Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Best Two Years: Pre-MTC



This is part one of a…(insert future number I decide later post) part blog about my mission. Today is my 2 year mark of being home, and I wanted to write about it.

Time is one of the strangest things in this world. For example, I can’t wait for Christmas to get here, and I imagine it will take forever to actually get here. On the flip side, I don’t want finals to get here, but I swear they’re already knocking at the back door. I don’t know what evil tricks my mind plays on me, but this time thing might be the biggest one, and the biggest time trick is what I am going to blog about in this series.

My whole life, I have looked forward to two things. I credit my parents for instilling this into me, or beating me over the head with it, or teaching it with love…it was probably a mix of all three, but whatever they did worked. These two things have been get married in the temple and to serve a mission. No matter what else I did or wanted to do, I knew those were two of the most important things I could do. [As a side note, today is the 2 year mark since I’ve been home and 6 months of marriage. I thought it was cool that it was on the same day] As a kid though, I never thought I would actually serve a mission…it was some sort of far off goal that older kids did…superheroes in my mind to be more accurate.

Cue my senior year of high school… it was a fun time, and by far my favorite year in school. I never thought it would end, but one day it did, and I graduated, took some vacations and then…it hit me: Next to do – serve a mission. Getting ready to serve was one of the most interesting times in my life, and one of those times when the evil time gremlins (that’s my new title for the time mind game) were on their A+ game. I wanted to go, I didn’t want to leave; I couldn’t wait to get into the MTC, I hated the thought of Provo for two months (oh the irony of now going to BYU)… anyways, you get the point.

I worked with my stake president (Pres. Rodgers is one of my favorite people of all time and one of the best that I know) and set goals. Due to him and others, I learned to love the Book of Mormon and appreciate it even more. We sent my papers 90 days before my birthday…and about 10 days later, I got the envelope that held my future. Backing up just a little, when I was getting ready, I didn’t want to go foreign or learn a new language. I thought it would only hinder me and be even harder on me; however, I said I would be willing to serve wherever because I knew it was what the Lord wanted and needed. I told myself that if I were to go foreign, I didn’t want Canada or Mexico…I wanted somewhere far away foreign. Oops.

So the call came…at about 2 p.m. I somehow managed to wait 4-5 hours to open it with my friends and family there. It was a long 4 hours to say the least. I eventually opened it and when I read the words Mexico Puebla Mission, I felt something in my body that is best equated to electric chills; I knew that was where I was called by God to serve. Those next 3 months were so long. Each month marker was a relief and weight at the same time. Then my birthday…18 days, then 2 weeks, then 7 days.

You can’t adequately describe the feeling of your final week. The closest thing to it was the final week before getting married, but it was a different type of anxiety. I remember a lot of that week. I remember the topic of my talk, many of the faces at my farewell, the food afterwards (the fantasy football the day of…I was still human, cut me some slack), the goodbyes, my last supper at Durango’s with my family, my last lunch at Fazoli’s with my friends, more goodbye’s, being set apart (beating Logan at madden that evening…the bishop said it was ok…he beat me the night he was set apart too…family tradition) and the drive to the MTC.

I listened to “we’ll bring the world his truth” so many times on that trip. I love that song, but it will never quite be the same. There was so much confusion that day. The meeting with my parents and Logan was especially touching. My mom cried (expected), my dad teared up a little (not expected) and Logan and I didn’t cry (expected). We did fist bump it goodbye though. I don’t know if you are a faithful enough reader (or know me well enough) to catch that I don’t always feel like I get along with my Dad, and the point now isn’t to analyze that relationship…but when he teared up, that was a touching moment to me. But we eventually said our goodbyes and we turned and went out our separate doors.

This was it, the evil time gremlins could no longer get me for going on my mission (but they will reappear later), I was on my way to being a missionary, full of fear and doubts, as well as excitement and curiosity. I was on my way to…the end of this blog post. If you care to keep reading, please do, but if not, I understand. Until tomorrow night.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Fantasy Football Playoff Projections

Click here to see where this applies.

This is how the fantasy playoffs are shaping up. By the time you read this you will be able to see what the current rankings are. I’m basing my information on what the rankings should be, but it is very possible I made a type on a few points, but overall, this should be pretty accurate. Now on to the playoff implications

OUT

Geoff, Tyler, and Trevor. It looks like we’ll be having a new champion and new second place as well. With 4 losses each and 7 other teams with 6+ wins, they can’t catch up with only one game to play. But guess what, there is a consolation bracket, so it’s not a battle of suck for luck…or Peterson, or whoever will be the #1 pick next year.

