Art Class

Some friends and I decided we would try our hands at watercolors. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and appreciated the left-brain stimulus. Here are the finished products. Some are embarrassed to display them in public, but I think they are decent considering we know nothing about art and had limited supplies (and maybe limited talent.)

You get extra points if you can tell which one is my masterpiece. I don;t know why I've blogged so much recently.

Why I will get swine flu

I have spent considerable time thinking about this. My conclusion is that I am very likely to get swine flu because of the following:

1. I am in the target group (19-24 year olds), which means that I live and go to school in close proximity, and I am part of a very mobile population

2. I have little immunity. I vaguely remember being sick over Christmas one year as a kid, but I don't remember if it was flu.

3. I frequently touch my mouth and eyes.

4. I don't wash my hands enough.

5. I have a pre-existing condition. I have what my roommates affectionately call "black lung," an undiagnosed third world respiratory disease. It is definitely not TB though.

In my bioethics class, we just happen to be talking about government funding allocation, using the examples of pandemic flu and AIDS. From that I learned that worst case projections are that for my age group 33% will be infected. So, I hope you are waiting for that phone call Mom. It will be kind of like the phone call home when I broke my leg...

This is how I feel after about 7 job interviews.

BYU Housing

On my daily walk to campus I was reflecting on the names of apartment complexes around BYU. While some complexes have normal names such as Belmont Apartments or the classic Riviera, I was thinking about some placing I will never live:

The Granary--It sounds like you are living in a mill. Does that mean that the tenants are the wheat?

Park Place--Is the whole complex Monopoly themed? Of course they might just be calling it after the original street. Anyway, I'm not willing to pay as much as Park Place costs anyway.

Winter Quarters--Sure, I want to live in a place where pioneers suffered and died.

Singletree--What does this name suggest? A place where a bunch of singles grow on a tree, ready to be picked.

Ben-Dick Arms--I don't even understand what this means

The Colony--I usually think of two things, a polygamy colony, or an ant colony, both of which cause me to walk on the other side of the street when I pass.

BYU's ice cream blunder

When I got back to BYU, I anticipated enjoying one of my favorite BYU traditions: BYU Creamery ice cream. Imagine my dismay when I went to the Creamery to enjoy some Peanut Butter Cup, Graham Canyon, or Almond Joy ice cream, and there were only two flavors: vanilla and cookies and cream. Where has all the ice cream gone? After going to all Creamery locations to try to find at least some peanut butter cup ice cream, we asked an employee to give us the down low on the ice cream dearth. Apparently, when DT was torn down, the Dairy Production Lab/DT Creamery was also razed. My friend and former boss, Jerry Pingel, made 182,000 half-gallons and 22,000 three gallon containers of ice cream and stored them in the deep-freeze, a -20 degree freezer. The new Culinary Support Center is a month behind schedule finishing date. Jerry apparently underestimated the BYU student body's ability to consume ice cream, and now, there is an ice cream famine. It is rumored that the MTC has stopped serving BYU ice cream to provide BYU students with the last of the supply. While we patiently wait for the new ice cream to be made, the creamery people are consoling the student body with the information that BYU will continue to produce half-gallons and will not fall into the one and a half quarts fad. While that is good news, my mouth is still watering thinking about the ice cream it can't have. Matthew 24:7-8 "...and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows."

Police Beat

Theft

September 4: A backpack was stolen from the Cannon Center. When the officers arrived they looked through the cubbies one more time and found the backpack.

September 3: A student checked out seven library books last winter. He just reported the $140 worth of books being stolen from his car.

September 3: A student went to the ID center to purchase a new ID card after losing his. It was discovered that his card had been stolen and was used to purchase $45 worth of ice cream from a Smith Fieldhouse vending machine.

Suspicious behavior

September 6: Two male subjects were knocking doors in the female area of Wyview Park. They identified themselves as missionaries. When the police arrived the two male students said they thought it was a novel way to meet girls.

Animals

September 6: A 27-year-old student saw a baby duck fall into a grate on 500 E. 800 N. When the officer arrived, the baby duck could not be found.

Illegal Activity

September 5: Fireworks were reported between the Wilkinson Student Center and the Harris Fine Arts Center. When officers arrived they discovered that it was smoke from a celebratory BBQ.

Trespassing

September 5: Two students tried trespassing into the LaVell Edwards Stadium. Because they were unsuccessful they were not arrested.


Must have been a busy weekend for the BYU police

Dinner Group!

I was roped into participating in a dinner group this semester. I was undecided because I didn't want to commit myself to something like that, but after realizing that I dropped about five pounds since I got to Provo, I was convinced to do it. Now I am part of an 8-person dinner group, which meets Monday through Thursday. Today we ate rice with sausage in it and canned corn, so it definitely isn't gourmet. I am in charge of Monday's fare, so what will I make? Here are some options:

1. Some sort of pasta dish: spaghetti, company casserole, tuna casserole, or other

2. Some kind of soup

3. Taco salad

4. Hamburgers

5. Stir-fry

6. Breakfast for dinner

7. Crock-pot meal (I don't really know any, but it would be easy, and we have a crock-pot)

I felt pretty Suzy Homemaker-esque after successfully freezing my peaches this morning, so I could probably make anything successfully (except pudding), as long as it's in my budget, and it's not too time consuming.

Santaquin Peak Hike

To celebrate Labor day, Janet, Jenae, and I hiked Santaquin Peak. Despite irrational worries, we were not attacked by any bears, and Jenae did not fall off the mountain (that was my worry). We started hiking at about 6:45, reached the summit at 10:00, played up there a little, and returned to the car just after 1:00. It was fun and tiring, and we got back really sweaty, dirty, and exhausted.

Jenae and I pondering the beautiful scenery.

Me, sitting amongst the mountain wildflowers

Yes! We reached the top!

We saw a deer.

The Science-Religion Reconciliation

Being a biology major at BYU means that every year I have had to come to terms with science and religion. The religion building is probably less than twenty feet from the chemistry building, and many times I crossed that sidewalk and crossed a battlefield. The religion professors badmouth the science professors. The science professors criticize the religion professors, and I listen to them both, and sometimes wonder what should I think. This semester I am taking bioethics, to me, a surefire interesting class, to others, maybe not. Today I read an interesting article about science and Mormonism: Is science part of or apart from religion? Even members of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles have disagreed this issue:

President [Joseph Fielding] Smith felt that "Satan dominates the thinking of the world today" (p. 319). He saw that domination in several areas of science, but most of all in biology. Satan, he said, authored the theory of evolution, which is "the most pernicious doctrine ever entering the mind of man" (p. 133) and "Satan's chief weapon in this dispensation in his attempt to destroy the divine mission of Jesus Christ" (p. 184).

What does the theory of evolution have to do with the divine mission of Jesus Christ? There have also been many amazing scientists who have been church leaders:

"Organic evolution is the honest result of capable people trying to explain the evidence to the best of their ability. From my limited study of the subject I would say that the physical evidence supporting the theory is considerable from a scientific viewpoint" (Eyring 1983, 61).

So, how old is the earth? Did any creature die before Adam? Did the earth stop rotating for a day when Joshua was on the earth? Did Noah actually take two of every animal onto a boat for a year?

Many scientists have felt that their revolutionary discoveries have contributed to a higher and better understanding of God and His management of the universe. It isn't, or shouldn't be different today.

I have a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I also belive that evolution happened. I am excited to be able to study a subject where God has inspired men for the benefit of His children.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/08/we-believe-in-evolution-and-god-.html
http://bioethics.byu.edu/science-mormonism.html
http://bioethics.byu.edu/open-letter.html