The Steed Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was blissfully uneventful, just as I hoped it would be. I have been staying up much later than I should all this week (and failed to break the cycle last night), so I was looking forward to sleeping in until around 10:00 am yesterday morning; unfortunately, Nolan, our dwarf bunny, had different ideas. He was hungry and bored - a deadly combination, so he gnawed on a toilet paper tube for a few hours before I got up and fed him. By then, I was already awake, and got up at the ungodly hour of 9:30 am. :) I proceeded to clean the bunny's cage and the cats' litter box, and was about to toss the cats in the tub for a bath when David woke up, which was incredibly fortuitous. If you ever decide to give a cat a bath, never do it alone - you need someone to hold them captive in the tub while you scrub them down.

On Wednesday night, David and I made a new dessert to take to everyone - pumpkin cheesecake squares. They were delicious. Next time we'll let the cream cheese soften a little bit more - the idea was to swirl the pumpkin batter and the cream cheese batter with a knife, but the cream cheese ended up in big globs and some people ended up with A LOT more cream cheese than pumpkin. Oh well, everyone seemed to love them anyway.

We went to visit my parents before Davids' family's Thanksgiving. We arrived just as they were finishing the dishes from their feast - perfect timing, in my opinion. We looked through the holiday ads in search of Christmas present fodder, and then drove back up the canyon to enjoy our own feast. It was excellent. My mother-in-law cooked two turkeys, so we all ate very well. After dinner, David, his brother, and two cousins ran upstairs to engage in some post-Thanksgiving dinner zombie killing, and his adult relatives went to watch "Land of the Lost," which meant that my only viable option was to help my mother-in-law clean up, which I didn't mind. I never mind cleaning other people's houses - it's my own that makes me balk. The evening was spent watching for sightings of the mysterious creature that now lives in the backyard. Guesses as to its identity include flying squirrel, pack rat, sugar glider, and - my personal proposal - rat/squirrel hybrid.

All in all, it was a nice and relaxing day with lots of good food and family - just as Thanksgiving should be.

Workhorse Debut

Guess what? My new fashion blog, Workhorse, is up and running! Click on the button on the margins of this blog to check it out!

New Blog

I must admit that I have neglected this blog as of late. I really must find a way to make my life more exciting so I have something worthwhile to post every now and again. As it is, my life is rather dull. I go to work 8:30-5:15 Monday through Friday; David goes to school Monday through Friday, goes to work before I get home, and comes home to do homework just when I'm about ready to go to bed. He's obviously frenetically busy, and I must admit that I am jealous in a way. I've been the one who's had a million things to do and only time to do ten for the past I don't know how many years, and now that I'm done with school and just working, I don't know what to do with myself. I'm antsy. And my job is not the most thrilling in the world - it's really difficult to drag myself out of bed every morning knowing that I'll just go sit in an ancient swivel chair for eight hours waiting for other people to post the pictures and details of their far-more-exciting lives. I need a hobby, but hobbies cost money, and I don't have any of that.

Actually, I lied. I do have several hobbies that don't cost money: doing dishes, vacuuming, cleaning my house, watching anything on the Food Network or TLC, and fashion. I've discovered that researching the latest fashion trends, finding cheaper alternatives, and blogging about the whole experience keeps me from actually spending money on fashion. So yes, this is a shameless promotion of my new blog, Workhorse. It's not quite up and running yet, but when it is, plan on more shameless promotion! I have several fashion blogs that I already follow quite religiously, but realized that the same phrase kept popping into my head as I read: "That's adorable, but I can't wear that to work." So, for all you ladies out there who work in a professional, office environment, this blog is for you! Look for it starting next Monday!

Moving Up

Check out the new header to our blog! I am a photoshop wizard. And irrationally proud of myself. :)

Life, etc.

