My brother Ammon got back from Afghanistan a few months ago and rocks. He recently decided that he was going to run a marathon. Right. I know you’ve all done it. “Ahhhh, hello, new day! Well I guess I’ll run 26.2 miles only a couple weeks from now”. A regular occurence. It was the Salt Lake Marathon and he did really well considering that was his first one and he didn’t train that much. It was a lot of fun. We went to Typhoon afterward, a Thai restaurant in Gateway Mall and WOW, love it. Ever had sushi with tempura around the edges? It’s way very good. Oh yeah.
Ever had it? It’s really good, my mom used to make it frequently in our house, we would eat it with cheese and salsa on top and scoop it out with chips. That’s-a-nice. I’m making some right now, in our Rice Cooker! Oh yeah! If you’ve never tried making soup in a rice cooker, it works great especially if you have a decent sized one and it has a closeable lid.
Mike and I played tennis today, rocked. He’s very good for it being his first time playing. The goal of tennis for me is to hit the ball as hard as I can but still have it land in the serve square. Mission accomplished twice! Mike got one, too! We got to see the BYU tennis team practice a little, too. They rock.
That’s the BYU Marketing Association. I’ve been a member for about 1.5 months and it’s a great club. Very impressed with their events and people (especially because 2 of them work for me!). Today they had a closing social with a “yacht” theme. Pretty fun stuff, some sweet outfits.
One BYUMA event 2 weeks ago was a major executive for eBay, he came and taught us all about resumes. Turns out there is A format to follow. It’s what the top 10 business schools use and some call it the “Chicago” format. Good to know. Here’s the thought of the day:
This is what it looks like if you keep going. I’m in a stats class right now and its very useful, a business person who understands and applies statistics is a powerful one.
It’s absurd to look at a three year old toddler and say, “this kid can’t read or do math or even string together a coherent paragraph. He’s a dolt and he’s never going to amount to anything.” No, we don’t say that because we know we can teach and motivate and cajole the typical kid to be able to do all of these things.
Why is it okay, then, to look at a teenager and say, “this kid will never be a leader, never run a significant organization, never save a life, never inspire or create…”
Just because it’s difficult to grade doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be taught.
Never mind a teenager. I think it’s wrong to say that about someone who’s fifty.
Isn’t it absurd to focus so much energy on ‘practical’ skills that prep someone for a life of following instructions but relentlessly avoid the difficult work necessary to push someone to reinvent themselves into becoming someone who makes a difference?
And isn’t it even worse to write off a person or an organization merely because of what they are instead of what they might become?
Yesterday was wonderful. Filled with family and General Conference. A very influential person in my dad’s and therefore my life came to visit my parents while Eric and I were up there yesterday. His name is Chuck Stamps and he was my dad’s youth group (’priest quorum’ if you’re Mormon) adviser when he was 16. He would stop by my dad’s house and wait outside until he came outside ready for church. He was a big factor in my dad’s activity in the church.
We had a great connection happen- Chuck served in Tuskegee, AL in 1999-2000 on a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of my accounting professors baptized a woman Chuck knew there whose posterity has been very influential in the area.
Tuskegee, believe it or not, is very significant in American History. It was home to Rosa Parks, Lionel Richie, the first African American female gold medalist, and the infamous syphilis study that inspired “Miss Ever’s Boys”.
“Yaggo make me lose my mind; up in here, up in here.
Yaggo make me go all out; up in here, up in here”
These famous lines from a contemporary musician and thinker pose one question: Who is Yaggo? How does he possess such influence as to affect this man’s behavior and grammar?
