Batman and Beyond

About 3 weeks ago, a group of friends and I decided that it would be fun to watch Batman: Dark Knight on opening night. Now, I haven't been to many opening night showings....I did see Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Transformers (pre-showing) and, surprisingly, the Ring II (which admittedly, I was invited to 5 minutes before and there was virtually no line). At no times, have I dressed up.

Batman is different. Batman is, well, Batman. And you dress up for Batman.

I had been planning on purchasing a Robin costume on eBay, until I saw how pricey those were. I should've started looking months ago. Then, I left my Batman shirt at my parents' house. I didn't even go home after work either, we went straight to Diana's to watch Invader Zim before going to the movie. Crazy, I know. So, puzzling over what I was to wear, while Diana was sewing a cape for Brandon and adjusting her t-shirt, I suddenly was struck with a stroke of inspiration.

On the way to pick up Steve, Diana and I stopped at Shopko where I purchased two pieces of poster board and a Sharpie. In tribute to the 1960s Batman show (which was amazing), I created my costume.



Yes, accompanied by 5 Batmans, I went as a giant POW sign. It was the best costume ever!

We got to the movie two hours before it started and played a 10-person game of Hand and Foot. In the movie theater. In our chairs. With 15 decks of cards.

The movie was incredible. Dark, yes, but very well done. Once again, there was clean language and no immorality, but there was quite a lot more violence than Batman Begins. I jumped once during the movie when a body slammed into a window (not a spoiler since I'm not saying who or when) and laughed at someone lamenting that nothing went right for Batman. It was really good. Heath Leger was incredible! I have never seen a creepier character and his little tongue twitch. Wow!

So, I got home at midnight. Exhausted. And not ready for eight hours of work the following day.

What did I do?

So on Sunday, Eric announced that there would be a Career Workshop taught on Saturday at BYU. Having taught the Career Workshop in Florianopolis and Porto Alegre, Brazil (while managing the Employment Center in Floripa), I firmly believe that this is something all college students should take to prepare for getting a real job! Of course, I opened my big mouth in support of the program.

Let's jump ahead to today....

I just got home from our second meeting. I am one of four teachers teaching the workshop on Saturday and there is lots to do to prepare. We've had about 60 RSVPs which is double the largest group I taught in Brazil. We're also condensing the 12 hour workshop into 4 hours. I'm excited but also wondering how I got myself into this. You see, Eric happened to be one of the organizers, and when he realized that I was a certified instructor, he jumped on the opportunity to have me help teach.

So here I am, ready to teach Power Statements, Networking skills, getting past the Gatekeepers, Me in 30 seconds, resume building, etc. Just remember, the resume is the tip of the iceberg. It's the intangibles that employers want to discover and you need to show them exactly who you are beneath what they can see. That's what we teach!

Slip N'Slide

I remember when I was a kid, Crocodile Mile was one of the coolest things on the block. After school, we'd pull out the slip n'slide, turn on the hose, and race to see who could make it down the slide the fastest. As I've grown, I've determined that the toys are just the same as when we were kids. They're just bigger, faster, and a lot more fun.

Imagine a 65 degree slope, draped with a two meter by 100 ft. sheet of 4 pt. plastic, three hoses, and soap. Throw into the equation thirty college students, a little music, and a lot of up-man-ship and you have the ultimate slip n'slide party.

Kicking off the evening, Ryan soaped up his hairy body (trust me....it almost rivals Dallin's) and soared down the hill. A bunch of the other guys sent down and we had to spend the next several minutes figuring out how to stop people before they hit the asphalt trail, upon which we left a few patches of skin. We'll be a little raw tomorrow. Some of the more spectacular displays included Tyler, who went whipping down the hill so fast that when a couple of guys grabbed the bottom of the plastic and pulled it up to catch him, he burst right through and kept on going! I was a little disappointed that no one succeeded in staying on their feet all the way down, although Mike made it about 3/4 of the way down before biffing it! We even got a few of the girls to go down - until Tyler broke his finger that is!

Yeah, good times. That's college for you.

Strange Examples

My new Bishop is from New York. He is pretty mellow for a New Yorker. He once said that he when he was young, his parents put him in little league and his mother would sit in the stands every game and scream at him to do well, at the umpire to call the game right, and at anyone else. He said that one day, his someone asked who that loud, obnoxious lady was in the crowd and Bishop McGarr proudly claimed her for his mother. Loud and obnoxious was high praise indeed for New York and his mother couldn't have gotten a better compliment in his estimation! She was pleased too.

That is a little preview of the type of man our bishop is. We can never anticipate what will come out of his mouth. Today in Sunday School, we were talking about tolerance and getting along with people. I'll admit that there were several people who were dozing/not paying attention....until the bishop raised his hand to comment. "The best analogy I can't think of," he began, "is that it is kind of like dogs." This is how it began and it was amazing to see all of the doze-ers perk up. "I mean, you take your Saint Bernard or Great Dane to the park and they meet a little Chihauhau and you think, that dog is going to be eaten alive. Instead, they look at each other and then proceed to sniff each others butts. They don't care that one's big or little or brown or white. Everyone's equal and is worth a sniff. Not that I'm saying that we should sniff other people, but we should be more accepting like dogs."

Yes, that's my bishop. It sure makes the ward a lot more interesting....

Work - It's an ongoing project

So, I've now been in my new position in the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU for about a month and a half. It's been quite the experience. I'm the Science/Maps Reference Specialist and one of my duties is to discover why students aren't using the reference desk as often as they used to. That's really an easy question. The answer is simple. The internet. Now, the more thought-provoking challenge I'm facing. How do I convince students to continue to use our resources....especially since we're shelling out thousands of dollars for electronic resources they have access to FROM HOME!?!?!