I promise that I will write about David and my Halloween party soon! Consider this an interim post. I just thought all you avid followers out there (one of you being David) were wondering how our lives were going. Even if you didn't, you're going to find out anyway. :)

October flew by. And now it's November. I have been trying to prevent David (rather unsuccessfully) from listening to/singing Christmas music for the past month. The snow came early, and he was already singing "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas." Except when he'd sing it, he would only get as far as "It's beginning to look a lot like..." before glancing at me, receiving a scathing glare, and finishing rather timidly with "...autumn." Before you label me a scrooge, allow me to present my defense. I am thoroughly opposed to what I refer to as "steamroller-ing" holidays. You know what I mean - Halloween isn't even over before the Christmas decorations are up, Christmas has barely passed before the Valentine's decorations are up, etc. There's a reason there's usually only one holiday per month: they're supposed to last the whole month. I would argue that Thanksgiving is the most underappreciated and unrecognized holiday of them all. It's also the only holiday that the world hasn't been able to commercialize; it is difficult to turn gratitude for blessings into something monetarily profitable. Hah, take that, consumerism!

In my husband's defense, however, there aren't any Thanksgiving songs except "One Little, Two Little, Three Little Indians," and that gets old fast. When I would protest to David singing Christmas songs in October, he would say, "But you're supposed to have Christmas spirit in your heart all year long!" and I would respond, "Yeah, but not in your vocal chords!" Now that it's November, however, I've told him that I'm still opposed to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, but if singing it actually does help him be more charitable, compassionate, and kind, he's welcome to sing all he wants. :)

In other completely unrelated news, I read an article that said that during economic recessions when budgets are being cut, cops give out more tickets to make up the difference. I can personally testify to the veracity of this analysis. I got a speeding ticket about two weeks ago, and went down to the courthouse to contest it today; no dice - five miles over the speed limit, $90. I suppose I'll just call Wells Fargo and tell them that I can't pay the student loan this month because the state of Utah is in a budget crunch and is extorting money out of their taxpayers. I'm sure they'll understand.

Insidious Corruption

I can't decide what I love most about this cartoon. Perhaps it's that "Family Circus" is finally funny. Or it could be the Che Guevara shirt. Or the sickle and hammer. Or the combat boots. Or Jeffy's Fidel Castro visage. It's all awesome.

P.S. Taylor, this is for you!

Oink

I regret to inform you that David has contracted the dreaded swine flu. He came home from work on Saturday night coughing a little bit, but I figured that he was just tired and that it would be gone by the next morning after a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, it was much worse on Sunday and he had a fever of 100 degrees. By Sunday night, his fever was 103, at which point we went to the doctor (some of us more willing than others). The InstaCare doctor told us that it was indeed the dreaded swine flu, but that since David wasn't at risk for any related complications, there essentially wasn't anything the doctor could do for him. So we went home and pumped David full of Nyquil and hoped for the best.

And now it's Thursday, and I think David's been slowly but steadily improving. It's hard to tell with him, because he doesn't like to complain and therefore doesn't give me any clues as to how he's really feeling. The doctor told us that he has to be fever-free for 24 hours before he can go back to work and school, and seeing as how there's only two days left in this week, I think he should just continue to recuperate over the weekend instead of trying to push himself too hard too fast. Miraculously, I haven't gotten sick at all during this whole course of events. My mother-in-law gave us a $50 Dan's grocery store gift card, which was extremely fortuitous as it has financed all of David's illness-related medications: cough drops, Nyquil, orange juice, chicken noodle soup, saltine crackers, etc.

We anticipate that he'll make a full recovery soon; we're eating lots of pork in the spirit of vengeance. :)

Baby Shower

This past Saturday, I threw a baby shower for my former BYU roommate, Kimberly Bennett. She's having a boy, and is actually due this Saturday! She's only about 5'2", and looked absolutely adorable with her beach ball belly!

She invited about twenty people, and seven showed up besides her and me. It was nice and informal, though. I had planned a few games to play, but sensed that everyone just wanted to sit around, eat food, and talk, so we ended up playing only one game. That was fine with me; I'm not a huge fan of showers that are dominated by pointless games anyway. The one game we did play was pretty funny, though. I bought six jars of baby food, and had sets of two jars be similar colors (peas and beans, etc.). I removed the labels (and saved them so I would know what the flavors were), and had everyone try to guess what the baby food was. I was going to make people eat it to try to guess, but I don't have any use for six opened jars of baby food, and I wanted to give it to Kim.

