Zippy Lockel Stockels

I got this image in an email a while ago and it made me laugh. It's an image scanned from some kids math test. If you ask me I think he deserves full credit for the problem!

Okay, so I know Paul is the one who got tagged for the "6 things", but I feel like writing a blog because it has been a while! So here are 6 things you may not know about me (Joni).

1. Paul and I have a highly technical term for my toes... Zippy Lockel Stockels. Strange? Yes. Here is a little background. I love to run - pretty sure all of you know that - but all that running makes my feet look awful. I ALWAYS have several blisters and/or caluses on my poor lil toes. "Zippy" is just the word for plain old toes. The "lockel stockels" part comes in when I have blisters all over from my most recent run. If you ask us how this term came about we can't really explain it, because we don't really know.

2. My mom used to force me to take Beano as a child. In retrospect I can't say I blame her. I was (and still am) a gassy McGee. I like to think I just have a healthy, and very active GI system. I also have been blessed with the gift of my gassy outbursts sounding like words. I admit that more than one time since we've been married, I have passed gas a room away from Paul and he said "What was that Joni?".

3. In my head, numbers have always had colors assigned to them. One is white, two is yellow, three is light blue, four is pink, five is green, six is orange, seven has never had a color, eight is royal blue. Then it skips 9 and 10 but eleven is definately black. I've always thought if numbers had personalities that evens would be the nice, goody-two-shoes, happy types. Odds would be the the ones who were edgy, cool, and unpredictable.

4. I hate to have my face and my body wet at the same time. In fact, I usually take a bath and wash my hair and everything without getting my face wet. Then once I am out and dryed off I will wash my face. I really have no idea when this little quirk developed. Swimming bugs me a lot for this reason, but I will usually go anyways because it's fun.

5. I am soooo gonna regret putting this next one down next week when it happens ... here goes nothing ... I have never been stung by a bee or broken a bone. KNOCK ON WOOD!!

6. My closet is totally color coded. Its like a giant rainbow. This might seem odd for anyone who knows me because I am NOT a very organized person. Honestly I just think it looks great.

Here are just a few more tidbits that didn't make the big six list. My favorite shape is a STAR, I have a phobia of dirty elevator buttons and will only push them with my knuckles, I have seen the movie Liar Liar like 50 times, I eat 2 packets of maple and brown sugar oatmeal every day for lunch, I'm pretty sure I have seen a UFO and ghost lady wearing a blue jump suit (not at the same time), I have only done Paul's laundry one time and he has never done mine, I smile whenever I hear the name Chuck Norris, I am awesome at arm wrestling and hardly ever lose (to women anyways), and last but not least ... after a long day of swimming I always crave a Whopper!

Thanks to everyone who called to wish us Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had an awesome holiday.

Much love, JONI

Hey everyone,

For some reason I have decided to write a blog in letter format. I feel like I should be giving you some great or tragic news...or announce my resignation...or something. I feel like I have become quite the expert on writing e-mails and letters lately starting off with a sentence or two of butt kissing, then a question, then a sentence or two of thank you's and stuff. Who really talks like that in real life? I often wonder what the recipient of the e-mail on the other side is thinking, or if anyone else thinks, "allright already...cut to the point". I guess the important thing is to be geniune because you can tell right away when the person wants something.

I hope everyone is excited for Thanksgiving, we will miss all of you stuffing your faces and hanging out and playing games...or in the case of last Christmas...throwing up all night. I had a pretty good time in Connecticut. I got a little freaked out becuase my baggage was left in Atlanta. Can you imagine me showing up for a job interview in a t-shirt and sandles? I got it back a couple of hours before the Forum started, so I was okay. I have a cool portable blue comb that folds in half that the airline gave me for the trouble...seriously? So if anyone wants a comb, I don't think I will be using it any time soon. That's like saying to a big tough guy in a leather jacket, "We're sorry about your luggage but why don't you enjoy this free copy of My Little Pony the musical on us". Or to an old lady with no teeth, enjoy your beef jerky and a toothbrush.

So everyone at Forum was really nice to me..."that's cause you got big jugs, I mean, your boobs are huge" (sorry for the movie quote, I couldn't resist). Some of you are probably really confused right now. But everyone was really cool, in fact, I would not have felt depressed if I did not get an offer because of how awesome the candidates were. There is absolutely nothing that makes someone better for going to a "better" school, that was obvious from the start. Everyone that was there was there because they were good, fun people. So...I got an offer. I don't know where yet, but I will be in the consumer and industrial division (appliances, lightbulbs, and airport security). I will likely intern at a large manufacturing plant in the midwest or southeast.

We are excited to possibly try our first Black Friday this Friday, wait in line at 4am. We are eating Thanksgiving with a bunch of young couples in the ward, then we have the big Texas game Friday, and then we're going to Houston to see our friends there for the weekend. So we'll try and take lots of pictures. I miss you guys already just thinking about family and friends during this time of year. Have a great holiday!

