Why do we fight?

I've been studying about war in my Constitution class. Some really interesting stuff there--like why we call captured enemy "enemy combatants" instead of "prisoners of war" and why we hold them at Guantanamo Bay instead of in the US.
All that's good and interesting, and I hope everyone who wants to have an educated opinion about war would look into those matters.
But I want to discuss something else: what's our motivation for going to war?
With the war in Afghanistan, it's pretty obvious. They were harboring the people who caused 9/11.
With Iraq, it's more complicated.
Democrats say it's because they have oil, or it's because powerful Republicans have connections with the companies that are doing major work there (see Dick Cheney, previous Vice President of Halliburton).
Republicans say it's because of nuclear weapons (now known to be non-existent) or to free people from a dictatorship, or because of links to 9/11 (also known to be non-existent).
Both views are way too simple.
Individuals may have simple reasons for going to war. But the war in Iraq is being fought for many reasons.
It's obviously not just fought because of dangerous nuclear weapons, or to free an oppressed a free people. If that were the case, we'd be in North Korea right now. Unlike Iraq, we know that North Korea has nuclear weapons. They tested one! And conditions in North Korea are horrible. They do a much better job of keeping reporters out, and they do a much better job of keeping their people oppressed, than Hussein ever did in Iraq.
So obviously, something more is going on. There are other reasons for why we're in Iraq (although the fear of nuclear weapons and freeing an oppressed people may have been part of the equation). We ignore these other reasons at our own peril.
So what are the other reasons? I mentioned a few other possibilities (and indeed, Alan Greenspan agrees with the "we're there for the oil" bit).
Why are we in Iraq, and not in North Korea?

Negative coverage of the candidates

There's been a lot of talk about media coverage of the presidential candidates lately. Obama gets more coverage than McCain, Palin gets considerably more than Biden, Obama's tends to be more positive (if you stick to newspapers and don't consider talk radio).
I'd like to discuss character attacks. I've talked about Dirty Politics before, but I'd like to do it again, focusing on what dirt is true about the candidates, and what's actually said.
We'll start with Obama:
A relative told me he's Arab and Muslim. Fact: his father was Muslim. He's Christian (but not the "I'm saved" type Christian). His father didn't do much to raise him--in fact, Obama was primarily raised by his grandmother. Obama was born and, for the most part, raised in the US. He's 100% American and 100% Christian.
Another relative told me he refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance and he's unpatriotic. Also not true.
Certain people (cough cough Sarah Palin cough cough) have said that he's been "pallin' around with terrorists." This comment is an obvious attempt to tie him to 9/11 (since many people believe he's Arab, Muslim, and unpatriotic), and judging from what some of my relatives believe, the attempt will be successful with some people. An acquaintance of his was at one time involved with domestic terrorism, but has now become a prominent, well-respected member of his community. Once a terrorist, always a terrorist? Or can people change? And does acquaintance equal "pallin' around"?
From what I've seen, people don't discuss Obama's former drug use much. Sounds like he wasn't the best-behaved teenager.
Obama's campaign shows a bit more respect towards McCain--they don't imply he's a terrorist--but they also try to put him in a negative light, and they try to show him as out-of-touch with the middle-class. However, for some reason, they've restrained from attacks on his personal life--they don't bring up his first marriage or his affairs very often. They also don't talk about where Cindy McCain gets her money--from alcohol. The alcohol lobby happens to be very powerful.
The media is very quiet about Biden. Seriously, he gets very little attention.
Palin, like Obama, gets a ton of attention. Why? Like Obama, she's a polarizing figure. Early on, there were some distasteful rumors about her baby actually being her grandchild (obviously false). There were also rumors about her belonging to an organization whose main goal was to have an Alaska vote for secession (sounds pretty un-American to me...) The last time that happened, we had a civil war. In any case, she was not a member of the group, but her husband was, and she had spoken at some of their meetings. Question--how much have you heard about her association with this group? Now think back to when Obama's pastor was in the news. How much coverage did his anti-American sentiment get? I really don't think the media's favoring Obama here.
My take is this. The media's goal is to make money. They get more money talking about Obama's pastor than Mr. Palin's organization, because, frankly, it's more interesting.
My other take--for some reason, when it comes to believing lies about a candidate, the lies about Obama are much worse than the lies about McCain. Obama may have more positive coverage, but very little of the coverage on McCain is as filthy as the talk radio coverage or the mass email coverage that's about Obama.
Do you agree or disagree with my take on it?
Why does Obama get more positive media coverage?
And why do the lies about Obama tend to be so much worse?

Colin Powell

Colin Powell, former Secretary of State under George W. Bush, is endorsing Obama.
I don't think there's a more influential endorsement out there.
I'd heard rumors that he might be supporting Obama, but I didn't believe them. Go look up his reasons for doing so.
Wow.

Church debt and Saracuda

Two brief topics here.
First, a cool article from the Salt Lake Tribune. "Every church in America is up to its eyeballs in debt...Only Mormons, Muslims, Amish and a few other groups are not financed this way...In fact, Mormons can't build anything without having the money in hand."
Very cool. And maybe a good example for its members.

The other totally unrelated topic which I found hilarious (and I apologize if I offend any Palin supporters, but here goes...)
Palin has a nickname--Sarah Barracuda. I'm not sure if her fans still call her that, but they did for a while.
When I first heard it, I immediately thought of the Heart song. So I wasn't surprised when the McCain campaign started playing that song (I also wasn't surprised when the Wilson sisters, who front Heart, told them to stop playing it.)
Like many rock songs, the lyrics are difficult to understand, so I'll post them here:

So this ain't the end -
I saw you again today
I had to turn my heart away
Smiled like the sun -
Kisses for real
And tales - it never fails!

