and left another cliffhanger ending to prepare for the last book of the trilogy. Unfortunately, all four copies of that book are checked out from our local library, so I will have to wait for a while before I get my hands on it.

Running with the Demon

by Terry Brooks

While reading the books above, I realized that there was another trilogy written before those prequels were written. So, of course, I had to read that trilogy while waiting for the other book from the library. This trilogy takes place before the apocalyptic events occur and kind of tell the story leading up to it. This book weaves magic into a normal, everyday small town middle America. because it deals with times and places close to present day, it is more realistic and graphically disturbing than his other books. But it kept my attention better than the other books.

Knight of the Word

by Terry Brooks

This book definitely wins the award for cheesiest cover. It takes place in modern day Seattle. The fight between good (the Word) and evil (the Void) continues. This book did little to progress the story of the previous book and was 100% predictable throughout. Probably my least favorite of the books I read this month.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

by Jeff Kinney

I saw this book one day at USU's bookstore and sat down and read the first little bit of it while Deidra was shopping. It was pretty entertaining, so I got it from the library and I was not disappointed. It recounts - in words and drawings - the story of a middle school kid and reminds us all of the some of the funny and ridiculous parts of growing up. It was extremely easy to get through and pretty darn funny.

Angel Fire East

by Terry Brooks

The last of The Word and the Void trilogy, this book wraps up the previous two and prepares us for Armageddon's Children (which, by the way, made more sense after I read this book). It was pretty good, but not anything too memorable.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

by Jeff Kinney

The second in this series, this book deals more with family relationships. Like the first book, the words and drawing come together to make an easy, entertaining read.

So there you have it - my first seven books of the year. As you can see, I haven't really branched out all that much yet. On tap so far for February are the following:

• Keeper of Dreams - Orson Scott Card
• Dairy of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw - Jeff Kinney
• The Gypsy Morph - Terry Brooks
• Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling - Richard L. Bushman

Now that I have almost caught up on the books I have been wanting to read, I certainly welcome any suggestions for other books to read. So let me know what books you've read recently or that you've heard are good. Perhaps I will add them to my list.

Contest: Design my next CD!

It’s been over seven years since I released my debut album, “All I Fear." My next CD is musically ready for release and all that is left is the CD design. I know I have a lot of artistically talented friends out there, so I decided what better way to come up with a CD design than to have a contest?

CONTEST DETAILS:

This contest is to design the front cover, back cover, and CD itself for my upcoming release “Racing & Retracing.” To get a feel for the music, you can listen to two songs (Leaving It All Behind & She Won’t Give In) on MySpace and two other songs (Home & Again) either directly on iLike or through the iLike application on Facebook.

To enter the contest, create a design using any artistic style. The artwork must fit the specifications listed on Kunaki’s website (where I will get the CDs made). Which basically means 300 DPI / RGB / 16 bit color with the following dimensions:









PRIZES:
One 1st Place Winner of the contest will receive the following:
* $100
* Four free tickets to the “Racing & Retracing” CD release concert (Date/Time/Venue TBD)
* Credit in the liner notes (along with any contact and/or website information desired)
* 5 autographed copies of “Racing & Retracing”
* 1 copy of all seven previous albums where my music has been featured:
- All I Fear (my debut album, 2001)
- From the Underground, Vol. 1 (2002 compilation album of acoustic musicians in the Arlington, VA/Washington, DC area)
- LDS Styles, Vol. 3 (2002)
- LDS Styles, Vol. 4 (2003)
- Summer Rain (Timpanogos Singer/Songwriter Alliance compilation album, 2004)
- LDS Styles 2006
- Swap Meet (Timpanogos Singer/Songwriter Alliance compilation album, 2007)

Depending on the number and quality of submissions, other entrants may be designated as Honorable Mention winners. Honorable Mention winners will receive an autographed copy of “Racing & Retracing” and two tickets to the “Racing & Retracing” CD release concert (Date/Time/Venue TBD).

TO ENTER:
E-mail your completed design, along with your name, email address, phone number, and mailing address, to chris_hartwell_music@yahoo.com. If you prefer to send your artwork through the mail (on CD, etc.), contact me via the same email address with a request for my mailing address.

Entrants may submit more than one entry with the understanding that each entrant will only receive up to one honorable mention or 1st place winner designation.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE:
To ensure full consideration, submissions should be received no later than midnight on February 15th, 2009.

FINE PRINT:
By entering the contest, the entrant gives Chris Hartwell non-exclusive rights to use his or her submission in the production, promotion, and distribution of the “Racing & Retracing” CD, this contest, and future performances, advertisements, and other promotions.