Love,
Paul and Joni

I can't believe how time has flown the last couple of months, I am off tomorrow to Hartford, Connecticut for a couple of days to attend "Forum" with General Electric as my second round of interviews. I have been thinking about this thing since the beginning of September, and I am getting to the constant stomach turning, poop every hour stage...okay that was a little gross but when I get nervous that's what happens. I know I just need to relax and be myself but let's be real and realize that everyone gets nervous. This is a crazy time of year with end of semester projects and presentations coming up, and I have a lot on my mind. I have had to schedule time just to have time to research the company. I will get into Hartford around midnight tomorrow, then starting at 2pm on Wednesday the fun begins. I am basically competing with about 60 other MBA's and Masters students across the country for about 35-40 internship spots.

I have been told that the process lasts 24 hours. I will have three hours to meet with executives from all of the GE industries including NBC, aviation, energy, infrastructure, finance, transportation, and healthcare to name a few. After that I am supposed to pick my top three, this is huge because I will interview with those three the next morning. Then after interviews I get rushed back to the airport while all the executives get together and make their choices. I would be lying if I told you I am not intimidated. A fellow student gave me some good advice, she said that when you get there and meet some of the other candidates you'll be thinking "why the hell am I here?". She said you'll have to rely on your personality to get you by...I'm screwed. So off I go with my little degree from Utah State University, and 1/2 a semester of HR under my belt, to compete with some of the best in the country...I think I have to poop again.

I guess what I want to do more than anything is leave everything I've got on the table before I come home, so I can leave with no regrets. If I don't make it I'll find something else; I may even be cliche and say that it wasn't meant to be. But for now I can only hope that they see what I have to offer, and if they don't want it, I still have a beautiful wife to come home to who loves to inflict pain by popping my zits.

This is one of those posts that I don't even know if I'll decide to post it or not, but I just feel like writing...so if you are reading this now I guess I decided to post it. I think I just really don't want to study, sometimes it is so hard to sit down and do what needs to be done, especially if whatever you need to do doesn't need to be done for a while but you are just trying to get ahead. Today has been one of those days that I really appreciate what I have. When Joni got home today I was paying complete attention to her and asking her about her day and I really just wanted to listen to her and hug her even though she didn't want to be hugged, let alone talk. She asked if I was okay because usually I say hi and then pay attention to the tv when she wants to talk. Now Joni is off running and I am just counting down the minutes until she gets back. She'll probably laugh at this if she reads it because our lives get so hectic at times that I'll miss her while she is gone, but then when she gets home I'll be doing other things.

I guess the older you get, you either get closer to the true meaning of life, or you get further away from it. A lot of times I find myself worrying about the next step, and how big of a company I can work for etc, etc. But then I'll relax and listen to a really good song, or talk to a stranger, and suddenly doing homework doesn't seem to matter as much anymore. I think old people in nursing homes probably understand this more than anyone else, and parents whose kids have grown older and moved out (sorry to relate parents to old people in nursing homes). Why do we spend so much time on things that don't really matter? Why not take a sick day every once in a while, and do something we enjoy? I bet if I learned a new song on the guitar for every minute I watched ESPN I would be pretty good.

Some things I really enjoyed doing this week:

-teaching 13 year olds about sacrifice and how to use an index to find topics in the scriptures

-driving to Houston for no reason other than to hang out with family in a new place

-lifting weights, running a mile, beating a bunch of young punks in a bball game, and ping pong all in one day. Then getting home with a sore back and blistered feet and taking a shower.

-talking with lots of family members on the phone and in person

-laughing at Joni and her "isms"

-forcing Joni to swallow a Gas-X to get rid of her gas (it worked with the help of 2 other people)

-Introducing Colby to some of my favorite music that he has never heard of

-drinking egg nog

-flaming pumpkins

Making a list of things you do or intend to do is a good way to gauge what you value as being important in your life, maybe I'll have to do it more often to keep myself on track. Until then, back to my homework...booooorrrring.

For as much as we brought around the camera with us, we hardly took any pictures this weekend, maybe that's a sign you are having a good time cause you forget about the pics sometimes.

This is a classic example of how putting on a hat makes you feel a certain way, then changing to a new hat also changes your personality. My gigantic head doesn't allow me to wear hats the way they are supposed to be worn...but hey, who's measuring?

Crazy Sean drilling a hole into the side of my "Bart man" pumpkin. We decided to spray hairspray into the flame and hopefully flames would come out the sides for a good picture. The room ended up stinking really bad, and we had some black pumpkins. In case you are wondering, yes, we did take video of this event and yes we posted it below.

We can in NO way take credit for the cool halloween food. Pigs in a blaket to look like spiders, and lizard sandwhiches. They also had homemade rootbeer. Before you go craving ice cream just know that the stuff in bowls is ketchup and ranch...the Carroll's went as far as making spider web patterns in the dip. We brought boring brownies and spinach dip.

I love this picture cause it shows how in love Joni is with me...or else how lame she thinks I am for always posing. We didn't dress up this year but we did carve a pumpkin for the first time in forever. Most of the night was spent making flaming pumpkins and choking on the smell. We are excited for our first visitors to come see us since moving to Bryan. Joni's aunt and uncle and cousin are coming for the weekend. I think it is so cool how supportive they are of us. How many aunts and uncles...let alone immediate family, make the effort to visit for no other reason but to see us and have fun. My aunt Rae was always like that too, but I think it's pretty cool that they like us enough to do that. We both feel pretty lucky to have such cool families we can hang with and who love and support us. Enjoy the flaming pumpkin, I hope the video works.