For food, I made couscous salad with toasted almonds, craisins, and apples, and toasted poundcake with citrus cream. The latter dish was a great hit; I think everyone ate at least two pieces each. I don't blame them - the pound cake was good, but the citrus cream was A-MAZING! I've been baking all sorts of random things since Saturday just so I can put the citrus cream on them!

Kim got all sorts of adorable outfits for her little boy. The shower was not Halloween-themed, but several of them resembled costumes. She got an aviator-style outfit, a sheriff outfit, a snuggly little brown bear outfit, and (my personal favorite), a onesy covered in dinosaur print, complete with a dinosaur bib and socks resembling dinosaur feet.

After everyone else had left, Kim and Carson, another former roommate, and I just sat around and got to talk, which was nice. Carson recently got married at the end of July, I just graduated from BYU, and Kim's having a baby, so we had a lot to talk about and catch up on. All in all, I think the shower was a success, and I can't wait to see pictures of the new little Bennett!

Bunny Update

I thought I would let you know that, since writing about our new rabbit, David and I have changed her name to Nolan; she's a boy now. We tried calling her Elsa for a few days, but the name just didn't stick, and David kept referring to the rabbit as a "he" despite it's female name. So, the bunny's name is now Nolan. It fits much better. Hopefully it actually is a boy (we can't tell) and we haven't completely screwed up this rabbit's gender identity.

2 years down, eternity to go...

When I went home for lunch after writing the following, my astute and more date-oriented husband asked me if I had written about our wedding anniversary yesterday. Lost in my soliloquoy about fall and Halloween, I admitted that I had neglected to do that. So, here are the details of our second wedding anniversary.

David had school, but got work off so we could go do something in the evening. I went to work, because that's what I do now, and I ran to go get David his anniversary present before I headed home. The traditional second anniversary present is cotton, which seems like an incredibly boring gift (ie, "Happy anniversary, have some hand towels!" "Happy anniversary, here are some pocket handkerchiefs!" etc.) But David got creative. He thought of cotton in a more abstract way, like a "cotton-tail;" that's right, he got me a baby rabbit for our second anniversary. Her name is Elsa, and she's a gray Dwarf bunny. David has developed a recent love of wacky socks, so I got him four pairs of patterned socks -- three darker pairs that he could wear to work, and a pair of bright, printed Halloween socks, because Halloween is his favorite holiday.

After giving each other our respective presents (and playing with my present for a while), we went out to eat at the Training Table. We go there every year on our anniversary because it's where we had our first meal together as a married couple. After taking pictures with us around the temple following our wedding, my mom handed us $20 and said, "Go find some food; you're going to need it." And we picked Training Table. After dinner we went and got some supplies for the bunny. I think her previous owners fed her only pellets; she devoured about a cup of fresh vegetables yesterday. She's still very tentative about life; curious, but cautious. She bounds around our bedroom, pooping every few seconds/feet, stopping to get a few more bites to eat to give her a few more minutes of energy. The cats haven't seen her out of her cage yet. She's in our bedroom and we keep the door closed, which the cats don't like because they love to go lay on the bed. After I put her in her cage for the night, I let the cats come in to just look at her in her cage for a few seconds. I didn't let them in for very long, though, because rabbits are easily frightened; I didn't want Elsa to have a heart attack from the sight of the cats. So far she likes David the best, but that's probably because he's the one that brought her home and set up her cage. And he did fall asleep on our bedroom floor for about three hours while she ran around the room. I'm pretty tired; I might consider doing that myself when I get home from work.

So that was our second anniversary celebration: socks, a rabbit, and the Training Table. Here's to many future anniversaries!

New Job and Other Musings

Man, I have got to update my blog more often. And with more pictures, too. Not that anything too exciting happens in our lives, but I suppose the purpose of blogs is not to write only about the highlights, but the everyday, mundane occurences of life. So here goes.

