Not Much.

What’s up?

-Not much

How’s it goin’ ?

-It’s goin’

That’s about the state of things. Though I did get a visit from my Bop Brother up here in Idaho! That was fun. Staying up all night discussing Ether. (among other things) and Life is good.

As for exciting news: It’s almost time for Thanksgiving Break!

I will not only be able to see family and friends! (most exciting!) But I (weather permitting) May see the final two BYU Home games (almost as exciting) So How’s it goin’ ? …Pretty well.

Life is Good.

Frisbee and God’s Everlasting Love

I’m sad to say Frisbee season is over.

I signed up along with Jeremy at the beginning of the semester on the ‘free agent list’ meaning the list of people who don’t know enough people to make a team. And I got lucky! I had the coolest team ever. Our first game was a solid hour scrimmage against ourselves and a few friends everyone had brought to the first game. This was made possible by one of the ‘real’ teams not showing up. But we had everyone. And we were good. Our team name became The Voldemorts. (apparently something to do with the office I never understood)

In truth all I was thinking when I signed up was “ So they organize a Frisbee game and make sure you get to play every week? Cool!” But I got more than that. I met a lot of really cool people and we kicked trash on the Frisbee field with only two regular season losses (one in triple overtime).

Last night we were kicked out of the single round elimination tournament, playing the 1st ranked pyroneers. Truth be told there were some very sketchy aspects of their win. But I came just to play Frisbee. Mission accomplished. Thank you Voldemorts!

On another note. I will be singing in Utah! Yep. Apparently every two years BYU Idaho pays a composer to create an entirely original sacred oratorio. The text is traditionally scripture dealing with the restoration. This year is the first year they are using a modern day prophets word as the text. The text for ‘God’s Everlasting Love’ Is by Elder Bednar. And the piece is composed by Robert Cundick. It Sounds absolutely amazing!

And we’re going to perform it in the tabernacle on temple square! So if you can make it I would love to see familiar faces there. We will be performing. November 14th at 7:30 as far as I know tickets are free and can be obtained online through temple square events. I’m really very excited to be a part of this performance.

Here ‘tis the link: http://www.lds.org/events/info/0,8197,726-1-739,00.html

Static

I know the last post really wasn’t all that adequate.

But recently it seems like all I have going on in my head is static.

Have you ever had enough going on in your head that it just cancels its’ self out and all that you can make sense of it is static? Sometimes it makes sense and a few words come out but immediately after they don’t make sense anymore and you’re left with static again. Yeah… Its not all bad. I really am fine. Just have enough going on in my head that it’s not coming out right away. 

I promise (for anyone interested) I’ll post again and actually put something here but for now all that I'm getting out of my head is……

Static.

In the end Life Is Good. :)

Yeah...

So...I miss my Family.

End of story.

March to the Sound of the Guns

The title is how Elder Dallin H Oaks started his talk today at devotional.

And what a great Devotional.

I was privileged to sing in this devotional. (And thus guaranteed a ticket to the Hart auditorium :) We sang Hope of Israel and it went very well. I enjoy that song and it was just as powerful as it could have been.

Singing aside, Elder Oaks talk was something to behold. He spoke of a war that we are in. But not the war with Satan that has been going on since the war in heaven. And not the war with the natural man that we all must face. He dealt with a slightly more temporal war though not without real ramifications.

Elder Oaks addressed the increasing loss of religious freedom in our country and spoke of it very much with the same rhetoric that we ascribe to the war with Satan. It really was powerful to hear an apostle of the Lord give such a definitive and direct speech.

A few highlights I wrote are as follows:

after speaking about the process of gaining religious freedom and how many nations are on their way to gaining that freedom he stated that the United States has had at its core the most religious freedom allotted to man. He confirmed that the constitution was ordained of God and then quoted the first amendment, and stated he was going to focus on the clause “No law prohibiting the free exercise thereof (religion)”

He said the conflict of religious freedom is in need of our defending. and named at least two major problems in our society that we must address:

1. Silencing Religious voices in the public square.

2. Religious freedoms diluted by other ‘new’ and in some cases ‘Alleged’ civil rights.

He also gave five ways we should conduct ourselves in our fight to defend religious freedom.

1.Speak with love and be patient.

2. Do not be deterred by intimidation or oppression.

3.Insist on freedom to teach our doctrine.

4. Know and defend that we have a right to speak publically but we must be wise in our political engagements.

5. Never support the idea that someone should adhere to some religious test for public office. (against the constitution.)