We decided to go for a little bike ride on Sunday and take some pictures of campus for those of you who will probably never make it out here. The campus is really pretty, lots of trees and all the buildings are off white and tan. I can't tell you the exact size but I would guess its two or three miles long by a 1/2 mile wide. The buildings are mostly bunched together and the tallest one is about 10 stories. Each college has its own library, which is pretty cool. I guess you have to do that with 46,000 students.

Joni always finds a good shot, I wonder if anyone else has ever done that before?

My building...looks pretty boring. One of the newer buildings on campus, Joni calls it the wiener building, its actually Wehner (way...ner).

Campus is shady for the most part, I have no idea if the trees will shed their leaves or not. We love all the crooked branches. I attached a video below that hopefully works, we wanted to invite ya'll on a bike ride with us, we tried to switch holding the camera while it was recording on another video but that didn't work out so well. I saw President Bush the first last night which was cool because I have never seen a President in real life. I guess he is here all the time, he has an apartment and his own little fly fishing pond on campus by his library. There are so many cool buildings and hangouts that I wish I could show all of you, but I guess if you want the real experience you'll just have to come. Enjoy the bike ride with us.

By the way, I think there is a mile high city curse. Did anyone else notice that the Rockies amazing streak happened while the Broncos lost 3 weeks in a row? Then the Broncos won, and the Rockies got swept. You can never have both teams be successful in Denver, My money is on the Broncos for Monday Night Football.

Actually it's only Dr Pepper, Texas for 2 weeks out of the year, they change all the signs and the postal addresses. Every other day its Dublin, Texas...population 3,873. If you look on a map you won't find much near it. We drove 2 1/2 hours just to get there and we already live in a sort of small town. Our friends the Carroll's are DP fanatics, or so I think because they made a clock out of Dr Pepper pop cans. Anyways, we went to the original DP factory that still runs once a week. They still make DP with imperial sugar instead of the fake stuff, I can't taste a huge difference, but people travel all the way to this place to stock up on the original stuff...The Carroll's happen to be two of those people. We did buy some DP cake mix, we'll see how that tastes. This town is just like you might imagine a small Texas town, I wish I would have taken some pics of the down home places we saw on the way there...and I saw my first Texas longhorns.

Sean was excited, I think the tour girl had a crush on him. I was just listening intently as always...Joni will slap me for that one.

They gave us some free samples, Joni looks like its already sinking in.

Get in my belly!!! It smelled like poop right there though so the moment was ruined.

We look so relaxed...two seconds earlier Joni was sprinting over to me in order to get into the picture. This picture sreams small town Texas...where's my hat and some straw to put in my mouth? Waitin for Billy Bob to come pick me up in his truck so we can go shoot some rabbits...wait, that's Vernal. HAHA.

I actually like this picture a lot, Joni is so good.

Tomorrow we are going apartment hunting again, that's right, and we just got settled in. Long story, but we never signed an actual contract (not our fault), and we want to take advantage of the moment to move somewhere closer to school and Joni's work but still be in the ward. We live out on the edge of town between the Juvi center and the prison because Joni was going to have to commute to Waco. Now that she has a job in town it makes no sense to live clear out here. I absolutely hate moving, probably because we have moved 6 times in the last 3 1/2 years, but this should be the last time we have to move on our own (I expect my next job to move us). I feel like we'll never settle down and buy a house because all of the places I am looking into for employment have a 2 or 3 year leadership development program that involes a substantial move about every 8 months., oh well. We love getting to know the world...I mean the U.S...whatever.

With all my midterms out of the way, all I have now are group projects and finals to look forward to, its excting. Joni is done with her test, things are getting normal again around our place. We got memberships to Sam's Club yesterday, and now we have a two years supply of Starbursts. I was thinking about buying a bucket of pickles even though I hate them just because of how cool it would be to show everyone my bucket of pickles. Candy is the best thing in the world for a 13 year old Sunday school class, good thing they like Starbursts.

By far one of my favorite pictures of Joel, look at the poster on the wall that Joni is pointing to and you will see he looks exactly like the guy from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This in on our fridge hall of fame.

Joel with a mohawk and burns, just wanted to wish my brother Joel a HAPPY BIRTHDAY from afar. And of course, who could forget Freddy Mike tomorrow, Happpy Birthday Dad! He is the one behind the dufus trying to look big and tough.

I wanted to download more pictures but I can't for some reason, of course I will call you guys later but there's nothing like a little blog birthday tribute. Speaking of tribute, I wouldn't feel right to not mention my boys the Colorado Rockies for keeping alive the most amazing baseball winning streak into the playoffs of all time. I have been glued to the tv when I should be studying, if you haven't already jumped on the bandwagon you'd better get on quick.

I hope you birthday boys have an awesome birthday!

JONI PASSED!!!

