Ponderings and Happenings of the LotS Writer

Greetings from...Charlotte?

2011-06-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

My what a crazy week this has been. I finished my finals Wednesday morning and otherwise my last few days in Provo were spent packing. On our last night we stayed up ridiculously late, so we were pretty tired on our way down to Vegas. The call of the neon lights certainly woke us back up though and we enjoyed the evening seeing some of the sights. Friday was a mile-a-minute sort of day where we saw lots of things in a short space of time. Our visits included the Luxor, the Coca-Cola Factory and the M&M Factory, as well as Caesar's Palace, where we did some shopping and ate at Serendipity 3 (a personal favorite for Julie and me). We also got to go up to the top of our hotel, the Stratosphere, where we got a birds eye view of Las Vegas. Saturday we got up early to catch our flight over to Charlotte, and from there we were supposed to leave an hour later to head for the Gatwick Airport. Plans have changed a little though, so for now it looks like we'll have to wait until 5p.m. Eastern Time to head off on a much more complicated flight since our previous flight got cancelled (only after making us wait an appropriate five hours, of course). So we're now just waiting with bated breath for the time when we'll by flying over the Atlantic!

At Long Last! An Update! (4-10-11)

2011-04-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

After nearly a six-month hiatus, I've finally made it back to writing on the blog! As you might have guessed, a lot has happened since I last wrote back in October. This semester has been especially brutal. Obviously I won't have time here to detail everything here, but I figure those of you reading this (or at least most of you) have at least had some contact with me in the past six months anyways. I could probably write entire entries just about some of the things that have happened, but as stated, such would not be practical. I'll try to keep this mostly to the biggest and most recent events, and hopefully this will suffice.

Just for a brief overview of more distant events, last semester ended well, being a good help for my GP (as I'll mention later, it'll probably be balanced back out by this semester). After finals Julie and I had a lot of fun getting to see both our families. We spent the first part of our Christmas break more with Julie's family, then got to see my family for the second part. With both families we had the happy opportunity to see siblings who came to visit--it was an especially notable change at my parents' house! I got to go cross country skiing once with my dad, Karen, and Jeff, which I was very glad for since it was the only time I was able to go. We got plenty to do with Julie, Mike, and Kadin as well, which was very fun. Unfortunately these things can't last forever, and so Karen, Jeff, Julie, and I headed back for Provo before class started the following day.

The next few months of school feel almost like a blur, with so much happening and yet so much of it the same. This semester has been my last French class, ending with the 202 level. It's been a lot of fun getting to learn the French language for the past year and I'm grateful for all that I've learned. This final class has been substantially different from previous classes with a heavy focus on French culture and literature. French has officially taken root even in my Spanish language, albeit not so much as it had a year ago. Now instead I'm more consistent in the French words I use when I'm speaking Spanish (mostly using "avec" where the word is "con", as Julie can attest). It's generally become the language I think in if not in English, though given the circumstances perhaps that isn't so surprising. For those of you Spanish speakers, I can still speak Spanish quite fluently, which I had to prove the other night during family prayers.

As my time learning French comes to an end, I'm also coming to other changes. Last semester was the last time I had a religion class chosen by the university. Having completed two courses in the Book of Mormon and one each of New Testament and Doctrine and Covenants, this semester (and for two more after) I get to pick from the myriad of other religion classes offered here at BYU. This semester I decided to take a course on the Pearl of Great Price, which has been very informative and uplifting. It's amazing how much has been fit into less than seventy pages of text. As such a small book, we've had the opportunity to go a bit more in depth and to discuss more of the history of this marvelous book of scripture.

Of course, getting further along in my education also means more classes in my schedule devoted to my major. I had a break from them since last winter since I needed to take Ordinary Differential Equations before I could take almost any of the courses remaining for my major. Having gotten that behind me last semester, this semester I've been back at it full swing with two classes. One of the classes should almost count as more of a math class. The official name of the course is "Introduction to Classical Field Theory." It might be more aptly named "Partial Differential Equations with Physics Applications" or "We're going to test all of the math you've learned so far and add one more complication." I suppose that's how most classes work though. But despite how bad it might sound, it's actually been a fairly easy class. The professor is very willing to help (even with assignments from other classes) and he's pretty funny (he even writes comics, which you can see at http://www.sqcomic.com/).

My other physics class is...well, interesting. My other physics class (more like an actual physics class instead of a math class) is Statistical and Thermal Physics. This is the class which is rumored to be the most difficult undergraduate physics class, and from what I've seen, I'm apt to agree with that statement. If the title doesn't describe it well enough, here's the basic rundown: we spend the first three weeks talking about the usual thermodynamics, including discussions on engines, and of course lots of talk of entropy (the measure of uncertainty of states). Thermodynamics is a general topic that applies to many large systems without much thought given to how those systems are made. The world turns upside-down after that crash-course though, as we head into the world of statistical physics. What this basically does is it takes your nice, simple world of physics and turns everything into thermodynamics in a very specific way. From magnets to Fermi and Bose gases, we consider the microscopic properties of these systems and show how things like the number of possible states gives macroscopic quantities for things like entropy, chemical potential, and the Gibbs Free Energy (which I won't bother trying to explain here). There are few ruling fundamentals here, instead giving way to lots of specifics, making for a very difficult course. If there's one thing I've learned from it, it's that I do NOT want to be taking many more courses on statistical physics.

