Saturday, October 4, 2008

Odds and Ends


This weekend is General Conference, and on Friday night I was worried that I might miss it.  With Christy and I moving into the lovely new town home she bought, we weren't so sure how long our grace period for free cable would be.  However, when we plugged in the TV last night to see if we could catch some of the BYU vs. USU football game, we quickly had a little set-up going and watched the game.  Thus, today, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Conference at our new little place, albeit the TV is on the floor at the moment.

Unfortunately for me, I totally let sleep overcome me about two-thirds of the way through the afternoon session, so I'll have to wait for my podcasts to come in to listen to those.  One thing I really enjoyed this year was President Monson's welcome to Conference.  What a very aware, observant, and open man he is.  While President Hinckley set us up to be more of a world-wide Church, President Monson--I believe--has carried on and furthered his, and thus the Church's, outreach to all; he doesn't just tell them who we are and answer the questions, but offers a very friendly and sincere invitation to all to come and partake.  What a man to follow--he holds a worldwide vision while simultaneously conversing and becoming friends with the one.

Between the two sessions, Christy and I went singing in the rain (well, just jogging in the rain, and the singing happened afterwards while I was in the shower).  I love it out here.  Cute little kids in their rain jackets waved to us--or stared at us--as we ran past, the main attractions were a park and a descent sized field full of ready to be harvested pumpkins, and maybe two cars drove by us on our route the entire time.  As we ran up to a bridge that goes over a small stream, we noticed a newly paved trail lining the stream's southern bank.  Since we were pressed for time, and just a wee bit wet, we never saw exactly how far the trail extended east of 900 W (it stopped maybe 40 yards west of it), and will have to try that one again.

I looked up my goals on one of my previous blogs, and figured that I at least needed to update everyone on my progress on them since I haven't posted any official documentation of what I've committed myself to really do this year.  Thus, things to check off the docket:
  1. I am on an all-ladies Ultimate Frisbee club team that will travel to weekend tournaments this winter.  This sounds mighty elite, and in a way it is, but each practice I go to, I'm learning tons, and the gals on the team have been awesome to teach me a few tricks of the trade and answer my endless questions.  I may not be the best player on the team, but hey, I apparently made cuts.
  2. I did cultivate one plant for a friend, and have been keeping up on mine quite well, except for those that need to be repotted.  But the Christmas cactus just got a nice trim today and is looking much better.
  3. As far as the 2012 Olympics in London, its looking like it's a definitely possibility for me to compete for......the cheapest plane ticket over there as a tourist.  Speed walking is a bigger sport than I ever realized, and thus I don't think I have quite the chances for being the next Michael Phelps for women's sports like I thought I did.  Ah well.
  4. Did get a bookshelf, and yes, I did finish one book I was reading last night, The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz.  True story that just makes my mind reel.  Four thousand miles on foot over about twelve months at about 20 miles a day, through Siberia, the Gobi Desert, and over the Himilayas to freedom in India after escaping a USSR concentration/work camp.  Slavomir's telling of his experience freely flows, and often caused my mind to wonder what the human mind and body can ultimately endure, and how much grace God showers upon us day to day.  This may be the subject of an upcoming blog....
  5. And, yes, I am in the process of applying for grad school Fall 2009.  I went in and talked with three of my professors, and they even all remembered me quite well.....that bodes well for me, but it also means I have quite the standard to reach and live up to.  Talking with Brian Hill, the graduate coordinator and my professor down in New Zealand, he was slightly disappointed in my above average scores on the GRE, and told me that he thought I would at least score above 1300, which he also told me would solidly solidify my spot as one of the nominees to begin the program.  I need to have a strong showing since I already have two strikes against me: I'm from BYU, and I've already graduated with a degree from the RMYL department.  Another quandry that I must address is if I really want to quit my job.  I was thinking that I could work and go to school part time, but it looks like it is a full-time program only, and it is highly recommended that I don't work.  
Oh, and the picture?  That is a picture of Mike Haney and I, riding donkeys, all the way back from May.  Since I didn't have any cool pictures to post yet, I thought this would keep things interesting.  Probably about the coolest first date I've ever been on, Mike was a true gentleman and really kept things interesting as I rode Pedro, a past circus donkey.  

One fun part of the night was when we turned around to head back home on our trail in Hobblecreek Canyon, and the donkeys knew it, and started trotting home, just like a horse.  It was so funny that they really are as stubborn as can be and really whined and complained about going up the hills, but ran for home, even down steep hills that I thought they would be scared of with their poor depth perception.  I think Pedro took on his fears, and sensed I wouldn't like going down a steep hill too much, and thus proceeded fearlessly.  Feeling uneasy about my prospects of staying on Pedro, I quickly dismounted at the first sign of trouble (me starting to slip forward, feeling as if I might just use Pedro's neck as a slide if I slid any further)--Mike laughed so hard about my dismount, because the hill was so steep, I had to put my foot down and swing the other leg over, kind of like a cartwheel with no hands.  As soon as Pedro recognized that I was off, he took off running, and Mike and I after him until when cornered him into some brush oak.  Ah, that was a fun night.  Good times.

1 comment:

Tricia said...

Awesome picture. Great story. Very good weekend.