I heart Starving Student Cards

This story begins with Marie. Marie needed to get her oil changed. So I suggested that she use her starving student card to get one because hey, who doens't like a great discount? So we started looking at the stupendous deals available to all owning such a card and realized that there's a whole stinking section for just free stuff! All you have to do is go pick it up! So we decided that we would make a trip around town and get all the free stuff. So me, Marie, her two friends Daniel and Joseph, Jennifer, her brother Daniel, my starving student card, and Marie's starving student card all loaded in Jennifer's car and started our free adventure. Here's what we got in order of getting them:

• One violin polishing and tonal adjustment
• 2 10-minute tans
• 2 plates of chips and salsa at Bajio's
• 2 Lion House Rolls
• 2 small fries from Dairy Queen
• 2 regular fries from Arctic Circle
• A failed attempt at getting 2 chocolate mousse cakes from Gandolfo's. I was bummed about that one.
• Nothing from Broulim's.... but we tried.
• 2 large pizzas from Domino's. (Technically we had to pay $4 a piece for both of those but it's still on the card and it was still a good deal, right?)
• 1 bag of Crazy Bread from Little Caesar's
• 3 JCPenney Catalogs
• 2 bagels from Uptown Bagel, untoasted and un-cream cheesed
• 2 frozen custards at BRCs. Yum.
• A failed attempt to get chocolates from Florence's. The line was just too long.
• 2 frozen yogurts from Millhollow
• 2 frozen custards and 1 large fry from the Backyard
• Another failed attempt at Pineapple Grill. It was closed...thank goodness.
• 2 sherbet twists from Hogi Yogi which were surprisingly refreshing.

Overall it was a way fun adventure. It took us like 3 hours and I wanted to puke my guts out afterwards but no worries, I'm still alive and well.

Museum-ing

Round 1:
Have you ever been to a Potato Museum? Well to tell you the truth, I hadn't either until this weekend. Shocking. I know. Because who in their right mind hasn't been to a potato museum? Especially if they live in Idaho - the land flowing with milk, honey, and potatoes. Well I, along with my two trusty friends Ashleigh and Tyler, decided to go to said museum. We even skipped class for this adventure and let me tell you...it was totally worth it. Do you know what I got to see? I got to see the entire history of potatoes! Did you know they originated in Peru? And Idaho just happens to have the perfect climate to grow them? And that the biggest potato was over 8 pounds? And there's a freaking potato song? I even witnessed the biggest potato crisp in the world and let me tell you....it was big. Chyeah. I know. Be jealous. And the best part? I got a carton of hash browns because at the Idaho Potato Museum their motto is, "We give taters to out-of-staters." I love those guys.

Round 2:
The Museum of Idaho. But this wasn't just the normal old Museum of Idaho. Nope. The Titanic was there. Yes that's right....the Titanic. Ok so maybe not the whole thing but there was a bunch of stuff from it. A lot of really cool stuff actually. And I didn't know this but apparently when you've paid for admission to a Titanic exhibit, you become one of the passengers on it. Yes, it's true. I got my boarding pass to the Titanic and it said my name was Mr. Percy Andrew Bailey. Percy? Please. Anyways, apparently I'm 18, and a 2nd class passenger on my way to New York City to see my uncle before going to Ohio to be an apprentice butcher. My dream career. Well we went through the museum and saw a bunch of pretty sweet stuff from the Titanic. I got to put my hand on a hunk of ice for a while and tried to make a handprint in it but it was just too cold. And I also colored some pretty pictures (they had coloring stations with crayons and I couldn't resist). But there's also sad news. I died. Yes, it's true. I looked on the list of survivors and not-so-survivors and I was lost to Davy Jones. I never got to be a butcher and I'm pretty sure my uncle will be disappointed that I never came. Crap.

