Pollo

I miss my chickens.

Scholarship and Racquetball

It has been a good beginning to this week. I applied for a scholarship a couple of weeks ago (like I have many times before) but this time I was actually awarded one. Yeah, for the first time, a scholarship for little ol' Joey. It's a Hansen scholarship through the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.

Also today, I barely remembered in time that it was racquetball club tryouts. Unfortunately when I got over there my wrist was killing me. I could barely hit the ball. But my lovely wife showed up with some ibprofun and I guess the adrenaline kicked in and I was able to play and made the team. Which I feel pretty fortunate about. There were at least 20 guys trying out and only 5 made it.

So good stuff...now if only I could find my T-mobile MyTouch phone that I had stolen last week. :)

Writing In Books

I love writing in books. There is probably not a book I own that I haven't written in. I am still reading "On The Road" and I've discovering that the previous owner of the book had a love for writing in books too...at least in this one. I love reading her notes and trying to figure out why she was reading the book and why she underlined certain things. Was she reading it for class and had to write a report on it? Was she book reviewer and wanted to keep track of good passages? Or was she just like me and enjoyed putting down her thoughts?

Are there really other people like me out there?

I think the reason I like writing in books is because I want to read books again, but I want to see my thoughts about the book that I had the first time, so that I can compare my thoughts while I read it the 2nd time.

So I usually buy softcover books, because I feel a little guilty writing in hardcover books, but at the same time I kind of have a guilty pleasure writing in them. The worst though is when somebody gives me a really nice book with a nice cover and what not (or a collectors edition.) Do not ever do this to me. Books are for reading and enjoying and learning from, not to look good sitting on a shelf. That is why I write in books and I think you should too. Toodles

On The Road

I am excited. Ever since my Great American Road Trip I've been wanting to read Jack Kerouac's "On The Road". Just before I left on that trip I was listening to a recording of a live show that Switchfoot did and they quote Jack Kerouac and I put that on our website as my favorite quote.

I had never heard of Jack and of his famous book about traveling around America just like we did...(well kinda'...we did ours real fast.) But anywho, someone commented on our blog that we should read it. So I am.

The version of the book I got from the Merrill-Cazier Library has an intro by Ann Charters, who was an English professor that studied the "beat generation" which is what Jack wrote about. In the intro Ann talks about Jack reading the first review written in the New York Times about "On The Road" and I found it fascinating. (This blog post is frustrating me because it is not coming out the way I want it to.)
Jack talks about the funny reaction that the media had to his book being published. The things that he was interviewed for were strange to him. The media made him into something that he was not. As the intro states "he was supposedly the spokesman for a new generation." I found all this funny because that is exactly what the media did to our Great American Road Trip. They often turned it into something it was not, or wasn't meant to be. As Adam Gatherum from our trip stated "our story is taking on a life of its own in the media's hands," which is true. I wonder how often that happens. Seriously, our trip was just 3 guys in a Scion drive through the 48 states to set a record. But then the media came along and all of a sudden it was:
"3 men drive across the country to show off the MPG efficiency of the Scion XB"
"3 brave men drive the countryside to live out fathers dream"
"A trio of men sponsored by a gay website (menlove.com) drive the lower 48 states"
"Three faggots waste precious fuel and set a bad example for others"

And I could go on and on, but I am out of creative headline ideas. But you get the idea. And all this is not even mentioning the completely wrong data they kept publishing. For example our official time for the drive was written incorrectly four times with four different numbers...we should just take the lowest misquoted time and run with it ;)

Anywho, I am excited to read this book so I am going to end this post and read it.

Politics is creeping into my blood...

So, I've been bitten by the politics bug...and I don't know how I feel about it. Part of me feels like I am cynical of everything and every idea now, but part me likes actually being involved and having opinions on these things...but I also know I could get carried away.