The class that's probably brought me to the biggest decisions has been Theory of Analysis 1. This class has really showed me what proofs are all about. It makes last semester's "Fundamental's of Mathematics" seem like a review in college algebra instead of a class on proofs. The class hasn't necessarily been that exciting or eventful--quite the contrary, in fact. We've gone over calculus using proofs, which has been only somewhat interesting. Really the only thing that really stood out as having any real significance to me was our proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus during this last week, in which I finally saw how the anti-derivative of a function can tell you about the area of it, and that was more of a personal satisfaction than something very important. No, it hasn't been what the class has taught that has lead me to the biggest potential decision of the semester, but rather the dry, almost ridiculous exactness of the class. I've come to realize that learning proofs, while mildly interesting, is not something that will likely be of much help in any field I might go into. It is for this reason that I am thinking that I might be better off not getting a double major in math. I have already earned the math minor, and taking this last class has been a good way to see just how rigorous proofs have to be. But by not doing a double major I will be opening up more time which would allow me to take a graduate level physics course or two, as well as take another minor and a few more electives. Considering how my research has been so computer based, and just from listening to professors, a computer science minor seems as though it would be more advantageous than further study of mathematics. Of course, making that decision will have a substantial impact on my future.

While on the topic of the future, Spring term is coming in just two weeks! I'm already signed up for my two classes. I will be taking yet another physics course, this time learning about Mechanics. It should be a good break from Thermodynamics, as it would seem that Mechanics will be quite a bit less abstract. The other course I will be taking is German 101, which I will be taking in preparation for our trip to Europe. I know I mentioned it in the last blog, but obviously lots has happened since then. For a brief overview (any who have talked to Julie much in the past 3-4 months will probably already be aware of this), we're planning to head out in mid-June and be over there for two months. Our primary reason for going is so that Julie can do an eight-week study abroad program in Berlin and Tübingen before she graduates. We'll be heading over a couple of weeks early, going first to London for a week, then parting ways as Julie goes to Austria to do research for a professor while I go over to Paris. We then meet back up in Berlin where we will be staying for the next month. I will be taking a course in German while Julie gets to take classes on German art and art history as well as a language course. The German courses will be offered through the Goethe Institute and will be very different from the classes at BYU (I'm expecting a greater mix of cultures and many people who are older than me). We will then part ways as Julie continues studying in Tübingen while I head off for a couple more weeks in Europe. I'll be heading to Italy and to Spain before heading back and getting ready for school. Julie will be arriving two weeks after I do, so I'll be roughing it on my own for about a month. When she gets back she'll be starting right into her graduate work, doing the Comparative Studies program.

Well, this blog has already gone much longer than I had anticipated, but I guess that's what happens when you don't write any of this stuff for six months. I hope you all are doing well, and I'll try to be more frequent in my posts!

Update (10-24-10)

2010-10-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

After yet another long hiatus, trying to write every week but failing, at long last I'm writing an update! Things here have been going well, but busy. School and work, as usual.

So first off, school--classes are going well, and I'm really enjoying my classes overall. Differential equations remains the main source of homework, though Fundamentals of Mathematics can provide time-consuming homework occasionally. I've had at least one test for all of my classes (except Math Seminar, which doesn't have tests), and I've had more in Music 101 and French 201. Amidst it all, though, I still find time to spend on work, friends, and of course my adorable wife.

On the work side things are going well. I've had several MCNP codes run and we're starting to learn more about the detector design that we are considering. I'm moving on a bit with MCNP as well, now learning POLIMI which will take my MCNP codes a step further by showing us more about what happens after the neutron is absorbed. Of course, nobody in our group has used MCNP-POLIMI yet, so I get to be the one to figure out how it works...I'll be keeping my fingers' crossed.

In other news, Julie and I are strongly considering a study-abroad this summer in Berlin. We're both excited about the prospect, and hopefully I'll get the chance to tour around Europe a bit (I'll only be in Germany for a month--Julie will be there two). We'll keep posted as things progress.

Well, those are the major details--if I can start posting weekly as I've intended then I'll probably be giving more details, but I figured I better get one out today before another week passes by.

Triweekly Update (9-26-10)

2010-09-19T12:21:00.000-07:00

With school well underway now it seems it's just getting harder and harder to write a weekly blog. Still, I suppose the occasional update is better than nothing, and at least spacing posts out more means more to talk about.

Well, I guess the main thing going on with us is school. I've already had my first two tests and I'm getting ready for my next two this week. Classes have been going well though--I'm really enjoying them for the most part. Differential Equations was hard at the start but got to be fairly easy after the first couple weeks; Fundamentals of Mathematics is really interesting and thus far pretty basic, mostly just using and proving different methods of doing things with arithmetic; French 201 has been pretty easy, mostly review with some more vocab and a bit more depth; and Music 101 is very enjoyable, presenting the opportunity to learn about and listen too lots of classical music. My Math Seminar barely seems worth mentioning, just an hour each week where we hear about various careers in mathematics, none of which have really interested me.

Apart from school, work does a pretty good job taking up time as well. Julie has adjusted pretty well to her job as a grader. Meanwhile, work with MCNP has seemed at a standstill until this last week. The documentation has been poor for part of the input, but after many tries I finally had my first big breakthrough this week and had one of my files run. I was relieved before this point by hearing how long it took the student working on it before me to figure out how to get it to run, and now I should be able to better contribute to the group!

Outside of school and work, we still have found some time to have fun. Friday the German Club had "TECHNOfest", which Julie worked long and hard to pull off. It was a lot of fun and we ended up with over 150 people there. There was a really energetic atmosphere and plenty of glowsticks, making for a great time.

