so what do you do now?

My cast came off on Wednesday. What would a responsible person do? He would probably not go country and swing dancing, but when have I ever been responsible?

As a promise to BSR & AM (why are there so many AM's in my life?), if the cast came off, I'd go dancing. Little did I know that even when you're "healed" you still need time to rebuild strength. I'm in a splint now. I can remove the splint to shower and excercise my wrist.

But I went anyway. There is an interesting problem at the country and swing dances. Swing has 1.5 girls for every guy. Country has 3 girls for every guy! Girls there are so happy to dance they will even take on a gimp with no dancing skills (I used to dance before I met KNJ, but she hated going to dances - so we never went. I no longer have those "skills," though I still have numchuck skills.).

I really thought once I got the cast off, my milking days were over, but atlas no! With the splint, and trying my best to look pathetic, I can still milk these girls for a little more time in their arms. God Bless America and modern science. (In the old days they would have just shot me like they shoot lame horses. They shoot horses don't they?)

Some thoughts on Homeschooling

I know some people are going to be upset about this, but I will try to be fair.

I have recently met several people who have claimed that homeschooling is best for a child. They claim that public education is failing their children. Some thoughts:

Of course public school is failing our children:

• Society doesn't pay its teachers enough, so you have really stressed teachers trying to figure out how to pay a morgage when they should be focussed on teaching children.
• You throw 20 to 30 kids in to a cramped classroom. Imagine the US army using 1 soldier to fight 20 or 30 soldiers. Do you think that the US soldier could get to each of those other soldiers. Even if s/he was a really good soldier, s/he isn't going to be able to take out all of the enemy. Some are going to get away or fall through the cracks. The same goes for teaching. The teacher has to try his or her darndest to teach all of the kids, but some are going to fall through the cracks.
• No Child Left Behind has encouraged more and more teachers to leave the business or retire earlier than they had planned on. So instead of older teachers mentoring younger teachers, you have fresh out of college teachers who don't know everything.
• Teachers (in Eled) see the student for 6 hours a day. Teachers of High school see that student for less than 6 hours a WEEK.
  

After seeing all of these negatives, dumb parents pull their kids out to home school them. Why is this a dumb idea?

• Professional teachers go to school for 4-6 years to become teachers. There they are trained to be the best America has to offer to our students. Most parents don't have an education degree. (In fact a lot of mommies don't have anything beyond a degree in general studies.)
• Whether you want your child to learn about America Idol at a young age or not, it is important for your child to be social. Unless that student plans on living in a vacuum for the rest of his life, he is going to need to know a little bit about pop culture. "The Water Cooler" effect is an important part of the industrial and business world. Students need to learn to socialize about non-work related items. Students being home schooled don't get propper socialization and are not trained up on how to deal effectively with others in a social setting.
• It spoils your child. Children that are home schooled get used to one on one attention. The real world does not provide one on one attention. Students that are home schooled do not learn that in order to succeed they need to pick up things the first time because the professor is not going to repeat it. Bosses get annoyed by an employee coming to them all the time asking for stuff.
  
• It creates an enviroment where student don't learn to work in groups. Business today is all about working in groups. Homeschooled children do not typically have group assignments. Therefore, they don't learn how to effectively work in a group to solve problems or complete tasks for a company.
• Sex ed should not be taught with your sister in the room.

My father strongly likes the idea of school vouchers. My sister really likes the idea of private schools. I am more in agreement with them than I am with parents that choose to homeschool their children. While homeschooling has some benefits, I'm not sure it should be supported.

A football, A Brick Oven, A Peak and how I got back on for a ride

Life has been busy complicated lately. I'm kind of seeing a girl right now. Nothing official - just a lot of making out and talking. She's more like LK than KNj so I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to keep her around. She actually has lower standards than me...if you can imagine that.

School has been busy as well. I added two classes pretty late into the semester and am playing catch up in those two classes and trying to stay up in all my other classes, and leave my apartment and the Library every now and then.

My cast comes off on Wednesday and I'm praying I'm all better. I'm tired of being in a cast and going to class.

But even with the cast...I've been having adventures.

The weekend of September 22 I had three adventures. I don't know if DUN & ~Gu~ think consiously of ways to bring adventures into my life or are they just naturally cool and thus adventures spring from them. But I was in Provo this weekend to see a play (which sucked) on the Friday night. On Saturday, Dun took me to see BYU play USU in football. This was my second college football game. Brother took me to a bowl game back in the 199o's. The Mizzou tigers were playing in a bowl game for the first time since the civil war. The game with my brother was nice, but it involved drunken fans and seats where I couldn't see a lot of the game. DUN bought tickets that were high up in the bleachers on the west side of the stadium (right above the BYU marching band - that weren't half bad as long as they were sitting. The formation of the Tuba players on the field needs some work though). I was able to see the whole game from our spot. And for once I got to feel school spirit. By going to a school without a football team I don't feel any unity with my classmates. We don't have a common foe. I talk to J.Splatt (page 2 of link) recently and we were talking about BYU-I football. On Thursday night there were three games. BYU-I won and lost all three games. How annoying! I really loved being at BYU Provo's game. This was truly a great adventure DUN.