He made it quite clear that the problems he addressed are going to be the problems that we will face in our lifetime. So it is up to the ‘Hope of Israel’ to make the difference dealing with religious freedom in our age.

I know my paraphrasing does not do justice to everything that Elder Oaks discussed. So I encourage anyone who is interested to look up the talk. It can be watched on: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/apostle-says-religious-freedom-is-being-threatened

Or read: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/religious-freedom

It is worth the time.

Guess what? There IS Snow on the Ground!

Yep. it’s been snowing all morning. And probably most of the night. Now not too much is sticking. It’s still a first snow, when it just sticks to trees and grass and melts as soon as it hits the sidewalks and roads. But it’s snow and it really is beautiful. I know I’ll eat these words but it is nice. It’s clean and not too cold now.

Conference was amazing. Elder Holland is still one of my favorites who just tells you how it is. Conference weekend was enjoyable. Good friends, Good food, Good fun. Can’t beat that.

Let’s see any other random junk….?

I beat Jeremy again at Racquetball. My ultimate Frisbee team is amazing and undefeated. And…Life Is Good.

And that’s a Win!

Oh man finally!

I Have BEATEN Jeremy at racquetball!

In case you’re wondering this makes one win in like 60-70 games in the time that we’ve been up here at Idaho. We just sit there realizing neither of us wants to do homework so we look at our clock and say… “5:00 time for racquetball.” and we proceed to the hart building where we usually play 3-4 games Eric losing every one.

But today

A WIN!

Jeremy is still the master and I am still the Padawan but nevertheless it feels good.

In other news much like the rest of the mountain west its cold now. Just like that. One day shorts and t-shirts and then Pow! Snow on the ‘hills’ east of campus and a rain snow mix all day. But:

Life Is Good.

So I’m……Married?

Yeah…I have officially received my calling in the BYU-I 39th Singles Ward. FHE Coordinator. AKA Dad for a group of guys and gals all my age or older.

This is a case of the Lord coming down and saying: “Eric thou shalt remove thyself from thy comfort zone.”

Hmm…This is going to be fun. Honestly I’m not too worried but it’s a little odd to turn around after sacrament meeting and have a gal I hardly know saying “hey sweetie! lets go wait in line to be set apart! :)” yep…pretty much.

Successful Sunday Dinner

My mother is a genius! She was the one that suggested I bring a Croc-Pot to college, and it was a good idea.

Last Sunday Jeremy and I wandered around looking lost in our small dorm room looking and hoping that Sunday dinner would appear. And by grace and good luck it did! Our FHE sisters sent us homemade enchiladas that were very good. But…

We decided we probably should not rely on the good fortune and inspired FHE sisters every Sunday so we walked down to Broulims (the local version of Allens) and stocked up for a good Sunday dinner. Croc-Pot Chicken in cream of chicken and cream of celery soup and rice and green beans. Yep. You may not find it that impressive but we thought it was pretty good for not having a kitchen! 

Other than that I have begun to realize that it is going to take me quite a while to get used to Priesthood in a home economics room and Sacrament meeting with a large periodic table of the elements above the pianist.

And that’s all from Rexburg at the moment.

Math, Humanities, and CHOIR!

I suppose I’ll post the ‘MWF’ version of my last post (not my brothers last post)

The day starts out with FDMAT 108 or ‘math for the real world’ definitely my speed. But the professor is pretty darn scatterbrained. the first day was spent waiting as she tore up her bag looking for her flash drive and repeating herself over and over again, only to realize: ‘I already told you that didn’t I?’ I suppose it could be worse I don’t dread the class so life is good.

Next is Humanities which so far as been art appreciation 101 and had nothing to do with literature. I’m hoping that this one picks up because I was pretty excited for a ‘Homer to Tolkien’ class.

Then MENS CHORUS! I am so excited for this choir. a few of the pieces we are singing are: Hope of Israel, The Morning Trumpet arr. Mack Willberg, and an Ave Maria arrangement by Franz Biebl that I did in Europe, but the men’s arrangement is so different and amazing. Among others we are also doing an Eric Whitacre that I have never heard of before.

So there’s MWF. In other news it rained up here today (cold and wind driven) so… There’s the random news you all know you really needed.

He He (Evil laughter) this is going to be fun

oh Eric!

guess what

you forgot to log out of your computer at home

Do you know what this means?

I can mess around with your blog!

this could get interesting

-Scruffy

Arabs, Doctorine and Busy Work

That's about how every Tuesday and Thursday will be for the next four months.