It somewhat started 3 weeks ago helping a fellow ward member get elect to student government at USU, then just this week their was a vote at USU to increase the athletic fee another $65 a semester. When I first heard about the fee and the arguments for it, it seemed like a no brainer, but I thought I'd look into a little more and I did and I came to disagree (along with a lot of other people) with the fee increase...specifically the amount of the increase.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I think somebody (perhaps the athletics department) became worried it wouldn't pass because a lot of unfair measures took place. They had basketball players pressuring you in the HPER to vote and vote right then (who is going to vote "no" with them looking over your shoulder). The statement on the online ballot was even biased. It basically listed reasons why to vote yes.

And lastly I'm disappointed the student fee committee didn't just handle the situation. They could negotiate a lot better...actually with a vote there is no negotiating.

Anyway, I didn't even mean to post all this stuff about the student fee increase, I was just coming here to post an article about facebook. (And I better stop, or my comments will end up being arguments of why the fee increase is good and such.) Aurora Dizon wrote this article and I think he/she (not really sure) writes for PC World, as it is on their site. The article is about the "Hypocrisy of Facebook." If people really feel this way, then I laugh. They would basically be saying "we need a constitutional right that we are entitled to have a facebook page, and that all websites be operated on the basis of political correctness." (P.S. A lot of things that fall under "political correctness" I disagree with.) People, we are not entitled to have a facebook page. If facebook wants to keep pornography off its members pages then they can. I think facebooks success has been because it is such a cleaner site than myspace. This is the reason I switched.
Anyway, I will say that I do agree it would be smart for facebook to notify people when their TOS change.

Facebook is a funny place. I laugh when people use facebooks groups to petition facebook to change "back to the old facebook." Does anyone else find this hilarious?

assorted scribbles: Birds and the bees

Ha ha ha ha! LOL! I again refer to an earlier post I made about

Comedy movies VS. Blogs

I had some free time tonight and so I started reading blogs of friends...and I love it. Seriously, in a match between comedy movies and blogs, I would pick blogs to win. Personalities are so visible in blogs and I love that for some reason. If I read a response paper for an English class from all these same bloggers, I would not be able to tell them apart. But in a blog, they are free to write how they want and it so much more creative and healthy.

This is why:
assorted scribbles: Birds and the bees

Engagement at Dixie Rock

Well, I got engaged! And therefore I started a new blog with my bride-to-be. Check it (and our engagement story) out here or at http://emjoe.blogspot.com/

Egg production

Man, if I keep this up, I'm going to have to change the name of this blog to "The Chicken Blog" because that is all I write about now a days. Sorry. But anywho, for those interested I have spreadsheet tracking my egg production. I'll also be adding the expense that I put into feeding my chickens (that's really the only expense) to show if it is making economical sense to have chickens vs. buying eggs. The end.



or you can go to:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pYAosa-1jrQHxfELvg_OONQ

Book of Mormon Marathon

The Book of Mormon in 24 hours. Our stake put on an event where we read the Book of Mormon together in 24 hours over a 3 day period. Anyone was welcome to come. So for 6 hours Thursday and Friday, and then 12 hours on Saturday I read. We had a sign-up sheet for a 10 minute reading time. So we had someone reading at the front of the Cultural Hall, while the rest of us read along. I brought my bean bags to be more comfortable. The Stake provided snacks and then on Saturday they provided three meals.

Anyway, this is a VERY interesting way to read the BoM. You will see things that you would not otherwise. In fact, so much of the story line made so much more sense because of reading it all together. Just a remarkable event. I think I plan to do it every other year for the rest of my life....and I am dead serious. There are some things I had just learned the past couple weeks about the BoM and so then as I read I watched for those things. And I'm sure I would learn other things and then the next time I read I would learn different things....obviously. Anyway, there is a great spirit that attends the reading of that book. I know it's true. (And I am not just saying this because it is the cliche' thing to say, or out of habit, or anything...I am saying it on purpose and because I believe it. Sorry, it is just that too many times people say things out of habit or because they think they 'should.' (See January 13th, 2009 post)).

