Christmas Time

Maybe this post is a day late, but I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to write about it.

Christmas has been a busy time for me... work, finals, and more work.  I finally made it "home" to Boise on Christmas Eve.  I got home, played some Nintendo, and then went to bed.  Christmas day we opened our presents and had the annual "Christmas Crap Out," which is when we get to eat whatever we want.  It's been fun being with the family, but unfortunately will end this Tuesday when I'll fly back home to work some more.  That's the disadvantage of working in retail I guess.

This Christmas season I hope everyone got to take a break from the stress and materialism that Christmas bring and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas: Christ.  Leah gave a great FHE lesson on this a couple of weeks ago that inspired me to write something about Christmas.  There's a song I've had playing on my blog by BYU's Vocal Point that's called "He is Born."  I want to post the lyrics to this song, because they really help me appreciate the birth of the Savior and how it was the beginning of a life that would eventually save me and everyone else:

Joy to the world, the Lord has come
To every boy and girl, He'll be the Holy One
He'll be a King, He'll be a Lord
He's just a baby, but He'll save the world

And I'll sing Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
He is my Savior, today He's born
He is born

Rejoice, Rejoice, the Savior's come
We'll lift every voice, to the Healing One
The sinner's saved, the price was paid
He's just a baby, and He's born today

And I'll sing Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

He is my Savior and my King, with all my heart to Him I'll sing

My Lord and King will I adore, with my praise forevermore

He is my Shepherd and I know, with all my love to Him I'll show

With all my life to Him I'll give, today He's born

He's Born

And I'll sing Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

He is my Savior, today He's born

He is Born

I love this song and the lyrics.  I especially appreciate and relate to the part where is says that the sinner is saved, the price was paid...  That is truly a reason to celebrate, rejoice, give gifts, and spend time with family.  We're all sinners trying to do our best, and we rely on Jesus Christ every single day.  May we all remember the sacrifice that Christ made for us.  To end off this blog post, I'll put on one of my favorite scriptures of all time:

"And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.

And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?

 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof."

-Rev. 5:1-5

Toilet Bowls and Worthwhile Bowls

Here is a quick overview of the 2010-2011 college football bowls coming up this month and next month.

TOP 5 TOILET BOWLS
These are the bowls that are the worst of the worst, with the least intriguing match ups, most lopsided match ups, or the biggest disappointments for that team.

5. New Mexico Bowl- BYU (6-6) vs UTEP (6-6) (Dec. 18th, 5:30pm)

These teams could not have ended off the season any different.  While BYU salvaged their season by ending off 5-1 (with a disappointing and controversial loss to Utah), UTEP ended off their season only 1-5.  Both teams are 6-6, which might suggest that this could be a decent matchup.  But with UTEP struggling so bad with a quarterback constantly getting picked off and losses to subpar teams, it should be a BYU blowout.  Another fun fact, only 6 teams have gone to more bowl games than BYU in the last 33 years.

4. Las Vegas Bowl- Utah (10-2) vs Boise State (11-1) (Dec. 22nd, 8pm)

Despite ALMOST losing to San Diego State and BYU and blowout losses to TCU at home and away at a mediocre Notre Dame team, Utah will travel down south to take on the Boise State Broncos.  Boise State was a field goal away from going to the Rose Bowl and possibly the national championship.  Unfortunately, the bullies of the WAC finally had someone stand up to them and beat them in overtime.  As a result, Boise State winds up in Las Vegas Bowl while a 4 loss Connecticut team gets to go to the BCS and a 2 loss Virginia Tech team (who Boise State beat along with a AA team) also gets to go.  This is undoubtedly a huge disappointment for the Broncos who returned all but 1 starter from last year's team.  Boise State will blow Utah out of the water.

3. Holiday Bowl- Nebraska (10-3) vs Washington (6-6) (Dec. 30th, 10pm)

Nebraska was once again a field goal away from going to the BCS.  Last year it was against Texas, this year it was against Oklahoma.  Nebraska boasts a 9-3 record (with losses @ Texas, @Texas A&M, and vs Oklahoma) while Washington has a meager 6-6 record.  Washington's quarterback Jake Locker has been plagued by injuries this season and hasn't had the supporting cast a star like him deserves.  Nebraska will go into this game disappointed, but will dominate Washington.

2. Orange Bowl- Virginia Tech (11-2) vs Stanford (11-1) (Jan. 3, 8:30pm)

This match up may look intriguing on paper, but I consider it to be an outrage.  Virginia Tech started off the season losing to Boise State, a non-BCS school that according to the Ohio State president is "unworthy" to play for a championship.  Right after the loss, V-Tech loses to a Division I-AA school, James Madison.  These guys are a HORRIBLE team that are not even division one!  Apparently, however, those losses were forgivable and irrelevant as the ACC gets an automatic bid and sends their best school to face Stanford, who has only lost to Oregon, the team playing for a national championship. Stanford should kill Virginia Tech

1. Fiesta Bowl- Connecticut (8-4) vs Oklahoma (11-2) (Jan 1st, 8:30pm)

This is the biggest joke.  Since the Big East also gets an automatic bid, they get to send the champion of their conference.  It's not ranked West Virginia or the preseason favorite Pitt, it's UConn.  A 4 loss team that got shut out by a mediocre Louisville team.  Look who DIDN'T get to go to the BCS:
Boise State- 12-1
Michigan State- 11-1
Nevada- 12-1
LSU- 10-2
Alabama- 9-3

To me, this game just shows the insanity of the BCS and how they rob teams of a fair chance to play for the championship.  Landry Jones will light up UConn.  And I bet it won't even be that satisfying of a win, knowing that you beat a team that Louisville beat 23-0.