Just wanted to let everyone know that Joni passed her RD exam!!! She is an official dietitian. I am not surprised, but this thing has consumed all of her free time every single night for a very long time. I think she may have multiple ulcers from worrying so much, and maybe even pulled out a few hairs...but fortunately for her they will grow back. After my midterms are done next Friday, we will go celebrate, but for now Joni can be normal again. To let you know how stressed she has been, she hasn't even gone running for a week and a half so as to maximize study time...that's nuts if you know Joni. Congrats Jonerface!

Funny stuff

I am really video happy ever since I realized there was a video link thingy. There is nothing like studying all weekend and then watching something funny. I still remember sitting in my dad's lap as a kid watching the Road Runner and Coyote show and he would laugh until he cried, I loved the show just because of how funny HE thought it was. My favorite thing now is during America's Funniest Home Videos when they do the music montage thing with all of the falls without all the commentary...by the end I am hiccupping because I can't breathe from all the laughing...maybe that is an acid reflux problem though, I don't know. Also, the Office is hilarious, I don't care what anyone says about this season, I still think it is totally funny. Pranks are good for laughs...sorry mom. And I absolutely love watching movies with people that love to laugh because it makes the movie so much better...unless you are laughing during the Last Samurai because Tom Cruise's hair is flowing in the wind (Joni's sister). Don't know how I started blogging because I was just planning to post a video but this one of Joni is awesome. You have to turn up the volume so you can hear her reaction at the end when she realizes she was being watched. And in case you missed it, I posted the one of my dad getting hit by a stream of water while sleeping below.

To add to the top 5 movies, we are thinking of soundtracks now. Best ones I can think of are Rudy, Dances with Wolves, Remember the Titans, Rocky, and Top Gun. I know I'll get made fun of for those last two. Have a great week.

Just thought I would try out the video link, this is the one I talked about a few blogs back, enjoy!

I am blogging today just because I am going through some typing withdrawls already. I have been working on a case study and typing my feelings about proper business practices in South Korea for the past few days, and I finished about an hour ago. I guess I feel like I am not done expressing myself...which is probably not a good sign because my professor told the class to ask "why" until you can't ask why any more when writing a paper. So now I feel everything I write down has to have an explanation. I love grad school. I was the worst test taker when it came to multiple choice and true false questions because I would always think there was something beyond what the question was really asking, when all the teacher wanted was a textbook definition. I love having the opportunity to explain things the way I see them working without worrying about getting an answer right or wrong. This is probably why I feel so laid back about school that its scaring me because I feel like I should be worrying more...which doesn't sound like I am laid back, but I sure feel like I am. We are taking on real projects with real companies, and figuring out why they were successful or not, it's pretty cool stuff. My classmates think I am retarded when I tell them how I feel about all of this, but everything I am learning just excites me.
Something else that excites me is this new straw we found called a "sipahh", just google it.
Probably the coolest invention ever. It is a straw with a filter in it that is filled with chocolate, strawberry or other flavors, and you stick it in a regular glass of milk. If you have a chocolate sipahh the milk will taste like chocolate milk simply by going through the chocolate flavor filter to your mouth. I know, I know, why not just make chocolate milk? It is the coolness of the invention that makes you try it. By the time you drink the whole glass, the straw is empty. Beware of cookies and cream flavor, it made me want to yak because of how strong it was, but chocolate is good for sure.
I learned today the power a simple Jolly Rancher has over 12 and 13 year olds. Our class went really well...not only could you feel the spirit but it smelled like apples and watermelons the whole time. Galations chapter 5 talks about the fruits of the spirit...nah, sorry I couldn't resist. I love baseball playoff time, the regular season is rediculously long, but I follow the Rockies and the Cubs. The Rockies are in a one game playoff tomorrow to see if they can make the playoffs for the first time since '95, they won 11 in a row to get there. And we all know the Cubs have had thier woes forever. Wierd, I have never blogged about baseball before. How about the crazy college football shakeup this weekend? What am I doing? I should be concentrating on school. Joni and I have been trying to make an all time top 5 favorite movie list and it is really hard because we love so many movies. We came up with Forrest Gump for sure because it has all the qualities of a good movie, and maybe the Sixth Sense, Remember the Titans, and Rudy, but we need some help...what are some of yours?

My foot is in pain today, I can't remember if it was from the killer fire ants that ate my foot on Saturday, or from the bike that fell on my foot today. Don't you hate that when you don't know where the pain is coming from? If it hangs around too long you start to think you could die, and then you wonder how many people will come to your funeral since you live 1500 miles away from any relatives, and if you'll have on clean underwear when you are rushed to the hospital...then you just realize that all you really want is a hug and a cupcake. Okay so I think a lot. Speaking of cupcakes, I think I am getting a muffin top...can boys get those or is it just for girls that wear really tight pants with no pockets? So here is a funny thing about my pants besides the fact that they aren't loose anymore. One of my favorite pair of shorts is a pair of old green scout pants that I cut off to make the perfect shorts. They used to be pretty big, but now I don't require a belt and I think the zipper is loose, or my "muffin" is pushing it down, and by muffin I mean my tummy...don't get dirty ladies. So about every few minutes today I found myself pulling up the top of my zipper, thats when I realized the waistline of my pants looked like it was flexing and straining to maintain a casual relationship with my hips. To make matters worse, on the way home my seatbelt snuck its way under my belly to create a nice big handle to grab onto...not many people can claim to have a belly that eats seatbelts. Happy freakin 28th huh? where's the cake and ice cream? I am feeding 5 over here!