The 1st Place Winner and any Honorable Mention winners will be announced on http://goodned.blogpot.com no later than March 15th, 2009 and will also be contacted personally via email, phone, and/or postal mail.

QUESTIONS:
Questions can be emailed to chris_hartwell_music@yahoo.com or left in the comments of this post. General questions that may be beneficial to all entrants will be answered below:

1. Do the front cover, back cover, and CD have to be separate designs?

Answer: No. In fact, many CDs have a similar theme between the front and back covers. Some CD covers match the face of the CD. Keep it simple. If you do want to do different designs for all three parts, make sure they work well together, but I suggest saving your energy and using a  similar theme/idea throughout.

2. How many winners of the contest will there be?

The number of winners in the contest is completely dependent on the quantity and quality of submissions. There will only be a maximum of one 1st place winner, but there is no maximum (or minimum) number of Honorable Mention winners.

Word Verification Experiment

You know when you leave a comment on someone's blog and you have to type in a word verification that's not really a word?

Well, I think it's time that we conduct a little experiment. What you need to do is leave a comment on this post, and in the comment you need to use the word in the word verification blog in your comment. Just make up some sort of sentence that gives the word implied meaning.

For example, the last verification word I saw when leaving a comment was "noshinge." Therefore, if I left a comment on this post, it would probably look something like this:

Because I haven't been a good boy this year, Santa left me noshinge for Christmas.

Maybe not the best example, but let's see what those creative heads come up with. Come on - it will be fun! Leave a comment. You know you want to!

Applications complete!

I have finally finished last of my PhD applications.

Now comes the waiting game. I should start hearing back from schools by late March.

AT&T: The Reason I will never have an iPhone

(Warning: Long-winded rant ahead)

When I finally broke down and got my first cell phone six years ago, I signed up with AT&T. Almost the entire time I was with them, there was problem after problem - billing issues, dropped calls, horrible customer service, etc. As soon as I thought my contract was up, I canceled and switched to Verizon. Apparently, I was wrong about when my contract ended, and when I canceled (less than a week too early), I was hit with a cancellation fee of over $150  - even though I wasn't told that my contact was still in force when I cancelled my account. That just served to solidify my dislike of AT&T.

Fast forward four or five years. I've moved from DC to Utah, gotten married, and completed a graduate degree. AT&T became Cingular and then became AT&T again. Enough time and distance had passed by the time they became the exclusive distributor of the iPhone that I had almost forgotten the bad taste my last experience with AT&T had left.

My most recent contract with Verizon has been up for months, and I have not renewed the contact because Deidra is on AT&T and we keep thinking that eventually we'll get onto the same plan. Over Christmas break, we figured out that if I got onto a family plan with Deidra on AT&T, we could get an iPhone and, even with the added cost of the data plan, we would be paying roughly the same as we are for our two phone plans now. We have both been fascinated with the iPhone and had researched so many different ways that we could use it that it seemed a logical investment.

We went to AT&T a little over a week ago and switched Deidra's phone plan to a family plan and used the internet set-up at the store to purchase a refurbished iPhone online (still trying to save as much money as possible on the deal). The salesman was less than helpful and not at all accommodating, and the internet access they had set up was slow and, at times, unresponsive. We started to think that maybe this wasn't the best idea. My previous experience with AT&T came freshly to mind, adding to our doubts. But we continued on and finally left the store after completing the online purchase.

On the drive home, we both felt like maybe we had been pressured into a deal that wasn't as good as we had initially thought, and we were already thinking of way that we could back out. We couldn't really explain why, but it just didn't feel right. However, after that initial "buyer's remorse," we resigned ourselves to our new fate and awaited our iPhone in the mail.

This was on a Saturday - and Deidra had received an email that day from AT&T confirming the order. It gave us a confirmation number and told us that we should receive the phone in 3-5 business days. Figuring that Saturdays may not count as business days, we surmised that we should receive the phone between Wednesday and Friday of the following week (which was last week). Wednesday came - no phone. Thursday came - no phone. Friday came - no phone. We tried accessing their online order tracking system, but it did not recognize the order number that was given to us in the email. When we didn't receive the phone on Saturday, we determined to call AT&T first thing Monday to assess the situation.

When I called AT&T Monday morning, I first tried going through the automated system using our order number, to no avail. So I attempted talking to customer service, who could not seem to locate our order number either. The operator put me on hold while she got in touch with their electronic ordering department. When she came back on the line, she indicated that the e-order department had been able to find our order number and she transferred me to them. Finally, we were getting somewhere . . . or so I thought.

