Light at the End of the Tunnel

My thesis looks like it will finally be coming to a close! In a week from Tuesday I am looking forward to a meeting with UDOT where we will finalize the criteria that we have created to estimate the potential economic benefit of a roadway project. If and when that happens, then all I will need to do is finish my thesis. Not bad, right?

I figure that the main body of the thesis will not be more than about 100 pages, with maybe about 30 more pages for an appendix. The best part for the writing is that I have most of it already done and I just need to revise it or flesh it out. Oh man, the end is so close it is great. If all goes well, I will defend at the beginning of May. The thing that sucks, if I bleed over into May, I have to pay for 2 credit hours or I can't defend. Lame.

School feels like it has taken forever. Four straight years after my mission (and one before) and I will be graduating with a masters degree, so I guess I shouldn't really complain. A while ago, I was asked if I would do it all over again, if I would have rushed through school like I did. My answer? Maybe I would do it over. But mainly for other reasons than academics. I don't think that I enjoyed what college life had to offer, such as the classes and the social life. All this semester I have heard how great an opportunity it is to take classes outside my major and expand my horizons. But, all I have done are my major classes in order to graduate earlier than my peers. I feel like I may have shirked some responsibilities or lacked in my effort to make lasting friends during my college life. But I shouldn't look back from where I came, but forward, like Elder Holland said during a devotional this semester.

That being said, I think that except for maybe the social aspect of my college life, I would do it the same as I already have. Graduating when I did allowed me to get a non-traditional thesis for civil engineering, one that I have loved to research. I have been able to land a job that I have always wanted. One that allows me to see things get built and travel the world! I definitely like the Lord has pushed me in a specific direction this semester. Plus, I get to leave Utah. Not that I don't love Utah, mind you. But, I feel like there is something outside of happy valley that I can do, or accomplish.

A funny feeling that I have is that I find comfort in this tunnel of school. I am familiar with it. I have good and bad memories of it. I know what to expect in this tunnel. I have longed for so long to leave the tunnel, but now I think of how I will miss it. Soon, I will walk outside and who knows what is next? That is kind of scary. Once I leave the tunnel, I can't go back in. I know where I am going, but I do not know how it will be, but that excitement drives me on. Adventures lie beyond.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I am Going to Europe!

It is official. I have purchased tickets to go bug Dan in Europe for about a month, starting on June 3 and going until July 3. I am pretty stoked.

The first ten days I will be with my roommate Steve, most likely seeing the UK and France. After that, Dan and I have talked about seeing places like Spain, Italy (of course Rome), and Prague in the Czech Republic.

As this would be the first time for me to be a tourist in Europe, and specifically be in western Europe, I wanted to ask you guys for ideas on places that you have heard of or visited that would be interesting? I am just trying to get a better handle on what I should go and see.

Another great thing is that this is forcing my thesis to move along. When I told my professor, he told me that we will have to get my thesis done before I go. Sweet! It only took about a thousand dollars to finally get an idea of when I will defend my thesis.

Our Most Valuable Commodity

*Warning: Musing*

Time is our most valuable commodity. We use it to trade for education, experience, or money. We purchase talents, habits, and hobbies with it. We can acquire heartache or eternal happiness with it. We subconsciously invest it in those things that we value the most.

Show me how a man spends it and I will show you what he considers most dear.

You cannot save it, only spend it. Sometimes we waste it. Some people have lost their ability to decide how they will spend it, as they are in jail or addicted to substances or images. Some others, completely of their free choice, choose to purchase nothing. Remember, you cannot not use it, for it is always spent. The choice is yours to see it well spent. While some redeem this commodity for love, others redeem it for hate. Some choose to buy unity, others discord.

Unlike our purchases with money, there are no exchanges once it is spent. Nothing we purchase with it has a return policy. We are responsible for all defective or damaged goods that we purchase with it. If you decide to invest in sin, it is yours, it may not be returned. However, the rights of its ownership may be transferred. Only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ may we rid ourselves of our damaged goods, and defective purchases. We agree to trade with Him in order to be rid of buyer's remorse. We trade Discord for Love, Impatience for Patience, Corruption for Purity. The contract states that we must take that for which we traded and use it, while we never purchase those damaged goods again. We cannot continue to invest in the same defective products. In fact, we cannot afford it if we wish to be masters of ourselves.

With a way to rectify any poor purchases through our Savior, it is up to us to make the most of our time. Just as we budget our money, why wouldn't we budget our time? This idea has been permeating my mind as I look to finish my thesis by April, plan a trip to Europe, and prepare to move to Texas. While at times I felt good just wasting my time doing nothing, loving the fact that I am not worrying about anything in the moment, I realized how it was so unproductive. Our time was meant to be spent, and spent well. I feel more accomplished as I progress in school, social situations, or skills. This does not mean that I am always doing something amazing. I love to read novels and escape the world, which is better than TV (which took up too much of my time last semester). But ridding myself of procrastination has become a goal of mine, one that I am still trying to overcome. As I learn to invest my time more wisely, I will have many more fond memories as a result of my spending.