To add to the craziness of this weekend, yesterday morning I headed to Draper for my first bonsai class. The store we bought our serissa from has a free quarterly class on bonsai, so I decided it would be good to go and see what it was like. They mostly stuck to basics of pruning, wiring, potting, and bonsai styles, but there were also some interesting tips which should help in further development of our bonsai project. I also took the opportunity while there to get a new bonsai pot which is now housing several of the serissa cuttings I had rooted in the last month, consolidating it a bit more. On a similar note, with the many oak trees around dropping acorns I've tried planting a few for use in bonsai later, one of which just started sprouting today!

Well, that's about all for now. I'll try to get some pictures of the bonsai up on the website for any who are interested in seeing them!

Weekly Update (9-5-10)

2010-09-05T18:22:00.000-07:00

What a week it's been! It seems the weeks just keep flying by, and that's not necessarily a good thing with school now in session! It's been quite a bit of fun, too, but lots of work.

To get things started, this week has been quite busy with school back in full swing. If you've checked the website recently you'll know I'm taking six classes this semester, and five of them are on Mondays and Wednesday. It's been an interesting way to have things scheduled, so we'll have to wait and see how it all works out. Classes seem interesting enough, but I have been getting a fair amount of homework from my differential equations and fundamentals of mathematics classes.

Apart from school there's really just visiting family this weekend. Julie and I went to stay in Cache Valley at my father's parent's house for Friday night, then we went to the Nielsen family reunion the next afternoon. It was a short visit, but it was nice to see family, especially to see my parents for the first time since the wedding.

And that's really about it for now!

(Sort of) Weekly Update (8-29-10)

2010-08-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

Well well, how time flies. It's hard to believe that school is starting again tomorrow. It's probably a good thing though, since it means finally getting back into a schedule. However, it has been nice to have some time to just relax. So without further ado, here's what the last week and a half have been like for us.

Shopping. Lots of shopping. Textbooks, clothes, and a few bonsai supplies. With the new school year coming we figured we'd better get ready beforehand, so that left us out of the house a fair amount. That, and when you're stuck in a small-ish apartment for two weeks with nowhere to go it's nice to get out, and shopping can provide a good excuse. We spent some time on outfits for school, but also a fair amount of time trying to find outfits for the Technofest that Julie is hoping to put on with the German Club to enhance awareness of the German techno and German department. As for bonsai supplies, after checking out several books on the subject and doing some more research it became apparent that we were somewhat...lacking in supplies to keep our trees healthy.

Apart from shopping, we also had lots of time to go through our movie collection. We were able to watch The Lord of the Rings over three nights, Napoleon Dynamite, and the new Indiana Jones movie, as well as Back to the Future II when it showed on Nick @ Nite. We've really enjoyed getting this time to watch so many of our movies--a rare opportunity with school now starting.

And who could forget the bonsai hobby? Since bringing our Serissa home we've gone through its leaves turning from green to yellow and finally back to green. We discovered that Siggy apparently prefers our bedroom on the south side of the house to our kitchen on the north side, so for now he's sitting on my nightstand next to our lucky bamboo. Our other bonsai has since started showing a few signs of illness, so we're working hard to improve its health. We're also trying to plant several cuttings--we'll see how that turns out in the coming weeks and months.

And that's about it for now. We're looking forward to seeing some of the family next weekend, and hope all is well for everyone!

As a side note, I have been working a little on the website and there are a few pictures up. Hopefully it'll be coming together more completely soon!

Weekly Update (8-17-10)

2010-08-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

Yes I know, it's not a Sunday. Why late? Because of a weekend reunion for my wife's family near Morgan, UT! More on that later, but first let's explore the rest of the last week.

So as I mentioned last time, last week was the last of summer term here at the Y. I had my French test and Julie had a test and a paper, and with Julie working at graduation it's been quite busy with school things. My test went fairly well overall I'd say--it's amazing how much you learn in so short a time when you're taking class in the summer term. Julie commented that she was very proud of how much she got done, reading over 8 books in 7 weeks.

Alongside school has been work. I've completed my first MCNP code, though it apparently had a few bugs in it. It is interesting work since I don't actually run it myself, but rather have to send it to the professor. I don't know why, but I guess the people who made it only wanted the professors to use it. :P Aside from that little oddity, though, it's nice to have things settling in there. And while I'm just settling into my job Julie is finishing her time working as an usher for University events, with her last time being graduation last week. She will however be looking forward to being a grader for one of her German professors, and the work will at least provide more hours and at least equal pay.

Of course with school over, we haven't slowed down much yet. We headed out Saturday morning toward Morgan for Julie's family reunion. We made a stop along the way to a nursery in Salt Lake City called Cactus & Tropical where we got yet another bonsai, a serissa which we have affectionately named Siggy (after some deliberation). We'll be sure to get pictures up within the next few days. So after our pit stop in Salt Lake we kept on our way to the reunion, getting lost a bit and ending up taking about an extra hour or so before we arrived there. It was a big get together with groups from Julie's maternal grandmother's descendants. It was an interesting experience, but fun since I know some of Julie's cousins already since I grew up in the same ward as them! We had fun being outside, camping, stargazing, and having a fun program put on by some of the people there. We stayed through the late morning the next day.

Even with the reunion finished, our family visiting wasn't over. We went from Morgan to visit Julie's brother Adam along with the rest of Julie's immediate family. We had fun talking, sharing dinner together, and going to the local elementary school to play some basketball, foursquare, and to hit up the jungle gym with the younger kids. We then went with Julie's other brother, Robert, back to Provo to spend the night.

