Thanks for a great Father's Day!

I just want to say thank you to Anna and Connor for a great Father's day. It was nice to be able to relax at home a little (especially after all the work we have been doing in our home to get ready for our move). I got some wonderful gifts that I just love. They got me a round of golf at my favorite course, Hobble Creek GC in Springville. As well as the new Gillette Fusion razor (let's face it the main reason I wanted it was because Tiger Woods endorses it). They also got me a combo of two of my favorite things, Dr. Pepper Bar-B-Q sauce and marinade. How great is that?

On top of that I got to watch the U.S. Open and game 5 of the Celtics and Lakers in the NBA Finals. Then just as the day is ending I find out that one of my good friends that I worked with for three years at efy, Spanky, was on Deal or No Deal. I was so excited for him. It was a great Father's Day. Thank you again to Anna and Connor and to the rest of you that made it a great day.

Calvin and Hobbes

I have recently rediscovered one of my favorite comics from my childhood and I see it in a whole new light. I always loved reading Calvin and Hobbes, and the other day I was online and there was a picture of the two and Calvin reminded me of Connor, so I decided to search for any pdf files of comic strips. I found a few and have been reading them at work and I can see Connor in Calvin and the way his little imagination works. Granted, Connor is only 2 and Calvin is 6, so Connor has some time to develop more elaborate imaginations. Until then I can help prepare myself by reading up on Calvin and Hobbes.





Now, this leads me to another small rant more so from my teenage years. As I started to drive there started to appear more stickers on the back of peples cars and trucks thet were of Calvin and he was peeing on something. I think it started with him peeing on the Ford Truck logo. Now you can get them with almost anything under the sun being peed on. I have seen every car company logo to an ex spouse to Osama Bin Ladden. Now I agree that Calvin was a rambunctious kid, but I don't like the fact thet he is now known more for peeing on things then for his love of his stuffed tiger, Hobbes.

Scape-Goat!!! and I don't like it!

Well the Dallas Mavericks just made the biggest mistake since they decided not to sign Steve Nash. The day after another disapointing peformance and first round ousting from his players, Avery Johnson was fired by Mark Cuban. Its not Avery's fault they traded all their depth for a washed up point guard who is just a turn over waiting to happen. The Mavs need to make changes but not at coach, they need players who will listen to the coach. As their record shows when they listened to him and drove the ball to the basket and played defense they won. They even made it to within two wins from an NBA championship then decided to not do what he asked for the next four games and were made into choke artists only to have his philosophy win 67 games the next season until they got to the playoffs and once again stopped doing what he asked and were embaresed by the eighth seeded Golden State Warriors. I am embaressed by a team I love so much and Cuban has given me another reason to be embaressed. Good Luck next year (or actually the year after that).

My Final Final

So yesterday I turned in my final final. It was for a Senior Seminar class, which in all reality was kind of a waste of time. We had to write a subjective paper about how we have changed since starting college. I was taking my time considering this assignement but then I discussed with a majority of people in the class and found out no one had written more than a page and since there was no amount assigned that we should write I wrote down some thoughts in about 15 minutes. It was one of the easiest finals I have ever had, even easier than my basketball final.

So, here it is...

My Final Final

Considering it was almost 13 years ago that I first took a college course there have been a lot of changes to my life. From a spirited and almost brash 18 year old who was seeking just for people to notice him to a quiet spoken loving husband and father. I can look at many experiences that have brought me to who I am today. Some have to do directly with my higher educational experience while others have more to do with other opportunities taken. Some of these opportunities include being a head basketball coach by the age of 20 and discovering how my competitive drive would lead me to be an undesirable person. At the age of 21 leaving everything I had worked for behind to give of myself for two years in another country and learning what quiet dignity was. Returning home and making decisions to become that quietly dignified person and seek to help others improve themselves and be the best person they could be. Leading myself to opportunities to teach and work with youth trying to find out who they are and being able to help them. I was able to teach High School seminary classes and also was a coordinator for BYU’s Especially for Youth program. Most of all and what I feel the most important thing I have learned in the past 13 years was how to trust the Lord and follow where He leads you. I eventually found myself at Utah Valley State College and realized it was just where I needed to be. The experience here has been wonderful and I think the best for me in providing me the opportunity to learn but also to expand myself and seek more opportunities. It was here that I came to realize why I was so interested in athletics and found a passion for understanding the human body and realizing I really can do whatever I so desire regardless the obstacles that stand in the way.

So Connor loves to take a bath, however, recently he has decided it is more fun to get out of the tub and run around the house naked and soaking wet. So tonite at bath time I loaded my Maverick Nerf gun and sat down on the couch. When he got out I shot him on the belly (the gun shoots little suction cup darts) and the dart stuck to him. He then got back into the tub. This went on for a little while, which he thought was funny. At least it contaied him to just the bathroom and kept him from runing all over the house.

My last undergrad class ever (as a student at least)

Today I went to my last class as an undergrad student. It was my Senior Seminar class and everyone in there is graduating with me. We were all excited and were not very focused on what was being discussed. We have been giving presentations about what we felt our program lacked and everyone was having fun with that. Someone was taking pictures during class and by the end of class had put together a little slideshow (it was funny).

Its hard to believe that the day I have been looking forward to for the last 12 years has finally come. There have been alot of hard work and sacrifice to achieve this goal of graduation and I am grateful for the support of my family in helping me achieve it. As Anna and I have reflected on the past three years since I decided to go back to school, I am so grateful I didn't give up when I thought it would be too hard, too long, and too expensive. In retrospect, I don't feel it was too hard, in fact I felt it was actually fun. The time has gone by quite fast, the memories made during that time are priceless though and the experiences have been wonderful. And the price is well worth it.

NCUR

I just got back from the National Conference for Undergraduate Research that was held at Salisbury University in Maryland. I, along with my research partner Steve Namanny presented on the research we had done looking at comparisons between Exercise and Grade Point Averages at UVSC. We had a good trip, however we stayed out in Ocean City which is about a half hour from Salisbury on the coast and about 20 degrees colder this time of year. So we would be in mid 70s while at the conference and then get back to the hotel and it would be in the 50s and foggy. We still had fun though. A couple of other guys from our department (Matt Barny and Michael Leavitt) went swimming in the ocean every day. I only went in one day and only up to my knees (it was too cold to go any further). Over all the conference was good. UVSC was the second most represented school there (next to only Salisbury University, the host school). Also, the research and presentations done by the UVSC students was superior to those done by the other students from the other schools. So it was definitely a chance to have some school pride. I am glad to be home and back to my family now, and the exciting thing is we are less then two weeks from graduation.