Y am I in The Land of the Walking Dead?

As the semester continues on I feel I spend countless hours in the library, I find myself there late at night and first thing in the morning. Sleep deprivation and student life go hand in hand. As I sit here in the library I look at my fellow classmates and I see them walking, but don't seem to be living. Their eyes half shut, close wrinkled, and their faces seem to be lifeless as they go about studying. I am in one sense dead, dead tired, energy deprived, and very much zombie like. Yet my life is so consumed with school work, work, church callings, and responsibilities that I feel lifeless, that I live for the next days to do list, and the cycle just keeps going. You think you have finished and they you realize that the cycle has just begun once again. BYU campus, though full of life seems to me to be the Land of the Walking Dead, where life and energy is last due to lack of sleep, nutrient deprivation, and youth sucked from us as we strive for higher education.

Research Paper

As I thought of what I am studying (business), I wanted to choose a topic that would have some kind of relevance. As I thought of subjects I found articles on the great influence of media advertising on the moral standards that a society holds. I found that advertising tends to be most influential on younger generations that changes future generations after them. Advertising is meant to motivate people to do what advertisers want, whether that be something very good, something very bad, or something that is neither. Advertisements for alcohol consumption is what I have decided to research, the influence and the cost at which that has come on society. I have so many studies, that have strong results to show that advertising and other medias that show alcohol as positive, and drinkers as responsible popular adults, leads our society to a wrongful view of alcohol consumption amongst us.
I am very excited to see what influence advertisements play in society's moral view, and see if that can also be used for good to change the way it influences us.

Y We Carved Pumpkins!

During the week our lives are caught up in a whirlwind of events and activities that consume our time. More recently I have been more focused on school and spending invalulable time with my spouse rather than going to work tediously day in and day out. This evening as I was finally relaxing, I felt uncomfortable being "unproductive." So what is productivity? The dictionary say that productivity is the quality, state or fact of being able to generate, create, enhance or bring forth good services. So does this mean serving my wife is productivity?

Y do I have to be sick?

The last week has been full of coughs, sniffles, and aching bones. As the seasons change, fall comes, leaves change and every year without fail I am miserable, caught between summer and fall and as sick as can be. I found myself laying on the floor looking up at the ceiling trying to remember the last time I wasn't sick, and as my head throbbed and nose as red as can be it's hard to remember that day. I closed my eyes and tried to remember what it felt like to feel normal. As I look out my apartment window up to the mountain, it expresses my feelings so well in just one letter, Y?

General Conference

In his talk "We Are All Enlisted" Elder Holland captivates his audience and analogies to convey a deep message. He addresses the Aaronic Priesthood, a group of young men that may have difficulty grasping abstract concepts, Elder Holland uses the analogy of sports and the field they are played on to capture the attention of his youthful audience.  Elder Holland explains the need for missionaries, and ones that are prepared to serve, he said "So we need young men already on the team to stay on it and stop dribbling out of bounds just when we need you to get in the game and play your hearts out! In almost all athletic contests of which I know, there are lines drawn on the floor or the field within which every participant must stay in order to compete. Well, the Lord has drawn lines of worthiness for those called to labor with Him in this work. No missionary can be unrepentant of sexual transgression or profane language or pornographic indulgence and then expect to challenge others to repent of those very things! You can’t do that. The Spirit will not be with you, and the words will choke in your throat as you speak them. You cannot travel down what Lehi called “forbidden paths” and expect to guide others to the “strait and narrow” one—it can’t be done." A lot of times youth need to be spoken to very directly and he says very directly to repent, stay in the bounds, and stay on the Lord's team. He not only entertained our train of thought, bought taught a deep doctrine of righteousness and repentance.

Tired of this?

While thinking back to the last month, I have found myself asking the question "Why this?" more that once. While I know I have been blessed beyond what I can even begin to acknowledge it still seems to be a regular occurrence.
To start Jessica was going to work and she got a flat tire, the damage was enough that I had to replace the tire, and while I was at it I had to replace the other side. New tires, was an expense that I had not planned on and it was quite the hit to newly weds. Why this?
Later that week we were in Layton visiting our family. We got in late, it was probably around 1 am and I left the car on the street. Waking up in the morning I had planned to go golfing with some friends, instead Jessica found our car, and two others with slashed tires. Instead of golfing I spent the day at Discount Tire replacing my tires for the second time of the week. Another hit to the wallet. Why this?