You lying so low in the weeds
I bet you gonna ambush me
You'd have me down down down down on my knees
Now wouldn't you, barracuda?

Back over time we were all
Trying for free
You met the porpoise and me
No right no wrong, selling a song-
A name, whisper game.

If the real thing don't do the trick
You better make up something quick
You gonna burn burn burn burn it to the wick
Ooooooh, barracuda?

Sell me sell you the porpoise said
Dive down deep down to save my head
You...I think you got the blues too.

All that night and all the next
Swam without looking back
Made for the western pools - silly fools!

If the real thing don't do the trick
No, you better make up something quick
You gonna burn burn burn burn it to the wick
Ooooooohhhh, barra barracuda.

What does it mean? I don't know. But here's a picture:


So, why this nickname? And why this as an (unauthorized) theme song? Any ideas?

Pictures on another site

Click here for some pictures of us in Cincinnati.
It's mostly April's blog.

Song of the week

I've decided to sometimes (and not necessarily on a weekly basis) do a song of the week. This one is my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands. In a world where modern poetry is usually nothing more than stream-of-thought garbage, a few brave souls, who still know how to rhyme, fight back. This is from Neil Peart, world-class drummer and lyricist of Rush:

Subdivisions

Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In between the bright lights
And the far unlit unknown

Growing up it all seems so one-sided
Opinions all provided
The future pre-decided
Detached and subdivided
In the mass production zone

Nowhere is the dreamer
Or the misfit so alone

Subdivisions ---
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
Subdivisions ---
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out

Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth

Drawn like moths we drift into the city
The timeless old attraction
Cruising for the action
Lit up like a firefly
Just to feel the living night

Some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rats
Get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight

Somewhere out of a memory
Of lighted streets on quiet nights...


Don't get me wrong. I grew up in a suburb (although not a generic cookie-cutter one, and my backyard was a wetland). But these lyrics bring up some good points. The video for this, if you can find it, is also quite good. Envision a helicopter shot of a regular suburban city--each house exactly the same, and spread out for miles. No individuality. 100% conformity. Minimal creativity. Lacking the excitement of the city and lacking the peace of the country.
For a classic picture very close to where I grew up, click here.
Why do people seek this?
Thoughts?

Why vote for Obama

No candidate for political office is perfect. But I want to give a quick list of reasons why I like Obama without attacking McCain or McCain's VP pick.
1. He's intelligent. I realize people like to vote for candidates they can relate to, and sometimes smarter candidates are hard to relate to. But I want a candidate that's smarter than me (and one that could beat me on an IQ test).
2. He's level-headed. He thinks carefully before he acts, he doesn't lose his temper, and I can trust him to not make rash decisions.
3. He understands the world. He's lived in various states and foreign countries. He's worked with poor people and gone to school with rich people.
4. He has a deep knowledge of the Constitution. He taught Constitutional Law and understands how the laws of the country work.
5. He will appoint Supreme Court justices that will balance out the Supreme Court. Right now, 7 of the 9 justices were appointed by Republican presidents. Most of the justices are level-headed and fairly moderate, but they definitely lean towards the right, and a few more left-leaning justices would balance the court more evenly.
6. He is well-spoken. He has a good control of the English language, and can be persuasive. The president represents the US to the rest of the world, and so this is an important skill.
7. He's a good family man.
8. He has hope, and he has the ability to spread that hope to others. Hope alone doesn't get you anywhere, but it's the first step towards making things better.
9. He doesn't pretend that changing things for the better will be easy. In the Saddleback Forum, he tells us that it won't be easy; that the problems we have will take effort to fix. This kind of honesty is refreshing in a politician.
10. He grew up middle class. He doesn't have rich or powerful family, and he's risen due to his own efforts. His wife also comes from a similar background. They were never given a free pass because of family connections. Contrast this with the Clinton and Bush dynasties.

Comments are welcome. Especially welcome are reasons why you like a specific candidate (instead of reasons you dislike the other one). I'll accept negative comments, but positive ones are preferred.

Spotted on Deseret News website

If you're kid komes hear, she'll spel as good as us!

It's a boy!

April had an ultrasound yesterday.
It's a boy! We got a couple of good pictures, leaving no doubt as to the gender.
April's due February 14th, five days after her birthday.

Supreme Court decisions I disagree with

So today my Constitutional Law professor what Supreme Court decision we disagreed with. I thought for a couple of seconds...and came up with two. Roe v. Wade, and Morrison.
Everyone knows about the first. The second is a famous case, but only for those who follow Supreme Court decisions.
So I was surprised when, this afternoon, I listened to both Palin and Biden answer interview questions about Supreme Court decisions they disagree with.
Of course Palin answered with Roe v. Wade, and then went on to call herself a Federalist (and so she disagrees with non-Federalist cases). Biden spoke about the Morrison case.
Biden spent a good deal of time and effort on a violence against women law. He collected a ton of information about how damaging gender-based crime (rape, etc.) harms people and the economy in general. Part of the study done to pass this law included the fact that women were being treated unfairly at the local level, and states, on an individual basis, were not doing enough to protect women against rape. The federal law would improve conditions for victims of rape. Congress passed the law.
The Supreme Court found it unconstitutional. Constitutional scholars were surprised--I'm not going to try to explain Constitutional Law in one blog post, but their decision was unexpected.
The name of the Supreme Court case is United States v. Morrison.
Look it up for the ugly details.
In any case, I was surprised to hear that Biden had been deeply involved in getting this law passed.
By the way, the Republican party controls the Supreme Court right now--7 of the 9 judges were put there by Republican presidents. Just in case you were wondering.
Now the question you should be asking is this--if 7 of the 9 are Republican, why is Roe v. Wade still law?
Something to think about.