I found a full-time job around the middle of September; my first day of work was the 14th, actually. I am a teller at a bank called Washington Federal Savings; if you haven't heard of them either, don't worry -- they're an exceptionally low-profile bank. But I work at the Foothill Branch, which is about ten minutes from my house up Emigration Canyon. 8:30-5:00 with an hour for lunch, no weekends, no holidays. It's fabulous. I can't say I'm getting paid as much as I would like, and after they deduct money for my 401(K) contribution, health insurance, and dental insurance, I'm sure I won't even be making minimum wage. Welcome to life, I suppose.

David is still plugging away at school. We've been begging IZOD, where he works, to give him less hours for several weeks now, and only now as the company is facing the possibility of going under do they cut his hours. He still has to work 4-5 days a week, but now for just 4-5 hours at a time. David hates short shifts; he thinks they're a waste of time. He has a point, though, at least in this instance -- he has to drive half an hour to Park City and then half an hour back. It does seem like kind of a waste to drive an hour only to work for four hours. Oh well, whatever pays the bills. The good news with him working less is that school will be a little bit easier to manage. I wish he didn't have to work at all and could just focus on school. Maybe when he transfers to the U or to Westminster he can get some sort of scholarship that will take care of school and perhaps some of the income he would have to earn otherwise. But he wants to go to medical school, so perhaps we should be working as much and saving as much as humanly possible.

The trees are changing colors up the canyon, it's so beautiful! I'll make sure to take some pictures of the gorgeous colors and post them soon. I love living up the canyon, where it feels like fall when it's supposed to. Although it's supposed to be 40 degrees and snowing tomorrow in the mountains; it's much too early for snow. That's one of the disadvantages of living in Utah: all of the seasons come earlier than they're supposed to. There's snow by Halloween and there's still snow at the beginning of March when a certain someone wants to wear all her new spring clothes for her birthday. You learn quickly here as a child that you shouldn't set your heart on wearing any Halloween costume that you would object to covering with a winter coat. No Jasmine, no Ariel, no Tinkerbell, although I suppose all of those characters come either from tropical climates or tropical waters. Mulan knows how to handle snow and cold temperatures, but by the time that movie came around, I was a little too old to be dressing up as Disney leading ladies. I think Halloween improves as you age, however; now you don't have to worry about your costume being weather-appropriate -- you just throw an indoor party and stay inside and eat candy!

Yes, we're still alive

Judging from the tone of my last post, you might have thought that I had quit school/jumped off the top of the SWKT (the tallest building in Provo, on BYU campus, by the way). But no! Against all odds, I did in fact graduate from BYU on August 14th. Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles.

Now, the job hunt is on. And when they say that we're in the worst recession since the Great Depression, as far as employment is concerned, they're not kidding. I apply for 5-6 jobs a day, and have applied for at least 100 positions; I've had four interviews in two months. It's rough. It's also rough because I have a BA in Humanities (I love typing that!), and not many people know exactly what a Humanities degree entails. But, by the grace of God, I had two interviews today, and got a call today from one of the companies to come in for a second interview! So I now have a follow-up interview on Wednesday as well as another interview that day.

David started school at SLCC this past week. He's really enjoying that, because it means that he doesn't have to work as much, poor boy. He's taking U.S. Government and Politics, German, Humanities (guess who signed him up for that one), and Scuba Diving. I didn't realize the effect that two years of Provo in an academic environment and not in school would have on him. He called me after his first day at school to tell me in a much-too-excited voice that he was doing homework. The thought of being thrilled to do homework so soon after graduating makes me kind of sick to my stomach. But David's really motivated to do well in school, and more power to him.

Well, there you go. We're both alive and well, looking for employment and enjoying school, respectively.