Joni got me a bunch of Texas A&M stuff for my birthday, I feel like I am cheating on Utah State a little bit, but someday when I have an office we are going for a theme I guess. She framed some pictures of the stadium for me, and I got some shorts, a pillow, a towel, and a couple shirts. Not that we'll hang shorts on an office wall, but they went along with the theme. Joel got me a book about pirates...cause I guess he has a thing for pirates, dunno. It's actually pretty blibbin funny, and makes for excellent bathroom reading. Now I can take care of business while learning to speak like a pirate. I'd hate to think what people might think if they walk by the bathroom door and hear me practicing "arrrrrggggh, Beezelbub himself could hardly desire better company."

I got invited to the 2nd round of interviews with IBM. I feel pretty excited to have them and GE as internship possibilities. Joni is still going strong training for her marathon in Houston, and studying for her RD exam. We just got called to teach the 12-13 year olds in church together, which is exciting and a little crazy. So with that, and our spare time with friends, we are staying pretty busy. We have "our" time to talk about our crazy days over the phone and right before bed...maybe this is all preparing us for our inevitable time apart this summer. Here are some pics of our bbq with friends on Saturday.

This is us with the Snideman's and the Carroll's. We are the couples without kids so everyone else bugged out early while we swam and burnt ourselves to a crisp. It was a pretty fun time, next time we want to rent jet ski's. The Carroll's have a floating hotel that really outperformed our 97 cent floaters.

As promised, here are some pics from the football game.

It was pretty crowded, here I am playing the role of little spoon with the guy behind me...

And here I am playing the role of big spoon. Even though I am smiling here I enjoyed the role of little spoon facing Joni a little more than spooning the big guy. There isn't enough room to stand straight, so when the teams get closer to your side of the field, you have to switch angles.

The game was really fun, as wierd as it sounds though we always get a little mad when we go because we wish we could "share" the experience with family. So if you plan on visiting us sometime, come during football season. If we can't go to the game at least we can go to yell practice the night before.

School is going well. Right now I am doing a lot of interviewing with companies for internships. There are a lot of companies that come right to our campus just for our program. We apply for the companies we are interested in, then we have to be selected just to interview. It's hard because you have all of your homework and classes to worry about, but then there are company presentations and information sessions almost every night, and interviews during the day. I have had to research a lot of companies before these sessions so I didn't sound like an idiot when I talked to them so that's pretty time consuming too. Tuesday I interview with Shell, Wednesday IBM, and Thursday British Petroleum...who knows what next week will be like. My first interview was with General Electric(GE) and it went pretty well, in fact I got a call from the corporate headquarters 2 days later and they want to fly me out to Connecticut in November to attend what they call "forum". They bring in about 100 students from all over the country to compete for about 60 internship positions. I am really excited about it and I feel like I have a pretty good shot. GE is an awesome company, little did I know that appliances and lightbulbs are actually thier smallest industry. They own NBC and they make jet engines, they were responsible for some of the Apollo missions to the moon, and the electronics of the Panama Canal...do I sound excited? Once again I am confident that our move here was the right one. I never could have dreamed of experiencing any of this in Utah, it's just crazy how close the ties are between these companies and the University. Being a return missionary is actually something that sets you apart here instead of blending in with the crowd.

The one thing that might be a "downer" is that there is a good chance I could live in a different city than Joni for about 3 months. That could be really hard but necessary if I want a good experience...especially an experience that isn't an oil and gas company. Another thing is most of the companies have training programs that last about the first 2 years you work for them. They move you to a different place every few months to get the all around experience, including other countires, then after 2 years you can make a decision where you want to go. It sounds crazy but we both love the idea of experiencing life in different places while we are still young. I am glad Joni supports me through all of this...but I had to laugh when she told me she would move anywhere but Mexico City. I guess when she saw how big it is when we flew into the city for our honeymoon, she got a little scared.

Joni is fitting right in at her job, I tease her because she has a little "soul power" in her. After being around her co-workers all day she comes home and talks like them, she even does the head sway thing while waving one finger in the air...it's seriously hilarious to catch her doing it when she doesn't even know what she did.