What do you read?

Sarah Palin previously explained that she got her knowledge of the world not from traveling, but from reading.
Which makes the following all that more interesting.
Eric Snider (formerly of BYU) says it best:

The Fountain

The movie that's been compared to a double prog-rock albums gets decent reviews from both April and me.
Artsy. Beautiful. Well-done. Emotional. A little confusing. A bit strange.
Will we watch it again? Probably not. Still, if you're into artsy movies, it's not one you want to miss.
Oh, and it's kind of a chick-flick, in a strange, artsy sort of way.

Thanks

I just wanted to send out a quick thanks to those who read and comment on my blog. I know I say things that many of you disagree with (especially as far as politics go). And I'm fine with that. But I appreciate the fact that most of you are open-minded and think things through.
It's been a while since the WALL-E post, but the comments there prove my point: you guys are great friends, and you're incredibly thoughtful.
Keep up the good work.
We're in interesting times here, with the economy and the elections, and the world needs as many open-minded, intelligent people as it can get.

Movie reviews

I checked out three movies from the library today--Solaris, The Fountain, and Disturbia.
And then I looked up reviews on ericdsnider.com and Rotten Tomatoes. I refuse to waste time on movies that get poor ratings.
Ratings for The Fountain were very mixed. One of the negative reviews from Rotten Tomatoes:
"Ambitious? You bet, but also a towering, tumultuous folly. It's the movie equivalent of a prog-rock double album, short on humour, long on pomposity, and as for what it all means - you might well ask."

I'm sold. I'm definitely going to have to watch this.

Some prog-rock double albums I own:
Pink Floyd--The Wall
Genesis--Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Dream Theater--Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Neal Morse--Testimony
Spock's Beard--Snow
Ayreon--Into the Electric Castle
Ayreon--The Human Equation
And possibly more...

Is backpacking around Europe a negative thing?

I quote from a recent interview mentioned in the LA Times:
In her second "CBS Evening News" interview with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin was asked why she didn't get a passport until 2006. Did it, as some of her viewers wonder, show a lack of curiousity and interest about the world and other cultures?

She told the CBS newsperson that she had to work, sometimes two jobs, and that's why she didn't backpack around Europe like privileged kids do.

"I'm not one of those who maybe come from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduated college and their parents get them a passport and a backpack and say, 'Go off and travel the world.' Noooo. I worked all my life. In fact, I usually had two jobs all my life, until I had kids. ... I was not part of, I guess, that culture."


Now where in the world does owning a passport mean that your parents paid for you to travel around Europe? According to Palin, I'm a priviliged kid.
I'm guessing most people reading this have a passport. I am also guessing that the majority of you have used it more than once (and not just for LDS missions). I am further going to guess that the majority of you paid for your own trips yourself.
I know I have. $6000 for 10 weeks in Europe. My money.
Sorry, Palin. We're not a part of that culture either. We work hard. Most of us even paid our own way through college. But we value travel and experience enough to sacrifice our time and our money for it.
Priviliged? No. Curious about the world? Very much so.

Hurricane Ike in Cincinnati

Sunday afternoon we heard a loud windstorm start up. High winds were interrupted by terrible gusts (think 70-80 mph). The tree in our backyard lost a huge limb. The neighbors across the street lost a huge tree. The electricity went in and out (and quickly back in). Electrical wires fell, some of them onto our driveway. Two blocks down, a large tree fell down and totally blocked off our street.
The whole thing lasted maybe two or three hours.
This evening, the large tree is still in the street. Hundreds of thousands of our neighbors are without electricity. Most of my classmates don't have power (unfortunately, there was power at the law school and at April's work). Numerous traffic lights are out.
The hurricane didn't reach us, but the winds it created did. They say it will take another week until everyone in the Cincinnati area has power again.
We're lucky. Our power is still on. Our house is undamaged (minus some shingles and a little bit of siding).
There's a possibility that we might lose electricity sometime in the next few days. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Dirty Politics

So, pre-election politics are getting pretty dirty. There's a certain class of people that we can always expect crap from. The type of people that say Obama's a Muslim, for example (like Rush Limbaugh). My mother-in-law still believes that (I'm not worried--she's in Idaho, so her vote doesn't really matter). But it's sad when the politicians themselves get into it. And both presidential candidates are.
For example:
Obama claims McCain believes that an income of less than $5 million a year defines middle class. Clearly out of touch, right? McCain did say that...although it's fairly clear that it was said as a joke.
McCain's campaign ad (endorsed by McCain, and later defended by McCain in an interview) claims that Obama wants schools to teach sex ed to kindergartners. Obama's plan, in reality, is a comprehensive sex ed program that would teach age-appropriate information. For kindergartners, it's composed of teaching them how to avoid sexual predators.
It's sad, really, to see these politicians resorting to these tactics. I'm afraid it's getting to the point it did in 2000, when Karl Rove, working for our current president, set up a master plan to defeat McCain in the primaries in South Carolina. Bush's campaign set up a "poll" and asked "Would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain...if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?" McCain was then campaigning with his adopted non-white daughter. Guess who won in South Carolina?
So why do these tactics work? Why are we, as Americans, so gullible? Why don't we demand the truth?
How can we change things around? I have three recommendations:
1. Stay educated. If you hear something that sounds a little to extreme--like $5 million or sex education in kindergarten--check it out through an unbiased source.
2. Let others know what you find out.
3. Vote against the sleaziest. If their misleading attack ads and tactics backfire in the polls, they'll stop.

