Doctrine and Covenants

Well, I did it. 

I'm all done. And it's awesome.

My Doctrine and Covenants class was really really good. I always felt the spirit.

And always loved going to class. I learned a TON in this one. 

I could list all of the wonderfully uplifting things Brother Alford taught.

Or I could tell you the story he told on the last day of class.

I'll take the later.

Brother Alford is a military man and came to BYU from West Point.

At West Point they have a tradition of the higher up men wearing a red sash 

and the cadets reporting to the man in the red sash. 

This red sash goes way back in the history of the military.

The generals would wear a red sash during a battle. If a solider was injured during the battle, it was to be reported to the man in the red sash.

The sash was a large piece of cloth that could be used to transport a wounded solider to get help.

It was red to hide the blood so the other soldiers wouldn't be disturbed. 

The red sash kept the general aware of all that was going on and gave more structure to the operation. 

Today the red sash is not used to transport wounded soldiers.

But it still used as a symbol of a leader who can help.

The man in the red sash cares about the well-being of the ones he is in charge of.
He knows how to do the things the cadets are learning to do. He can help them to do the best.

He wants what is best for the cadet, and will do all he can to help the cadet succeed.

Years ago, Brother Alford took a group of cadets from West Point to the temple 

to do work for past military soldiers.

At the door of the celestial room, the cadet ahead of Brother Alford stopped abruptly 

and came to attention.

Brother Alford ran into him and was confused as to what was going on. He asked the cadet.

And the cadet replied, "Look sir. It's the man in the red sash."

This picture was hanging in the temple.

Christ truly is the man in the red sash for all of us.

He is our caring leader who knows everything we are trying to learn. 

He wants what is best for us and will do all He can to help.

And in the end we will report to Him and tell Him of our life. 

I know He is my Savior and my man in the red sash.

And I am grateful to have heard this story 

and to be able to look forward to reporting to Him someday.

Goodbye D&C. You've been inspiring.

And goodbye sophomore year. I might miss you a little bit.

Family Finance

I took this class because I thought I could use some pointers in the money department.

And I didn't really think it would be too hard.

Oh I was wrong. It actually counts as a math credit.

Which I don't need, and was going to try to avoid through my career.

Oh well. Life will go on.

I learned some practical lessons in this class. Like if you save 10% now, you'll be very glad later.

Or it's important to have a diversified portfolio. And having a monthly budget is crucial.

The budget must be followed or all is chaos. Ha. Okay not really on the last one.

But a cool thing that I feel like is the overall lesson from the class is that money is not that important to life.

There are much more important things in this life. But if we manage the money we do have, 

however much that happens to be, life will be much more enjoyable.

Every class began with a spiritual thought from Dr. Israelson. He is a very smart man.

And the last class was dedicated to telling us how money can be a big burden and to focus on the important things that we need money for. Like feeding our families so they can live. Not having the newest toys so they can have fun. It was a pretty cool class. And I learned a lot more than this, but I don't want to write it all...

So.

Goodbye Finance. You have been informative. 

But I don't think I will miss you.

Spanish

I don't know what to say about this class.

It started out pretty rough, and was pretty rough until we did some harsh evaluating. 

But I love Spanish, so much. It's like my favorite (besides comms of course).

I guess it's good those are the two things I am studying. Right?

So, from this particular Spanish class I learned some good lessons.

My professor hasn't ever lived in a foreign country, which is pretty rare.

I learned that it is possible to be fluent in a language, only learning in school. That makes me excited.

I learned that you can still learn a great deal from a teacher who doesn't teach.

It just takes a lot more effort on your part.

And finally, I learned that I can actually communicate in Spanish.

Most of this probably came from work where I do speak with people in Spanish most days. 

But none the less, school is paying off.

Goodbye Spanish. I still love you.


And just for my mom.. My new rain boots!

Biology

Well, another one down

My bio class has been an interesting one, not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing..

We don't have a textbook. Only the wonderful thing called the internet.

Which includes Wikipedia, which I have enjoyed.