Since I generally try to ignore the Daily Universe paper these days, I don't have any new editorials or diatribes against ignorance to publish. So today, I guess I'll just do the normal blog thing and write a little bit about what's going on in my life. Where to start...school. I hate it. I can't stand it. I'm burned out and want to run away - far, far away. I tell people that I graduate in August, and they always say something like, "Wow, that's great! You can do it, you're almost there, there's light at the end of the tunnel, etc., etc., etc." It doesn't motivate me in the slightest. I am so beyond caring about school right now that I don't know if there's anything existing that could motivate me to "keep going, you're almost there" anymore.

David started work at Mt. Dell golf course today, and he's living up at our new place in Salt Lake right now while I'm still stuck in stinkin' Provo for another few weeks until the semester ends. Part of me wants it to be April 23rd already so school and finals will be over, but the other part of me counts the days between now and then and has a nigh-catatonic emotional breakdown over how much I have to do in that short, short amount of time. And yes, I am using that minute portion to write on my blog. Go figure.

At least the weather is starting to act like it's April. It's a little brisk, but sunny nonetheless. It's warmer today than it was yesterday, when my younger brother managed to get sunburned after doing some between-Conference-sessions tanning in the back yard, so I may have to pull on my swimsuit and try to put some color back into my ghostly visage.

I subscribe to another blog where the creator finds looks from J. Crew and other such expensive places and then manages to create about the same outfit for under $100. I don't want to rip off her idea, but I kind of do, actually. I like to be in style, but I'm on a married student budget where even Old Navy is stretching it. It would just be nice to know that a less expensive outfit is possible, if not yet monetarily attainable. Perhaps I'll start doing that. After I read several books and catch up on weeks-worth of reading and study for and take finals and pack the house and move to Salt Lake. Ugh.

Movie ratings furor

So the Daily Universe published a very well-written defense of the viewing of R-rated movies (which is generally frowned upon by LDS culture at large); naturally, there was considerable backlash, as people with access to lds.org scrambled to find any and all articles they could condemning the viewing of movies with such a rating. Here is my response (although I've pretty much been black-listed by the editors and therefore don't hold out much hope of it being published):

A quick thought about R-rated movies and the counsel given against them: some counsel given by Church leaders can become outdated. Bruce R. McConkie said that blacks would never have the priesthood; President Benson said that you can't be a Democrat and a faithful member of the Church. None of the addresses quoted by those opposed to watching R-rated movies - who base that opposition on such addresses - were given in the last ten years. Some counsel and admonition spans generations and holds meaning over a long period of time; other counsel is given for a specific reason at a specific time. We as Church members have to recognize this difference. R-rated movies can be infinitely more empowering, enlightening, and inspiring than PG-13 movies, the many of which are filled with senseless and idiotic behavior that appeals only to the basest in our natures. If the counsel against R-rated movies has been removed from the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet, it simply means that, as in everything else in our lives, we should let the Holy Spirit guide our decisions and remember that the revelation and inspiration we receive applies to us only.

If I could have made it longer, I would have pointed out that film and other liberal arts classes here at BYU routinely show R-rated movies as part of their curricula; either self-righteous people have to get a firmer grip on life, or I, along with other liberal arts majors, must be going straight to hell.

"Big Love" hype

I don't know how it is in the rest of the country, but in Utah, there has been a veritable Jules Verne-esque "War of the Worlds" going on here about the HBO series "Big Love," especially since the creators decided this past weekend to show an LDS temple endowment ceremony in the show. There are the outraged Mormons who, without having seen a single episode of the series, let alone the one in question, unequivocally denounce the show as essentially "casting pearls before swine." One misguided soul (unfortunately a columnist for the "Deseret News") even went to far as to stamp the show's presentation of the endowment ceremony as "religious pornography." Oh dear me. They're calling for a boycott of the show and of the network itself, again without having any knowledge whatsoever of the show's contents or its actual portrayal of the ceremony. There are two viewpoints on the other side of the argument: those who say it's about time the world at large (meaning those with cable TV) had a little more information about the "strange" rituals of the LDS church, and those who rightly but bitterly state that it's also about time the LDS church had their turn to be castigated by the media as every other religion has.

