It's For Some Stupid, Noble Reason Isn't It?

Ginny Weasley to Harry Potter at the end of this book:

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. My favorite of all the Harry Potter books! I seriously loved it and the movie was absolutely horrible. I know, I know, the movies are never as good and of course the movie can't have everything the book has. This one was terrible though. As they write the screen plays they obviously have to decide which sub-plots they have to get rid of and which they have to keep. They didn't choose well at all! There's hardly anything about Quidditch in it and that's really the main sub-plot.... Is that an oxymoron? Oh well, you know what I mean.

My second favorite Harry Potter book is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Even if you don't know anything about the books you will be aware the first of two parts of this movie just came out, unless you live under a rock. But that's not the point. The point is, I'm scared to see this one! For two reasons: first, I don't want them to have ruined it! And second, I won't be in the country when the second part comes out. I've been debating whether I shouldn't just wait and watch them both at the same time. Together. In all their glory in our theater room. Help me fellow bloggers! What should I do??

The Sky is Falling!

I still don't know how to upload a video. My computer always hates on me when I try so here is the link to this video. It doesn't even do it justice, but it's a good introduction...

http://www.fox13now.com/kstu-residents-gather-emergency-essentials,0,5862002.story

I'd say let's set the scene, but anytime I say that it pretty much means we're at my place of employment... But this particular story takes place on a chilly November afternoon 2 days before Thanksgiving 2010. We all planned on Maceys being pretty busy with people hoping to beat the procrastinator rush, little did we all know the world was coming to an end! Breaking news was a blizzard that was going to bring 8-12 inches of snow! Wait, what?? (insert noise of brakes screeching/vinyl record stopping here) 8-12?? How is this any more than a normal winter here in Happy Valley? To my knowledge, it's not, but apparently someone knows better than me and EVERYONE in Utah County got the memo. When I say everyone, I seriously mean everyone. The video shows people leaving, but what they don't show is the insane amount of people waiting in line. All 17 check stands were open and we still had lines about half way down aisles. It was at least a 35 minute wait to get to the front of the line. I worked the Express Lane, for those of you who don't know, that means come through my line only if you have 15 items or less. Heavy on the LESS! A lot of people really struggle with this concept to my never ending annoyance. With lines the way they were, though, people couldn't see the signs so they'd get up to me and be really embarrassed and apologetic and what could I do? Send them to another line to wait 45 more minutes? The evil part of me, to this day, screams a resounding yes! But, alas, good won out, I let them come through. People behind them ranting about it definitely made me feel a bit better though. Except there was one woman I really wished I had sent away when her daughter kept humming the Flintstone's theme song. I've never wanted to cause bodily harm so much in my life!

Here are some of the things people were saying:

The power and sewer are going to be off for 21 days.

uh... What?? Precisely 21 days?? Pretty sure things like that only go off when something is amiss, so how exactly is this man predicting the precise amount of days it's going to be off?

We need sand bags!!!

This woman was on the phone (which is soooo rude, please refrain from doing this at all cost!), so I didn't actually have to make conversation with her which is probably a good thing since I was hard pressed to not laugh in her face as it was. Unless she was planning on making the most epic snow fort ever, sand bags were going to serve no purpose to her.

I-15 is closed from Tremonton to Montana!

Ok, this is totally legit and I can't really make fun of this except to say, how does this have any bearing on you buying your propane, firewood, 65 gallons of water and one dollar flashlights with batteries to last 20 years. Yes, the 65 gallons and 20 years' worth of batteries is an exaggeration... But only by a tiny bit!

Now bloggers, most of you experienced this blizzard of insane proportions. For those of you who didn't I will tell you, IT MISSED US! Totally went right around Utah County! I really think we're the only ones who prepared like zealots too, which makes it that much more entertaining.

Short and Sweet

Ok bloggers, what's the protocol on stalking blogs? I like finding random people who are funny or lead interesting lives or are just plain cute. So what's the deal? How do I make sure I don't lose their blog, but I'm also not a creeper? Also, I love life right now! I don't think I've ever been this satisfied with the direction of my life, not that I'm usually hating it, but it's just really fantastic with all the potential it holds and the good things I get out of life every day.

No survivors? Then where do the stories come from, I wonder?

So readers, as the holiday season approaches it gets me thinking about the new year. I know, I know, it's still 2 months away, but hey that's how I am. Anyway, mostly I've been thinking about it tonight because of my birthday so I guess the new year of my life. I will turn 21 on the 25th of this month, crazy! I'm excited for this new chapter in my life and I am realizing that I sure am not getting any younger, go figure. I went to a movie today and my friend asked me if I wanted Chik-fil-a first, I said no because I really wasn't feeling it. For those who know me that is a strange and very rare occurrence, I love Chik-fil-a. But after I got home and another friend brought me In-n-out I understood why. After I got done eating it I felt so sick! Not the normal I ate too much and it was greasy fast food sick, but a weird sick that is becoming more and more common.... It made my stomach hurt and my heart kept doing weird things, while I was just laying there it would randomly beat really fast. It was like I could feel my arteries getting harder and my whole body was protesting this unhealthy-ness I had so indifferently put inside my body. So, as I approach this new year of possibilities and unavoidable change I'm making a resolution. Yes, it's early and not the normal "new year" time, but I really feel like this is a good idea for me. I am going to avoid fast food at all cost. I'm sure I'll have it every once in awhile, but no more of this 3 or 4 times a week. It's just not good for anyone. So, as you read my ramblings and wonder how I'm doing with this, drop me a line and find out. I love making goals for all the internet world to see, then I feel like I can't fail or I'll be mocked and ridiculed for the rest of my life.