IN

Rob, Jordan, and Kyle. After this week Rob took the first seed from Jordan. Rob has a huge point advantage, so Jordan can only claim it back with a win and a Rob loss. However, if Jordan loses and Kyle wins, he could lose his first round bye. Either way, all 3 are in…I’ll mention seeding more later.

Probably In
Ren, Matt and Skyler. Ren and Matt are both the point leaders of all the 6 win teams and Skyler is leading his division. They aren’t all locks, but they still control their own destiny…as much as you can control fantasy football that is.


Need Help

Brady, Chad and Konner. They need to win their games, have others lose their games, and outscore different opponents to get in. I’ll go through all of those scenarios here in a moment.


Scenarios

Excluding the 3 who are out, here are the possible situations for playoff seeds and even making the playoffs.


Rob – Is in 1st and can finish no worse than 2nd. He has a first round bye locked up again.


Jordan – Can finish 1st with a win and a Rob loss, or can finish 1st with other strange scenarios that involve him outscoring Rob by 260 points. We won’t go there. He can finish 3rd in the power rankings and 4th overall (see Kyle). He can do no worse than 4th.

Kyle – Can finish 1st with a far out scenario: not realistic. He can finish 2nd with a win and a Jordan loss (as long as Jordan doesn’t outscore him by 100). If he loses, he will get 3rd overall, but 4th in the seeding because the North division will claim the #3 seed.

Skyler – Will win his division if he beats Brady and will claim the 3 seed (see chad and brady to see what happens if he loses).

Matt – Is in with a win. Points shouldn’t be an issue. He will claim the 5th seed.


Ren – In with a win, he will claim the 6th seed.

Chad – Needs to win, needs Brady to beat Skyler, and he needs to outscore Brady by 43 and outscore Skyler by 100.


Brady – Can get into the playoffs if he beats Skyler by 56 points and as long as chad doesn’t outscore him by 43.

Konner – gets in with a win and a loss by Matt or Ren. He would claim the 5th seed if they both lost, and Matt would get the 6th, or he can claim the 6th if one wins and the other loses.

These are the most realistic scenarios I could see. For example Chad and Brady could both make the playoffs with huge games, but they are so huge it's not realistic. Feel free to add any realistic scenarios you see.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

My Car

I have had many issues with cars over time, but the Camry has been the best that I have had. She had some issues, but now I don't have to take care of them.

Examples.

1. I don't have to vacuum it out.

2. I don't have to take out the trash.

3. The oil spill is no longer my problem.

4. I don't have to wash the car.


These are of course the silver lining that I found to my car being ruined over the weekend. I guess we got an oil leak recently and didn't know. I didn't trust the oil light because 1, we recently had the oil changed, 2 the light was on and off (never consistent) and 3 the battery seemed to be having issues. The clock would always reset, as would the radio presets, and other lights would flicker on and off.

She was a great car, but she is gone now... enjoy your rest Camry, your gas mileage was legendary.

Monday, November 21, 2011

A worthless post

This is merely so I can get points for Mcom. I hope the TA hasn't checked yet

Thursday, November 10, 2011

JoePa, Bear River, and the People's Champ

So this blog is going to be all about football. I realize this isn't my sports blog, but I feel this is more appropriate here than there. So buckle up, this one's a doozy.

First Note: Scandals at PSU

First and foremost, my thoughts go out to those kids and their families. What has happened to them is beyond words. Those kids will be scarred and scared for life more than likely. How will they ever be able to trust anyone again? A sick sick man created a group for at risk youth, and then used that to find vulnerable children for his sick ways. Seeing as how I'm pretty sure he's going to jail, I think he'll find out all about people's sick ways. But back to those kids. I hope they find something (not drug/alcohol or self-harming related) to get over this. I invite you to read about Sheldon Kennedy, former NHL player who was molested by his coach as a child. I can't find the article, but he puts these kid's hell into words that I can't. The chances of any of them reading this are slim, but if there is that small chance, know that you did nothing wrong. Don't blame yourself and please find a way to be healed. The majority of people are not like this scumbag. Don't blame yourself or do anything rash to find a quick fix.

Now that I have mentioned this most important part, I feel like I can move on to the part about Joe Paterno. I understand why the university felt like he had to go, but they handled it so poorly. The man did so much for that school for so long, that they could have showed him some respect when they let him go. But over the phone? Really? You don't even break up with a girlfriend that you are sick of over the phone. Show some class. While I am not a Penn St. fan, it does sadden me to see Joe go, but I'm not sure the university had any other choice. Either way, the game this weekend wouldn't have been the same, and who knows how bad the PR would have been to keep Joe. I understand that legally, Joe did his part, and I respect that. I agree he should have done more, but McQueary is in the same boat, yet still has a job. That is called hypocrisy. I wish Joe would have done more, and it's unfortunate that the system failed him, but I'm glad there are no charges against him.