The next day we headed north once more, this time to meet up with everyone at Lagoon. After some issues meeting up we got in the park by noon and stayed until almost 10 that night. There were lots of fun rides for all of us. The more adventuresome of the group rode the Sky Coaster, the Rocket, and Colossus while others of us (namely Julie and I) rode the ferris wheel, Flying Aces, Hydro Tube, and Paratrooper. Julie and I also had some fun playing the midway games where we won a few fun prizes, including a stuffed alligator and a stuffed dragon. By the end of the day we were all exhausted, and at last we said our farewells before going our separate directions.

For the last bit of news, I thought everyone should know that our website is up and running a bit more now, and should be getting those pictures up before long!

Weekly Update (8-8-10)

2010-08-08T13:49:00.000-07:00

I didn't think you were supposed to get sick in the summer, but this last week has proven me wrong! It certainly has made the week feel sluggish, though, as both Julie and I didn't feel very well. We've managed to make our way through it though, and things are looking better for the upcoming week.

The week wasn't completely uneventful, though. As I mentioned last week I am starting the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) programming research. So after my email last week, Dr. Rees brought me a notebook full with an instructions manual and a primer, so I have a lot of reading ahead of me. And on top of it all, I'm also supposed to get my first project (really just playing around with MCNP) done by next Tuesday.

On the school side, Julie has been busy with papers and getting ready to finish the semester, as have I. For our courses that has meant tests this last week, but at least on my end they seem to have gone well. It's incredible how fast Summer Term has gone by--tomorrow is our last day of class before Finals. Then Julie has work ushering for the graduating students Thursday and Friday, and then we're heading to Morgan for the weekend for Julie's family reunion.

Backtracking just a bit, I thought I should mention one more thing. For us the weekends have probably been at least as eventful as the weekdays, and usually more fun. Last Friday we headed to Salt Lake to pick up a book for Julie. While down there we went to The Blue Iguana, a crowded little Mexican restaurant that was lots of fun! They had amazing food and great entertainment with an older Hispanic couple singing songs the whole time. It was very entertaining and it was nice to realize just how much Spanish I still remember! It was right in downtown Salt Lake City with just a sign on the sidewalk pointing the way there, but definitely a must-see for those of you who crave Mexican food!

Weekly Update (8-1-10)

2010-08-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hello all and happy Sunday! It's been a long time coming, but I figured I had better get to posting more consistently on the blog. I will try to put up a post weekly, probably on the weekends, to keep you updated on the goings on here in Provo or wherever we may be. I am also planning to start a website for things like photos and more of a general "where we are, what we're up to" kind of page, but we'll have to see how that turns out. If you want to keep an eye on it you can follow the link here. I will probably try to mention any major updates in future posts on the blog, though. Also as a final note before I go on, I hope to still occasionally post some of my thoughts as they occur, so don't be surprised to see multiple posts! Hopefully you will find them interesting, and possibly entertaining. Now without further ado, the weekly update:

The week has been pretty good to us overall. We got to spend last weekend in Logan and the surrounding area, visiting both sets of grandparents. It was nice to see them and to have time to chat, and I really wish we could have had more time to spend with them. We also got to visit Aunt Jane with Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen, and that was quite entertaining (especially having her bird Tink pecking and biting at us for the first little bit). We didn't get to see much else in the way of family, and we had to head back after lunch on Sunday so we could get settled back in before school on Monday.

The following week was fairly typical for us--lots of school! Well, more so for Julie than for me. I have my French 102 class every morning during the summer and Julie is taking African American Literature and Literary Analysis. She's done well in them so far, but she has lots of books to read and papers to write--I suppose that's part of the job description of an English Minor. My class is also going well and I've been really enjoying learning about the French language and culture. It's interesting to see the similarities and differences between French and Spanish. I also noticed this week how my ability to speak in French is developing somewhat differently from how I learned Spanish: my vocabulary in French is probably more well rounded, and what I know in each language seems to be more comprehensive in different aspects. Certainly there are things I could talk about in one that I couldn't talk about as well in the other. It will be interesting to see where things are at by the time I get through French 202.

Aside from school, I'll add just a bit about work. For those that don't know I'm currently working as a research assistant here at BYU, working for Dr. Rees and Dr. Czirr on the Neutron Detection Project. For me it's just been a matter of figuring out what exactly they're doing and where I can fit in. Dr. Rees suggested to me that I look around, but eventually seemed hopeful that I would take over the Monte Carlo programming, basically simulating experiments that they are considering. The program simulates the random paths and interactions of the neutrons we're trying to detect, letting us know what experiments and designs would be worth trying. After a while of weighing my options, though, I've finally decided to go with that, so I'll probably be taking over once the student working on it graduates in a few weeks. It should be an interesting challenge, but I'm glad that I get the chance to have the work.

Aside from work and school, this weekend has been quite a bit of fun for us as well. After wanting to get some more furnishing done for the past few weeks, we finally headed out yesterday and got it done. We ended up getting a rug to cover some of our "church carpet" in the living room as well as a bookcase from Walmart, so now we should finally have places to put everything. Also exciting (for us--a bit sad that it's exciting, really) was getting three plants to add to our decor: lucky bamboo for our bedroom, a bonsai tree that's currently in our kitchen, and a hosta for our patio! We may be just a bit crazy to be as happy as we are to have it, but I figure it's the closest we'll have to pets or a garden for quite a while.