The representative for the e-order department explained to me that our order had be cancelled "according to routine procedure." When I asked him why the order had been cancelled, he could not give me a definite answer. I was told it was because either A) we had exceeded our allotment for the number of phones available to purchase online, or B) they were unable to verify some of the information we entered when making our order.

Since this was the first phone we had ordered online, I threw out option A immediately and asked the representative if he could tell me what information they were unable to verify. He said that they did not keep that information, so he couldn't tell me but that "I should be more careful to enter correct information in the future." That really got me riled up. I explained to the gentleman that I was certain that all of the information was entered correctly, and that I had double-checked it when making the order (what else was I supposed to do when the in-store online system was so slow?). He was unable to offer any more information.

I pressed him as to why we received a confirmation email after placing the order, but did not receive any sort of communication saying that our order had been cancelled. He responded that the confirmation email was simply an automated response sent out when an order came in, and should not be taken as confirmation that the order is complete. He was unsure if sending out communication when an order is canceled is standard practice or not.

I tried to summarize to him as best as my confused mind could. "You mean that the confirmation email we received with a confirmation number for our order, and instructions to allow 3-5 business days for the item to be shipped should not be construed as a confirmation that the order is complete? And if that is the case, that the email is automatically generated when the order is placed, AT&T does not have a system in place to automatically generate an email to inform customers when their order is cancelled? They just have to wait until they forget they even made the order or until they contact AT&T?"

He stammered through some sort of response.

Thoroughly frustrated at this point, I explained that I would not be reordering the phone and that I would like him to switch Deidra's plan back to an individual plan and not charge us the additional rate for the 10 or so days where we were on the higher rate plan while waiting for a phone that had never actually been shipped. When he responded that he did not have the information or permissions necessary to make any changes, and that he could not transfer me to someone who could, I simply lost patience and hung up.

Deidra and I walked into the AT&T store here in town and explained the situation. They changed Deidra's plan back and filled out a form to cancel the extra charges. We'll see if it actually worked once we get Deidra's next bill. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't.

So, in summary, I hate AT&T even more than I did before and will never be an AT&T customer in the foreseeable future. Deidra is even planning on jumping ship as soon as her contract is up. So most likely, we will never own an iPhone, at least not while they are sold exclusively through AT&T. But at least the order was cancelled so that I am not stuck in a 2-year contract with AT&T - that's the silver lining. The new Blackberry available on Verizon is starting to look pretty good.

(Image from Abrilon)

Christmas Tag

I guess when your wife tags you, you have no choice but to comply. So here goes:

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate. I'm pretty sure Egg Nog is against my religion. OK, it's not, but it should be.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa doesn't wrap (he doesn't really rap either). He always left presents unwrapped with our stockings on the couches.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White. Because my wife says so.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope - I don't deal with the decorations at all.

5. When do you put up your decorations? Whenever Deidra says "Go!"

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Pecan Pie, Ham, Peanut Brittle

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? My older brother (Ryan) and I had rooms right across the hall from each other, and we were both just down the hall from where Santa left presents. We would grab our blankets, pillows, and flashlights and try to stay up all night waiting for Santa while keeping each other company.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Ryan figured it out first and called my dad on it one time while we were driving somewhere. My dad didn't even try to deny it.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes. My dad went on a mission to Norway, and that is part of their tradition. One year, Santa even brought skis to us in his pick-up truck on Christmas Eve. Once we got older, we opened all our gifts on Christmas Eve so that my parents didn't have to wake up early on Christmas morning.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? I don't really. I let Deidra take care of that. I'm more of a hinderance.

11. Can you ice skate? Definitely. I'm pretty much a pro . . .unless I have to turn or stop or anything.

12. Do you remember your favorite gift? I'm pretty sure I got a cool Chemistry set once year that was fun to play with, even though they didn't have any cool chemicals that would blow anything up.

13. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Christ and Family.

14. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Peanut Brittle and Pecan Pie

15. What is your favorite holiday tradition? My family goes skiing together on Christmas day. Because everybody else is busy opening presents, eating Christmas dinner, and caroling, the slopes are usually pretty non-congested.

16. What tops your tree? Two glittery silver stars.

17. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving. It's fun trying to find the perfect gift.

18. What is your favorite Christmas Song? The Little Drummer Boy. My favorite versions are from Jars of Clay and from David Bowie and Bing Crosby.

19. Do you feel Christmas is too commercialized? Not necessarily. I don't think it's difficult to center Christmas around Christ if you make it a point to do so.