So, here's my dilemma. I need to get students aware of resources and get them to ask questions. Not that my example was good. I only went to the library to work. I didn't study. I didn't check books out. Heck, I didn't even ask out girls in the library (of course, my roommate, Landon, met and asked out his wife in the library so perhaps I should have). But, that's my task.

So far, I've come up with a couple solutions that might work. I created a Science Reference Facebook group. It's called the HBLL Science, Engineering, and Technology Forum. We'll see how it works. It's open to anyone in the BYU network and hopefully will spark some discussion.

Next, I'm trying to create database seminars that I will teach in the department buildings. Hopefully, if a session is only half an hour and we advertise well, people will come. After all, jobs hire people for their skills in finding information in databases and we have several of the most important databases on the market.

Any other suggestions on how to reach out to students would be greatly appreciated. I just graduated eight months ago and I'm having trouble knowing even how I thought that long ago. :)

I'm So Proud!

Last night, Patrick asked out a girl. A girl he didn't know. In public. I'm so proud!

At about 8:30, Patrick and I ventured to Chandi's weekly Tuesday get together. This week, once again, we took advantage of Applebee's appetizers (ummm....shrimp). Our party consisted of Patrick, myself, and six girls.
After a very spririted sugar packet fight, blowing our straw wrappers at Jessica simultaneously, eating our food, and a hushed discussion about why our server had been in the bathroom crying prior to come serving us, our conversation turned to the random things guys talk about.
You see, on Saturday night, Jessica, Joel, Derrick, and I had gone to IHOP for dinner. Derrick had told Jessica that guys do not talk about girls when they are alone. Jessica was pleasantly amused that we were talking about how cute our waitress was and were trying to get Joel to ask her out. He didn't, but it did make for a lively conversation later at Applebee's. Derrick's reasoning was that since Jessica was present, we could talk about girls. :)
So here we were, sitting in Applebee's discussing these topics. Patrick mentioned that the hostess was cute and he thought he should ask her out. Patrick, however, is extremely shy. He's never just asked a girl out before. Ever. We discussed it for some time. Patrick mentioned that it's best to be direct because phone numbers left on tables just induce laughter and not dates. He should know. He worked in a restaurant and was usually the one who laughed.
Suddenly, Patrick stood up and started talking to the girls sitting behind us. He said, "Hey, I'm wanting to ask out the hostess over there but I'm really shy. What should I do to ask her out?" This coming from someone who's supposed to be shy. We were laughing too hard to actually catch what they were saying, but Patrick got the suggestion to just do it and be direct. Talk about original suggestions.
Our waitress looked at us from the other table and we mentioned that Patrick wanted to ask out the hostess. She suddenly smiled and said, "Oooh. Just a second." She came over presently and informed us that she was not dating anyone and encouraged him to go for it.
Patrick was so nervous he kept looking around. He said he felt like puking. I half expected him to do so. After a while, the hostess started clearing a table near the exit and we made our move. Patrick went to talk to her and the rest of us slipped outside so we wouldn't be a distraction (although we were guilty of peeking through the door at the scene). Well, Patrick got her phone number and has a date.
Patrick immediately called Nichole to tell her that he had completed her dare. He also called Garion because Garion wouldn't believe him.
But there are witnesses. Patrick did it. He asked out a girl. Because she was cute. In person.
I'm so proud!

Singing Praises

So about three weeks ago, Russ, Joel, and I were jamming on the piano after ward prayer singing hymns. Unfortunately, that is a risky thing to do in my ward. You see, Didi, in our ward, is the stake music director...and the ward music director. Well, Didi animatedly asked us to sing a special musical number in our ward. We sang a bunch of songs, trying to choose a hymn. We then called to invite Kimball to sing in an a'capella quartet.
That's about as far as we got. We talked about it and practiced once, but never really had anything definite. We weren't too worried because we're all pretty good at sight reading...except for the fact that I was to sing Alto. Crazy.
Well, I was sick last weekend and totally spaced the fact that we were singing. Oh, and somehow, our singing in our ward morphed into singing in Stake Conference. Today. Once again, crazy!
So, yesterday I received a phone call from Didi at about 10 am, asking if we were ready to sing in Stake Conference and if I'd come to choir practice later that day. We were already in the program. I tell you, when you miss one day of church, you completely miss everything! Well, I called Russ and he was in Florida. I called Kimball and he couldn't come practice yesterday evening. We did decide, however, that Kimball, Joel, and I would sing a trio but we didn't know how we would sing each verse or even what song, for certain, we would be singing.
Choir practice went well and I was asked to lead the music in the stake leadership priesthood session. Hey! What's a little more singing? :) I told Didi we'd do the song we'd planned (even though she had put Be Still My Soul).
After Stake Priesthood session, we met for stake choir practice. Kimball wasn't not there yet, so I texted him. Of course, he had slept through his alarm. By the time he got to the church and we finished practicing our choir number, it was about 10 minutes before we were scheduled to sing and we didn't know what we were doing!
The Lord accepted our desire, forgave our slothfulness, and decided he would help us in singing praises. Joel said, "While, we should probably practice once with the piano." Our pianist for choir, Charie Brown, asked what we were singing. When we told, she said, "I have a really cool arrangement for that song." We asked if she had it with her. She said, "Oh, I made it up and don't have it written out." She played it while we sang and it was amazing! She agreed to play for us.
Needless to say, the performance went well and was highly acclaimed and we had Charie to thank for that! I switched from Alto to Lead which was good, because I still haven't got my voice all back which I'd lost at the hockey game on Friday, so I doubted I could hit all the high notes. It was a lot of fun.
It just goes to show, when you sing praises to Heavenly Father, he's always there to help you out and buoy you up.