So last night I came home late because of a school thing to find Joni sitting on a bench outside our house in the dark. Turns out she locked herself out of her car, which also had the house keys on them, so she was hanging outside. I was at a company presentation and my phone kept on buzzing in my pocket until I finally turned it off. I didn't want to be the guy with the happy cell phone in his pocket...I guess that's better than the guy with the happy cell phone strapped to his belt. I shouldn't rip on those things but come on, are we playing quick draw with our phones? What else are pockets for except for warming choclates and holding keys and phones? Of course I thought I actually had a lot of people trying to call me because I was so cool, but it was just Joni telling me she was locked out. You have to know she was outside for about 3 hours so by the time I listened to the 45 messages she left, my phone died. Since my phone never rings I guess you could say I should have known something was up...I honestly thought she wanted me to bring her home a cupcake or something. If you know Joni, there are only a couple things that would make her call that many times. One, she is being attacked by a spider. Two, she is bored. Three, she is craving something like a cupcake. I guess a couple doesn't mean three but who is counting? And now I can add a fourth to the list, locking herself out, that's about the 3rd time this year alone. I was going somewhere with all of this...oh, so when I pulled up I also noticed Joni chopped off all her hair! She had her hair to her shoulders when we first started dating but has had it long ever since. Joni describes the new new look as a party in the back, business in the front, and something else I can't remember...doesn't that description fit the description for a mullet? I really like the haircut, but I have to admit it is taking some getting used to. I can't stop looking at her without her feeling self conscious. Kind of like when I got my first chest hair and I would just stare down at it in amazement...maybe that's where my double chin came from? Here are some pics of the new do.
Isn't she a babe? Her hair is a little longer in the back and has layers all over the place. I'll have you know I cut my hair again this week too, maybe I'll post some pics of that some other time. I haven't used scissors on my hair for a few years now, good old number 2. That sounds funny if you didn't know I was talking about the length of the adapter on the trimmers. I have my first interview this next week, I'm pretty excited. Happy cheering for the Broncos this week, isn't football season the best?

The 12th Man

If you click on the picture you can get a closer look at the guys in overalls. They wear all white during the games. The 5 of them are elected by the student body and lead the crowd in cheers. In the pic the 2 guys laying down did mini pushups (called pushing) for seriously 20 minutes. Those same 2 guys started off by speed walking (looked like stomping) from end zone to end zone for 20 minutes, then doing the push ups, and then they run toward the crowd trying not to get tackled by the other 3 guys in overalls...they each got smeared to the ground a few times a piece. All of this is done while the band is playing and the crowd is filing into the stadium. The stadium looks empty, but all 3 decks on the student side were filled.

I am kind of mad now that I realize we didn't take more pictures, because the yell practice was unlike anything we have ever experienced, and pretty hard to explain in words. So now I need to bust out my creative skills to keep you from reading another blog as opposed to this one. All of the different corps of cadets are in different groups facing the crowd, and they do pushups and situps and make pyramids the whole yell practice.

I guess you could say that we fit right in with the crowd.

So when the yelling begins, the 5 yell leaders make a hand sign that everyone in the crowd has to immitate and "pass back" until the last row in the third deck gets it. Then everyone puts thier hands on thier knees and does the cheer. Every cheer ends in a "WHOOP!", with your hands in the air like you are holding a pistol. It's so crazy, there are seriously 15 to 20 of these cheers, along with 4 or 5 songs. Some of the cheers are like songs, and some are like chants. In between cheers each yell leader will grab a microphone and talk about the opposing team getting everybody all riled up.

The actual game was insane. Everyone wore maroon, and even the non student side stands up for cheers. The best part is during the fight song when everyone in the stadium has thier arms around each others shoulders, and sways back and forth. The band stops playing during that part while everyone sings the chorus...it gives you goosebumps. Even crazier than all that, every time the other team has the ball no matter what the score or what down it is, the crowd is noisier than anything I can remember being a part of. Then during time outs, that's when the cheers come out. It's funny to watch the opposing team during all of this because most schools only have one or two traditional cheers, and they look at us like "where does all this come from?". Anyways, they call the fans the 12th man because a while back almost all of the players of the team were injured during one game except for 11 guys, and the football coach called a student out of the crowd to put on a football uniform in case they needed him. He never played in that game but the fact he was willing to come out of the crowd to play started the tradition that by entering the student section you are willing to play for the team if called upon. Hopefully that will never happen...cause I'd kill em. Oh, and the mascot is a dog that looks like Lassie...a few cadets take turns taking her to class, and if she barks in class, everyone has to leave no matter what and the class is over. There are a lot of traditions, almost too much it seems, but it is pretty cool to be a part of.

So that was all pretty boring, I'm afraid to read over that again for fear of falling to sleep. I kind of just wanted to see if I could remember everything. If anyone gets the chance to come down here while we are here and you want to see a game, let me know. It is really unlike anything you may ever experience in sports. Tonight we played Mario Party 4 on the nintendo with some friends for like 4 hours, and to think I am a grad student who is serious about school.

First of all, if the new background music bothers you, all you have to do is click pause...or adjust your volume. Dad, if you have questions about how to do that, call me and I'll walk you through it. I will try to add more music and adjust my playlist so you don't get sick of the same song over and over too, or you can click on a different song...Dad, you know what to do. I have to post another pictureless blog because I really felt like updating tonight, but Joni has the camera. She won 2 tickets to the Astros/Cardinals game on the radio, but I couldn't go with all my homework, so she is going with her pregnant friend Amanda (I'm sure she'll appreciate the pregnant reference).