TOP 5 BOWLS TO WATCH
These are the 5 bowl games that you won't want to miss this year.

1. Poinsettia Bowl- SDSU (8-4) vs Navy (8-3) (Dec. 23rd, 8pm)

San Diego State has had a GREAT year.  In all reality, they were a field goal away from beating a Mizzou team that would upset the #1 team in the nation.  They barely lost to BYU on a controversial call, gave TCU a run for it's money and lost to Utah on a desperation team.  Basically, this team is one play away from being undefeated.  Brady Hoke has really turned this program around.  Navy is also having a great year.  They still have a game against army this Saturday, but Navy is always a well disciplined team that shows up to their bowl games.  At the end of the day, however, I bet SDSU walks away with the win.

2. Capital One Bowl- Alabama (9-3) vs Michigan St (11-1) (Jan 1st, 1pm)

Alabama is the reigning national champion from last year, but wound up having a disappointing season with three losses.  They still, however, have a decent quarterback with great receivers and running backs.  Michigan State has only lost against Ohio state.  This should overall be a great game, but I think Alabama will come out with the W.

3. Sugar Bowl- Arkansas (10-2) vs Ohio State (11-1) (Jan. 4th, 8:30pm)

I really like this Arkansas team with Ryan Mallett leading the way.  They have an awesome passing attack.  Ohio State, on the other hand, relies on their running game.  This should be an awesome game, but I predict Arkansas will get the win.

2. Rose Bowl- Wisconsin (11-1) vs TCU (12-0) (Jan. 1st, 5pm)

TCU remains undefeated as they walk into this game.  Had Auburn or Oregon lost, TCU would be headed to a national championship.  Wisconsin also looks good going into this game with their only blemish being a loss to a good Michigan State team.  I bet this game will be really close, but Gary Patterson's coaching will allow TCU to remain undefeated this season.

1. National Championship- Auburn (13-0) vs Oregon (12-0) (Jan 10th, 8:30pm)

The question has come up many teams this season, who can stop Oregon's lightening fast, hurry-up offense?  Other people have asked, who can stop Cam Newton?  So far, no one has had an answer.  And I doubt this game will provide us with an answer.  With both teams only having mediocre defenses, but unbelievable offenses, this game is sure to be a shootout.  In the end, I predict Auburn will come out on top.


Well, that's my overview of this year's bowl games.  We'll see what happens!

Thanksgiving Break

Hello everyone!  I just got back to Provo.  I was in Boise for the weekend visiting my family and enjoying all of the comforts that home brings with it.  As Kevin put it: "Paul, how happy are you to be back in Provo on a scale of 1-10?  Because I'm at a negative 4." Well said.  Here were some highlights of the weekend:

-Seeing Grandma Dorothy and Grandpa Peter.  I haven't seen Grandma and Grandpa since I got off my mission, so it was good to see them again!  Along with telling me some funny stories about the latest things going on in her life, I was also able to enjoy some incredible, authentic Italian stuffed mushrooms that Grandma made.  Amazing.  It was great to see them.  As a side note, Grandma is the most loyal follower of this blog.  Love you Grandma!

-Free laundry.  This may sound petty, but having good quality, free laundry facilities is a luxury for a poor college student.  Imagine the look on my face when I woke up one morning to find all of my laundry washed and folded in my suitcase.  Thanks mommy!

-Food.  My mom's home-cooked food is absolutely incredible.  I know everyone says that about their mom's food, and sometimes it's true.  I have a lifetime trying other people's home-cooked food and sometimes it's pretty good.  But never as good as what Amy's Kitchen consistently provides day in and day out.  No one else can deliver like that.  It goes without being said, but Thanksgiving dinner was incredible.  The leftovers were also amazing.  And the downstairs fridge had unlimited cream soda and caffeine free Dr. Pepper.  I probably gained 10-15 lbs.

-Family.  Seeing my family is so much fun.  My mom is always caring and dad is always funny to talk to.  Upon my arrival, I immediately taught my brother Josh how to play Super Smash Bros.  Later, Travis, Tristan, Micah, Josh, Mark, and I all played indoor tackle football in our padded room called the "Riley Room" (named after my cousin Riley who has been known to be destructive to non-padded rooms.)  The football left everyone injured and crying.  Even I jammed my finger while I had 3 boys try to tackle me.  They almost succeeded. Almost.

-The baptisms of Travis, Rachel, and Tristan.  On Saturday, I got to see my little brother Travis and my little cousins Rachel and Tristan get baptized.  It was awesome to see them go in the water.  The highlight, however, was their confirmations.  You could tell that my dad was close to the Spirit as he confirmed them members of our church and gave them special blessings.

-BYU Basketball. Noah Hartsock made a clutch jump shot in a double overtime win over South Florida and the team later won the South Padre Island Invitational Championship when Jimmer made a last second 3 point shot close out the game against St. Mary's.  Good weekend for the basketball team.

Overall, it was a great weekend.  I'm glad I got to see my family and enjoy the weekend.  Here are a couple more tidbits to end off the post:

-Today is Andrew's birthday.  Andrew is currently serving a mission in the Ivory Coast and will celebrate his birthday in a hut made of straw that lets continuous rain pour in while he shivers in the cold with malaria and no food to eat..... just kidding.  He actually looks to be very spoiled out there despite the humble circumstances.  Happy birthday big guy.  See you in 7 months.