Round 3:
We ran out of Museums so we decided to go to the temple visitor's center, which is kinda like a museum right? We got a full on narrated tour from a sweet old man that was just so excited that he could talk to anybody that he just kept on talking. Maybe he thought we were good practice. Then we took pictures of the actual Idaho Falls in Idaho falls and contemplated life for a while. Then we ran through a flock of ducks and geese like they do in the movies, ya know? But we almost got attacked by a goose, so no more of that. After a few other stops and meals, we headed home. It was a great day.

Snow

It's snowing again. I'm pissed.

Perfect

On my field trip this past weekend, I had tons of fun and learned so much. I thought about everything that has to be in order for us to be here. The atmosphere has to be exact in the amount of gases we can breathe. It has to be a certain temperature for us to live. Everything has to be right for other plants and animals to live or we can't live. It's perfect. This Earth is perfect. It's taken billions of years for it to get like this and for us to be able to live here. Isn't that so awesome? Heavenly Father loves us that much that he would spend literally billions of years making a place so beautiful and perfect for us. I love it! I'm so grateful that we can be here and for a loving Heavenly Father that made it for us!

Geo. Logy. Field. Trip

Ok first of all, I want to say that I think it's awesome that I'm 20 years old and I get to go on field trips. This is one of the joys of being an Earth Science Education major. Be jealous.

I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to go on a field trip this weekend. I had a lot of good times. I laughed a lot. I walked a lot. A lot of stuff happened. Here are a few of them (this will be an illustrated blog):

I got to go to the North American Museum of Ancient Life and see dinosaur skeletons, hold a dinosaur bone, keep a dinosaur bone, play in a sandbox, play in a cave, and almost get eaten by a shark.

I also got to split pieces of shale for 3 hours at "U-Dig Fossils" in the middle of freakin nowhere in the beautiful sun (which I had to get reaquainted with) and now I have a wonderful collection of trilobite fossils (Elrathia, Asaphiscus, and Peronopis species if you must know). I also had a gihugant blister...make that two gihugant blisters....and a sunburn which I loved because it meant that I was actually in sun. I temporarily lost my camera so I don't have any pictures of this adventure. Sad...I know.

We camped on a sand dune...also in the middle of freakin nowhere. And I saw a pretty sunset.

I travelled on a gravel road for a few hours to another middle of nowhere (I wasn't aware of the extreme lack of "somewheres" in Utah. What a great state). At first I thought my ride was like a version of the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland but then it got worse. You must understand that I was in the back seat of a 15-passenger van so my version of the trip was a little bumpier than everyone else's. Anyways, it was a gravel road that we were travelling on. We geology majors were giddy with excitement as we thought about our next adventure "in the field". And then the vans stopped. A rock had bounced off the trailer and blew out the back window of the van in front of us. We weren't going to let that stop us. We unhitched the trailer and then head up a different gravel road. I wondered why we left the trailer behind but my wondering was soon shot down. I didn't even know they had roads this bumpy. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten a concussion considering how many times my head hit the window and ceiling. Freakin heck. We finally got to our destination, parked the vans, and there it was...the finest example of contact metamorphism I have ever seen. It was beautiful. That's all I'm gonna say.

And I got some pretty pictures there.

The next day we went on a hike and studied more fossils and rock formations. Here's the view.

We also went to a playa lake, which is pretty much just a dried up lake. But on the way there we drove over what used to be the lake and the ground was pure white in the middle of mountains. If felt like we were floating and kinda creeped me out. But it was cool. And then we got to the lake and there was a stinkin skull sitting by the lake. For realsville. Aren't those only in fake western movies with John Wayne? Apparently not. Cree. Pee.

You can't really see it that well but there's the skull.

One of the joys of this trip was the people. My van in particular was a hoot and half. They were fans of Nacho Libre and quoted it in almost every conversation. How much better could things get? I don't even know. Fun people those geologists...

I should also inform you that from Thursday morning until Saturday afternoon, I was nowhere near a toilet or any form of running water. It sucked. But everything else? Top shelf. The end.