What does it mean for you to be a Christian?

Two politicians were asked this question recently, and it got me thinking...
Even though Mormons have a lot in common with other Christian religions, there are some important differences that should not be overlooked.
Analyze the following two paragraphs and let me know which one is closer to your beliefs:

Politician 1: As a starting point, it means I believe...that Jesus Christ died for my sins, and that I am redeemed through Him. That is a source of strength and sustenance on a daily basis. I know that I don’t walk alone. And I know that if I can get myself out of the way that, you know, I can maybe carry out in some small way what He intends. And it means that those sins that I have, on a fairly regular basis, hopefully will be washed away.

Politician 2: It means I’m saved and forgiven. And we’re talking about the world. Our faith encompasses not just the United States of America, but the world.

So which is it? If this is all you knew about the candidates, which one would you vote for?

Obama (1) went on to discuss his faith. It's obvious that he's done some deep thinking about it. McCain (2) went on to related a prisoner-of-war story.
I posted previously about the Saddleback forum...and their comments on religion are probably what surprised me the most.
I was also surprised at how moderate both politicians are (despite how much McCain is compared to Bush or Obama to a socialist). Their responses tend to be thoughtful, instead of reactionary.
Palin, McCain's new VP, is not moderate (and as a scientist and an environmentalist she scares me). It will be interesting to see how things develop within the next two months.

Saddleback Forum

I knew that McCain and Obama had been involved with this forum, but I hadn't bothered reading it until today. In a world where all the media is biased one way or another, it's nice to have a neutral place where the two candidates get asked the same questions and each has a chance to answer without getting attacked by the other.
There are some definite surprises in here too, along with the predictable. Obama praising Bush is one of the surprises. The expected is McCain talking about being a prisoner of war and Obama talking about being a community organizer. Anyway, highly recommended for anyone tired of hate-based politics and biased media.

What Obama did after law school

For those of you who don't know, Harvard is arguably the best law school out there, and Obama was a top student there (he was the editor of the Law Review--the most prestigious position at a law school). After college (before law school) he was well-suited to take a high-paying job, or go straight to grad school. But instead...
That makes this article all that much sadder.

Where the Genetic Code and the Binary Code Differ

An old friend has an article about how DNA/RNA is like a computer code.
While I agree that there are many important similarities, there is one huge difference that separates basically all DNA/RNA from most computer codes.
The genetic code is programmed to make copies of itself.
I know that's obvious. Everything dies. So obviously, there needs to be a way for new life to come about.
All life that we know about comes from pre-existing life. Everything living today came from something that was alive in the past. Everything's a copy, of sorts, of its ancestor.
Now if you look at DNA and RNA, they're made up of four bases. Three of the bases are exactly the same between DNA and RNA. One is slightly different.
Isn't it interesting that every living thing has either DNA or RNA, or both? Every living thing is written in the exact same language.
As we dig a bit deeper, we also find that genetic codes have a lot of information that does absolutely nothing. Humans, for example, have a ton of genes for smelling that just don't work. How do we know that they're genes for smelling? We find the same genes in other animals--like dogs--and in those animals, these genes are functional. These exact same genes, in humans, are just slightly mutated, and therefore are inoperable. But we still have them.
Why would parts of our genetic code be totally useless?
They're not. They're a sign of our past, and they're potential for our future. When a machine breaks down, it still has parts that can be put to work elsewhere. Those spare parts may hang around, useless, for a while...but they may be put to work later.
On the subject of mutation...
Our genetic code makes copies of itself--and your genetic code is making thousands of copies at this moment. Most of these copies belong to cells in your skin, or your muscles, or your bones. A select few are used for reproduction. The copies are very accurate. Very rarely is a mistake made, and most mistakes are quickly corrected. However, occasionally, a mistake slips through the cracks.
Most mistakes--most mutations--are harmless. The genetic code of DNA is made up of four components, which we call A, T, C, and G. They're the letters of the DNA alphabet. Usually, if an A is replaced by a G, it's no big deal. The organism isn't really affected, and we call it a neutral mutation.
Sometimes the mutation proves to be harmful.
Sometimes, it's helpful.
The point is--the genetic code is flexible. If the environment around the organism changes, the genetic code, as it gets passed down to future generations, has the flexibility to change too.
Let's take HIV as an example. We'll use it because it mutates quickly, it reproduces quickly, and we can observe how it works. Its genetic code is passed down when it directs a cell to make copies of itself. HIV happens to have a very high mutation rate. It doesn't make great copies. So why is it so successful, and so hard to kill?
We hit HIV with a medicine. The medicine kills 99.99% of the HIV. 0.01% of the HIV viruses survive because they're a little bit different--their genes are different, and they can survive this particular medicine. There's a good chance that, in an environment without that medicine, they wouldn't do so well. But the environment has changed, and now they're the ones in charge. They reproduce, and their offspring get the exact same genes that these survivor viruses had. Now they have plenty of room to reproduce--all the other viruses are now gone, so the new, mutated HIV can spread rapidly.
And so HIV is impossible to get rid of.
This is evolution.
It gets more complicated when we discuss sexual reproduction, or long long long periods of time. But mutations happen. Environments change. And life is flexible enough to change with it--or else life goes extinct.
Mutations lead to evolution. HIV, in this example, evolved.
In a changing world, there are two options. Evolve, or die out.
In any case, there's way too much information here, and there's even more I've left out. I hope I've described it in words that make sense. Despite the similarities to computer languages, which have been pointed out elsewhere, there is at least one big difference.
Now I'd be interested in learning about a computer program with a code that exists in a changing environment, reproduces (with mutations), and dies...in other words, one that evolves.
That would be cool.