-3 more weeks before I head out to Oakland for Russell's wedding!  Russell was my mission companion and is now my roommate and one of my best friends.  He met the girl of his dreams, Claire, who is one of the sweetest and funniest girls on the planet.  They are both lucky and I can't wait to be one of the groomsmen in the wedding.  After the wedding, I'll fly back to Boise to enjoy the rest of Christmas break under my mother's care.

-One of my other best friends, Trent, will also get married on the same day as Russell!  I wish I could be at two places at once!  Congratulations to Trent and Star, whose wedding theme song should be "You Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift.  Told you so Trent.

-I FINALLY got my online class done!  Physical Science 100 online was a beast, but it has been slain.  I just need to take the final and the class will be out of my life forever.  Thank heavens!

-A quick note on the BYU game... I don't want to dwell on it for too long, but I can't think of a bigger tragedy than losing a game against someone you clearly outplayed for 4 quarters because of a bad call.  When the entire world, including Utah fans, saw Brandon Bradley's knee touch the ground before he had the ball stripped from him, everyone thought the game would pretty much be over.  But when the called fumbled stood, Utah scored and BYU lost the lead it had held 56 out of 60 minutes.  Granted, BYU just had some terrible luck in that game, including a punt hitting an unaware player, a tipped ball being intercepted by Utah, dropped balls that were perfectly thrown, etc. But the call the ref made was inexcusable.  Utah made a great block at the end of the game, but the events beforehand should never have led up to a block winning them the game.  As you can imagine, I'm devastated over the loss.  It truly was a heartbreaker.  BYU now awaits a New Mexico Bowl bid and it will probably be against Fresno State or a rematch against Nevada.

-New music for the blog is Christmas music!

That's all for now!  Check back for more posts later.

Some Things I'm Grateful For

In lieu of the Thanksgiving season, here are just a few of the things that I'm grateful for:

-A family that loves me no matter what

-The best friends anyone could ever ask for who will always love and support me

-Good health... most of the time (don't say anything mom)

-The gospel, its teachings, the Savior, and the hope His Atonement brings to everyone

-That I live in the United States of America

-My job

-An optimistic attitude that it will all work out in the end, and that Heavenly Father has a plan for me

2011 BYU Schedule Almost Finalized

Today BYU and Ole Miss announced their season openers against each other.  This fills 11 of the 12 slots that BYU needs to have a full schedule in 2011.  Obviously since BYU will be independent next year, scheduling has been difficult.  Luckily, ESPN is helping us out by scheduling games that we can't find ourselves.  Here is what the 2011 schedule looks like for BYU so far:

Sept. 3 @ Ole Miss

Sept. 10 @ Texas

Sept. 17 v. Utah

Sept. 23 v. Central Florida

Sept. 30 v. Utah State

Oct. 15 @ Oregon State

Dates TBA for:

At home: Idaho, San Jose State, New Mexico State and likely a FCS opponent.

Away: Hawaii and Louisiana Tech.

Even though BYU will get to play at home a lot next year (7 out of the 12 games), the hardest games will all be on the road, other than Utah.  Playing in the south is hard, especially at Ole Miss and Texas.  Oregon State is looking better every year and strange things always happen in Hawaii.  I'm excited to see how Jake Heaps and the cougars do against nationally recognized programs on the road.  Hopefully a long spring and summer of throwing routes non-stop to his receivers will get the offense to where it needs to be to compete.  Only time will tell!

Meanwhile, BYU just needs to win tomorrow to get a bowl game.  Beating Utah never looked more realistic, however.  SDSU will at least batter the Utah team and hopefully BYU will be able to clean up in Salt Lake City.  If BYU wins out, we will get 2nd place in the Mountain West Conference.


Prediction for tomorrow's game:  BYU- 58  New Mexico- 3


Also, just as a side note, this is my 20th post since I've started the blog.  Since then, I've had over 1,000 views of this page.  Hope to keep writing in the future!

Brian Baugh Football

Our football season came to a close on Tuesday night.  There's not point in getting into the details, but we made some bad decisions with the football and played a terrible game.  We plan on playing 9 man football this winter and hopefully we'll have a better season than we had this fall.

Mid-November Update

It's been a while since I've written.... And that's mostly been because of a lack of events.  With that, here's a recap of anything meaningful that's happened the last 10 days:

-Frisbee season is over.  Despite the miraculous comeback in our first tournament game, we had an anti-climatic finish.  We had 8 people so that we could sub one at a time, but we were missing 2 of our best players.  We got off to a good start and we were winning at half time 6-5.  Unfortunately we kind of got lazy in the second half and made some bad decisions throwing the frisbee. The other team eventually won 10-8.

-Football season continues.  The night after we had a disappointing loss in frisbee, we played our first football game in the tournament.  We did awesome.  We went against a team that had  2 junior college football players that were incredible receivers.  Despite that, our offense kept us in the game. We scored on every possession that we had.  They scored on every possession they had, until the last one when we were able to make a great defensive stand.  My only regret in that game was that I felt like I didn't contribute much.  I'm glad I have another opportunity to make some plays next game.  Our next game is on Tuesday night at 9:15pm.  If we win that game, we'll play again Saturday.