Joni and I talked in church this last Sunday, it was the first time since we have been married that we did that. We spoke about the Book of Mormon. I can't believe after all our time together Joni and I never talked about our personal feelings towards it, and how we came to believe in it. I was floored by how good and spiritual her talk was, and I even got choked up remembering an old friend from my mission who literally had a life changing experience from reading the book. I felt a renewed faith and the same racing heart type of feeling I remember experiencing in Chile. It was pretty cool to feel that way again, and helped me realize how easy those feelings are to forget when I don't keep up. Despite some of the financial hardships we experience every once in a while, we are pretty blessed right now with a lot of friends, and a stronger relationship with each other as a result of living here. If you are contemplating a move or a change of scenery, I highly recommend taking that chance, at least for a while. I am reading about the culture shock "U curve" in my organizational behavior class, how moving to a new place involves excitement, then a lot of adjustment and hardship, then a gradual acceptance and love for wherever you are. If I never would have had that conversation with Joel about Purdue a few years back, I probably wouldn't have thought of moving as a reality...so thanks Joel.

I have never enjoyed school as much as I am enjoying it right now. I feel the need to write that because 2 months down the road I will probably have to read that statement over just to get by. My favorite class so far is employment law...I know, it sounds really boring...but I seriously have to participate and raise my hand for almost every question, and I get all giddy like a kid in a candy store. I have never been like that in school. There are 31 students in my program, 3 in thier 40's, one other 27 yr old besides myself, and the rest straight out of school. Only 3 of us are not from Texas...18 girls, 13 guys. I am getting along really well with everyone, and one in particular is and older lady from India. We talk quite a bit and she is super nice. The funny thing is, I didn't find out until we had a graduate orientation seminar, that she is the wife of the Dean over Mays Business School. He came up to me and said, "you must be Paul", and I was like, "what?"... I felt kind of cool I guess for a minute. In the next week I will be applying to interview for several internships for the summer. The school has some really strong ties to some major companies, I get nervous just thinking about it. Internships should start filling up by October, its so crazy. My first A&M football game is this Saturday against Montana State. I am sitting right behind the Core, 40 yard line by the field behind the Aggie bench. You have to pull tickets a week ahead of time to get a seat. I WILL blog about that experience. The night before every home game, everyone packs into the stadium for "yell practice". There are no cheerleaders at A&M, just dude's in suspenders. All the cheers are practiced ahead of time so when game time comes, everyone knows what to do and when a cheer is coming, and since there are 3 decks, everyone needs to know the cheers so we yell at the same time. Anyways, can you tell I am excited? I have to go study now.

Big D...all over again

Joni and I scored front row seats to the Broncos/Cowboys game last night...okay so it was upperdeck, but still, we only paid $7.50 for two tickets valued at $65 a piece. I chose not to wear my big orange #7 jersey for safety reasons, but I yearned for it once we were there. There is something very invigorating about wearing the opposing team's jersey in front of a bunch of drunken Texans. Texas Stadium is pretty historic...historically dumpy, but we had a blast anyways even though the Broncs got walloped in the first half. We were greatful for the cloudiness, because it lowered the temperature quite a bit, but it was still hot enough to be uncomfortable. Joni was hungry so we had to take out a loan to buy some super bowl nachos and a hot dog. It was pretty funny because we finally got to a point after sitting down that sweating came at a minimal flow, but then we scarfed down those spicy hot nachos, and we were back to square one. We looked at each other and started laughing because no words needed to be said, our tummy's felt better but we were using the napkins for my sweaty dome instead of wiping sauce off of our faces.
Joni caught me looking at the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders in the pic below, kind of embarrassing I had my mouth open and drooling. Actually, I was checking out the Broncos bench...how gay am I? Who chooses to look at close ups of guys in tight pants over beautiful girls in short shorts that an 8 year old can fit into.

And of course, what sporting event experience is complete without the town drunk sitting next to you screaming the whole time. I was okay with the guy making a fool of himself, but at least be creative about it. He kept yelling, "HEY...HEY...HEY...HEY YOU...HEY". All you have to do to make me giggle is say,"HEY...CUTLER I'M OPEN" or something, but this guy couldn't say anything but, "HEEEEEEY, HEY, HEEEEEEEY!".

So we sped back to Bryan after the game...literally, I got a speeding ticket at about 1am when we were a few miles from home. Don't you wish you knew when unexpected epenses like that were coming? I could do so many things with the money I am paying to the city of Hearne, Texas. Maybe we should live life every once in a while as if we got a speeding ticket every month. Set that money aside for something fun. Even when you think you don't have any money in your mind, you always have enough to pay for a speeding ticket. So why not enjoy it?

Orientation starts this week, and school starts on the 27th. I can't wait until the first football game September 1st against Montana State, I have season tickets, and grad students get first dibs on the best seats. The Aggies are in the preseason top 25, and it should be an exciting season, whether they win or lose. Anything is an imporovement from USU football. I decided I will always have a place in my heart for USU basketball, but I can't help but get into the craziness that is Texas football...that's another blog for another day. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this hurricane doesn't come our way. It was wierd because in church they passed around lists for anyone who could house people if there is another evacuation. That is a good sign that we are just far enough away, but with all this flooding it can be pretty scary. Our friends in Houston already know they can come here if needs be.