And that should bring you up-to-date. This coming week will be our last week of classes, so we'll have to see how that goes. Until next time, have a great week!

--Brian

Memories in Music

2010-03-10T21:39:00.000-08:00

So I know I just posted, but we'll consider this to be making up for not posting for over a month before that. This is actually a topic that just came to me on the fly and really had me thinking tonight. Especially since the mission, music has been a fairly big thing in my life. Even before my mission I could feel the draw that music has, melding with and extending emotion. It's been particularly important in my time writing, at times bringing with it inspiration for where to take a story or what details to give. Music has carried me through both hard times and good times, and considering all this I felt it would be appropriate to blog about the topic.

What really started me thinking about the subject of music was listening to an Elton John cd that I had listened to fairly often this past summer. I had discovered it in one of my parents' cars and started listening to it because it reminded me somewhat of my childhood. The meaning I placed on these songs would change fairly abruptly, though, as I listened to it last summer. It was a time of struggle and difficulties, working through many of the trials that came from trying to readjust to home life after the mission. This transition transcended everything in my life, from my relationship with my (then) girlfriend (now fiancee) Julie; to my family relationships; to my role in Church and in the lives of my friends; and even to my books. Listening to the songs I listened to last summer, I can't help but relive some of those feelings and events, remember the difficulties I had to go through to get to where I am now, happily engaged to the most wonderful girl in the world.

Well, to avoid distraction, I guess I'll end here for now, leaving this time with a question for you, the reader: How has music affected your life lately? Have you had any significant feelings/events that have become intrinsically tied to some song, cd, or artist?

The MoM

2010-03-07T11:33:00.000-08:00

And no, I'm not talking about my mother. It's been a while since I've posted, what with life being as crazy as it has been as of late. It feels like a whirlwind of things happening all around me, yet I've still managed to find some calm spots along the way, most specifically with a real honest-to-goodness return to writing, and hence the main topic of this post.

As an aside before getting to the major topic, the business isn't without its good times. Since I last wrote I have since gotten engaged to a wonderful lady. I proposed January 17, and the wedding is to be held on June 12. Spending more time has become more important, though with the drawback of even less free time for doing other stuff, like updating the blog! Classes have been good overall--especially my Modern Physics class! If I've learned one thing there, it's that quantum mechanics is hard, at least when you're first starting into it. The conceptual part has mostly settled in by now, but that doesn't make the math any prettier. :P

Anyways, on to today's main topic: The Legend of the Staff: The Marvel of Matanu. I've been working on this volume of The Legend of the Staff series since before my mission, and now it is finally nearing the end! There are now just four chapters left, which may still sound like a lot, but the one I'm working on should go by fairly fast and the next chapter is the climax of the story where Matanu will have to face his most difficult challenge yet. As you may have guessed, I'm very excited to see the book come to an end so that I can get on to the next book: The Legend of the Staff: Kedron's Tale. It's been a lot of fun working on The Marvel of Matanu, and I'd love to tell more about it, but I don't want to spoil the story for any who would like to read it. And speaking of which, if anyone were to want to read it or any of the other Legend of the Staff books, send me an email and I'd probably be willing to send you a copy or at least part of a copy of one of them!

Well, it's getting late and school's in the morning, so I'll end here for now.

Bookstore Rants

2010-01-08T14:49:00.000-08:00

Hey all (all one of you that read this, that is), I'm back, finally with something to blog about. Now, this is largely based on the experience that my girlfriend relayed, but it impressed me enough that I felt it deserved to be relayed. So for today's blog, I'm going to be talking by-and-large about the BYU bookstore. Those who want to firmly hold to belief that BYU is perfect and has no flaws, now is the time to stop reading. Maybe check out this cool link on youtube or something.

Now, every student at the Y knows that the BYU bookstore charges steep prices for the books, some being upwards of one or even two hundred dollars (thanks, media packs). And many students have likely heard about the possibility of getting cheaper books through the internet (For example, my girlfriend brought up that one of her books that sold for $50 at the bookstore could be purchased for $12 online). Now, one might assume that, since the bookstore will refund your books for the first two weeks of the semester, you could buy your books, look online for a less expensive copy, and if you found one order it and later sell back your text book. Well, it turns out you can't--by BYU's rules, anyways. So while you could return your book for reasons such as dropping a class, if our friends at the bookstore find out that you want to sell your book back because you bought it cheaper online, they won't be happy. Problem there is, since BYU has yet to get its hands on anything to give its employees psychic powers, you could very easily lie to them and say that you're planning to drop whatever course the book is for and go on your merry way. But oh, wait, you say, isn't that against the honor code? Well shoot, you're right--that against the honor code. But.., you say to yourself, they'll never notice, and who's it going to hurt? After all, the bookstore is overcharging anyways, right (seems kind of dishonest to me)? Now, I'm certainly not condoning lying here, but there certainly is a problem to overcome. And it kind of makes you think next time you're in the bookstore looking at that returns line, How many of those people are going to lie just because they need the money they're saving, or how many of them are going to be let down when they discover that they can't return their books? So I suppose the moral of all this is that until the BYU bookstore decides to change its policies, you better find out what books you need well in advance if you want to save money on books. Oh, and I wouldn't be expecting that policy to change any time soon. After all, rather than change their policy due to an article in the school's Daily Universe a while ago, they instead just ceased to advertise in the Daily Universe anymore (which in my opinion seems a bit odd, especially when you consider that there probably weren't ever tons of people reading the Daily Universe for their ads anyways). Anyways, there's my rant. Any thoughts or comments? Feel free to leave one!