Coolest Grocery Store ever

On Saturday, April and I had a fun-filled day that included a small hike, lunch at a Mexican restaurant, a $3 movie (Get Smart), a stop by Dragon's Gate, and a trip to Jungle Jim's.
The movie was inside of a mall, and while we were there I decided to look for a games store. A place where we could pick up the European version of Ticket to Ride, or any other game we desired. We looked at a map of the mall, and the only store that looked promising was one called Dragon's Gate. That sounds a lot like Dragon's Keep, the game store in Provo, so we decided to stop by. It didn't have games. Instead it had very cool Asian stuff. A Chinese man and his daughter run the place. It's not getting a lot of business, and it's planning on shutting down operations, but meanwhile it's getting rid of a lot of very cool things--at fairly low prices. I'm not sure how I feel about filling our apartment up with Asian stuff, seeing as neither April nor I have ever been in Asia, but we splurged a little anyway. The best finds were some cool wind chimes and a decorative pillow (both picked out by April). I bought a tiny wooden picture and a fake wooden snake (not Asian, I realize, but still a cool toy).
Jungle Jim's is a full-size grocery store, but it has an amazing selection of international food too. The place is huge. You want salty licorice--a Scandinavian treat? You have several brands to pick from. Pickled ginger? Again, several different brands. Bulk honey? We picked up five pounds of it for $11. They have an amazing cheese selection. An enormous produce section. All that was missing was a quality bakery (and truth is, they might have had one and we just missed it). I finally found a spaetzle maker (spaetzle are German egg noodles). I've been looking for one of those for months. My dad would always say that Home Depot was his toy store. I think I just found mine.

Utah students score way too low on the ACT

There's an interesting article in the Salt Lake Tribune about ACT scores in Utah. Traditionally, Utah has bragged about its ACT scores. They're also used as a handy excuse for why, say, Jordan School District pays beginning teachers a mere $27,000 a year. The reasoning goes like this: Utah does very well academically, even without pouring more money into education...so obviously pouring money into education doesn't help students do better.
Problem is, that information is false. It turns out, if we compare the ACT scores of whites in Utah to whites elsewhere, Utah is below average. Also, a lower percentage of students in Utah take the test, when compared to other states. When we look closely at the data, Utah is actually under-performing.
Utah only does better when we don't take race into account, or the fact that some other states require all graduating seniors (and not just college-bound ones) to take the ACT.

The Ugly American

Robert Kirby (an irreverent LDS humorist who's been quoted in conference) has an article about being an Ugly American in Europe in the Salt Lake Tribune. One of the comments after the article was hilarious. This by a poster named JWeeks:


Here's how to excel as an American Tourist:

1. People who don't speak English are probably just hard of hearing. If you increase the volume of your comments, you can probably make them understand.

2. Compare everything you see with what we do or do not have "back home." People in all foreign lands enjoy being compared with everything Merican.

3. It is useful to try to pass US currency everywhere. Do not exchange your money for Euros or whatever the local currency is. Also use this opportunity to remark on how much (or possibly how little) everything is compared with "back home."

4. When given the opportunity, lecture anyone within earshot on how things should or should not be done.

5. It is required of all Americans traveling within Europe to provide a history lesson at least once a week, particularly emphasizing how their country wouldn't even exist without the old U.S. of A. You can use this in conjunction with your discourses on foreign policy in general.

6. Moan about the fact that you cannot pack heat or about other Merican rights you have had to give up during your stay abroad. If you can chuckle about how these folks don't have their rights protected by a written constitution, it will add to the peoples' desire to learn from you and be drawn to your wisdom.

7. When you get lost and go into a shop to ask directions, do not bother waiting in line to ask for assistance. Most foreigners don't have much to do with their time, are seldom in a hurry, and so if you butt in front of them, it will just make them smile and say "those wacky Americans."

8. Finally, let your foreign friends see your gleaming white legs; legs that haven't seen the light of day for the past six years. They will provide a nice contrast to your black socks and tennis shoes. The Hawaiian shirt provides the color to top off your ensemble.


Classic.

First week

The first week of law school has been busy. Here, first-year students start a week early. We have all sorts of meetings--topics range from technology to an introduction to the local bar associations. And we have a one credit introduction course. So I've been attending six or seven hours of classes each day, and then reading for a couple of hours each night. I've also been busy with little stuff like figuring out why I'd been charged a late fee of $50 for tuition payments (not my fault) and why my laptop won't connect to the wireless service here at the school. Oh, and the five-page paper I just turned in for the one-credit class.
Part of me wishes we lived closer to the law school; it would be a lot easier. But the school's downtown, and not in the nicest area. So I take the bus (35-50 minutes to go 4 miles, and then a half-mile walk) and enjoy living in a pleasant neighborhood. If I were alone and single, I'd live across the street from the law school. But I'm not, so I don't.
I've made some friends. One of the LDS second-year students has been particularly helpful. It's a diverse group (although racially, it's not as diverse as I expected--in fact, the ward is more racially diverse).
It will be fun. But this first year is going to be hard.