If I can master my time, I will become master of myself.

Last of all, here is a thought frequently quoted by Pres. McKay, which describes how the smallest moments in life determine the final product of our destiny:
Sow a thought, reap an act;
Sow an act, reap a habit;
Sow a habit, reap a character;
Sow a character, reap an eternal destiny.

Life Update-My Career

I realized the other day that some of my friends may not be quite up-to-date with my life. Meaning, you don't know what I am doing now and what will I be doing after I graduate. So for those of you who already know, this could be boring, but I wanted to give everyone an update.

If everything goes well, I will be finished with all of the requirements to earn a master's degree in Civil Engineering this April (2009). The reason I'm not saying "graduating", is because I won't officially receive my diploma until August. Technically, I would have to be done with my thesis in about 3 weeks, and defend it. We haven't even finalized the research yet, but that is coming up very quickly. BYU will at least give me a "letter of completion" so that my future employer will know that I will be receiving my master's degree, and I didn't just flunk out of the graduate program.

As for my thesis (for those who really want to know), it is transportation related. I am working with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), to help them better prioritize future construction projects based on economic factors. In other words, as UDOT looks at which jobs need to be built over the next five years, they will use criteria that I helped to develop, which will tell them which roads provide a more likely chance of economic development than another. The research has been very interesting. No other DOT in the U.S. has a program like ours that does not involve computer modeling. For Utah, computer modeling would be too expensive. Hopefully, for all of you who stay in Utah, my research will make your lives better!

I do have a future employer. Some have told me that I have sold my soul. If I did, I got a pretty good price on it:) I will be working with ExxonMobil. To be honest, I never thought that I was going to work in the energy business, but things just worked out perfectly. Ever since I started working at Geneva Rock with their construction division, I have loved being a part of the actual building and the problem solving that comes along with that. It always made me wonder if I would make a good design engineer. You know, the one that sits at a computer all day with a pocket protector. I can't see myself doing that.

With Exxon, I will be in their construction division, that oversees all the new capital improvement projects for the company. The smallest project is $500 million and the largest is near $10 billion. I can't even comprehend those amounts. When I was in Houston for my interview, I saw a scaled model of one of those massive projects. Amazed at the scope of this thing, I turned to the man who was interviewing me and asked him where I would even fit in on such a project. He pointed to a small little corner and said, "you would be in charge of this small part." In reality, that corner is probably more difficult than I can imagine right now. Needless to say, I am stoked. I will learn more about my job description later, but the sky is the limit right now.

Some of you are probably wondering where this job is taking me. Well, the official headquarters is in Houston, TX. I know it will be hot and humid, but I think that I can do this. Everyone there kept telling me that I will go from my air conditioned house to my air conditioned car and from there to my air conditioned office. So not too bad. One of the more exciting things about working with Exxon is the chance to travel the world! As the construction division is only working on one project in the U.S. right now, I will have a big opportunity to travel. Places they said that I will work in, and could possibly live in for a small amount of time were: Australia, Indonesia, Qatar, Italy, Spain, Norway, England, Canada, Nigeria, and more!

There is so much more want to tell you to update my life, but all of that will have to wait. Needless to say, I am excited that I have a job in this economic environment currently enveloping the country. Change is exciting, and it seems like I will get a healthy dose come August.

Prime of My Life

Today I went and played racquetball with some friends. When I got home I looked at my right leg and laughed. I always thought the age 0f 24 would put me in the prime of my life. But, here I am with a brace for my ankle that has suffered too many rolled ankles and a knee in which I partially tore my MCL last August. All that stuff almost covers up my entire leg. At least my left one is still free of braces and support.

When is a person's "prime"? Did I already miss it? :)

World Domination

Every kid has a dream in life. Some want to be astronauts, yet others want to be the president of the USA. Me? Rule the world. That is what I did for my President's Day weekend. I beat everyone out at RISK! Here is the awesome story of the little army that could. Plus, it teaches us a lot about diplomacy:)

It was a game of six players that quickly turned into a game of 3 strong players, and 3 weak players. Weak = Me, Matt Haggard, and Tyler Russell. Strong = Rachel Moon, Steve Carr, and the team of Randi Tucker and Cali Dansie. The weak players were not rolling strong or had moved too quickly and got picked off. The strong players all had a continent, : Steve = Africa, Rachel = S. America, and the team = Australia. Weak = nothing. I had been trying for Europe, but was thwarted by Rachel who placed too many people on Ukraine (Ukraine was not weak this game) for me to attempt a take over. I was rolling horribly. I did not have that many armies, and fewer countries. I was falling behind.

A small sliver of sunshine came into the game when I saw that I was going to be able to turn in some cards and get twenty armies. Tyler was hanging on by the skin of his teeth, so I leaned over to him and told him to let me kill him. So he thinned out his players on Rachel, who then retaliated, making it easier for me to wipe Tyler off the board. After doing so, I got his cards and then I started my diplomacy.

