Cool Thing: Mesa in March

I spent this last weekend in Arizona. Paradise. Honestly, when I left Provo, it was snowing at 5 a.m. and it was hard to believe that weather in March could actually be lovely--enter Arizona. Blue skies, 75 degrees, 8,000 sqft Villa, helicopter rides, and the most alluring aroma ever, orange tree blossoms! I was sitting on the balcony reading, over looking an orchard of these trees and the scent of those blossom wafting across the back side of the Villa was intoxicating.

March + Mesa = Mecca!

The only downer being of course this terrible cold I had. I say "this" because it still hasn't gone away. Though it was pretty entertaining trying to introduce myself to people with absolutely no voice whatsoever. I have MTV to thank for that.

(not) Cool Thing: Broken Heart part I

Our Cougars have lost, breaking the hearts of fans all across the world--including this guy (two thumbs point at myself)... tear. Better luck next year.

P.S. JT is overrated

P.P.S. On a positive note, congrats to those same Cougs for getting to the second round for the first time since 1993!

Cool Thing: Visitors!

Yeeesss! I didn't think I had any readers, (except you Dr. Wiley) but come to find out, someone from Beverly Hills (or who's internet nod is routed through Beverly Hills) stumbled on my blog today! YAY!

It should also be noted that I didn't start keeping track of this sort of thing till today (well, yesterday, it's 2 a.m.) So for all you visitors who have stopped by and didn't get the proverbial nod from me, consider yourself acknowledged.

And to think I was content writing for the ether, something really is corporeal out there!

(Feel free to leave comments, or don't.)

Cool(ish) Thing: Crushes and Frustration

No I'm talking about soda (Brian), but about, well you know, a crush--as in, on a girl. Okay, I've never really been one to want to share personal information on a blog, honestly I feel it's a little strange (obviously I've shared some personal things on this blog, but it was for assignments for my class--doesn't count). I realized the other day that I love reading people's personal insights, feelings, stories--they're just more interesting than anything else. Here is me changing my mind about blogging content (we'll see how it goes):

I have a crush on a girl I talked to for like 5 minutes. Silly huh? The funny thing is, I didn't really notice her at first, because we only talked briefly and I was in the middle of something (anyone that knows me, I'm pretty one-track minded and have a professional "ignoring" skill I use regularly).

In fact, it wasn't till after I walked by here a while ago and said "hi," did I realize that 1) I've seen here before, (thought) "Oh yeah, we talked that one time for a second when I was busy with something, so I didn't pay attention," 2) this girl is really cute. I also found out some other things about her through the grape vine, and by grape vine I mean other people I don't really know very well, who don't know her terribly well, but well enough to know some desirable things about her. I didn't make my secret crush known, the "grape vine" came forth with said desirable information by chance and I was lucky enough to be in the conversation (acting uninterested of course) when such details where shared. Suffice it to say, I want to ask her out on a date now. The obvious step is to just ask her out on that date right? Right.

Here's the problem. I don't know her. I seemed to run into her every day when I didn't care. Now, I've only seen her a handful of times since the naissance of my resolve to ask her out, and only as she is passing by my classroom window door (while I'm in class).

What to do? Suggestion?

Do I wait in the commons and hopefully she pops in for a sit? What if I find out where she is (like in a class or something), should I pull a Provo, wait till she gets out and just walk up to her and say, "Hey, you don't know me, well you sort of do, we talked once, uuhhh go out on a date with me?"

I can imagine that would be reaaallly smooth. I would like to think that there could be some way for the planets to align and have this chance meeting come about, without me becoming a stalker.

Here's to hoping astronomy is on my side tomorrow, gosh it's frustrating.

Cool(ish) Thought

(very) Cool Thing: BYU Men's Basketball!

"OKLAHOMA CITY — The BYU Cougars, after surrendering a double-digit second-half lead and avoiding two potential game-winning shots by Florida, finally took control of the game in the second overtime to knock off the Gators 99-92 in double-overtime to get BYU's first NCAA Tournament win since 1993."

GO COUGARS!!!

Continue the story here.
Jim Rayburn @ Deseret News

Cool (Scary) Thing: Fabricating DNA... It's possible!

Some of those smart scientist types over in the Holy Land have shown how the "gold standard" of proof in criminal cases can be fabricated--That's right folks, DNA evidence can be counterfeited. In other news, gold can be fabricated as well.

Continue the story here

Andrew Pollack @ New York Times

Cool Thing: Student Presentations (cont.)