I Made It!

I officially* graduated on Friday, December 12th with a Master of Science in Human Resources. Since then, I have been researching schools for a PhD and have decided to apply to the following (in no particular order):

Michigan State University

University of Michigan

UCLA

University of Indiana

University of Maryland

University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign

Purdue University

University of Minnesota

So that is the next step. They all have deadlines between January 1 and February 15, 2009, so I better get moving quickly in order to get all of my information in on time. Wish me luck! I'll certainly keep everyone posted, but I am sure I won't hear back about any of these for a few months at least.

* by "officially," I mean that I went through the graduation ceremony. Final grades and diploma are forthcoming.

Get out the vote!

I know election day has come and gone, but don't let that get in the way of you making your voice heard! I have entered an online music contest at Mormontimes.com, and I need your vote to move on to the next level. Between Nov. 15 and Dec. 15, you can vote once per day per email address, but the catch is that you have to first register on the site in order to vote. 

Thanks for your support!

(Click on this link to access the site)

Mozart Requiem - Saturday, Nov. 15

I am excited to be a part of this concert and I think it will turn out to be a great show. As a member of the American Festival Chorus, I have been given four tickets that I am expected to sell. If anyone out there would like to buy any or all of these tickets from me ($10 each), please let me know.

(Tickets will also be available at the door on the night of the concert.)

Free Veteran's Day Concert

The case of the missing microwaves

When I started my graduate program at Utah State, I also started having lunch on campus once or twice a week with Chod and Tameka. We would meet in the Hub and have our lunch without incident. There were two microwaves available for our use.

In addition, most of my classes are held in the business building, and some of them are late afternoon/early evening classes. But there was a microwave in the basement of the business building that was available to use as well.

Fast forward to the beginning of this semester. The business building had been renovated and, lo and behold, all of a sudden there is no microwave in the basement anymore. Not only that, but at the start of the semester, all of a sudden there was only one microwave in the Hub instead of two.

What that meant to meant was waiting longer to heat up lunch in the Hub, and having to trek over to the AgScience building in the evenings to heat up dinner.

Then, as of a couple of weeks ago, the last microwave in the Hub vanished away without warning. I sense a conspiracy.

So now it's just too annoying to bring anything that needs to be heated up at all. From now on it's peanut butter sandwiches for lunch and dinner whenever I am on campus.

Whoever thought my life could get this rough.

I voted!

Just in case anybody was wondering.

And neither of these guys got my vote! 

A non-fantasy football blog post . . .

Deidra told  me I should post about something other than fantasy football. Easy for her to say - she's ahead of me in the standings.

At any rate, feel free to consider this blog post about anything other than fantasy football.

And if there's anything in particular you would like me to blog about, please let me know. I will try to accommodate all requests.

P.S. Deidra, I love you.

A Fantasy Football Season Portrait

Draft Pick #1: Tom Brady (NE-QB) - Injured early on in week one and will be out for the entire football season.

Draft Pick #2: Terrell Owens (DAL - WR) - Still healthy, but QB Tony Romo was injured in week 6 and is possibly out for up to four weeks. The replacement QB played horribly this week.

Draft Pick #3: Marques Colston (NO - WR) - Underwent surgery prior to week #2 and was out until this week (week 7), when he returned to the field and proceeded not to catch a pass all game.

Draft Pick #4: Reggie Bush (NO-RB) - I guess with the return of teammates Colston (above) and Shockey (below), Bush decided it was his turn to get injured this week. He'll be out the next 3-4 weeks.

Draft Pick #5: Jeremy Shockey (NO-TE) - Injured around the same time as Colston (above) and also return to playing this week after being out for 5 weeks.

For the record, I am not a big New Orleans Saints fan (even less so now). I just happened to draft all of those players in our autopick draft. Needless to say, my season has not been the best so far. I'll be 3-4 after a loss this week.

Oh well, at least it produced my first blog post in almost a month, right?

Who knew Josh Groban was so versatile and funny?

. . . and random!

MoTab, Jr.

I guess this is late news, but I thought I should make mention of it. I am now singing in the American Festival Chorus, aka MoTab*, Jr. My brother-in-law and my brother-in-law's brother-in-law are also in the choir. 

It's not really a mini-MoTab - but it is a choir of over 250, I did have to audition for a spot, it is directed by Craig Jessop (who led the MoTab for 10 years before stepping down last year and becoming the head of USU's music department), and we are wearing black tuxes (for the men) and matching sparkling outfits (for the women).

We have a patriotic Veteran's Day concert coming up on Nov.12 and a concert performing Mozart's Requiem on Nov. 15. So put it on your calendar!