On Saturday night, Gu insisted we go to this resteraunt called "The Brick Oven." Words cannot describe how fat I would be if I lived in Provo. The resteraunt was superb. They had really really good (low carbonated) rootbear and the best pasta I had had in a long time. It was heaven. Gu always cooks these magnisifant means when I'm in Provo, that the Brick Oven can't compare, but oh was it sooo good.

On Saturday night I had my third Provo adventure. DUN recently discovered this little exit off the road about a mile into Provo Canyon. If you take it you go up this windy road filled with fall colored trees. It was pictuestque (I can hardly wait until I have money to buy an SLR camera, I dished out almost $400 this past Friday for truck repairs, and I'm not done yet, so the camera will have to wait). At the end of this road is a place called Squaw Peak. It is so beautiful up there. You can see all the way to the Nevada border. It was just awesome.

My last adventure was on Friday. I'm in the process of gathering information for a paved path cycling blog I'm working on. So on Friday, BSR and I went on a bike ride to Rigby lake. It is a mile long trail that circles the lake. I took out the Scarab initially. I took two laps on that before trading bikes with BSR. Then I took out the Freedom Ryder. I managed to not flip it and I didn't break my other wrist. Instead, I got a sense of recovery. I felt empowered to be back on the bike again after 5 weeks off of it. I wouldn't say I was scared of riding again, but I was aprehensious (spellin?). It felt so good to be back onthe bike. I think I'm going on another ride this coming Friday in Blackfoot. I'm excited again.

***
In Unrelated news - KNJ got her mission call, as did my cousin EJC. Both enter the MTC on the same day in November. Weird.

in my Mission!

This is an article in a newspaper in Arizona. It describe a dual amputee missionary serving the in the Arizona Tucson Mission (My mission). Make sure you check out the slide show. It's got some awesome pics including a hand-crank cycle.

Terorist Jack Rabbits

In a recent trip across Wyoming, I came upon a region infested with terrorist Jackrabbits. Jackrabbits, as you may know, are furry little creatures with big ears and really big back legs. Unlike their relatives, these are not cute bunnies. These are terrorist Jackrabbits bent on the destruction of America, even if is one car accident at a time.

The Terrorist JackRabbits (or TJRs) were not born terrorists. And might I add, not all jackrabbits are terrorists. In the course of their lives, though, some jackrabbits just go astray. No one is quite sure when it starts, but everyone is clear on the results. TJRs are a force to be reckoned with.

Some of you readers might be questioning at this point, “What is the mission of a TJR?” It’s a simple one: Disrupt American Travel! How are they going about this mission? By repeatedly attempting suicide missions.

In the course of just four miles of road, I counted over 50 dead successful TJRs. These initial slaughters seem to be trial runs. These are the TJRs that were chosen to be part of the first wave or the “experimental group.” Their mission was to see what times of the day work best to attack. Additionally, they were assigned to figure out if they should go it alone or in pacts when attacking. Lastly they were assigned the importance of figuring out what vehicles would give them the greatest reward.

Daylight showed the worst results. People in family vehicles often swerved or broke or even stopped. The worse were the families that not only didn’t hit the TJR, but instead got out of their Dodge Caravans to take pictures. Nothing gets a TJR teased more than being photographed while trying to express terror and destruction.

Another result was that big vehicles, or “tractor-trailers”, or “Semi’s” seemed to be the worse vehicles to attempt to destroy. They rarely slowed down and never was damaged caused. The TJR’s suicide was in vain.

Through this “experimental group” the TJRs came to the conclusion that nighttime attacks worked the best, especially if the intended target was a family size vehicle, preferably a small car with very little clearance in the undercarriage. This brought the TJR’s to the second phase or the “practice group.”

It’s not easy jumping in front of a moving car at the right time to cause sufficient damage. Three main TJRs are required. The first is the lookout. He is stationed ¾ of a miles up the road. His job is to look for potential victims to attack. When he sees a small car with a sleepy driver or a family full of young children that adore jackrabbits, the lookout stomps his foot three times on the ground signaling the second vital TJR to get ready. The second TJR is known as “The Sacrifice.” His family will be honored greatly by his willingness to die for this cause. They will be rewarded handsomely if “The Sacrifice” does an incredible amount of damage to the passenger car. The Sacrifice is by far, the most important TJR in these attacks.

The last TJR is the analysis rabbit. His job is to survey the results: see how many people died, see what damage was done to the car, see how far The Sacrifice had to jump to do the best amount of damage. This information is critical to the last phase of the mission.

