I’m starting this post now because these games rock too much not to.

BYU FOOTBALL BEGINS HOY

My first retail customer for Parker Planners was the BYU Bookstore. Pretty lucky because the BYU Bookstore is in the top 5 in the nation in both floorspace and sales. I visited with Paul this morning and he told me some interesting stuff. He’s been in the business 28 years. He said of the hundreds of people who have come to him with small mom and pop products only 3 have succeeded and I’m one of them. Whuh? I had no idea. I have a lot to be grateful for.

Last Saturday BYU broke the world record for the largest water balloon fight! I went and got a free t-shirt. It was awesome. 120,021 balloons!They fed us afterward as well!

It’s hard to stay positive. They say attitude is altitude and I’m a firm believer in that. The other week I went to sacrament meeting in the room where the BYU Cougarette dance team practices. They have won many national championships. Most people would think the really positive stuff they have on their walls is cheesy, corny, etc. It’s great stuff! I love going into that room because I can only imagine the great attitudes of happy champions much less the person who teaches and leads them. Way to be excellent, you dancing people.

A guy in my econ class had this on, it’s pretty impressive. Made of real 7up. He let me borrow it for a picture.

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:

Every year in Spanish Fork, UT the Festival of Colors graces the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple. Sources say it’s a time for people to “bury their hatchets with a warm embrace and throw their worries to the wind“. It was a ton, ton of fun. Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been to a concert and a really long time since I’ve helped someone crowd surf. What a great event! There was a live band that played Indian music and encouraged us to hug a stranger. Ha. Many of the people there were college students, many from BYU. I went with my best good buddy Nate. For your viewing enjoyment:

Even security man is chalky.

This is us before we got chalky

That bag of chalk the person has in their hand is what we all threw at one another. It was like $2 and there was plenty to go around. When it came time for everyone to count down and toss their chalk there was so much in the air that it actually blocked the sun. Nate and I were in the middle of the whole thing and we couldn’t see a thing (or breathe really) but it didn’t last long

Jim Lovell came and spoke at BYU today. Tom Hanks plays him in Apollo 13. He was very personable and funny. This is what he looks like from far away. I was impressed by his spiritual views on life. He surprised us with his easy-going attitude.

Rex Lee was president of BYU and argued dozens of Supreme Court cases. He was also a marathon runner and US Solicitor General. He died of cancer and every year there is a 5k/ 10k to raise funds for cancer and remember Rex. I’ve always wanted to do it and this was the year. I went with a buddy that is a runner so I got to learn lots of cool running facts and things, too.

Stanford is a hub for innovation and every year they have a “Mystery Object Video Contest” of sorts. They announce a random object and then you have 5 days to create the most “value”, documented by video. The value could be humor, service, fund raising, etc.

Many of you probably don’t know about this, but 2 years ago Parker Planners sponsored this same contest at BYU. It was a ton of fun and we even got Deloitte the accounting firm to sponsor us! These groups of students had only 5 days to think up, write, direct, film, and submit their videos. Great job to them says I! We had about 9 submissions, here were the top 2 and then an honorable mention. The winner got $500.

#1

#2

An honorable mention

Last week Benjie and I worked at the annual Omniture Summit where top marketing executives from fortune 500 companies gather to learn more about internet commerce. It was lots of fun and we learned a lot.

I unapologetically post this food:

It was delicious and filled with two varieties of wonderful chocolate and vanilla mousse. Wow. Lotsa good food at this thing.

There were lotsa signs like this. It was in the Grand America Hotel, pretty sweet venue. The Killers played on Wed night.

Here’s Benjie and I in front of a kiosk thing. Omniture tells companies how many visitors on the web they get and also what people do when they get on their websites and buy things. Some of their customers are Walmart, GM, AT&T, and MTV.

Adobe purchased Omniture for $1.8 billion recently so their name is on everything. Here’s the first mobile devices (Palm Pre, Nexus One Google Phone) with Flash implemented and working. This will come out in about June. Cool! Apple doesn’t want flash (internet application that allows animations and online games) on the iPhone because they think it will do away with their free app game market. Silly Apple.

BYU has deer. They live on campus. Caught these two on my walk home.

This is my American Heritage TA. Way to get into your job, man. Today he played the role of Washington in the Constitution debates. Our class was divided into States and we debated representation and presidential election. This scene is depicted in the movie “A More Perfect Union”. Good stuff! One a side note,ever seen Mr. Smith goes to Washington? It’s a must see, what a great flick.

Mike and I bowled, we were both around 100. We played at the BYU games center, they have free pool, too. He does a lot of ballroom dance and football. Rock on. Mike got a spare and I got 2 strikes in a row!

Today it was my friend Mary’s birthday. I randomly saw her on campus at the Wilkinson Center so I started singing “Happy Birthday” to her in the hallway. She liked it, but wanted me to rap for her. Odd request? Yes, but she has also witnessed me perform 2 birthday hip-hopanonymous stomp-clap renditions for a good friend and also a good brother. Very sadly, I don’t have those videos. I’ll have to redo them or make more.

So Mary wanted a rap, and I needed a beat. She thought she’d need help stomping and clapping so we recruited one of her friends. This is attempted rhymes on the spot, be kind.

This video was taken by a phone, forgive the sound & picture.

Today I brought my lunch to campus and after class decided to sit at a table with some people I didn’t know. I said “cool if I sit here?” and sat down. The guy across the table from me said “sorry this table is for black people only”. Ha! That’s great. He then said “I’m just kidding I’ve just always wanted to say that”. His name was Theo from Chicago (unique name, yes) and I also met his sister Helen and other friend Paulina who was wearing a Black History Month t-shirt. Fun people, nice to talk to them.

Facebook is funny, you can like things you say yourself.

This week’s home evening was sweet. We decorated cookies. They tasted good.

Afterward I gave a guitar lesson to my friend who I used to home teach. He’s in the BYU marching band and several other groups, which goes along with being a percussion performance major. He’s phenominal on anything pounded and wanted to learn some guitar. Learns fast, I’m impressed. We also broke it down severely at home evening with beat-boxing and improv rhymes. Lotsa fun.

Cookie Friends

Cookie skills

This has to be the weirdest piece of art ever made. The dude had a spiritual experience killing a bird? The display was a long sloping white platform with a big white dead turkey laying there. What . . . the . . . odd?

This is exactly why we made this.

My friend Jeff Harmon recently was made CEO of a start-up company with a product called Orabrush. They have some pretty silly videos advertising it. I was Jeff’s counselor in our Sunday School presidency 2 years back when we were in the same singles ward. Impressive how it’s up to 3 million views now.

hooray wacky new products!