*MoTab is short for Mormon Tabernacle Choir, in case you aren't 100% hip on the Mormon slang.

Step into my office

As some of you know, I finally got the go ahead to continue working remotely part-time (technically as a contrator) with the organization that I interned with over the summer. That means that a lot of the work I do is computer-based research from home. Deidra has been very supportive and even arranged our spare bedroom to be more of an ideal home office, as seen below:


It has made it much easier and nicer to focus on work while I am home. The other great thing is that the office is about two feet away from the "studio," so I can take a break when needed by trying to remember how to be a musician.


All in all, I like this working from home stuff.

The Annual "Who Sucks More" Game!

Tomorrow is the annual meeting between the Aggies and the Vandals (Utah State and U. of Idaho, respectively). Ever since I've lived in Logan, basically what that means is that both teams have their best chance at a conference win. So who will it be? The 1-2 Vandals (does beating Idaho State really count as a win?) or the winless Aggies?

My heartfelt apology

Dear Brett Favre,

I could tell from the above picture that you really took it personally when I kept telling people I was sick of hearing all about Brett Favre on all of the sports shows every day during the summer.

"He's retired . . . he's interested in coming back . . . no, just kidding . . . ok, maybe not kidding . . . yeah, definitely coming back . . . bad blood in Green Bay . . . interview on Fox News . . . calls from the Minnesota Vikings . . . maybe the Dolphins . . . being 'bribed' to stay retired . . . finally traded to the Jets . . . had to run a lap in practice because of fumbling a snap . . . "

It just went on and on! I'm sure you can understand my feelings. I know I said that I wish you had just stayed retired and spared us all the media circus surrounding your return. I know I scoffed when you got traded to the lowly Jets. And I scoffed even more when I saw that I had drafted you in the 13th round of our automated fantasy football draft. And I know it all really hurt you to see my bad attitude toward your return to football.

That's why I'm here to make amends and hope that we can be friends again. You see, in that draft, I gambled and took Tom Brady as my 1st round pick. He's been my fantasy QB for four years now (if memory serves me correctly) and has never let me down. But this year is different. This year, he earned a measly 3 points before getting injured and getting sidelined for the season.

So that's why I'm now petitioning to you. You're my only hope. Without you, my fantasy football season could already be over. So waddayasay? How about we forget that whole summer circus and start again with a fresh, clean slate. You just go out and play some great football (throwing for a lot of touchdowns, of course) and I'll be behind you every step of the way.

Thanks, man. I owe you one.

- Chris

72-hour kit lunch

Deidra is planning on doing the yearly update to our 72-hour kits next week, so I decided I should start eating the food that is in there from last year. I actually thought I should try eating all the food in my 72-hour kit in 72 minutes, but Deidra wasn't so keen on that idea. So, instead, I had a lunch made up of Spicy Chile Chicken cup-o-noodles, soda crackers, and orange flavored Crystal Light mixed in water. All-in-all, it wasn't so bad (minus the stale soda crackers). I'm grateful that we're able to have a 72-hour kit in reserve should we need it.

Wow! That's pretty good!

Today is my third anniversary being married to Deidra - a beautiful, wonderful, and amazing woman.

When I started this summer internship and some of the other interns found out I was married, one of the girls asked how long I had been married. I replied, "Almost three years."

Her eyes widened a little bit and she nodded, seemingly in disbelief, "Wow! That's pretty good!"

It made me chuckle that she was impressed that we had made it for three years. I guess with the breaking down of the family in our society, all the entertainment break-up news, etc., she thought three years was a really long time.

But I do have to agree with her on one point - it is pretty good! And it's only getting better!

Stop whining!

Ah, the Olympic Games! Where nations compete with each other in the spirit of international harmony and brotherhood - or something like that.

While I have enjoyed cheering on the feel-good stories of record-breaking Michael Phelps, age-defying Dara Torres, the USA basketball Redeem Team, and the seemingly infalterable Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, I have kind of gotten a bad taste in my mouth for how much the American athletes, former athletes, and coaches have been reported as whining and making excuses when things haven't panned out like they had hoped.

From boxing, to gymnastics, to swimming, to tennis, there seem to be a lot of finger pointing and excuses. Do these Americans really have such a sense of entitlement that when they don't get what they want, they have to find someone to blame?

Maybe that's why the rest of the world looks at us as a nation of spoiled, whiny brats.

It's that time of year again!