The third, and final, phase is known as the “All ahead full group” This phase is coming soon. Soon the people of America will know what is like to have their travel plans altered. Soon America will know what the phrase “Road Closures” really means. Soon, very soon, the TJRs will know the taste of victory and asphalt better than they’ve ever known it before.

If it weren’t for the TJRs, we, as a people, would be left to think that those 50 carcasses on the roads of Wyoming were just really dumb animals that can’t navigate a simple two-lane road with out getting hit. And we all hope their not that dumb of creature. I mean jeez, some people hunt jackrabbits. I’d hate to thing the dumb hunters wasted all that time and ammunition for something I could do in a Honda Civic in Wyoming.

The Jackrabbits are terrorists

In a recent trip across Wyoming, I came upon a region infested with terrorist Jackrabbits. Jackrabbits, as you may know, are furry little creatures with big ears and really big back legs. Unlike their relatives, these are not cute bunnies. These are terrorist Jackrabbits bent on the destruction of America, even if is one car accident at a time.

The Terrorist JackRabbits (or TJRs) were not born terrorists. And might I add, not all jackrabbits are terrorists. In the course of their lives, though, some jackrabbits just go astray. No one is quite sure when it starts, but everyone is clear on the results. TJRs are a force to be reckoned with.

Some of you readers might be questioning at this point, “What is the mission of a TJR?” It’s a simple one: Disrupt American Travel! How are they going about this mission? By repeatedly attempting suicide missions.

In the course of just four miles of road, I counted over 50 dead successful TJRs. These initial slaughters seem to be trial runs. These are the TJRs that were chosen to be part of the first wave or the “experimental group.” Their mission was to see what times of the day work best to attack. Additionally, they were assigned to figure out if they should go it alone or in pacts when attacking. Lastly they were assigned the importance of figuring out what vehicles would give them the greatest reward.

Daylight showed the worst results. People in family vehicles often swerved or broke or even stopped. The worse were the families that not only didn’t hit the TJR, but instead got out of their Dodge Caravans to take pictures. Nothing gets a TJR teased more than being photographed while trying to express terror and destruction.

Another result was that big vehicles, or “tractor-trailers”, or “Semi’s” seemed to be the worse vehicles to attempt to destroy. They rarely slowed down and never was damaged caused. The TJR’s suicide was in vain.

Through this “experimental group” the TJRs came to the conclusion that nighttime attacks worked the best, especially if the intended target was a family size vehicle, preferably a small car with very little clearance in the undercarriage. This brought the TJR’s to the second phase or the “practice group.”

It’s not easy jumping in front of a moving car at the right time to cause sufficient damage. Three main TJRs are required. The first is the lookout. He is stationed ¾ of a miles up the road. His job is to look for potential victims to attack. When he sees a small car with a sleepy driver or a family full of young children that adore jackrabbits, the lookout stomps his foot three times on the ground signaling the second vital TJR to get ready. The second TJR is known as “The Sacrifice.” His family will be honored greatly by his willingness to die for this cause. They will be rewarded handsomely if “The Sacrifice” does an incredible amount of damage to the passenger car. The Sacrifice is by far, the most important TJR in these attacks.

The last TJR is the analyses rabbit. His job is to survey the results: see how many people died, see what damage was done to the car, see how far The Sacrifice had to jump to do the best amount of damage. This information is critical to the last phase of the mission.

The third, and final, phase is known as the “All ahead full group” This phase is coming soon. Soon the people of America will know what is like to have their travel plans altered. Soon America will know what the phrase “Road Closures” really means. Soon, very soon, the TJRs will know the taste of victory and asphalt better than they’ve ever known it before.

If it weren’t for the TJRs, we, as a people, would be left to think that those 50 carcasses on the roads of Wyoming were just really dumb animals that can’t navigate a simple two-lane road with out getting hit. And we all hope their not that dumb of creature. I mean jeez, some people hunt jackrabbits. I’d hate to thing the dumb hunters wasted all that time and ammunition for something I could do in a Honda Civic in Wyoming.

No, those jackrabbits aren’t dumb. They are Terrorist Jackrabbits.

Wish List

Occasionally people want to do something nice for me. If you ever have that happen in your life but you don't know what to do, here are some suggestions:

Charities
Cancer Society
Boy Scouts of America
LDS Church Missionary fund
BORP
Perpetual Education Fund
Any Soldier

Pipe Dreams
Wife
iTouch

Cameras
video camera


Gift Cards
iTunes/iPod
Target
Wal-Mart

Art
Fans Shed Light on the Game

Tools
Sawsall

Clothing
BYUI Sweatshirt
BYUI Jacket

Money
I would love a government bailout for my credit card or student loans.

Added 2009
A cowboy hat like my father's
Digital SLR
New Car stereo for the truck (so pretty much a gift card to Best Buy)