Politically motivated shootings

What's up with these recent shootings?
First, this. A man enters a liberal-oriented church and starts shooting. He kills two people and injures others. He is arrested and tells investigators that he believes that liberals should die.
This second example is more recent, and the shooter was killed by police. I don't have a ton of information about it, and I'm not even sure what prompted the shooting, although I think there's a good chance that it's similar to what motivated the psycho in the first example. This time, the shooter entered the Arkansas Democratic Headquarters and shot and killed the state party chairman.
What prompts people to do things like this? Make no mistake, these terrorists were raised in the US. The first one killed for political reasons; the second one may have.
Is it cultural-based? Are they just plain crazy? Or is it a mix of the two?

Dr. Horrible

For some reason, I've had the following lyrics in my head all day:
"With my freezeray I will stop the world."
If you don't already know it, don't miss it while it's free. It's a very funny anti-super-hero movie, and it's a musical, and...(Firefly fans pay special attention)
http://www.hulu.com/watch/28343/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog
Warning: I'd give it a PG-13 for a couple of sexual references.

Finally a concert I'm excited about

--and it's on a Sunday.
Doh.
I spent the last year in Idaho Falls, and while a classical concert there was nice, and I patiently sat through a Jim Brickman concert (the things we do for love), no acts came through that got me at all excited.
Now, in a bigger city, that changes.
Heart and Journey, two awesome classic rock bands, are coming, together, to Cincinnati.
But they're coming on the wrong day of the week.
Oh well. I'll wait patiently for another good show. I think Savatage is dead, but Dream Theater...I'm looking at you now. You'll stop by, right? And if I sat through Jim Brickman, my wife should be able to put up with Dream Theater, right?
Maybe not.
Maybe I'll just go alone.
I'm crossing my fingers...

Smart Music

Word is that Queen's guitarist just earned a PhD in...astronomy.
Listening to their music, I always knew these guys were smart--they play progressive rock, after all. They have also been extremely successful (We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, Bohemian Rhapsody, etc. etc.)
But I never knew one of them was so scientifically inclined.
This link describes his technical PhD thesis in just a little more detail.

Americans and their refusal to sacrifice

Jimmy Carter is generally regarded as a lousy president. He only served one term, and his presidency involved rampant inflation and difficult foreign relation problems.
But in some respects he was quite wise. Consider Carter's statement after the oil shortages:
"Beginning at this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977 -- never. From now on, every new addition to our demand for energy will be met from our own production and our own conservation. The generation-long growth in our dependence on foreign oil will be stopped dead in its tracks right now."
He realized that such a promise would cost money--but unlike the money given to Saudi Arabia (homeland of the majority of the 9/11 terrorists) for oil, this money would go to Americans.
He supported pouring money into alternative energy sources and building extensive public transportation systems. He even put up solar panels on the White House.
Carter's plans were realistic. He wanted US car-makers to reach a fuel-efficiency of 48 mpg by 1995, and he wanted the US to get 20% of its energy from solar power by 2000. We had plenty of time to get there. Decades.
But Americans don't like to sacrifice. They didn't want to conserve energy. They didn't want to spend money on research and public transportation.
In 1980 Reagan moved in, ripped the solar panels off of the White House, and did away with Carter's far-sighted energy plans.
Now, ironically, Republicans are blaming Democrats for the high gas prices. Americans still (largely) refuse to conserve energy. We're still reluctant to sacrifice. And we're paying the heavy price for failing to make the right decision 30 years ago.

The Big Question

April and I attended our new ward for the first time Sunday.
First impressions? Small, diverse (well, more diverse than any ward I've ever attended), and friendly.
There are two other law students in the ward, and we talked a bit in the hall before (and during part of) EQ. One of them graduates in a year, and his wife insists on moving back to Utah to be closer to family (meaning her mother). Since Utah has a small population and two good law schools, and since no one there has ever heard of the law school here, that means he'll have to take a significant pay cut to move back. The company he's working for this summer has offered him his dream job after he graduates, but it looks like he'll be refusing it and moving to Utah.
So, for those of us with family ties in a particular state...
How willing are you to raise a family far away from your extended family? I'm talking long term here, not just 3 or 4 years.
If you have a spouse, do they agree with you?