Fishers of Men

Tonight I went on an adventure with my roommate Megan. She came home from the store today with the cutest little Disney Princess collapsible fishing pole you ever did see. So we decided to play with it a little bit and attach a dollar bill to it and try to get people to grab it. Little did they know that we were going to slowly reel in the coveted dollar in hopes of making them chase it (Secretly we were hoping become "fishers of men"... if ya know what I mean, but it's a secret so don't tell anyone).

We started out on our adventure by going over to the girls' dorms but there weren't very many people around so it wasn't working. I did get some good casting practice in, though. Then we realized that on Friday night is Latin dancing. Of course! So we headed over to the MC and after a few failed attempts to catch people outside, we decided to go inside and try our luck. We strategically placed the dollar at the bottom of the stairs but with no success. You'd be surprised at how many people just look at that dollar bill on the ground and don't pick it up. People are apparently a little to honest here. Still no luck.

Then we went upstairs where the actually dancing was. Again, we strategically placed the dollar right outside the entrance to the dance. We had a few bites but nobody really chased it. Then we had a bite from a guy that apparently thought we were pretty funny. He kept coming back to check on our progress and eventually he asked Megan to dance. What a guy! :) Then the dance was over and here was our chance to really get people. Then a horrible mistake happened. Somebody was dragging their feet and got a little tangled in the fishing line and as their concerned boyfriend tried to help them get out of it, someone walked in between the tangled soul and us, holding the fishing pole. Needless to say it was a little bit of a mess and kinda ruined the effect of the moving dollar bill for anyone that was watching. Oh well. So Megan's dance partner eventually ended up helping us try to get a few more bites and eventually took us home, asked for Megan's number/on a date as I waited awkwardly in the back seat of his car, and we went home. It was great. So the moral of the story is, if you try fishing for men, don't go to the girls' dorms.

The Testing Center of Doom

Yesterday I had to take a test. Here at BYU-Idaho we have what is called the "Testing Center." When you have a test in a class you simply go to the testing center, they give you your test, you take it, and then they give you your score. It's a simple as that. Or it should be. Here's what really happens:

1. You study your brains out for a few hours before taking the test
2. You eventually leave the library to actually take the test
3. You brave the Rexburg wind and cold and head towards the entrance to the testing center
4. You open the door, only to find a seemingly endless staircase of uninviting concrete before you, usually filled up with dozens of poor souls, also taking tests.
5. Nobody talks
6. You wait in line until you finally work your way up the hugantic staircase and through the winding line in the little room at the top. It's like a walk of shame up those steps and you haven't even taken the stinkin' test yet!
7. You prepare yourself by turning off your phone and retrieving your I-card and lucky number 2 pencil
8. You glance up at the camera staring down at you from the corner of the little room
9. A little bit of trembling happens here
10. They call you forward to the front desk where they take your I-card. The workers there seem to stare into your soul as they say, "Do you have a phone?" "Well...uhhh.. yes. But it's off." They take a second glance into your soul to make sure your phone is really off and then say, "You can't use anything on this test except a pencil. Your can get your test at the end of the desk."
11. You walk over to the "printer guy" on duty. He prints a test for you and asks, "What can you use on this test?" Is this a trick question? It's like a test before I even take my test! "Just a pencil." I say. "Good luck." I wonder if they ever get tired of wishing everybody good luck.
12. You go into the actual testing room, find an empty seat, take your backpack off, unbutton, unzip and un-velcro your coat, take off your hat, scarf, gloves, and ski mask, all without making noise or else the whole testing center stops what they're doing to look at you.
13. While taking your test, you can't look up at all because the creepy testing center people are walking right by your desk looking down into your helpless soul even more and chances are, it's the same one that did it at the front desk because they've probably rotated jobs by now. No looking up.
14. If you see someone you know and they see you, DO NOT say hi. It's like a Nazi camp here. No friends, no smiles, NO happiness.
15. You try to stay focused, despite the guy next to you shaking the whole room by bouncing his leg up and down and endlessly clicking his pencil. Apparently they have mechanical number 2 pencils.
16. You finally finish your test, put everything back on, still trying not to make any noise and walk to the test retrieval spot. They take your test and since you're leaving they seem to be a little bit less disgusted with you. What a relief.
17. You walk outside to see your score. "95% Fantastic!"
18. You walk away with a smile. Apparently there's happiness outside the testing center.