-BYU won it's 3rd straight game and looked awesome doing it.  Jake Heaps has really come along and our receivers are finally coming along.  Luke Ashworth had the night of his career catching 4 passes, all for touchdowns.  The longest pass of the day was a 62 yard bomb that was perfectly thrown to Luke Ashworth.  Cody Hoffman had a fumble and so did Jake Heaps on a botched pitch to JJ DiLuigi, but other than that it was a really clean game.  CSU didn't score until our third string defense was put in in the 4th quarter.  Final score was 49-10 which puts BYU at 5-5 for the season.  It's almost as if BYU has had 2 different seasons.  The first 5 games they went 1-4, the next 5 games they have gone 4-1.  With New Mexico being the worst team in all of college football, we should easily beat them next week at home.  That win will make us bowl eligible.  After that, expect a great Holy War when BYU goes up to play the U.  With the way that the U has played, we should be able to beat them.

-Last night we made a Tucano's run.  My friend Sarah gave Kevin and I 2 for 1 coupons and we had to use them yesterday or they would expire.  It was a great night.  It was Kevin, Meridith, Darrik Cheney, and me.  About halfway through our great dinner, Kevin and I got into a tussle about who had eaten more.  We kept eating and eating, and before long we were asking the meat servers about who they thought had eaten more.  Kevin claimed that since he had eaten more vegetables and some of Meridith's food, that he had eaten more.  The meat servers said they had definitely given me more meat across the whole duration of the night.  Eventually, Kevin flipped over the little totem poll to red, indicating that I had been the victor.  It had come at a great cost, however.  I almost exploded a couple times and started literally going insane.  I would laugh at anything and in my insanity, Kevin and Darrik convinced me to leave my phone number for the waitress... Classy.  Either way, it was some good food for only half the price!

That's pretty much everything that has been going on as of late.  I'm excited to make my way back home for Thanksgiving and see my family (and eat my mom's cooking.)  I'm also making some important decisions about what to do next semester and whether or not I should quit my job at Simply Mac.  It's been an awesome job, but I need to focus on school and get it done.

With that, I'll sign out.  Look for more posts later this week.

Comeback

As I walked on to West Stadium Field #3, I was alone.  I looked on as my opponents began warming up 15 minutes before the game was scheduled to start.  They looked good, I immediately thought.  It was colder than I thought it would be and I didn't have my Under Armor on.  But for some reason, thinking about the fact that this was the first game of the playoffs made me giddy and excited.  Tonight could be the last game we played if we lost.  Or it could be the first step to win the championship.  The future was in our hands.  My ankle wasn't feeling that bad, but I had some pain lingering from other injuries.  Still, I was ready to play.

About 10 minutes before game time, I saw Kevin and Brian walk over and check in.  We immediately began throwing around the frisbee.  I caught some, dropped others, kind of indifferently.  Brian helped me work on my pivot foot and throwing more accurately.  Our other teammates jogged over right as the game was about to begin.  We had 7 exactly, the amount we needed on the field.  That means there would be no subs.  We would have to play the whole game.  I looked over at our opponents.  They had 10, meaning they could sub in 3 people at any given time.  I immediately knew it would be tough.  Were we up for it?  We would soon find out.

As soon as we started playing, they started scoring.  They scored 2 quick points and one person even commented, "You guys should get some more strategy on offense, just saying."  They scored 3 more, making the game 5-0, until finally we had a lucky break.  Kevin grabbed the frisbee and quickly tossed it to me, scoring our very first point.  They scored again, and we went to half time with the score being 6-1.  Normally, a standard frisbee game is first to 12, but the game was taking so long that the referee announced the game would be the first to 10, which hurt us.  They only needed 4 more points, we needed 9.  But we kept playing.

The second half was looking awesome for us.  We picked up our game big time and started scoring points.  Before we knew it, it was 7-4.  A devastating turnover made it 8-4, and our hopes started dwindling.    We called a timeout, got pumped up, and starting playing our hearts out again.  We started coming back!  Despite them yet another goal, we were able to bring the score to 9-7.  It was game point for them, and we knew we had to pick it up.

Keep a couple things in mind.  I was gimping around the field.  We had no subs, and at this point, we had been running around for over an hour and a half.  They had 3 subs and were keeping fresh legs on the field.  We were tired.  Both teams started to bicker, a lot.  We called several LEGIT fouls on them that they got angry about.  The trash talking started and everyone was on the brink of losing their tempers.  Not to mention, it was game point for them.  They needed 1 more point!  We needed 3.  The task seemed impossible, but we kept playing.

After bringing the game to a tie, 9-9, we threw the frisbee to them to kick off what would be the final series of the game.  Despite the other team turning the frisbee over 2-3 times, we couldn't seem to seal the deal!  They threw the winning pass (so we thought) and the game was over.... until we called a foul.  A player dove into one of our players and we made the call.  After getting in position, we got them to miss a pass.  We got the frisbee back, attacked down the field, and scored the game winning touchdown!  It was an amazing feeling to know that we had come back from such a huge deficit and won in the playoffs!  Despite being outnumbered, out conditioned, and outplayed in the first half, we were able to make the biggest comeback that I have ever been a part of, outscoring them 9-3 in the second half.  It was a sweet victory after a long, hard played game.

I will never forget the game I played in tonight.  The lesson learned here is to never, ever give up!  Never accept failure, even when you are inches away from it.  Maybe everything is telling you that you can't do it.  But guess what?  You still can!  Choose to not fail.  Choose to achieve victory in whatever setting you are in.  No one can take it from you if you want it bad enough and work hard enough for it.  Choose to be great.  If you're in a hole, if things aren't going the way you want, if you're injured or hurt, if you're struggling to just get by, choose, like we did tonight, to make a comeback.