The day starts with FDINT Middle East. This class I am actually excited for. Mainly because it is the only social science oriented class that I have this semester. (History Education Major taking no history classes....hmm oops) But this class will be fun, challenging and informative based on one day in class.

The next class in 15 min. Is FDREL 122 or the latter half of the Book of Mormon. My professor is amazing. Brother Satterfield. And a good friend of Bob Walsh! Yay! He was kinda panicked when he came in. He said "is this really a 122 class?" after hesitant nods by the freshman laden class he says "Oh dear......I haven't taught this in 16 years....I don't have a syllabus.....I'll be giving the prayer today." So he commences to pray for the lord to inspire us to help him know how to teach the class. Well, turns out he teaches 121 by using the whole Book of Mormon and discusses it by topic. He used a talk by .....dangit..can't remember. But the quote was that a cover to cover reading of a book of scripture is only the first step to let the living water flow, and that the next level is to study by topic (thus needing the whole book). He asked by raise of hands how many of us had read the Book of Mormon cover to cover. Almost the entire class Then he asked how many of us had already been presented a chronological approach to the Book of Mormon OK we're at BYU Idaho...anybody who did not raise their hand did not understand the question...lets define chronological....seminary...sunday school...primary etc. Well that turned out, obviously, to be most of the class. So it looks like, hopefully, we will be using his 121 method looking at the Book of Mormon by topic and just throw out the idea of only using just the last half of the Book. I'm excited.

Finally FDSCI 101.....

Oh Dear....

I did not know college had that much busy work...

It is going to be an interesting class....

So: day one of four months down.

Please restart your blog now…

So I've noticed that every one of my posts have been….Oops, Sorry, Forgot I had a blog. And then commence to Post something really random.

So apologies aside. I’m Going to try…*hehe* to keep up with this blog thing here at BYU IDAHO! yep. Here I am up in Rexburg Idaho. It’s really been loads of fun but Different Than expected. Yeah. You may have read Jeremy’s post on his larger plates but the freshmen Orientation was EFY for three days. We had councilors (I team leaders) Companies (I Teams) and the I team leaders even wore khaki and orange polo's. So that was unexpected. Not bad but unexpected.

I also met someone who knows John! I was talking to this Kid in my I team who also lives in Buddulph (I will learn how to pronounce and spell that before I leave here) anyhoo.This fellow, Mitchell, Is from Washington and he started to explain how he was from a really small town with a crazy Indian name and I asked if it was near Kennewick. He said kinda’ and I just absent mindedly informed him that I had a good friend who was serving in Kennewick and he asked who.I said John Gay and he got excited (not many Elder Gays in the mission field) Well Come to find out he ‘loves Elder Gay he’s so cool’ and that Elder Gay helped baptize his sister’s boyfriend. It was pretty awesome.

Yep. Life is good. Classes start tomorrow and while I may eat these words I’m actually pretty excited for class to start. More then.

P.S. if any of you folks feel inclined to write me My address is: Biddulph Hall #246 Rexburg, ID 83460-0046

2500 Miles later:

So that was a fun and very LONG trip. Literally about 2500 miles in a minivan with 5 people. Now all of you with huge families laughing at me can just be quiet for a second, because the average leg of the journey went something like this:

My dad is driving my grandmother is co-piloting and the stupid GPS named Archibald is hollering at everyone RECALCULATING! meaning grandma told dad to go a different way the GPS doesn't like, and my dad really can't hear either my grandmothe,r the GPS, my mother or my brother and I killing each other in the back seat... Fun stuff!

But really it was an amazing trip. I Am always amazed at god's creations and the idea that we helped create some of this earth is another amazing concept I'm still trying to grasp. So life is good and I'm home. (Which in the end is always an amazing feeling in and of it's self.)

A Post From California

Hey Folks,

I don't Have a lot of time but we'll see what I can do.

The redwoods are amazing. Northern California is beautiful. And I have interesting relatives....

Life is good. Sorry about the lack of details...I should be home on Sunday the 7th. A little early but that's just fine.

PS. Skyler I owe you an apology Nevada was actually quite beautiful. I stand corrected.

Just Thinkin'

Oh boy,

Ok I won't try to recap what's happened since March..whatever when I last posted so here is what I'm thinkin' today...

