Green Eyes

During my first year in college, I was asked to teach a Sunday School class to my peers. I was apprehensive at first, having taught few times and having never formally taught anyone my own age. I was also disappointed to not have the assignment that I thought would be the most fun.

After one week, my apprehensions were gone. I loved it. Every week, I would study with my partner and we would split the lesson and the time in two. She was a good teacher and fun to study with. We settled into a great rhythm and so did the class: people sat in basically the same seats every week – all but the front two rows. To be honest, I remember very little of it because it was so long ago and because it was so routine.

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Speaking positively

The other day, I was looking at soup cans in a grocery store. I noticed that a few of them had a little logo on them that said something about being heart-healthy. Upon a closer look, I discovered that “heart-healthy” meant that it was low in saturated fats. The label did not advertise the fact that the soup was loaded with sodium. Saturated fats in large quantities are detrimental to the heart, but so is sodium. This fairly unimportant example of misleading advertisement demonstrates two ways in which members of our society systematically deceive and delude themselves with the misuse of language.

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The limitations of superpowers

I watched Megamind last night with my friends. One of the characters is a “superhero” called Titan, who ends up being less of a hero than the city was hoping for. The entire movie asks viewers what they would do with superpowers. Really, it asks viewers what a villain is, what a hero is, and which one each of us is.

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Optimizing away efficiency

I’ve been changing lots of things in my life and I’ve been considering several other changes. I’m in the process of changing banks, I’ve been thinking about moving in with some friends, the way I go about dating is constantly changing as I learn, and I’ve been organizing some of my congregation’s efforts to reach out. My schoolwork hasn’t lessened and I’m trying to have a social life (which includes, but is not limited to, dating).

As I wondered about these changes and the time they’ve required, I began to see a pattern. It’s not that they’re all necessary; it’s another form of perfectionism. I’m always looking for ways to improve things.

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A pain in the wrists

I haven’t been blogging much recently. Part of the reason is that I’ve been really busy with school and so on. But a very important reason is that I’ve been trying to type as little as possible because of wrist pain, which seems to be caused by Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS).

It turns out that “as little as possible” is still quite a bit for a graduate student in computer science.

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A little stroll

This morning, I chose to walk across campus instead of taking the shuttle. It was a very pleasant walk - the air was crisp and not insanely cold and I took some time to think. I even reminisced about dancing the country polka.

When I got to the engineering building, there were several minutes before class started. I decided to go up to a little lookout point to appreciate something beautiful.

The haze immediately convinced me that the walk could have done more damage to my lungs than it benefited them.

Utah, I think it's time we did something about the air here.

Stepping off my soapbox

I wrote an article about communication a little while ago. I have strong feelings about communication because it is crucial to the success of relationships and relationships are what life is all about.

To be perfectly fair, my temperament puts me on one extreme of the spectrum of communication styles: I’m direct. This, I’m sure, will not surprise anyone who knows me. It’s not that I can’t pick up on unspoken messages or read between the lines; it’s that I’m always uncertain if I’m interpreting things correctly (that is, in a way that harmonizes with reality). My inability to discern the meaning behind veiled communications has caused me no end of trouble and I’ve chosen to rebel against the system.

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