Getting Back to Writing...

2009-12-05T22:39:00.000-08:00

And no, I'm not referring to the blog so much as I am my books! Sigh...it's been so long since I've had the time to work on them that I began to worry I'd lost my touch. Once I finally had time, I just couldn't seem to come up with what to write. But after much struggle, I'm back, and have finally gotten back into writing! Working on The Legend of the Staff: The Marvel of Matanu. Thus far, it is definitely one of the most involved books I'd say, and certainly the darkest. I'm about half of the way through it thus far, and it has been intense--and will only be getting deeper if all goes according to plan! In this book the hero has a bit more of a dark past than other Staff Bearers, and with the mysterious cult, the dreaded Revelation, things just get more and more interesting as I go along. And now that I'm finally finding inspiration to work on it again, the story will only be getting better! Hurray for free time!

Random Happenings

2009-11-16T12:41:00.000-08:00

First off, I suppose I should apologize for not writing for so long. You see, going to college can definitely be...time consuming, to say the least. But now after my six week hiatus, I'm back and better than ever (well, that's the hope, what with finals in a month). Getting started on this is difficult, because it seems like life can be so monotonous while here at the Y, but I'm going to attempt to at least write about something. So...let's pick a theme!

Coming to mind at the moment (that I could actually write very much about) is my physics class. I figure I haven't given appropriate attention to my Physics 220 class as of yet, especially considering that it really is one of those classes that brightens my day. The class itself is quite interesting, and thankfully our book is very easy to follow and so reading assignments don't seem to drag on like they could. Probably one of the best parts of the class, however, are the demos. Every day it seems we have some kind of demonstration to help us understand what we're learning, and some of the demos can be very interesting. And thanks to my pocket-sized digital camera, I've been able to record various demos, and hopefully once I hook my camera to my computer I can post some of the better videos to share the physics phun.

Anyhow, that's pretty much it for now. Hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you enjoy the videos (once I get them uploaded)!

- The L.o.t.S. Writer

DOUBLE MAJOR!!!

2009-10-09T15:27:00.000-07:00

It's now official--I am a full-fledged Physics-Mathematics major! The whole thing took around two hours or so, mostly over the last two days. It actually started several weeks ago when I got the application, but really began when I filled it out yesterday (a fairly uneventful process of figuring out my plan for the rest of my time as an undergraduate), but the real test came yesterday. So, nervous as I ever had been about it all--after all, the application didn't make it sound very encouraging of taking a second major--I went in for my various interviews.

Interview number 1: I go into the the advisement center in the Eyring Science Center, take my form to the secretary in the advisement center, who then proceeds to point me to a door to the right. I go in, greetings are exchanged, and I take my seat. The interview begins quickly. "So you want to take a double major in Physics and Math?"
I nod.
"So why do you want to add Mathematics?"
"Well, I'm hoping to go into particle physics, and I've heard that takes quite a bit of math."
"Alright, well let me check this."
Several moments slowly pass by as the lady at the desk looks at the computer screen, then at the paper, then back, scrutinizing every bit.
"So why are you taking French? Are you planning on a French minor?"
She's noticed the four semesters of French classes I've written down. In my mind I know that it's not REALLY necessary, but it will help me fulfill a G.E. while I get to learn another language (learning Spanish just wasn't enough--rather, it made me want to learn more languages). "It's for a G.E. Well, and my sister went to France on her mission, which gives me that much more incentive to learn the language."
"I see. Now, there's a requirement for an additional six hours of math classes. Were you planning to take any classes over the summer?"
"Oh, I guess I'd missed that. But if I need to then I could certainly take some classes over the summer."
"Alright, I'll just write that in for you."
Another pause as she finally comes to a final conclusion.
"Well, I think I can sign this. Now you'll need to talk to the Chairs of the Physics Department and the Math Department, then come back here and I can take your form to the Dean of the college. Good luck."
"Thank you," I reply and head off, ready to talk to the Chair of the Physics Department.
Wandering upstairs leads me to the secretary's office. I recognize the secretary here from earlier in the semester. I introduce myself and explain that I'm trying to apply for a double major. She checks for the Chair for a few moments, but at last has to tell me to come back after 2:30. I smile politely and take my leave, heading for the Talmage Building.
A few minutes later I arrive at the offic where the receptionist and I have the conversation which is quickly becoming all-too-familiar. The Chair is there in the next room, but he's talking to a professor. After assuring me he should be just a few minutes I wait for twenty minutes or so until I finally am able to speak with the Chair.
Of course, the result here was certainly unexpected. Upon hearing of my request he takes the paper and remarks "Oh, we always sign these", he signs the paper, and I'm on my way.
So, a few hours later I'm back in the Eyring Science Center, this time waiting for the Chair to get back. As last time, I end up waiting nearly half an hour before he finally arrives. At last, though, I'm allowed in to go talk with the Chair.
"So why do you want to add a second major?"
As earlier, I reply by informing him of my ambitions to study particle physics.
"Yes, you'll want a lot of math for that one."
He looks over my application, taking note of my schedule for Fall 2010. "Oh, that's going to be a tough semester."
He continues to look over the paper for another few minutes until at last proclaiming that he feels good about signing it. "You'll definitely want a lot of math for particle physics," he adds before sending me on my way with just one signature left to go.
I hurry down to the first floor where I again meet with Darlene Willey to give her my almost-complete form. She quickly checks to see if the Dean is in, only to inform me that he won't be back until the following afternoon. Still, she takes my form, saying she'll send me an email when she finds out what the Dean says.
The next morning was, of course, spent with me wondering what the final result would be. I could no longer defend my case personally, but with three signatures on my application I was feeling fairly at ease. When the email finally came, however, I was still quite excited--Mathematics had officially been added to my major!

