Sunday, January 31, 2010
Christmas Letter
I know it's late, but I finally found a way to share our Christmas letter on the blog-o-sphere, for those of you who didn't get it via e-mail. Happy reading!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
One Year Ago Today
One year ago today...
...I was nervous all day.
...I went to BYU to have a nice chat with the father of my girlfriend, Kristen Southerland.
...I had a sore throat.
...I drove to various locations in Provo/Orem and dropped off little items.
...I went to the Old Spaghetti Factory on a double date, then we (the guys) "ditched" our dates at the end of the meal.
...I knelt down in the snow at a playground, and asked my best friend to marry me.
My beautiful bride: Kristen Marie
...I was nervous all day.
...I went to BYU to have a nice chat with the father of my girlfriend, Kristen Southerland.
...I had a sore throat.
...I drove to various locations in Provo/Orem and dropped off little items.
...I went to the Old Spaghetti Factory on a double date, then we (the guys) "ditched" our dates at the end of the meal.
...I knelt down in the snow at a playground, and asked my best friend to marry me.
...I was the happiest I'd ever been.
My beautiful bride: Kristen MarieTuesday, January 12, 2010
Red Box
Kristen and I enjoy using the Red Box. We've typically had success in finding movies we enjoy. But every so often, we'll see a movie on there with actors we know, but that we've never heard of. We read the description, and think, "That sounds interesting. Let's get it." This, my friends, is what we call a mistake. Do NOT do this.
Horrible movies we've sat through, that you should never EVER rent:
Battle for Terra - This was an 84-minute, animated waste of time. This seemed to be a Ferngully meets Dances With Wolves meets Avatar, but without any of the clever dialogue or interesting plot lines. The animation also left something to be desired.
Year One - The trailer looked funny, but trust me - all the funny parts were in that two-minute montage. This is a raunchy, distasteful, completely unfunny movie, and I still don't know why we didn't turn it off after the first 10 minutes or so.
Babylon A.D. - The plot was so convoluted, with so many loose ends, that I still don't know what happened. Hadn't heard of it, but it was a cool-looking action movie with Vin Diesel. Don't let those kinds of things distract you from the fact that you've NEVER HEARD OF IT (most likely for good reason).
Passengers - This movie wanted to be The Sixth Sense, but failed miserably. We got it because it had Anne Hathaway in it - she's usually pretty decent. And to be fair, this was the least horrible of the movies, but it still wasn't that good.
But we haven't failed miserably. We've also done the smart thing, and rented movies we wanted to see again (that we saw in the theater), or movies that either one or both of us missed when they were in the theater.
17 Again - I really liked this movie. It's not winning any Oscars, but it was an enjoyable film to watch.
G.I. Joe - I grew up on this show, and the movie didn't disappoint. It was great in the theater, it was great on the T.V.
The Proposal - Not an amazing movie, but still quite enjoyable. Sandra Bullock is always funny, and is in really good shape for a 45-year-old. No, I take that back - she's in really good shape for a 25-year-old.
Star Trek - Awesome. Just, awesome. Saw it in theaters, had to watch it again. Come to think of it, did I see it in the dollar theater too? I'm waiting for a sale at Best Buy to get it on Blu-ray.
Julie & Julia - This was a fondue movie. That is, you don't have to pay incredibly close attention to it in order to follow what's going on. We made fondue while watching this one, and had quite a good time doing it.
Horrible movies we've sat through, that you should never EVER rent:
Battle for Terra - This was an 84-minute, animated waste of time. This seemed to be a Ferngully meets Dances With Wolves meets Avatar, but without any of the clever dialogue or interesting plot lines. The animation also left something to be desired.
Year One - The trailer looked funny, but trust me - all the funny parts were in that two-minute montage. This is a raunchy, distasteful, completely unfunny movie, and I still don't know why we didn't turn it off after the first 10 minutes or so.
Babylon A.D. - The plot was so convoluted, with so many loose ends, that I still don't know what happened. Hadn't heard of it, but it was a cool-looking action movie with Vin Diesel. Don't let those kinds of things distract you from the fact that you've NEVER HEARD OF IT (most likely for good reason).
Passengers - This movie wanted to be The Sixth Sense, but failed miserably. We got it because it had Anne Hathaway in it - she's usually pretty decent. And to be fair, this was the least horrible of the movies, but it still wasn't that good.
But we haven't failed miserably. We've also done the smart thing, and rented movies we wanted to see again (that we saw in the theater), or movies that either one or both of us missed when they were in the theater.
17 Again - I really liked this movie. It's not winning any Oscars, but it was an enjoyable film to watch.
G.I. Joe - I grew up on this show, and the movie didn't disappoint. It was great in the theater, it was great on the T.V.
The Proposal - Not an amazing movie, but still quite enjoyable. Sandra Bullock is always funny, and is in really good shape for a 45-year-old. No, I take that back - she's in really good shape for a 25-year-old.
Star Trek - Awesome. Just, awesome. Saw it in theaters, had to watch it again. Come to think of it, did I see it in the dollar theater too? I'm waiting for a sale at Best Buy to get it on Blu-ray.
Julie & Julia - This was a fondue movie. That is, you don't have to pay incredibly close attention to it in order to follow what's going on. We made fondue while watching this one, and had quite a good time doing it.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Seminary
I recently read an article about the Canyons School District in Utah, which is considering offering more advanced high school diplomas. The idea behind this is that they are behind in preparing students for college and the real world. The issue they're facing in the LDS community is that requiring extra credits for these new diplomas could cut into the time allowed for released-time seminary, which has some people worried. Personally, I don't see what the problem is - I applaud the steps the school district is taking to increase the education level in Utah. Utah schools are among the lowest in the country for required core course load (18 core credits; Arizona requires 22, New Mexico 24, and Texas 26). The new advanced diploma would require 22 credits, allowing for only one elective. I took four years of early-morning seminary and a full load of classes in high school. My freshman year, Spanish counted as an elective, and so did band. Because I was taking an extra elective, I had to take the after-school P.E. class. This was in addition to early-morning seminary.
Would it hurt Utah LDS students to sacrifice a little more to attend seminary, rather than taking time off from their high school studies to go? Maybe more of the kids who attended would have a positive experience, and I know that fewer would take it for granted.
What are your thoughts? I know many of you attended released-time seminary. Do you think you would have benefited more (or less) from early-morning seminary? I want to hear your opinions.
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