Elder Robert S. Wood, April 2006 Conference

Whether they be false friends or unrighteous teachers, artists or entertainers, commentators or letter writers to local newspapers, seekers of power or wealth, beware of those who stir us up to such anger that calm reflection and charitable feelings are suppressed.
Have we who have taken upon us the name of Christ slipped unknowingly into patterns of slander, evil speaking, and bitter stereotyping? Have personal or partisan or business or religious differences been translated into a kind of demonizing of those of different views? Do we pause to understand the seemingly different positions of others and seek, where possible, common ground?
We need to raise the level of private and public discourse. We should avoid caricaturing the positions of others, constructing "straw men," if you will, and casting unwarranted aspersions on their motivations and character. We need, as the Lord counseled, to uphold honest, wise, and good men and women wherever they are found and to recognize that there are "among all sects, parties, and denominations" those who are "kept from the truth [of the gospel] because they know not where to find it." Would we hide that light because we have entered into the culture of slander, of stereotyping, of giving and seeking offense?
It is far too easy sometimes to fall into a spirit of mockery and cynicism in dealing with those of contrary views. We demoralize or demean so as to bring others or their ideas in contempt.
Closely related to mockery is a spirit of cynicism. Cynics are disposed to find and to catch at fault. Implicitly or explicitly, they display a sneering disbelief in sincerity and rectitude. Isaiah spoke of those who "watch for iniquity" and "make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought." In this regard, the Lord has counseled in latter days that we "cease to find fault one with another" and "above all things, clothe [ourselves] with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace."
President George Albert Smith observed, "There is nothing in the world more deleterious or harmful to the human family than hatred, prejudice, suspicion, and the attitude that some people have toward their fellows, of unkindness." In matters of politics, he warned, "Whenever your politics cause you to speak unkindly of your brethren, know this, that you are upon dangerous ground." Speaking of the great mission of the latter-day kingdom, he counseled: "This is not a militant church to which we belong. This is a church that holds out peace to the world. It is not our duty to go into the world and find fault with others, neither to criticize men because they do not understand. But it is our privilege, in kindness and love, to go among them and divide with them the truth that the Lord has revealed in this latter day."
Political differences never justify hatred or ill will.

Moving Days

Our move from Idaho Falls to Cincinnati is complete
We spent a week packing (and since I was playing house-husband, most of the packing was done by me).
We rented the 24-foot truck and car trailer last Wednesday. April's dad and I loaded it up (helped a bit by a kind neighbor who saw us out there moving). The mother-in-law and wife cleaned up the place and did a little bit of last-minute packing. April and I drove down to Provo, dropped the truck off at my cousin's place and drove back up to my parent's.
We spent the next day resting and going through stuff I'd left at my parents. We were also able to visit quite a bit with family and three evening visitors.
The next morning we visited the Barbarian, his wife, and their two ferocious dogs before driving east. Wyoming's boring. The western half of Nebraska is also boring. We spent the night in Lincoln after a full day's drive.
Saturday we drove to Nauvoo. We stayed in the nearby Keokuk, and visited the ALDI there. ALDI is a German grocery store--and the only difference with this one was it sold predominantly American food. All the other details (store layout, inserting money to borrow a shopping cart, buying sturdy bags to put groceries in) were precisely the same. My excitement at finding it amused April greatly.
We walked around Nauvoo. It was so humid that my glasses fogged up every time I got out of the car.
A pamphlet with site hours on it told us that Carthage jail was open until 9:00 pm. We arrived there just past 7:00 to find the tour guides/missionaries leaving for the pageant. Apparently it closes at 7:00. We walked around the outside but didn't get a chance to go in.
We'll have to make a trip back there in the future.
The next morning we attended sacrament meeting in Nauvoo and then traveled on. Not far from Nauvoo a tire went flat. I changed out of my church clothes (fortunately it was a deserted country road) and put on a donut. Somehow, it's the first tire I've ever changed. A local stopped by and gave us directions to the nearest town, where we stopped by a Farm King to get the tire replaced. The donut wasn't doing so well--it had a large bulge on it--and a few minutes after they took it off, it exploded.
Two tires in a single day.
We continued on to the Indianapolis area, where we stayed with my cousin's in-laws. The next morning we drove two hours down to Bloomington, and helped my cousin and her husband unload their portion of the truck. We then took the truck another three hours to Cincinnati, where we unloaded it with the help of another cousin and her husband.
Our new place feels big. It's older, but classy and full of character. I'll post some pictures once we get everything unpacked.
I've decided that moving is way too much work. The next time we move will be the last.

The Good and the Bad

I realize I've been writing a lot of posts lately. Part of it is procrastination from packing, part of it is...well, lots is going on.
There was recently a post on Millennial Star about how evil and satanic WALL-E is.
If Millennial Star were a fringe blog, I wouldn't be concerned. But it's a fairly mainstream LDS blog.
Included in the blog are these wonderful tidbits. "It is unfortunate that companies such as Disney and Pixar are beginning to propogate (sic) agendas of a maleficent nature. Here is yet another example of something good being pushed to an extreme. The Adversary apparently finds it best to start them believing in such perversion while they’re still young."
Yes, that quote was about WALL-E.
Here's another juicy one.
"I believe WALL-E is another card in the deck of fear-mongering tactics employed by our common Enemy to get power, money, control, oppress mankind with false “prophets,” and reign with blood and horror prior to the return of the Savior."
Needless to say, people like this aren't helping the LDS image. Fortunately, rational people started storming the comments section of this blog until, 36 hours after it was first posted, the writer became frustrated enough to shut down the comments section. So that, at least, gives me hope.
On a brighter note, April bought me a year's subscription to the German Liahona for Christmas. They usually have a page where they list all the missionaries that have been called on missions for that month. So far, I've been a bit disappointed...I haven't recognized anyone.
Today was different.
I spent almost a year in the Wetzlar ward--I served in two areas within it. Not only that, but I was an outspoken, senior missionary there. I returned for a visit three years ago. Many of the adults and all of the teenagers remembered me, and were actually excited to see me.
So I'm excited that this month's Liahona features three of these teenagers. Two of them were younger (12-14) when I was there, and the third was older (16). The 16-year-old is one of the coolest people I've ever met (although she wasn't there when I last visited, and I haven't seen her for over seven years). She's now serving in Washington DC North. The other two are serving in Hamburg (Germany) and the Czech Republic. Very cool.