So there's the story. I hope it was at least vaguely interesting. If not, at the very least I enjoyed writing it, and now I'm quite excited about my upcoming college career. Though I had had thoughts of it before, my dream is now solidified as I prepare for the next three and a half years of school as a Physics and Mathematics Major.

~The L.o.t.S. Writer

Looking Forward to a Double Major (and Other Random Happenings)

2009-10-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

Hey all! First off, sorry for the hiatus--midterms last week were pretty crazy, and when you add General Conference last weekend (okay, so I did get a little distracted beating Super Metroid for the first time, too...) I was really short on time for sitting down and writing a full blog entry. I'm back though now, and hopefully I won't be that busy (/distracted) again for a while.

So, aside from the distractions, things have been going fantastic since my last entry. To enumerate just a little bit on what's happened since last time briefly, my past week or so has included my 3rd anniversary since I started dating Julie, General Conference, and now figuring out a plan for the rest of my college career! I'll try to go through each one chronologically here.

So first off: anniversary. Julie and I had a wonderful time, spending most of the day together and sharing gifts. We had lots of fun having dinner together at Cafe Rio here in Provo, and of course we kept each other entertained. It really wasn't too much special, but the day was amazing all the same.

General Conference was also good--very uplifting as always. As usual, it was very nice to hear the Prophet speak to us, and the Spirit was strong as always. As I watched this weekend I got the impression that there was an increased emphasis on becoming better people all around, and it helped me to reflect on some of my own shortcomings and on things I could do to be a better person. It was also nice to hear some things that I felt good about, and really the Conference reminds me of a Book of Mormon scripture stating that the things of the Lord are hard for the wicked to bear, but are a delight for the righteous. I really feel I felt some of both--a bit of praised, mixed in with things to improve. Overall: brilliant.

And now last of all, I've finally come up with a plan for my undergraduate education. Most exciting of all of this was the discovery I made this morning that by adding a mathematics major (something I've thought of since coming to the Y) I would only be in school for a semester longer than if I just took a physics major. This is especially encouraging, since the paper I need to fill out to apply for a second major makes it sound a lot more plausible to get a double major if it only adds an extra semester. Considering that I'm looking to get a Ph.D. in Particle Physics, I figure the extra semester would prove very helpful, and just taking an extra semester to be able to say that I essentially got two B.S.'s couldn't hurt, right?

So there you have it. Until next time!

~The L.o.t.S. Writer

P.S. - Enjoy the Halloween colors!

The Joys of Linear Algebra...and Why I'm Going into Physics

2009-09-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a class where you go in and learn something, something that may even make total sense, but then be left wondering, "But...why did I need to learn that?" One might think of earlier times when things such as Calculus, Statistics, or maybe English class seem irrelevant. Looking back, however, there's almost some potential for application. Well today I had one of those moments. We learned about Factorization--basically, a matrix A can be separated into two other matrices, L times U (a lower and an upper triangular matrix), and after the fact I just had to ask myself: "Why did we just learn that?" Just a funny little thought, and I don't mean to sound irritated--really, I thought it was quite funny. Still, I couldn't help but think to my Physics classes where it seems that you never learn anything without obvious implications. Ha ha, I guess you could say I'm glad that that's what I'm going to. Don't get me wrong; I love math and all, but sometimes things can seem a bit...over the top. I'll definitely be interested to see what comes of this class in the future...

~The L.o.t.S. Writer

BYU Devotional: President Monson

2009-09-15T11:42:00.001-07:00

Wow, what a great devotional! It was wonderful to be able to hear from our Prophet, and it was amazing to feel his spirit as he spoke. Alas, I was unable to go to the Marriott Center due to 9:00 class (I figured the place would be packed), but even over the air it's amazing the Spirit that President Monson brings. For those who missed it the talk was entertaining, as is typical of President Monson. The messages taught were excellently woven into stories of the prophets during President Monson's lifetime, making for a devotional which was both educational and uplifting, and really a good reminder of the power of the Prophet's calling.

Almost there...

2009-09-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

Life is so good. It's Thursday and I've only got an exam left before the weekend! It's always so good to get the week's work done, and with Friday left I feel like I can get a head start on my next week. One thing I'm realizing now is that after really trying to break you the first week or so, things seem to be slowing down. And with that slowing, it's finally starting to feel like I can have some time to myself. And of course that means, time to work on Lett's Legacy. With the story written and edited, I'm hoping that soon I'll get the time to get to the BYU Publications Lab and learn some more about publishing my book. With any luck I'll be well on my way to a published book by the end of the year! (well, I hope so anyways).

- The LotS Writer

One Week Down

2009-09-04T16:42:00.000-07:00

Alright, so after a several-week hiatus, I'm finally writing again. Life's been pretty crazy as of late, and with school at the Y starting I've hardly gotten a moment to myself (or at least a long enough moment to worry about anything like writing a blog). But now, with a three-day weekend commencing, it's about time I add another entry. So here we go!