With the Brett Favre drama finally over (hopefully) and preseason football in full swing, I am throwing out one final invitation if anyone wants to join my fantasy football league. We have 12 teams already, but have room for a few more if anyone is interested. Click here or on the picture above and enter the follwing information:

League ID#: 102044
Password: roxor

Leave me a comment here or send me an email if you have any issues.

The Washington Nationals are undefeated!

At least they are in my book! They may be the absolute worst team in baseball, but Deidra and I went to their game on Saturday and they won! That was the first game I've been to this year, and counting the five or so games I went to during their inaugural season in 2005, I have never been to a game where the Nationals have lost. I was thinking of going to another game this season, but I'm not sure if I should press my luck.

Moving up in the ranks of nerdiness

After reading Chod's post, I finally decided that I should get a Nike + as well. I need something to motivate me to run, or it doesn't happen. So far, so good! I haven't hit 100 miles yet . . . or 10 . . . or 5. I ran twice last week for a total of just over 4 miles, but at least it's a start.

I went online tonight and joined a bunch of challenges at the Nike+ website. There was one where you choose your favorite major league baseball team, and then the team with the fans that run the most miles wins. I joined as a Washington Nationals fan, and apparently I am the only Nats fan out there. They have 0 miles logged so far. I guess it's all on my shoulders now!

Hopping on the Josh Hamilton bandwagon

By now, most baseball fans can tell you the background behind Josh Hamilton. I've read the Sports Illustrated cover story about how he overcame drug addiction to get a second crack - no pun intended - at baseball (and life, really). How he goes everywhere with a long-time friend, who acts as his conscience and keeps him out of trouble, because Josh says he still doesn't trust himself. How he speaks to anyone, anywhere, anytime he can about his recovery and how God helped (and continues to help) him overcome his demons.

It's a pretty amazing and impressive story. But add to that what happened at the All-Star Home Run Derby in Yankee Stadium last night, and I now have to consider myself a Josh Hamilton fan.

He tells the story about having a dream two years ago - a dream about being at a home run derby at Yankee Stadium conversing with a female news reporter about his story. This dream coming before he had even returned to baseball and before baseball had even chosen Yankee Stadium for the All-Star game in the stadium's final year before the new Yankee Stadium opens up.


He invited his 71-year-old batting practice coach from American Legion to pitch to him and proceeded to hit a record 28 home runs (an astounding 12,458 feet total) in the first round of the derby - 20 more home runs than his closest competitor and 4 more than any other player in the history of the derby. It was definitely one of the most amazing athletic feats I have ever witnessed.

And after the round was over, there he was - at a home run derby at Yankee Stadium conversing with a female news reporter for ESPN about his story. As Josh Hamilton said himself: "I can say it was a coincidence, but I don’t believe in those."

Truly an inspiration for the power of faith, hard work, and unapologetic testimony, I certainly have the utmost respect and admiration for Josh Hamilton. I am proud to jump on the bandwagon with all those at Yankee Stadium who were chanting "Ha-mil-ton, Ha-mil-ton" as he sent baseball after baseball into the outfield stands, all of his teammates who continue to support and encourage him, and all those who have read or heard him tell his story of redemption. I am proud to call myself a fan.

(photos from Yahoo! Sports)

Meridian Park

Deidra gave me the task of finding something else to do while we were in the U St. area after work on Friday. We figured we needed to do more than just visit Ben's Chili Bowl in order to make our trip worth it. After doing a little bit of internet research, I decided that we would walk about five blocks (through one of the sketchiest parts of town, mind you) to Meridian Park.

You can see some pictures of the park by clicking on the link above. I had no idea that this park even existed, and I don't think I am the only one. Apparently, it was one of the original sites considered for the Lincoln Memorial. But now, it is fairly run down and most of the statues have fallen into various states of disrepair. Deidra decided that Meridian Park is where random statues go to die. But where else can you find a statue of a US President (Buchanan), a literary master (Dante), a war legend (Joan of Arc), and a personified emotion (Serenity) within a few hundred yards? Throw in a concrete aggregate chess board large enough to play human chess and a 13-tiered cascading water fountain, and you can't go wrong. I would certainly recommend Meridian Park as one of DC's hidden treasures.

Ben's Chili Bowl

After work on Friday, I metro-ed into the city and met Deidra at a metro stop on the way to U Street.

Our main goal was dinner at Ben's Chili Bowl, a classic dive celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Their specialties include chili dogs, chili cheese fries, and chili half-smokes (Bill Cosby's favorite). It's a pretty famous place, and they even put a Ben's Chili Bowl in the new Washington Nationals baseball stadium. I had eaten at this original location in U St. once before -many years ago - but Deidra never had. She got the chili half-smoke and I got the chili dog. We shared cheese fries (sans chili).