My down time is still great time, I have been working out and running every day, but working out makes me hungrier, so I think I am actually getting a bigger belly. I love watching guys try to impress girls at the gym, every time I walk in the weight room I seriously laugh a tiny bit because walking in a weight room means that your chest and shoulders immediately get bigger, your posture becomes perfect, and you have to walk with your arms sticking out like you are wearing inflatable floatie things. There is a full indoor track on the third floor, but there are also bikes and elipticals facing the track. I run at my normal handicapped pace, but when there are girls up there, ironically, out come the meat heads to run. They run really fast when they pass the girls, then once they are out of view they gasp for air and walk. Then the girl they were trying to impress leaves, and they finish thier workout having run two laps. I feel like I should be a college professor because I am so much older than all the kids who are in school with me now. When I graduated high school these guys were learning how to write in cursive, do multiplication tables, and play ninja's with cardboard tubes. I can't wait to meet the people in my program, I wonder if I will be the "grandpa" or if there will be other people my age. Updates are coming.

Down time

Down time is so wierd, everybody always wants to have it because they are working so hard and need a break, but then once you have it its not all you thought it would be...don't get me wrong though cause I ain't complainin. Its funny how people "retire", then just begin to do everything they have wanted to do, and they end up busier than ever...eh hem...mom, dad?
This is how nerdy I am. I am planning out my day tomorrow so that I am not bored and so that I feel like I am doing something positive. It goes a little something like this:
Wake up...whenever. Watch a little tv until I am hungry, hopefully a commercial will come on to help me know what to eat, thats the hardest part.
Then I browse a little on the blogs and e-mail, then on SI.com, I have this down to an art so I can know what the Broncos are doing every step of the way. Then I am working out, I'll make myself stay there for at least 2 hours. Okay, okay, I'm starting to bore myself. It's funny though how I hesitate every time Joni asks me what I did today because I don't want her to eat me because she is so busy right now. It reminds me of the time I rented the entire season of Smallville a couple of years ago while Joni was studying for finals. I felt really bad but there was nothing else to do while she studied into the night. You have to picture Joni's face as I began each new episode to the tune of the opening song. Funny how in those moments you know you are being the most cruel, you can't help but smirk a little bit...sorry Joni...he he. I have thought about getting a job for the next three weeks, but I am not the type of person who can quit a new job after two weeks, so can you see my dilemma? So I'll have to keep you updated on my progress, just in case you have nothing else to do, and you want to share some of my down time for yourself. What would you do if you had no worries, and all day to do whatever you want?
You ever notice how funny people look when they work out, or how rediculous working out seems? Who pays to lift stuff and run in place? The pioneers would think we are nuts. My little bike to the lake thing isn't working out because I have to pay five bucks every time I want to go into the lake, plus my tires would melt in this heat before I got there. I think the reason I want to be in shape is so I can have a channel to my belly button, because I think it is funny when stuff is in my belly button...like sweat, or Joni's skittles. I still think its funny that when I was the most tired today while running, Rocky was the one thing that kept me focused and going forward. If anyone wants to call or instant message at anytime, I'm game. Any suggestions? I'm game too.

These floaties on the lake were the best things EVER!

Look at all those mountains in the background, it is very green though.

I love this picture, our friends 3 year old jumped on the air mattress that Joni and thier baby were peacefully laying on, I had just pulled the air plug, and I got the baby in mid air glee before I dropped the camera and caught her, and Joni's face in the background shows how much fun she is having. You can see a pillow in the background floating in mid air too.

It is so nice to have people we know be so close now. Our friends from Houston came up to visit with thier two kids, and we had a good old time playing games and swimming at Lake Bryan. That lake is sooooo warm, it is wierd. It was warmer than a swimming pool, then the further you went out you could find cool spots, but only about 2 feet below the surface. After swimming for a while the warm water started to feel like warm soup, so to really cool off we had to dive down a few feet every couple of minutes. We are definately going to have to rent some jet skis or a ski boat with some friends soon, because it really is a cool lake, and it was the first time we were able to spend some fun time outdoors. I imagine when school starts it will be crazy out there though, but then again this place is clear out in the Texas countryside all by itself, and the only reason we knew about it is because we live on the same road that goes out to it. I shouldn't say this until I actually do it, but for some reason I have really wanted to get into triatholon shape, not to compete, but just to be in tip top shape. I figure if I can find a way to ride my bike to the lake, then swim when I get there, and ride back, that could be some good exercise. Joni runs over 10 miles a day now, so I feel like I have to do something with myself to keep up. We'll see, I'll let you know how it goes...or if it goes.

I have been spending about 12 hours a day on this online course, it is a beast, but it will all be over in about a week. It would help if I had a professor who was more helpful, if I ask him what effect the debt ratio will have on market risk, he'll explain to me how a chicken lays an egg. It is frustrating to say the least.

Did you know they make goggles for dogs that ride in the back of trucks? Joni got a picture on her cell phone of a dog wearing goggles to keep the wind out of his eyes...or something to that affect, it was pretty funny. I don't think the owner liked us driving alongside him taking pictures, but the moment was too good to pass up.