"Hi, how are you?"

So the other day I had kind of a confusing/awkward experience. It was like a week ago but I felt it was too great to miss out on a spot on my blog.

It was a fine Tuesday afternoon and I was walking to class, like I normally do on Tuesday afternoons. There weren't that many people around. In fact, hardly at all. Except for a girl. A girl that I'm pretty sure I have never seen before in my life. Ever. She was walking about 10 feet in front of me, what I thought was a healthy distance. She, however, didn't think so. No, she evidently thought we needed to be closer. So she preceded to stop in her tracks, turn around and look at me, wait for me to catch up with her, and then started walking with me. At a not healthy distance, mind you. We were quite close actually. At this point I'm thinking, "Ok she's just one of those super friendly people here at BYU-Idaho that wants to meet everyone on campus. Whatev." And then she starts talking. "Hi, how are you?" she says. "Uhhh...I'm good....how are...you?" I say back. "I'm doing great!" So we're just, ya know, small talkin for a few minutes And then she says, "Can you hold on for a sec?" This is where I got really confused. She grabs hold of my arm and forces me to stop walking with her. So...we're just standing there...while she's looking up into the sky...pondering life for a few seconds....and I'm just waiting....and waiting...while she's still holding my arm.... "Ok we're good," she says. And we keep walking. "Ok well it was great talking to you!" I say as I start veering toward the nearest exit.

What the heck? What does that even mean?

This is deep stuff

So there's this guy. His name is Jack Handey. And once upon a time, he wrote a bunch of stuff and called it "Deep Thoughts". Some of them are actually quite true and occasionally I laugh at them. I was first introduced to this world of deep thinking by a dear friend of mine. Her name is Ashleigh Kaitlyn Horrocks. And I love her. Here are some of our favorites:

• Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean ? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
• The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.
• To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.
• Probably the earliest flyswatters were nothing more than some sort of striking surface attached to the end of a long stick.
• The memories of my family outings are still a source of strength to me. I remember we'd all pile into the car - I forget what kind it was - and drive and drive. I'm not sure where we'd go, but I think there were some trees there. The smell of something was strong in the air as we played whatever sport we played. I remember a bigger, older guy we called "Dad." We'd eat some stuff, or not, and then I think we went home. I guess some things never leave you.
• It's easy to sit there and say you'd like to have more money. And I guess that's what I like about it. It's easy. Just sitting there, rocking back and forth, wanting that money.
• Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo, flying across in front of a beautiful sunset? And he's carrying a beautiful rose in his beak, and also he's carrying a very beautiful painting with his feet. And also, you're drunk.
• If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey, free dummy.
• Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that, I'll be over here, looking through your stuff.
• Instead of having 'answers' on a math test, they should just call them 'impressions' and it you got a different 'impression' so what, can't we all be brothers?
• Instead of studying for finals, what about just going to the Bahamas and catching some rays? Maybe you'll flunk, but you might have flunked anyway; that's my point.

Pretty deep, huh?

Blogging

So this is my first real blog...unless you count the one I did for my English class on stormwater pollution, but that one doesn't really count. But this blog will not be about stormwater pollution. No. It will have nothing to do with that subject. This blog I hope to fill with the joys of my life. The people, the awkward moments, the crazy stories, the dreams, the food...the list goes on. This blog will make you laugh, and it will make you cry. It's like one of those romantic comedies that everybody loves. You just love them. So be prepared. The end.

P.S. If you're wondering about stormwater pollution, check out my other blog. Be warned though, that I don't really believe what I was trying to persuade, it was just easier to research that way :)