The verdict?

Overrated.

While the food was fairly cheap compared to anywhere else you can eat in DC, it wasn't any better than cooking your own store-bought hot dogs, putting them on cheap store-bought buns, and covering it with canned chili. It reminded me of eating at the ski lodge at the Pomerelle Ski Resort. But, as Deidra put it, at least your work up a big appetite while skiing at Pomerelle. The food tastes so much better then.

So, overall, Ben's is a good place to go once, just to say you've been there, but I don't think we'll be fighting to get back. When it comes to chili restaurants, I certainly prefer Hard Times. Hopefully we'll get there before the summer is over.

Happy Independence Day, Nelly!

We decided to celebrate independence day a little bit early by paying off the remaining amount on Nelly's car loan this morning. So now she is officially free and liberated from the oppression of "The Man". We'd take her out for a spin to celebrate, but considering she's in Idaho and we're in DC, that's not likely to happen anytime soon.

I passed!

I passed my HRCI Professional in Human Resources (PHR) exam today. That's definitely good to have off my back. Now I can carelessly enjoy the rest of my summer!

Could our day get any "Fuller"?

We spent pretty much every waking moment last Saturday with our friends, Nate and Sara Fuller. They gave a rundown of the events on their blog here (including video footage of the monster koi pond), so be sure to checking it out. (Rumor has it that Deidra might be posting a koi pond video of her own - but that's just speculation).

Here's the details I will fill in. We had borrowed a car from Deidra's roommate (as explained here), so we could pretty much go wherever the wind blew. Unfortunately, we spent a lot of time in the car while I tried to figure out how to get us from where we were to where the wind was blowing us.

At Eastern Market, the breakfast was great, but what was even greater was watching how upset Nate would get when people would throw away their pancakes, french toast, or other breakfast items after only eating half of it. I'm pretty sure he would have stood right by the garbage and eaten everyones' extras for hours if Sara would have let him.

While at the Arboretum, we heard they were doing some sort of launch for alternate energy plants. That didn't really interest us too much . . . until we also heard that they were going to be giving away Ben & Jerry's ice cream. The lady told us we just had to endure 15-20 minutes of "blah, blah, blah" and then we would get free ice cream. She was partially right. The "blah, blah, blah" ended up being about 35-40 minutes, but we did get free Ben & Jerry's! I got the Half Baked on a stick, as did Deidra. I think Sara got Cherry Garcia, and somehow Nate scored one of each - props to him!

The National Cathedral was cool - even though I've been there numerous times. I had never been down to the crypt before, so that was cool. There was even a plaque saying the Helen Keller was interred there. Who knew? (Probably everyone out there but me.)

We ate dinner at our place mainly because none of us could make up our mind on where to eat . . . and because we're all cheap! It was actually nice hanging out with friends who were as frugal as we were.

It was a fun day, and I think I speak for both myself and Deidra when I say that we would love to hang out with the Fullers again. How about the Nats v. the Diamondbacks or the Reds? Or maybe while the Bergstroms are in town. They get in tomorrow night! I think Sara said it best when she told us that she just loved "merging the Logan and DC worlds" by hanging out here with Logan friends.

Kelly Kapoor on Scrubs?

So, Deidra and I have been watching Scrubs recently, since we borrowed the first season from some friends. As we were watching the 3rd episode by myself, I was positive that one of the medical interns was Kelly Kapoor from The Office (Mindy Kaling is the actress's real name). Anyway, Deidra doesn't think it's the same person. I looked at the credits at the end of the show and all over online, but nowhere does it say anything either way. So I'll let you all decide.

This clip is long, but all you need to do is skip to 8 min 30 sec and take a look. She's the only intern in green scrubs. It's not the best quality, but it's the best I could find online. Let me know what you think.

Two car family

When you live in a bustling city with great public transportation and gas prices are skyrocketing, what do you do? You go from having zero cars to having two! At least that's what we did last night.

Deidra and I wanted to go to the temple and we heard that renting a car through Priceline was the way to go. So I went to work yesterday morning with that topping the to-do list. By the time Deidra got to work, that mission had been accomplished.

Then I hear from Deidra that another old roommate is going out of town for the weekend and Deidra had talked her into letting us borrow her car. The only problem is that we can't cancel reservations made through Priceline.

So I got our rented car, picked Deidra up, went to the temple, stopped by the Bank's house (a couple from our Logan ward) where we were treated to a great 9:30pm dinner, and then went to pick up Deidra's roommate's car. A for about 20 minutes between picking up that car and dropping off the rental, we were a two car family. It was pretty exciting!