Where do I stand? Somewhere in the middle. No, I have not seen the episode in question, either; but from the summaries I have read of it, the series' creators presented the endowment ceremony in an uplifting and positive light; it was not a polygamous marriage ceremony, and it was necessary to show the struggles of one of the wives between her former religion and her current family. It was not the degrading, "Look how weird the Mormons are!" portrayal that many were expecting. On the other hand, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and having been through the endowment ceremony myself, I must say that it is a sacred ritual in which you gain knowledge and make covenants with God not available elsewhere. I have never felt closer to God and to my husband, who is also "endowed," than when I am in the temple. The stresses of life melt away and my vision becomes clearer. I am able to refocus my energies and attention on the important things in life and watch the superfluous melt away without regret. I make better decisions; I am kinder, more compassionate, more charitable; things that would normally bother me don't; and life simply goes better in general.

Although one of the covenants you make in the temple is to not reveal certain elements of the ceremony outside of it, the majority of what you learn and what is said in the temple can be found in the LDS Church's teachings and standard works. If you're curious as to what the interior of an LDS temple looks like, attend a temple open house. You can see all the rooms in the temple and ask questions to the well-informed tour guides there. Ask your LDS friends; they'll be eager to share what they believe and love. Contact the LDS missionaries, who will also be happy to answer your questions, even if you're not interested in joining the Church. The fundamentals of the temple are plainly declared in a children's song:

"I love to see the temple, I'm going there someday,
To feel the Holy Spirit, to listen and to pray.
For the temple is the house of God, a place of love and beauty,
I'll prepare myself while I am young; this is my sacred duty.

I love to see the temple, I'll go inside someday,
I'll covenant with my Father, I'll promise to obey.
For the temple is a holy place, where we are sealed together;
As a child of God, I've learned this truth: A family is forever."

So, to those of the LDS church who are still bothered by HBO's "Big Love," consider this from the Prophet Joseph Smith: "The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” Nothing HBO, or anybody else, for that matter, says or does will disrupt the work of God. Chill out. To those of you whose interest has been piqued by "Big Love," find a Mormon and ask them about the temple. And then do some research of your own. The Church website, www.lds.org, has a video about why we build temples as well as a statement on "Big Love." All will benefit from discovering that the practices and rituals of the LDS church are actually quite transparent and, in fact, invite inquiry of this kind.

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-publicity-dilemma

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x_-TQivCx8

Whatever

I am honestly not quite sure what to do with this blog, so I think I will make it a combination of a repository for my writing (academic or bitter diatribe) and something of an online journal. No one has, of yet, offended me today, so no type of the latter writing will appear in this post. I'll just update whomever on what's going on in my life.

David and I got a puppy. His name is Xavier, and he's a Great Dane, is 9 weeks old, and weighs 22 pounds; he's already as large as some breeds will ever get. When we took him to the vet, he said that Xavier already had "50-pound dog legs." It's true; his legs are already about as thick as my wrists (and I'm a toothpick). Xavier's hobbies include being good for David, and being bad for me, which includes anything from chasing and growling at the cats, peeing on the carpet, and chewing up my homework (no the last one is not a cliche exaggeration). I had a Young Women leader growing up that said that before you could have kids, you had to prove that you could take care of lower life forms. You started with plants, then moved to small animals - fish, hamster, bird, etc. If you could handle a dog, you could handle children. It sounded logical enough to me at the time. Now I completely understand. Only a child can compare in demand and attention to a puppy. He's therefore functioning as a great form of birth control - I think I would go insane if I had to take care of a puppy AND a child. The thought sends shivers of dread down my spine. Ugh.