Things over here have been going fairly well--I've been chugging along, trying to keep up with my classes. Of course, it didn't help that all three of my Monday classes gave me a double load of homework. Their usual line was: "You should have read that before class, but you can read it along with today's assignment." Evil, considering that lead to probably around 100 or so pages to be read in two days. So yeah, it's been busy, but now it's the weekend, meaning three days to try to get ahead. My classes have generally proved interesting thus far--I'm really looking forward to learning about electricity and magnetism in Physics 220 and about linear algebra in Math 313, though I wish I could remember all the math I forgot in the last two years. There's also CS 142--Intro to Programming--which is turning out a lot simpler than I had anticipated, and really should be quite enjoyable. The Tuesday and Thursday selection is decent, with a very engaging New Testament teacher who is very passionate about what she teaches. I wish I could say the same for my Psychology class, however. Now, I don't want to rant about it, but the professor for that class seems a bit...lacking, in the enthusiasm department, though perhaps that's just my perception, considering I've learned a lot of the material we've covered already through high school psychology and statistics classes. We'll see where it leads. Anyways, I've probably rambled on enough, so perhaps I'll describe Social Dance and Computer Physics Lab at a later point. For now, let's move on, shall we?

Now I'm sure after last entry that somewhere out there there's someone who wants an update on my book, right? Well, I've finished the editing I wanted to do--now on to publishing. Of course, upon looking into the topic I was quite overwhelmed, and with school looming closer at the time I decided to leave it for the time and see what I could find over in Provo. If you haven't guessed it yet, I haven't had any time to deal with that yet. Don't lose hope yet, though--as soon as I've got the classes under control my next goal will be to start searching for a publisher! In fact, perhaps to see if anyone will give me a response (or if anyone has even read this far), I'd welcome any and all suggestions as for places to look into for publishing or any general ideas whatsoever. I hope to hear from you all (or at least those who care much about it) and I'll sign off for now. Until next time!

To Fincaldon and Beyond

2009-08-08T23:59:00.000-07:00

To commemorate reaching Fincaldon in my editing of Lett's Legacy I am...making a blog. Well, it's the best I can do, really. But why should I celebrate reaching the continent of Fincaldon? Fincaldon really opens a new phase in the book, as it is in Fincaldon that ties to earlier books in the series begin to form and be hinted at. Take Grimham, for example. Just your regular crazy guy, right? But he leads on that he actually knows a lot more about Lett and his destiny than has previously been revealed. Add on to that, in this part we get another tantalizing hint that there's more to Lett's old instructor than meets the eye. What is that something? You'll have to wait and see when you read the book, but I've got to say that reaching this part is exciting for me as the writer because this is also where another major nemesis of Lett is introduced in Ferandie, who later grows to be one of the antagonists of Lett that the reader gets to associate with the best, and he's just the right person to be the villain that you just can't help but hate.

For a brief review of the plot (without ruining the storyline, hopefully), our hero, Lett, is discovered as the first human wizard, and very shortly in the book we learn that he has the legendary Master Staff, an ancient weapon that supposedly has "the power to destroy armies". Lett, led by an intense curiosity, an appetite for adventure, and a developing sense of responsibilities, takes the reader through various adventures where he makes various friends, including the lovable Rallin and the ever-loyal Swilt, and gets into plenty of predicaments as he begins learning to be the Staff Bearer that he must become in a world of increasing dangers as threats from an army of dark creatures, at the command of the mysterious "Dark One," come to destroy all who would oppose them, from the Bavaroh Forest to the Armanose and Aquidian Kingdoms. Throughout this first portion of the story Lett collects the various Elemental Staffs, aiding him in his magical abilities of things ranging from flight to moving the very ground he walks on. And all of that is packed into just the first half of the story, only to have the plotline continue to thicken as we proceed into the second half of Lett's exciting adventure. Will Lett be able to stop the armies of the Dark One and save the world? Well, if I told you that there'd be no point in reading the story, would there?

So yeah, I'm excited. But that's enough rambling. Wanna know more? Leave me a message or send me an email!

The L.o.t.S. Writer

The Trouble with Work

2009-07-31T15:03:00.000-07:00

Has anyone noticed that whenever you have something you really want to do that about ten minutes into doing that thing you start to feel distracted, like there's something else you want to be doing. Heh heh, I guess that something else right now is this blog. I've thought about making a blog for a while as a way of keeping friends and family updated on my life, and now I've finally gotten around to it. Sure, there are plenty of tools like facebook, myspace, email, and telephone calls that could work, but the former two seem a bit...lacking, in the details area, while the latter two can be time consuming (especially phone calls), and honestly sometimes it can be difficult to try and express things to meet people's individual means. And mass emails can just be obnoxious, forcing people to read about your life even if they don't want to--or missing people who want to hear about you that you DON'T think to email. So I figure a blog may be a good remedy to that problem.

So, the reason for the title of this blog is mostly to announce that I've now gotten over one hundred pages of The Legend of the Staff: Lett's Legacy edited, and now I've just got a little over 200 pages left to go. I thought originally that it would go faster, but that's the trouble with work--distractions. And since coming home from Minnesota two months ago there have been plenty of those. But I'm still hoping to finish editing in good time, though my goal of finishing before school starts is quickly slipping away from me. Alas, but what can you do, really?

Anyways, that's my blog for now. Go ahead and post comments or email me or whatever, and I'll try and get back to you. If I've neglected talking to you, it's probably just because I've got so many things that I want to do that I miss out on talking with people. But hey, send me an email and we'll chat. Until next time!

The L.o.t.S. Writer