People Are Amazing

Watch the video below to see what people can do when they put their minds to something.  I love watching people push themselves to the limits of what they think they can do, and then going a little bit farther than that.  I also love the idea of trying to be good at something.  It doesn't have to be something athletic... You could just be someone that everyone knows is a good friend.  Or someone who is honest no matter what.  Maybe you are always doing service.  Either way, try to be known for something, anything, that you're good at.  Be good at something and keep working at it!  Everyone can be amazing if they just try.

Minnesota- Where the Playas Play

If you know anything about me, you know how much I love my home state of Minnesota.  This post is dedicated to my homeland!  Here are 10 reasons why Minnesota is awesome:


#10- The Drivers
This may sound stupid, but I love how most people drive in Minnesota.  People are super courteous.  If you want to get in a lane, they let you.  You wave, they wave back.  If they're going slow and you want to go fast, they'll move over.  It's awesome.  The cops can get a little strict, but that's there job anyways, right?  Anyways, after being in Utah for a while, I definitely thought that driving should be included in my top ten list.

#9- The Winters
As cold as it is in Minnesota during the winter, there's something you have to love about feeling your snot freeze inside your nostrils.  I don't think there's a prettier place on the planet as Minnesota during the winter.  The icicles on the houses are beautiful, the snow covering everything looks so clean and beautiful.  Plus you get to ski, sled, ice skate, ice fish, and have snowball fights.  Fathers and sons always get to bond while they shovel the driveway.  Crime rates go down in the cities.  And you always, ALWAYS get a white Christmas!  I love Minnesota winters!

#8- Minnesota is Green
My favorite color is green.  And Minnesota gets SO green during the spring and summer.  It is absolutely beautiful.  There are trees everywhere, but not an obscene amount like the south.  The grass is green because there is plenty of water.  There is just green everywhere and I love it.

#7- The Sports
Granted, the Vikings are struggling right now, but I love Minnesota sports, especially the Twins.  Target Field is probably the most beautiful baseball stadium in the US.  Minnesota has teams for every sport.  Vikings for football, Twins for baseball, Wild for hockey, and the Timberwolves for basketball.  I'm not a bandwagon fan, I'm a whole hearted fan no matter what.  I'll cheer for the Minnesota Gophers too, but BYU still has my heart in college sports.

#6- Minnesota State Fair
The Great Minnesota Get Together has and estimated 3 trillion calories in one place.  The Minnesota State Fair is by far the best state fair in the nation.  Everyone takes it seriously, and everyone goes.  Including crazy people.  The food is amazing (everything is fried and on a stick) and all the stuff that is there is so much fun.  It's something that every Minnesotan loves.

#5- Northern Lights
Minnesota is one of the few places in the United States where you can see the northern lights.  I think technically you have to be north of Minneapolis to see them, but you should at least be in Duluth or even more north to see them clearly.  I saw them when I went to boundary waters and they are so beautiful and amazing.  Everyone should come to Minnesota just to see the northern lights.  The pic below was taken in Minnesota.

#4- Mall of America
For anyone who likes to shop, you've probably heard of the Mall of America.  It is a sight to behold.  The place is enormous.  It has about 900 stores and is 4,200,000 square feet.  In the middle there is a giant theme park with roller coasters and other rides.  It is a fun place to hang out and shop.  Just make sure you have a whole day to spend there!

#3- Minnesota is Clean
Since moving to Utah, I realized that I took a clean city and state for granted.  Minnesota is so clean and nice looking!  In the winter, plows are constantly going through the streets dropping sand and salt so it's safer for drivers.  As soon as the snow melts, however, you can bet that there are street sweepers making the rounds.  On the freeway, buildings and industry are carefully planned so that only beautiful buildings are visible.  Ugly factories and industry are out of sight.  Also, on either side of the freeways and roads, there is well groomed grass and other shrubbery.  It just feels different when you're driving in Minnesota.  Everything looks so nice from the plants to the buildings.  And for a big city, Minneapolis is exceptionally nice.  It is well kept and for the most part, very safe.

#2- Business and Prosperity
Minnesota is the home to many big companies.  Some big name corporations that have their headquarters in Minnesota are:

-PepsiAmericas- The business end of Pepsi
-United Health Group
-Target
-Best Buy
-Dairy Queen
-SuperValu
-General Mills
-Malt O Meal
-3M
-US Bank
-Hormel Foods (invented Spam)
-St. Jude Medical
-EcoLab

And the list goes on...  Even Fortune 500 companies know where it's at.  Also, the Nut Roll was invented in Minnesota.  That's gotta count for something.

#1- The Lakes
Minnesota is known as the Land of 10,000 lakes for something!  The lakes in Minnesota are absolutely beautiful.  Everyone spends time at the lakes during the whole year either wake-boarding, swimming, fishing, ice skating, duck hunting, etc.  Water is everywhere and it keeps things green.  There's tons of wildlife because of the lakes.  I love Minnesota lakes!

This is the boundary waters canoe area on the border of Minnesota and Canada.

This is Lake Superior, the biggest of the Great Lakes.  Notice that you can't see the other side of the lake.

This is my lake, Lake Marion.  I grew up riding my bike to this lake all the time to be with my friends.

The moral of the story here is that Minnesota is the greatest state in the Union.  I can't wait to go back!

Triple Play Thursday Revisited and Long Beach

Read my earlier post about my Thursday tradition Triple Play Thursday to appreciate this photo.  Let's just say this $4 sandwich has changed my life forever.  Here is the promised photo (courtesy of Kevin Baugh):

Also. I got to spend this weekend with my dad in Long Beach, CA for the Paul Mitchell Owner's Summit meeting.  It was a good experience to learn about Paul Mitchell school's, how they operate, and how the culture is.  I didn't understand all of it, but it made me think about whether or not this is something I want to get into.  Definitely a good learning experience and really fun to spend a couple days with my dad.