The point of the class was to make us "responsible skeptics" and take the resources we have to find out the truth and legitimate information. So each week we had an issue in society and we had to find biological evidence to support each side of the issue.

I think overall the thing I have learned is that you can't really trust things you read in an article or see on the news. You really do have to look up and check out facts before making an informed decision.

Which is another thing I have learned, we should all be making informed decisions. 

Not just decisions based on what our neighbor is doing or whatever.

With the internet we can easily find reliable resources with good information.

I did it every week in five minutes.

So I think Dr. Cate's made the point he wanted to with me. I see the importance of good info. 

Goodbye biology, you have been... interesting?

Communications Studies

I'm in the final week of this semester. So it's crazy busy and stressful.

But through all of the madness and excitement to go home, 

I've been thinking about how awesome my classes have been this semester.

And so, I have decided that as each class ends I'm going to write about that class.

That way I can remember all the awesome stuff I learned this semester.

And then I'll delete that class' work from my computer. Which is something I may or may not look forward to every semester....

This morning I finished Comms Studies. Which is a big bummer if you ask me.

Comms studies has been the best class I have ever taken. 

I've never stayed interested in a class throughout the whole semester, and I couldn't get enough in this one. 

I really was a little sad to turn in my final today. But oh well, life will go on.

In this class I learned theories that explain why people communicate the way they do. I learned how to have efficient communication (unfortunately that knowledge hasn't seemed to have been put into practice just yet). I learned a bunch of really cool meanings behind nonverbal ques that we give out all the time. I learned how the media affects the way we perceive the world around us. I learned how to be better at persuasion, (this also hasn't been very efficient in the real world just yet). I learned the why communication is so important and how it can make or break something. Most of the things that I learned weren't huge, wonderful things that I had never ever thought of before. But they were small, simple things that I went "Oh duh, that makes perfect sense." and I could see those situations in my daily life. Most importantly, I learned the difference between studying because you have to and studying because you are interested. 

Goodbye communication studies. You've been wonderful.

Jar of Hearts

I've watched this video like a bajillion times.

While it is kind of creepy, there is some dancing in the middle that I'm in love with.

Seriously, it starts at 1:40. Watch it.

Work Work Work..

My manager, Brandon, gave this to me while I was cleaning the bathroom today,

(I swear people only talk to me while I'm cleaning the bathroom, it's weird).

At first I thought it was because I only have seven days left,

(I did say SEVEN). 

But nope. It probably just hasn't hit them yet....

This cute little gift was given because we got voted best laundry service in Utah,

(bam).

We take our laundry seriously and we're legit,

(or something like that).

So that's pretty cool that we are so awesome,

(super awesome).

In other work news...

I have a new neighbor across the hall from the laundry room. Her name is 

Jenny and she is quickly moving her way up my favorites list. Seriously this girl is so cool.

She's younger and is there because she broke her leg/ankle.

She has me call her Dad or turn on a movie (either Golden Girls or Walker Texas Ranger) everyday.

She's super cool. 

My favorite, JR, has moved on to baseball instead of bowling on the wii.

Which is cool for him I guess, considering he likes it better.

But I miss his snoop dogg mii from bowling. I'm not even lying. SNOOP DOGG.

He also shaved his gotee off because his daughter told him he looked like a homeless man.

But then today when I talked to him at dinner, and his daughter was with him, he said he did it of his own free will because he was tired of it. Alrighty. 

I was cleaning the rehab dining room when the activities people were scooping ice cream and brownies. 

Jenny wasn't eating hers, so I told her she'd better eat it quick cause it smelled delicious.

Next thing I know I've got a bowl in front of me. With an order that I had to eat it, no choice.

What was I supposed to do?

I HAD to sit and eat my dessert with Jenny and Lu. Oh darn.

Those ladies are a riot. Until Lu got tired, and cried. And didn't know why she was crying.

That wasn't so awesome. But at least I'm not the only one that just cries. It happens to the best of us...

I'm seriously going to miss this place.