Here are some sweet things that I've learned during student presentations:

• Shantel
  
  What a really interesting presentation. I'm the type of person that likes facts, I couldn't believe that 50% of people post profanity! I wondered what exactly qualifies as profanity. My friend's mom growing up thought the word "crap" was a very bad word (Sorry Mrs. Castle if you're reading this). I don't see crap as a profane word, but some do. Crap, crap, crap! The thought I had regarding all of this is that individuals can create whatever personality or persona for themselves that they want online (because of some level on anonymity)
  
  
• Carlee
  
  I had never heard of the "mormon bachelor pad" blog before this class. I of course, had to go and check out this really controversial site. I couldn't believe some of the things that I read. It goes to show that even people claiming to be "active," can tarnish that actual image and belief system of the Church. The blog as a whole is more of a joke, but I feel that the contributors take it to far sometimes. These individuals project themselves and the church in a very antagonistic way, compared to my personal social experience in Provo. I think there are some that follow the faith and some that don't. And the some that don't, sometimes write blogs with anonymous names to avoid accountability.
  
  
• Christopher G
  
  Facebook! I agree, it does seem that people really use Facebook to solidify offline relationships rather than create a lot of new ones. From my experience, back in the day at least, it seemed like it was a "myspace" thing to do, to meet new people. Facebook seems to have a different brand differentiation in the minds of consumers, in that it's more refined, the social media that you can take home to mom and dad, while myspace is the rebel, fish-net, short-skirt strumpet that would give your mom a heart attack.
  

• Chris H
  
  A virtual church? How about that! I couldn't believe the different ways that people are sharing religion and practicing religion. I remember back in the 2000 census, that "Jedi" was a religion that people could claim. It seems like that there is no end to the way media could be used to share or be involved into religion. I wonder though, if there is a line that is reached where a real in-person contact or relationship is needed for religion to be effective (obviously, I think there is).
  
  
• Sarah
  
  I agree with what Sarah had to say on how online relationship can be dangerous because people create a false reality and neglect their "real" or "offline" lives. It's crazy to think that there are some people who spend most of their courtship on the internet and have a very short "real-life" engagement before they get married. I personally don't think it's health to strictly cultivate and focus on relationships created and perpetuated online. I think online should just be a tool to help solidify relationships when needed.
  
  
• Spencer
  
  If we participate in something we'll get more out of it. That is what really stuck out to me. It was really interesting seeing the comparison of people who post in wikis based on whether they were registered or not. I thought everything Spencer said was really interesting because you could really tell that he dived into the information.
  
  
• Jessica
  
  It seems like a pretty interesting way to get involved--joining Facebook groups. One of the things that I thought of, was that on Facebook, when you setup a foundation, not just a group, you can actually set up a means to contribute financially to the cause. Facebook becomes a really easy way to create online content for a charity and raise money at the same time. I think that most people expect just about everything to be on Facebook. I mean, my laundry soap has a Facebook page.
  
  
• Megan
  
  Twitter! I've never really used twitter, but Megan presented a lot (a lot, a lot) of information on how twitter is used and how it can relate. It's pretty crazy to think how mainstream Twitter has become over the last couple of years. I mean, you can watch a Sportscenter broadcast and they talk about Twitter!
  
  
• Me--I brought cookies and I rock.
  
  
• James
  
  I did my presentation on Youtube as well. I agree that Youtube creates a new audience that we need to address in the Church. I think that because (as James addressed) so many people go to Youtube, we have an opportunity to reach more people that would not be reached otherwise. One of the thoughts that I had based on what James said, is that while there are thousands of user-created videos, there seems to be a propensity towards lower-quality videos. It might be an opportunity for the Church or members of the Church to create short, but high quality videos.
  
  
• Kyle
  
  Just how Obama used social media to connect with the younger demographic (18-30) and win the election. I think we as the Church can do the same thing. I really like how social media creates a wide variety of new vehicles to contact a market, that in some respects, was unapproachable by the Church. I think Mormon Messages is a great media vehicle for reaching young people. I think a potential weakness for Mormon Messages is that in an effort to maintain a brand image of the Church, the content or the way the content is presented (a very formal type video) may not be something young people are interested in viewing.
  
  
• Amy
  
  I think that Amy presented a really interesting idea. She compared smoking and anti-smoking ads on Youtube and some campaigns that changed the perceived dichotomy that existed on the site. I think that point she was getting at or at least what I was thinking while she was presenting, is that like the smoking ads there exists a lot of anti ads. We have an opportunity to tip the scale of apologetic content on Youtube about the Church.