I didn't get to watch the whole BYU game, but expect an analysis on that later.  Now it's time to watch Nacho Libre with dad before I have to go to sleep and wake up at 5 a.m. to catch my flight.  Adios!

Commitments

Commit: the act of binding yourself to a course of action (WordNet by Princeton University)

As I've continued in my journey to make myself a better person, I've slowly learned an important lesson: commitments make or break a person.  In fact, I had an epiphany the other day: the measure of man is whether or not he keeps his commitments.  It might be said that salvation is gained or lost by whether or not we keep commitments.  Success and meaningful relationships depend on our commitments and happiness as a whole absolutely requires that we make commitments and then follow through with him.

Let me back up.  Today, we live in a world that tries to keep us commitment free.  I can sign up for internet, phone service, cable, etc without a contract.  Hollywood tries to show us that having sex outside of marriage (a committed relationship) is normal and ok.  TV shows depict people that break promises, lie, and deceive to get what they want.  Businesses go to great extents to make sure that contracts are written with exactness and without loopholes so that clients and financial partners are practically forced to keep their commitments.  Money, pleasure, and comfort are valued at a much higher level than promises.

To me, commitment is a direct form of honesty.  It is being bound by your word.  When you make a commitment, honesty is in your hands.  You are able to decide whether what you say is true and meaningful, or if it's dishonest and unreliable.  If I say I'm going to do something, I should make that thing a priority since I committed to it.  Doing so can directly affect how I view myself, how others view me, and how successful I will be in this life.

If I break a commitment, there are several implications.  First of all, I lied to the person that I committed to.  That may seem harsh when you're in the situation, but it's true.  Second of all, I have let myself down.  When you lie, you feel guilt and your self-esteem (the way you value yourself) goes down.  After all, my words had no value.  When what you say has no value, you start perceiving that you as a person don't have any value, and that's when bad decisions are made and bad habits form.

When you do keep a commitment, no matter how small it is, you have shown up for yourself!  What a novel concept!  It doesn't matter what the commitment was and who it was to, it was really about you.  You have showed yourself that it didn't matter what else came up or what else seemed important, your honesty and integrity was the most important.  When you take care of yourself by keeping commitments, your confidence goes up and you value yourself more.  Interestingly (yet obvious) enough, keeping commitments is one of the most important things for people recovering from any type of addiction.  When they keep commitments to themselves, they gain the confidence to live their lives without their addictive behavior, they value themselves more, and take care of themselves in a healthy way.  I believe keeping commitments directly affects a person's happiness and success in life.  You are valued more in any setting when it is known that you keep your word.

I had this epiphany the other day when I was talking to one of my friends.  He told me about a commitment that he made to himself the other day.  He reported to me that although he agreed to go to bed at a specific time, he missed that time by 7 minutes.  My immediate reaction was "What's the big deal?  That's pretty good!  You only missed it by 7 measly minutes!"  He saw that I clearly didn't get it.  He told me that it wasn't about the 7 minutes.  It was about the commitment.  He let himself down by not keeping his commitment.  It might as well have been 7 hours for him.  The lie was told 1 second after the time and he failed to show up for himself and he was not going to rationalize that away but minimizing HOW MUCH he broke his commitment.  He broke it and that was that.  He didn't beat himself up over it, but he held himself accountable, recommitted to his goal, and started following through.  I'll never forget that conversation.

Let me give another example to illustrate this point.  The example comes from the Book of Mormon.  For those that haven't read it, I'll try to be descriptive enough so you can know what's going on.

In the Book of Mormon there was a certain people that were blood thirsty, war hungry, brutal, and murderous.  Their weakness was violence and bloodshed.  When they were introduced to Christianity, however, they were truly converted and wanted to change their ways.  As a result of their conversion, they made a commitment to God.  They promised God that they would take their weapons of war and bury them, never to be touched again.

Think about this.  This was a time when people slept with their sword because the whole country could go to war at any given second.  They also used bows and arrows for hunting, axes to cut down trees, etc.  But all of that didn't matter.  They didn't try to rationalize an exception for when they could break their commitment, they just knew that they couldn't handle the weapons.  Period.  And they were true to their word.  Even when they their enemies were preparing to go to war against them, they still refused to even touch the weapons.  Rather than break their commitment, they kneeled down on the battlefield praying to God, and many were killed.

This is so interesting to me.  Many people in the Church of Christ at that time had weapons and went to war to defend their country, their faith, and their families.  It wasn't against the commandments to have the weapons.  In fact, it was just plain weird, even within the church.  But still, this people knew that they couldn't handle and instead of taking the risk of falling back into sin, they buried the weapons as a symbol of a commitment with God.

Why should things be so different with the commitments that we make today?  I strongly believe that integrity is earned by having a track record of keeping commitments, no matter how big or small they are, no matter how it might look to someone else, no matter what the cost is.  I will be the first to admit that I have not been a man of my word in the past, but I am striving to keep my commitments today.  Think about how different this world would be if people kept their commitments.  It would be amazing.

I challenge anyone who reads this to resolve that you will keep all of your commitments no matter what.  Keep your marital, educational, vocational, ecclesiastical, and personal commitments at all costs! If you do, you'll find a new confidence in yourself that will bring you happiness and success.

Nice Guys Finish Last

Here's a part of an article by Dieter Uchtdorf:

"In the 1960s, a professor at Stanford University began a modest experiment testing the willpower of four-year-old children. He placed before them a large marshmallow and then told them they could eat it right away or, if they waited for 15 minutes, they could have two marshmallows.