The chickens are in the pot...

No I am not cooking my chickens...that is code word for they are in their nesting box and making EGGS! That's right. I have gotten 5 eggs in the last week and half. Sweet! I didn't think I'd be getting any eggs for a month or two, but for some reason they've decided they like me and want to give me eggs.

It is so fun to have chickens. I'm pretty sure I'm sold on the idea and will have them the rest of my life. They love me too. It's great.

Chicken pride

No, I am not taking pride in the fact that I AM a chicken....I am taking pride in the NEW chickens I own! Yup! I like eggs...that is an understatement. I buy the 5 dozen box when I go to the store. So last year I started thinking about getting a couple chickens to lay me some eggs...but there were so many things I didn't know (is it legal to have chickens in your yard in city limits? How messy are they? Are they hard to take care of? Is it cost effective? ETC.)



But I finally got all my questions answer and at 5:23 today I became the new proud owner of three wonderful hens.

I haven't named them yet....but maybe I shouldn't....I may eventually eat them some day. Nah, I'll name them. So it'll be a little while before they will actually lay any eggs, but I am excited. It's the first animal/pet that has ever been MINE. So yeah, I am way excited. I think I'm throwing a party in their name soon. We'll eat eggs and do the chicken-dance.

Impossible Questions and Intentions

I often come here to make a new post, but then I think "I don't really know what I'd write about." So then I close the window and move on. I don't know how other people can be so good with their blogging. Well, and also this blog isn't a blog for me to update people with my going ons and shinanigans. It was originally a somewhat secret blog to write about things that I couldn't write elsewhere. If you want an update on my life, see my facebook page. As you have probably noticed, I don't usually put pictures on here...because it is a lot easier to do on facebook.
So, yeah, that is my explanation. And I guess another reason I haven't written on here for a while IS because people I know have found it and therefore it is more scary to write things. But I don't mind people reading it, it is just intimidating now, because I feel like I need to write noteworthy/important things so people don't waste their time reading it.

Now that I am typing though, I have thought about some things I'd like to put on here:

THE IMPOSSIBLE QUESTION
I think these are funny, but also sometimes annoying. An impossible question is a question that can only be answered one way...to avoid awkwardness. Some really lame examples would be:
- A girl asks a boy "Do I look good in this dress?" What is he going to say....No you don't.
Crap, well I can think of others, but it would take a while to explain the background and situations to them to have them make sense, otherwise it would appear that they are not impossible questions. But you watch for these questions...sometimes you ask them...sometimes someone asks you....but think before you/they answer.. Think: Is there only one way to answer this question?
But it is sometimes annoying, because you want to ask someone a question, but you know they can answer one way...so then I have to explain this impossible question thing to them before I can ask the question. I guess part of the reason the questions are answerable in only one way is because we as humans try to be polite and this often means being dis-honest to avoid hurting feelings, but sometimes I just want an honest answer. So I think everyone needs to understand this.


INTENTIONS
This is one of my two wishes for today: I wish I knew peoples intentions when they answer questions...mostly this stems around church. It just seems 87% of the time someone in Sunday School answers a question it is out of habit and they are not really answering because they REALLY believe it, but are just saying it because they have heard other people answer the question that way for the past 20 years. And I can't tell who is saying it out of habit and who is saying it to...bear testimony---for lack of a better phrase. So yeah, INTENTIONS are EVERYTHING in EVERY CASE.


And I'll end by saying my 2nd wish. I wish getting married was an easy thing to do...like it used to be...or at least I imagine in my mind that it used to be, like, 50-60 years ago. Now-a-days you got school or work to plan around, and families to plan around, and random other schedules, and "times of year" to get married in and such. So yeah, enough said. But before rumors fly, I am just saying this in GENERAL. As I have witnessed other people planning weddings and such...although........