While we're on the topic of beverages . . .

This is why I love Shoppers - an entire section of different flavored Tang in the ethnic foods aisle. I bet most of you didn't even know there were different flavors of Tang. I never knew until my first trip to Shoppers many years ago. Unfortunately, they were out of the Strawberry Orange tonight, so I had to settle for the Orange Kiwi.

Air beverage of choice

I got Minute Maid Cranberry Apple cocktail all four times the beverage cart came through the aisle on our flights to and from DC. I'm not sure why exactly - I think it might be something about it not being carbonated, but still having a little bite to it. I would say that I get that same beverage about 80% of the time that I fly. Does anyone else have a preferred air beverage?

"All 'board!"

This weekend, a week after we left Utah for DC, we flew back to Utah/Idaho for my younger brother's wedding in Rexburg. Here's a run-down of the week's events.

FRIDAY:
Leave work and go directly to the airport, where I meet Deidra. We see Senator Crapo and spend some time chatting with Congressman Bishop, both who are also on our flight West. We get on the plane and there is nowhere for our carry-on luggage to go, because all of the overhead bins are full. So we have to check the bag, which defeated the whole purpose of us flying with just a carry-on. (When we land in SLC, we see an entire family who all have two huge carry-ons that they are taking out of the overhead bins. We don't know who they are, but they are our sworn enemies from here on out.)

After a 4 hour plane ride, we arrive in Salt Lake and go to pick up our rental car. Our only problem is that we forgot which rental car company we booked through. So we go to the desk of five or six companies before we find the right one. Then we begin our 3-hour drive to Firth. We stop in Brigham City to have a "quick" late dinner at about 9pm. We decide that we'll stop at Sonic, because you can just park, order, eat from your car, and go. Unfortunately, it took them 20 minutes to get our food. I definitely picked wrong there. But we eventually arrive in Firth around midnight and stay the night with Deidra's sister, Karisa and little Laney. Unfortunately, Karisa's husband and little Hudson were out on a father/son campout that night.

SATURDAY:
Awake to the alarm clock at 6:30am and get all showered and ready to head to Rexburg. But we definitely took advantage of Karisa's cinnamon-roll-style french toast in the morning. Mmmmm! She also packed us travel treats for our flight back, and candy for our drive. How cool is that?

After missing the Idaho Falls/Rexburg exit, we take the long way to the wedding in Rexburg, but still make it there in plenty of time. We attend the wedding, meet the bride's family, say hello to my family and friends, get pictures taken, go to the official post-wedding luncheon, and head back out of town.

Aaron, my best friend from high school (who lives in the Seattle area) was also in Idaho for a wedding. Unfortunately, it was an afternoon wedding in Idaho Falls. We tried to touch base with him on our way through Idaho Falls (and even drove around the temple to see if they were taking pictures), but to no avail.

Then we get a call from Karisa, saying: "Are you guys coming back here today, or just heading back to Utah? Hudson just got back and when I told him you guys had already come and gone, he said 'Already? Aw, but I miss those guys." That was enough to get us back to Firth on our way out of Idaho. We were there for only about an hour, but in that time, I got to see some of the many faces of Hudson:


The World-Renowned Baker


The Train Conductor - "All 'Board!!"


The Rough-ridin' Cowboy

It was so much fun to hang out with that kid. He's definitely one of my two favorite nephews.

While we were at Karisa's, Aaron called back. He and his wife were going to be in Blackfoot awaiting the wedding reception that evening. So we got back on the road and met them in Blackfoot. We didn't really have a place to meet, so we just went to Winger's and hung out for a bit in their waiting room and caught up. Whenever someone tried to seat us, we just told them we were waiting for someone. It was great to see them!


We then drove onward until we reached Kaysville and spent a very enjoyable stay at the Bergstroms. Daron and Lisa were great hosts and we got a great night's sleep.

SUNDAY:
Daron and Lisa cooked us a perfect pancake, cinnamon roll, and bacon breakfast to start our travel home off right. We checked in online and printed our boarding passes from their house before we left - and we are glad we did. Upon arriving at the airport and dropping off the rental car, we found ourselves in the longest security line I have EVER seen! Fortunately, an employee suggested we go to the International terminal and check in there. We ran over there, waited in a much shorter line, checked-in and quickly walked to our gate - getting there just as the plane was boarding.

Now we're back in DC again and we are trying to recover from our whirlwind weekend. Thanks to everyone who made it such a great experience!