Lasts: It is amazing to me that there have been so many lasts recently....my last real day at work was today. I've cleaned those same rooms for 3 solid years. Hated much of it, hollered at my vacuum (both out loud and to myself) I've held long discussions with myself and a handful of all of the rest of you reading this. I've met and enjoyed the company of my boss over that time. My boss is one of the coolest guys I've met. I haven't said much about him but he is a real man. He is one who 'works hard for his dollar and never passes the blame' he is fun to talk with, or just listen to and he has a heart a size fitting of his large 6'3" stature. But today was the last day and the thing that was interesting about it is that it wasn't. It wasn't interesting or different it was just another day. I went and didn't see anyone I just did my work and went on with life.

That's what has stuck out to me with all of the Lasts that have been happening, or that are coming. They have been pretty anti climatic. Just there. Like today the last real day of school. it just happened. nothing special. Hmm Oh well. I'm not complaining and I'm sure we'll all make memories before we let this school year die out but that's what's on my mind. (sorry if this is not all that exciting for a long break in posting but it's as good as it's getting.)

Spending All Morning On My Side

That's about how this last Saturday went. But I can now hold my head high as a Utah citizen and say I have been skiing. ...

Or at least I made a valiant attempt at falling down the mountain strapped to two pieces of wood. As the title says I really spent most of the afternoon laying on my side trying to figure out how to get back up, and when I did how to not hit the trees that were coming quite rapidly in my direction. For those of you who know how to ski (or for anyone else for that matter) it must have been quite a sight. This year however I did not hit any trees... I took one out. Yep it came down to me or that little sapling and I won. Still truth be told, even through the thoughts of 'man was not made to ski' or rather 'man was not meant to fall down a mountain strapped to two boards' I did enjoy it.

As for Saturday evening I was able to attend the open house at Hy-Pointe and Logan I'll say it again. Your grandfather has the coolest house in Utah. It was a pleasure to see Hy-pointe again and just go through it with Friends. Thank-you Logan.

So we Know Eric Loses...

Ok, I do lose at this Blog thing...I write about twice a month and usually it's full of absolutely nothing, but who am I to break tradition.

So life is good but confusing.
School can Suck a FISH!
and yet that is where I see my Friends so....School WORK can Suck a fish.

I have nothing more intelligent to say....I really need a way to be posting here while I'm speaking to my vacuum at work I write/say all sorts of stuff then, but it never finds its way here.

The end.

Education....hmm?

I've been contemplating a discussion held at a ceremony practice a while back and thought I would expound on it here.

To the members of the ceremony team I hope I do the discussion justice.

Higher education In today's society only makes it half way. In today's colleges we are told to value each opinion and always look at both sides of an issue. Good? Yes. but it does not complete the Idea of being educated. Back in the day you were taught to reason meaning you would not just look at issues and validate alone, You would pick something and stick with it until either you have proven it right, or someone else has given enough evidence to prove you wrong. Higher education provides a vehicle to a lot of new ideas. But we need to not just validate every point we come across we need to Make educated decisions.

Ok I'm done. but it's something that Government sparked in me I don't care if the teacher is wrong at least I can make decisions about what I can take from that class. It's the fact that she (my teacher) does not even get to the first level of THINKING she just regurgitates the bloody book!

Informed I Am Not.

So, just the other day I was invited to be interviewed by a Palestinian student that Kimberly knows. Her name was Hanadi (I'm sorry if I killed that). And she wanted to know what American students thought about the Palestinian Israeli conflict that is going on right now.

My realization I do not know as much as I thought about current events. I was forced to explain that in front of her camera. But apparently in order to be informed about this issue you have to dig like mad on the Internet. According to NBC "X" number of soldiers go in and they move to other news. What they fail to tell us is that "Y" number of Palestinian were killed by "X" number of soldiers because Israel will not let journalists in.

Grr. The conversation at the Wilk on campus made me disgusted. Palestine is a prison right now nobody comes in (except American financed gun toting Israeli soldiers.) And nobody comes out, including all of the homeless Palestinian natives. So here is the challenge if you want to be informed see if you can come to one of Mr. Birds classes Feb 16th and 17th (I might be wrong about those dates so I will make sure) because Kimberly will be teaching and I believe Hanadi will also be there. So come and get informed about something I was not.

PS. These are the correct dates.

Ok Maybe I Should Post Something...

Its' been a while.

But hey the term is ending, and while this is not going to be pretty (in fact this term will be horrible as far as grades are concerned) It was A. a lot of fun and B. Long. It will feel so good to have the slate clean and be able to try to do a little better with staying on top of things this next term. We'll have to see how it goes.