As if acquiring an animal that will someday weigh as much as David and be as tall as him on its hind legs wasn't enough, we also bought a new car. Well, it's new to us, anyway. It's a 2008 Jeep Liberty in a bronze-y orange color. David will be starting work up at Mt. Dell Golf Course in Salt Lake soon, an he will need a way to get up there while I will need a way to get to school down here. I realize that we've kind of rushed through the "list of things to do once you get married" (i.e., car, dog, kids [not yet], etc.), but I've developed the attitude about it that I have toward college finals: I would rather take all of my finals as quickly as possible and get over the stress/anxiety/dread/terror/guilt in one go instead of spreading it over several days. I've found that stress only increases with duration of time anyway. Forgive the crude analogy, but it's kind of like throwing up: You feel really sick before, it's a horrible experience, but when it's over, you feel SOOOOO much better. That's how I view life right now. David and I are getting most of the big stresses out of the way early so we can enjoy life later on. However, I did find out once I got married that David had an undisclosed hobby of collecting cars - he's gone through 13 in six years. When we got this car, I sat in the passenger seat and glared at him to get my message across: "We are DONE with cars for at least ten years. DONE! NO MAS!" We now have two perfectly reliable 2008 cars - one great on gas mileage, the other great on storage and handling. There is no reason we need to get any more/different automobiles! I informed David he needed to find a cheaper hobby, like collecting stamps or buttons or vintage Barbies. He does collect coins, and has some pretty amazing ones, but he obviously has some void that cars fill. I'd be jealous if I didn't know he loves me more than anything else. And then there's the line in my favorite song "I cant believe you kiss your car good night / Now, come on, baby, tell me, you must be jokin' right?" that alerts him as to how I would feel about his relationship with a machine.

Anyway, those are my ramblings for today. I might ramble some more tomorrow, especially if there's nothing else to do at work.

The newspaper at BYU is called the Daily Universe, ofttimes referred to as the Daily Uni-farce. There's a reason. It is one of the most biased and backwards papers I have ever read, mostly due to the majority Republican population that goes to BYU and lives in Utah county. One of my recent favorite things to do is write editorials to this newspaper, especially in response to ignorant people and the nigh-fundamentalist right opinions they express. My latest diatribe involves the political cartoons that the Daily Universe selects; the overwhelming majority of them are anti-Obama, and some are so ridiculous you wonder who actually prints them. The following is my response such a cartoon:

I am writing to express my extreme displeasure in the Daily Universe's selection of political cartoons. First of all, most of them aren't even very funny. But more importantly, the overwhelming majority of them are anti-Obama, and I'm getting rather tired of it. The cartoon on Monday showed President Obama simultaneously "reaching out" to and pushing away Republicans with his policies; a more accurate cartoon would have shown Obama throwing a lifeline from a helicopter down to a sinking, obstinate Republican ship. Regarding the stimulus package, Obama did work tirelessly to "reach out" to Republicans to come to a concensus on its contents. Despite his best efforts, however, not one single Republican voted for the original bill. Reaching out to others is only effective when the recipient party is willing to grasp the offered hand. Now, I understand that newspapers have to cater to the majority of their readership; in BYU/Provo's case, this equals Republicans. I'm only asking for a little diversity here. Some of us are Democrats; some of us think Obama's doing a great job, and that unless Republicans jump on board, they're going to quickly become an endangered species. And if you can't make the cartoons more politically diverse, at least make them funnier.

I can't wait to graduate from BYU, not only because it means I'll be done with school for a while and can just work, but more because it means that I can get out of stifling Utah county and breathe the fresh air of Salt Lake (the word "fresh" having nothing to do with the actual air quality, mind you). Right now it feels like I'm breathing through a coffee straw with my nose plugged; I'm going to need a respirator any day now.

For this, my first blog entry, I think I'd like to just ponder on the immense historical event that took place today. Above all, I think it stands as an example of the triumph of the human spirit. Obama's election to the highest possible office in the United States obviously represents the culmination of achievement for black Americans, whose collective past is littered with the garbage of racism, bigotry, and violence. However, it also represents significant growth in white Americans as well, who chose to put aside their sometimes divisive past and refused to engage in the policies and practices of some of their forebears. I believe that President Obama's election shows that the the rift that has existed in the United States since the time of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War has been mended; a black man defeated a white man and was elected by a majority vote. The American people have today fulfilled Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream that one day his children would "not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." The dream lives and breathes in America's 44th president, Barack Obama.