PS I feel I've lost my touch for the entertainment value, anyone have any ideas on how to get it back??

PPS Aren't I doing so good at blogging regularly?? Hope I didn't just jinx it.... I knocked on wood, don't worry. But stay tuned for an adventure that might be in the works, I'm so excited!

I'm assuming you're joking, I'm ignoring you for time reasons

Unfortunate news fellow bloggers, mobile posting does not work!!! No, I did not get hacked, I did that all on my own ha. Darn, I was excited to be able to post from my phone because I am, sadly, a child of the technology generation.

I had an entertaining day yesterday though, Maceys did a tailgate party for the BYU game today and I got to work the bean bag toss. Personnally, I've never seen the appeal of a bean bag toss, but apparently every child between the ages of 3 and 14 just love it. That, or they love Flintstone's pixy stix. Either way I had kids coming through more than a normal person should want to. It wasn't like they were getting better each time either, most of the time they got worse. Not that I was complaining, it was much easier to gather the horrible things from in front of the board than behind it.

I had the kids who thought they were major leaguers and threw the pitch in as hard as they could. Usually it was a ball and not a strike. The parents who brought their two-year old who had no desire at all to be there and made them throw it in. And then there was the parents who actually did it themselves and wanted the candy after. Really? Crazy people.

So 6 bean bags for probably 300 or so people and me picking them up every two people makes for a long 3 hours of lunges! And boy, am I sore today! Walking is difficult. So the moral of the story is, if you're bad at exercising regularly, work the tailgate party at work and you'll get your work outs in for a week!

New Look

My blog has a new look! I hope you noticed even though it's been ages since I posted and you've probably stopped looking.. It's a winter themed background obviously and for those of you who know me best, you know, I'm not a huge fan of winter. I'm an extremely cold blooded person and don't like being out in the cold.

Seems like an ironic background choice, no? Let me 'splain..... No, there is too much, let me sum up... Wednesday October 27, 2010 at approximately 5:47 PM I opened my mission call to serve in the Uruguay, Montevideo mission. As you may have realized from my last post, I'm a firm believer in Google so that night before it had sunk in I Googled it, yes Googled is a verb.... Anyway, obviously at this point I had seen a map of where Uruguay is, for those who don't know, enjoy:

It's about the size of Utah, but if you notice the small star at the bottom that's where the mission home and temple are. Anyway, as I began my Google journey I did know Uruguay was in South America, what I didn't realize was that the seasons there are reversed.......... So as I leave Utah in what should be toward the end of winter, even though it will still be the dead of it, I will be going straight into the beginning of theirs. Now wait, it gets better, I'll go through that winter, have one summer then another winter there. I will come home in October and guess what will be starting here? You guessed it! Winter! Complete with snow, which thankfully, I'll be saved from in Uruguay. So pretty much I get 2 years of winter and you want to know the crazy part? I'm not scared! I know that's where I'm supposed to be and that I can deal with it or that's not where I'd be going. I'm so excited and I just want to go tomorrow! I don't want to wait until March!

Time

Being the nerd that I am I turned to Google to start this post, I wanted a really good quote about not using time, but as goes the way of the internet I got too many to choose from! Here's a sampling:

“Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't

own it, but you can use it. You can't keep

it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it

you can never get it back.”

-Harvey MacKay

“Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience, wait it out It's all about timing.”

-Stacey Charter

“Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”

-H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“We say we waste time, but that is impossible. We waste ourselves.”

-Alice Bloch

They all hit me pretty hard, I've felt like I've been wasting all my time lately, I haven't. I've been wasting myself, I don't get anything done anymore. I'd never presume to say it was because I didn't have enough time, I know that's not true. I have plenty of time, I just don't use it wisely. I work 3 or 4 days a week and the rest of the days I do what?

Hmm clean my room? Nope, it's a disaster...

How about my bathroom? Nope, also messy...

We all know the answer to whether I blog...

So what do I do with all my wasted self? I sleep... Or I hate to admit this, but I play Bejeweled on facebook way more often than any normal person should.. And you know the worst part? I don't get any better!!! I just get the same scores over and over. What the devil is the point??

As I think about time and what I do with mine I'm reminded of the ever imminent approach of my departure... I received my mission call as most of you probably know. I will fly out exactly 4 months from yesterday. So using my time for facebook or sleeping is probably not the best plan. I should be studying Preach My Gospel or learning Spanish haha

I also have to give myself a little credit, for instance I have written in my journal every single day for almost a month. That is a rare thing for me and it's exciting. I also went to the temple, for the first time, a couple weeks ago and although it hasn't been very long, I went twice last week and have set in stone plans to go twice this week. Doesn't seem all that impressive right? but hey, you gotta start good habits somewhere, no?