The team of Cali and Randi had just been festering out in Australia. They had a huge army that no one player was going to be able to take down on their own. I had a set to turn in for something like 40 armies, but I also thought I was just going to lose. So I told everyone, if you do not attack me, I am going to turn in and kill Cali and Randi as much as possible. (I really thought I would just even the game and die). Now, my 40 armies would have never been enough to break into Australia, let alone wipe them out, but then something beautiful happened, all the other players decided they wanted to whittle down Cali and Randi as well. Mind you, they asked where I thought they should attack to help me out. I saw I had a chance. Steve took out a huge army in India. Matt shaved China down to almost nothing. Now all of a sudden, my 40 armies could easily take out the team! Victory was imminent. I went down and took out Australia and got some more cards. Now I was in charge! The little weak armies were now dominating. I also had 6 cards and two sets. But my turn was over.

Steve then tried to weaken Rachel on his turn, but didn't have enough armies to kill her off. When it was Matt's turn, he turned in a set and went about his "Madagascar" strategy.
Abandoning all RISK! logic, he plowed straight through Steve to Madagascar. (Notice how the red on the board was cut in half by yellow).

He effectively set Steve up for annihilation by Rachel, which followed right after. (Notice the large green army on Brazil).

I then turned in for 95 armies with my two sets. I set off on a trek all the way from Alaska to Ukraine via S. America and Africa, slowly whittling down Rachel. I then got her cards, which gave me another set. I now ruled all continents but Africa. I turned my fury on Matt and took over the world. (Look at all of the black on that board baby!)

My friends who played call me a worm. Somehow I manipulated by foes into doing my bidding because they thought me nothing but a fly on the wall. Let that be a lesson to all of you about underestimating your foes! Finish them off when you have a chance:)

P.S. I bet I never win again if I play with that same group:) Also, one of my agreements was that it would be a joint victory with Tyler. Congrats, Tyler! You can be my VP of the world.

One of the Joys of Finally Being an Adult

One thing that I noticed when I got back from my mission was the difference in the stories that I heard from my parents. All of a sudden, it seemed that I was seeing a side of them that I had imagined was there, but it was never confirmed to me. We sort of moved past the parent phase (though still there) and moved toward the friendship mode, as I was now an adult. My parents were now willing to tell me their secret stories. Just the other night I had the chance to recount some stories about my dad, and they just made me laugh when I considered the man who helped raise me! Here are some examples. Enjoy!

My dad was a little bit more rebellious and daring than I ever dared imagine, even with things that we consider sacred. He has told me of at least four moments of when he either messed with the sacrament or the meeting.
1) He and his friends always knew that a certain family they wanted to tease would sit in the same seat every Sunday. As teachers preparing the sacrament they decided to put Styrofoam in one bread tray and place it on the table so that the deacons would take it to that family. Well, the priests saw the odd tray and switched it so that it would go to the bishop. Cover blown.
2) We have all seen how the priests will sit back down into the bench when they are finished handing out the sacrament; they just sit down and fall backwards into the back of the bench. My dad masterminded the decision to remove the bolts holding the bench to the floor. Needless to say, just as soon as the sacrament was handed out the priests sat down and all three of them fell backward with a loud crash. Again, my dad was pinpointed as the ring leader.
3) Quick and short: to keep people more awake, they put sprite in the sacrament cups. Talk about a little shock when you take the water!
4) My dad was sitting out with his friend in the audience during the sacrament. My dad was awake, but his friend was completely out of it. While the bishop was finishing conducting and outlining the remaining portion of the meeting, my dad poked his friend and told him the bishop had just called on him to give the closing prayer. Still coming out of his sleep, he just walked up to the front and took the pulpit when the bishop finished, not having listened to what was going on, and closed the meeting with prayer. The ward was shocked, but the he bishop got up and explained that the important thing was taking the sacrament, and with that accomplished and the meeting closed, they would ask the speakers come back next week and dismissed the ward for their other meetings. And then asked for a meeting with my dad over the pulpit:)

He would have never told me those things, for fear that I would repeat them. Now one last story about my dad. (This one I was present for).

He was the assistant coach of my little league baseball team. He was also a bishop at the time. One game we were playing was not quite going our way and the umpire had definitely started to hate our head coach. Well, at one moment it looked like our head coach was for sure going to get kicked out. However, my dad had a meeting that he had to go to during the game. If our head coach got kicked out, he would have to stay, because there must always be at least one coach on the field. This also meant that only one coach could be kicked out.

So my dad ran up to our coach and took him back to the dugout and then somehow got all riled up and just came out yelling at the ump and doing his best to get kicked out. I remember just sitting back stunned watching my dad yell and scream and throw his hat on the ground like Lou Pinella! It was great. As soon as the hat touched the ground the ump threw him out of the game. He yelled a little more, ran to the dugout, grabbed his stuff, looked at me and smiled as he ran to the car. He did that so he could leave for his meeting!

Hopefully the stories are half as funny for you as they are for me!