Moving on to something less serious.

5 years ago to the day (well the day that I started this blog, not when it was published) marks the day that I last put on shoulder pads and played high school football. That game was the end to a great time in life that was turned sour by politics and all sorts of bull. I love my teammates and coaches, but there were some issues there that shouldn't have happened -- as you can see I might still be a little bitter, but I'll avoid the specifics. I think it's safe to say that was the saddest day of my life. When I left on my mission, I knew I'd see my family again. When my grandma passed away, I knew that temple sealings, the Atonement and the Plan of Salvation would take care of that (and will take care of any future family members that hopefully have lots of years ahead of them). I knew the NFL lockout wouldn't last forever. Ok so that last one really wasn't that sad of a day. But I knew that once I took those pads off after the game, I would never get the chance to put them back on. It was one of the toughest things I did, simply because I put in so much time, energy, and devotion into football. It was (and still is) a big part of who I was/am.

There are few people/groups in this world I will not forgive (mostly due to sports). In no specific order, here is that list:

Michael Jordan - You know you pushed off.
Brett Favre's Packers - DIE! (I do like the A Rog Packers though)
The Aikman's Cowboys - See above. Part of the reason I hate both teams is because they torched the 49ers when I was a kid, and they were my favorite team.
Bill Buckner - Bruce Hurst, a local St. George guy could have been world series MVP...MVP dangit!!!
Bear River - please see above paragraph about football.
Whoever tackled Kevin Dyson 1 yard short of winning the Superbowl for the Titan's.
Alex Smith/Urban Meyer - I hate them, but I love me some Tebow/Meyer.
James Lark/Pine View - 42-0...enough said.
Pine View Basketball - We were better than you my senior year...lucky.
The Yankee's - Evil Empire
Dolores Umbridge - May not be real, but I hate her anyways...


So that's my list...as you see, Bear River makes it. I will probably never get over it, and every 9th of November, I'm sure Jocelyn will hear about it and will eventually tell me to shut up. Good thing my birthday is the 10th of November (hint hint)... that way I can tell her she has to be nice to me and let me complain as a birthday present. Having to live on the same floor as Garland Munns at the MTC was painful...and then James Lark was on the floor above. Truth be told, I don't hate all these people (except umbridge, the only fictional character), I just hate what they and their teams have done to me.

Flag Football

Well this one is more recent. We played tonight. We had a close game, but thanks to some key plays by everybody, we won 21-14. Lindon gets the MVP award two games in a row now. He's our Mr. Clutch. It was a very close game and we were even down at one point. Even though the refs didn't want to help us out, we still got the win. Not that I like to hate on refs after being one, but that game was a joke. To the kid who was wearing the white shirt on the other team that kept flopping and looked like he was going to cry after losing - Man up. This is football, not futbol. No flopping allowed in a man's game. And if you ever want to get in Ben's face again (when not on the field and in a position to get a yellow card) I will be right behind him ready to back him up. Also, I'm not sure how Ben got a PI called on him where he had position and the defender had to run towards him to break up the play. Also, I'm mad that it took away a miracle of a touchdown throw from me. Come on guys, that will never happen again...ever. The exciting thing is we won and we live for another game.

Well that's it for football, if you made it this far, you are a trooper, or bored...or in class and are mega bored. Have a great day, and feel free to wish me a happy birthday. You know you want to. This should be the only birthday self promotion I make today...eh, maybe I'll try and get a few RT's on twitter, but still.

In honor of the TMR, my favorite fantasy football writer, I will begin to conclude my blog like he does. Skyler Aitken would also like to add the heat to his list of hate. Not the Miami Heat, he loves those guys, but the heat from the sun. Cold is more his thing. He is the author of this blog and enjoys writing strange things from time to time at very late hours, so please forgive all typos and grammatical errors. Not that you have twitter, but if you do you can follow him... @SkylerAitken

In honor of club trillion, I would like to finally conclude by saying:
Proud to be an American, but even prouder to be a Flyer and a People's Champ (flag football team name).

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Experiment

So this blog post doesn't really count... I just downloaded the app on my phone and wanted to try it out, plus it counts as doing homework. I love being productive.

Not that a lot of you read my blogs consistently, but I have had 800 vies in my 40 blog posts. With an average of 20 views per post I feel rather special. I'm not trying to sound that cool because that number is probably a lot higher for most of your blogs, but thanks for making me feel important anyways. Also, I'm not trying to post pictures as a way I saying how awesome I look (I took a nap today anyways so there is a lack of awesomeness) but it's because I am experimenting with my app...plus I have to for blogging. So now that I can get two birds with one stone, I will. Until a real blog post, peace out.