He then left the children alone and watched what happened behind a two-way mirror. Some of the children ate the marshmallow immediately; some could wait only a few minutes before giving in to temptation. Only 30 percent were able to wait.

It was a mildly interesting experiment, and the professor moved on to other areas of research, for, in his own words, “there are only so many things you can do with kids trying not to eat marshmallows.” But as time went on, he kept track of the children and began to notice an interesting correlation: the children who could not wait struggled later in life and had more behavioral problems, while those who waited tended to be more positive and better motivated, have higher grades and incomes, and have healthier relationships."

Lately I've been thinking a lot about patience.  What is it?  Why is it a virtue?  Why is it so important?  These things have been on my mind a lot lately since I'm being forced to practice patience in some areas of my life.

I know I used to have patience at one point in time.  When I was around 4 or 5 years old, I used to beg my mom for a dog.  I wanted a dog SO bad that I was willing to do almost anything to get one.  After months of begging, my mom reluctantly told me that if I saved up enough money and promised to take care of it, I could have a dog when I was twelve (she admits that she never thought I would really hold her to that.)  That was 7 years away!  I didn't even know what 7 years felt like yet!  Nevertheless, I started saving money whenever I could.  I even remember my dad taking me to the bank down the street to open a savings account.  After years, I never lost the vision of my ultimate goal: getting the dog.  I eventually got the dog because I was able to think about what I wanted most rather than what I wanted at the moment.

So what is patience?  As Uchtdorf put is, "Patience is the ability to put our desires on hold for a period of time.  It requires being humble and unselfish... patience requires actively working toward worthwhile goals and not getting discouraged when results don't appear instantly or without effort."  That can be pretty hard.  Especially when what you want is a good thing, something that would make you a better person.  We can't have fear and patience at the same time, nor can we be selfish and be patient at the same time.  Patience is actively waiting and enduring things well.

I think patience is really important for a couple of different reasons.  First off, it helps us grow.  While saving for the dog, I learned out to save money, work hard, and learned how hard it is to earn money and how easy it is to spend it.  It also helps us appreciate the thing we were waiting for.  If I had gotten the dog when I wanted the dog, I probably would have been excited about it for a month or so and then stop appreciating it.  Rather, since I had worked so hard and waited so long to get the thing, I took care of him and love him!  The experience was much more meaningful after waiting.  Sometimes when we wait for something, it means much more later than it would have had it been in our lives earlier.

I think the virtue of patience is rare in this day and age and I find myself constantly struggling to find it in my own life.  I get impatient about stupid things, like JJ DiLuigi running the football, traffic, helping people at work, etc.  But sometimes I also feel like my life isn't moving forward and it's easy to get short sighted and forget the ultimate goal.  I know that things will work out the way they're supposed to if I can just have the patience and hope.  I'm so thankful that I have friends and family that make the waiting easier!


So in the end, nice guys do finish last.  But that's good, because they've grown and learned along the way.  I hope to continue to learn and grow as I learn patience and go through hard things while I actively wait.

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."  ~John Quincy Adams

Weekend Debrief

Well this weekend definitely had its ups and downs.

Saturday started off with a solid victory.  We had a frisbee game and won decisively 12-0.  That was the last frisbee game of the regular season.  I'm not sure when playoffs start, but they should be soon.  Overall we were 4-1 and played pretty well.  My ankle actually really bothered me and I didn't play for a lot of the game and when I did play, I didn't go 100%.  Hopefully it will get better before the next game.

Later that day, I watched BYU suffer the 31-3 loss to TCU.  While our defense let us hand around for a while, it was quickly becoming clear that we had absolutely no offense to balance what we were doing on defense.  Our defense came in with the right attitude, pumped up, and ready to upset the Horned Frogs.  But every offensive series we had was plagued by horrible play calling by Robert Anae, ridiculous run attempts by JJ DiLuigi, and a true freshman quarterback not making good decisions.  Anae is killing me with his play calling.  I absolutely blame him for the offense not being fired up.  If Bronco can take the worst defense in the nation and dramatically improve it within one week, I would expect at least something to happen on the offensive side.  I personally believe new coaching personnel is needed on offense.   I would also not let JJ DiLuigi touch the ball again for the rest of the season.  It's absolutely pathetic that we consistently give the ball to a guy that dances around with it rather than just running towards the end zone.  Juice Quezada can do it and Bryan Kariya can do it.  DiLuigi had 9 carries for only 11 yards!!!  That's an average of 1.2 yards per carry.  Kariya on the other hand had 12 carries for 53 yards.  Quezada had 1 carry for 6 yards.  Yet Anae insists on using DiLuigi.  It frustrates me to death.  Meanwhile, we won't throw to our tight ends or receivers.  It's true that Jake Heaps could sue them for all of the dropped balls they've had, but if we're not even throwing to them we become totally predictable and have no offense.  BYU has a stretch coming up of 4 games that they should easily be able to win.  They need to win all 4 to get to a bowl this year.  Hopefully they'll be able to salvage what's left of the season and end on a good note.

Church today was also good.  It was ward conference and we got to hear from the bishopric and stake presidency.  Later, I watched the Vikings beat the Cowboys and also watched the movie "How to Train Your Dragon."  Love that movie.

Should be a good week.  I'm going to California this weekend with my dad which should be a blast.  Check back later this week for more updates!

Victory and Prediction

What a great night!

First off, we won our flag football game 27-7.  I'm pretty excited about it.  I think I started talking about it too much, because my friend Sarah finally told me: "Paul, I think you just need to get over it."  She's probably right, but I have so much fun playing the games!  I find myself always looking forward to the next game and I just have a blast playing.  That means our team is now 3-1 for the season.

I had a decent game.  In the first half, I had 1 catch on 2 targets for about 20 yards.  I was struggling on defense finding my rhythm and figuring out how to best defend the middle, short passes since I was playing middle linebacker.  The second half, I was able to really step up my defense and had a couple of pass breakups with some good tackles that prevented first downs.  It was a lot of fun.

The bad news was I tweaked my ankle and it really hurts right now.  I have a frisbee game at noon tomorrow and I'm planning on playing with an ankle brace.  We'll see how that goes.

Tomorrow BYU will play 4th ranked TCU.  TCU has the #1 defense in the nation and the 8th best offense in the nation.  It's going to be a HUGE challenge for an unusually quiet offense plagued by dropped passes, turnovers, and a true freshman quarterback.  However, I think BYU has it in them to beat TCU.  Here are my three keys to tomorrow's game that will allow BYU to make what would be the biggest upset in BYU's history:

1. Be the underdog: If BYU can have an underdog mentality with a chip on its shoulder, we can blindside TCU.  TCU coach Gary Patterson is saying all the right things about not getting cocky before playing BYU, but you know that TCU is getting a bigger head with every single win.  This is reminiscent of the 2006 game when we stunned a 17th ranked TCU at their stadium.  We need to not be afraid and really believe that we can win this.

2. Have long offense drives: I think time of possession will be huge in this game.  Last week, BYU had the ball for 45 minutes of the 60 minute game.  Because of that, BYU's defense was able to stay fresh, excited, and sharp.  If we can keep our offense on the field for a long time by utilizing the run (hopefully more with Kariya and Juice Quezada rather than DiLuigi!), we will do better defensively and offensively

3. Force Turnovers: In order for BYU to have a chance, the defense HAS to cause several turnovers.  They might even need to score for the team to win.  Either way, the defense will have a huge role in throwing this team off.  If we can cause turnovers, TCU will get thrown off balance.  I think part of creating turnovers will be pressuring QB Andy Dalton.

With that said, my incredibly optimistic and almost ludicrous prediction is:  BYU 26  TCU 24

Let's get it done Cougars!

Wednesdays

Wednesdays are by far my busiest day.  Here's my schedule:

10am-6pm: Work
7-9:30pm: Class
9:30-11: Weekly work meeting

It's an extremely long and usually leaves me exhausted by the end of the day.  I have a similar schedule on Thursdays as well (class at 10, work at 11, class again at 6) but the triple play sandwich along with intramural sports usually gets me through.  So, if you can't get a hold of me on Wednesdays or Thursdays, that's the reason why!

Also, just wanted to say happy birthday to Brittany Unalp!  I hope you have a great day!

Going Public

I decided that anyone who takes the time to read this blog is probably close to me anyways.  I might tone down the extremely personal stuff from now on, but still expect good updates on my life, my thoughts, etc.

As a wrap of today, all in all it was good.  I said goodbye to my family, ate a delicious apple from Minnesota that was the size of a softball, and got to see some good friends.

Max Hall made his debut as a starting NFL quarterback.  He did great for being and undrafted rookie.  Watch him get absolutely demolished as he tries to run it in for a TD:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh2YwlvVbV8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This week I'm looking forward to Brittany Unalp's birthday this Wednesday, a presentation on Thursday, and 2 intramural games this weekend along with BYU taking on TCU at Fort Worth.

That's all for now!  Check back later this week for some more updates.

Who called it??? Two victories offset the big disappointment

First thing is first:  I called it!  See my post below.  Although I admit I wasn't really expecting it, I predicted BYU to win tonight 24-21.  For those who didn't see it, that was the score!  I'm not taking it for anything more than a lucky guess, but still... that's pretty awesome.

I was proud of my boys tonight.  Before this week, we were the worst rushing defense in the nation.  Tonight, the eighth best offense in the nation was held to -2 yards rushing in the first half and only 53 yards in the second half.   Granted, Lindley was able to pass on us several times, but our new Bronco coordinated defense was able to make big plays when they really mattered and ultimately won us game.  The offense also started showing signs of life.  JJ DiLuigi was our leading rusher but had a great supporting cast with Bryan Kariya and Josh "Juice" Quezada (as a side note, every time Quezada ran the ball tonight fans were yelling "Juice," not "boo.")  Jake Heaps is getting better and better at QB.  I love JD Falsev returning punts and I loved the Matt Marshall fake field goal along with some option plays.  Still disappointed with some of the play calling by Robert Anae, but overall he called a decent game today.  It's going to be a long week getting ready for TCU, which could be ranked #4 by next Saturday.  Should be a good game.  I'll give my prediction on that later this week.

The other victory we had today was our intramural frisbee team.  We won the game 12-3.  I had a couple touchdown catches along with one touchdown pass that was very athletically caught.  With that win, our team goes to 3-1 on the season.

Unfortunately, the only tarnish to today's sports happenings was the Minnesota Twins getting swept by the Yankees.  The Yankees have now beat the Twins 9 games straight in the post season.  Call it a curse or bad luck, but it really was just sad to see a great team get humiliated at home and then travel all the way to New York just to get nails pounded into the coffin.  Hopefully we'll have a good team next year, but the Twins have a tight budget and rely on raw talent in younger players.  We will see what happens.

Check back later for more updates.  If you haven't already, click "follow" on the right side to get notifications for when I post.