Rock music and the gospel

There's a post at www.bycommonconsent.com that I found quite interesting.
The sister missionary in our MTC district (who ended up going to the same mission as I did) was also of the opinion that rock music was of the devil. Interestingly enough, she was also the most troubled missionary I ever met. I have a great respect for my MTC missionary companion, the only other missionary from that MTC district who went to our mission. Why? I never once heard anyone tell horror stories about this particular sister in the MTC--and believe me, there were stories to tell. In other words, he had great gossip to share, and he kept his mouth shut.
I did hear some about how she was in the mission, and it was bad (although not as bad as the MTC stuff...)
Anyway, my point is...rock music (even some hard rock or metal) can be good, and even uplifting and inspiring, and those who deny this (besides sometimes having deep psychological problems) may be a contributing factor at driving people away from the church.
I consider myself lucky to have good role-models inside the church who still love rock music (thanks Dad).

USPS Mistake

Late last week I went to the postal service website and filled out a form to have our mail forwarded. I listed the starting date of 7/17/08 (the day after we move).
That was Friday.
Saturday, we received no mail. Not a big deal...it happens sometimes.
Monday, no mail. A bit strange...two straight days...but oh well.
Tuesday, still no mail. Quite suspicious.
Wednesday I emailed them about it. Still no mail.
Thursday I got a reply back, asking for more info. Still no mail.
Friday I got a message that someone from the local post office would call me.
Saturday (today) I got a phone call...and we finally got mail (an important package that I'm not sure they would've forwarded). Turns out that the mail carrier had failed to note the date of our move.
We're not too happy about not getting any mail for an entire week, but what can you do.
So, as a warning...if you have your mail forwarded, you might want to fill out the form just before you move (and not a week and a half before).

Movies

April and I have seen a few movies lately, and are looking forward to seeing a few more.
Iron Man was good. Not incredible, but still good enough that I'd eventually like to own the DVD. Grade: B+
Horton Hears a Who was very good (surprisingly). Go and see it. Grade: A-
Indiana Jones was decent. I can't categorize it as the worst Indiana Jones movie, but I certainly can't call it the best. It's fun, but there were numerous logical gaps that sometimes made it difficult for me to suspend my disbelief. Grade: B-
Any other recommendations?
I'm looking forward to seeing Hellboy II, Hancock, Get Smart, The Incredible Hulk, WALL-E, and Kung Fu Panda. The trailers for the two cartoons look dorky...but they've got good reviews (and I remember the trailer for Horton Hears a Who being equally dumb). What is it with cartoons getting dorky trailers?
In any case, it looks like Hellboy II is getting a lot of positive attention from the critics. Kind of an artsy comic book movie. I remember watching the first Hellboy in the theater with friends...great times. Now I need to convince April to watch the first one with me, and then convince her she needs to see Hellboy II in the theater...
What movies are you looking forward to? What would you recommend this summer?

What makes a ward good?

I've done a lot of thinking lately about what separates a good ward from a not-so-good ward.
I realize that the person asking the question has a lot to do with it.
But I'm also convinced that some wards are just better than others.
In about a week we'll move to Cincinnati, and I'll have attended three wards in just 15 months. I'm looking forward to the new ward, and have high hopes, but I have two questions.
What can I do to have a positive experience in a ward?
And what makes a ward good (outside of what I can do)?

I should have invested

Around five years ago, I bought a CD. The Edge by Eternity X. The album quickly made it into my all-time favorites and is still one of my top five.
The CD is so obscure that the only place you can hope to buy it is on the internet. The going price there (five years ago) was a steep $18. I found a deal on a slightly-used one...$14.
Recently, the band, who was supposed to release a new album recently, has disappeared off the radar. But in trying to find them, I discovered that The Edge is going for $45 on Amazon. Now, Amazon sellers sometimes over-price things, so I checked ebay. One used CD for sale...and it sold for $40 (plus shipping and handling).
Five years ago, when I knew that this album was incredible, and that there were limited copies being made, I should have bought numerous copies. I could've made some nice cash.
Why don't I sell the one copy I have?
Because it's incredible music. Because it's worth $40 (or more) to me. And you know that we're in economic hard times when Starbucks shuts down numerous stores and people stop buying SUVs and monster trucks.
But they're still spending big bucks for this CD.
Hopefully, next time, I'll know to invest.
Oh--and if a bunch of just-graduated kids from BHS love this album, I swear I have no clue how they found out about it...

Obama myths

Before I start...I wrote this over a year ago. Guess I've been following the elections for a while...

April and I visited an aunt and uncle of mine this past weekend. Very nice people. Retired, older, extremely active travelers. I think they spend more time outside of the US than they do inside.
They had two other visitors--family friends of theirs. The husband is in the army. They've been married for two years but he's spent half of that out at war.
I always worry about talking about politics in public (writing about it is for some reason easier), especially when I don't know someone's political leanings, or I know them and I don't agree.
But the subject came up (started by my uncle). Basically, both he and my aunt stated how if Obama gets elected, the US is going to go downhill.
And then my aunt stated the oft-repeated myth about Obama not putting his hand over his heart for the Pledge of Allegiance.
So I finally said something. "That's not true. It's a myth. Go to www.snopes.com."
Then the army man spoke up.
"I'm voting for Obama."
Not surprising, seeing that the campaigns that have gotten the most donor money from people in the military are Ron Paul and Obama (both were against the war from the beginning). And Ron Paul has dropped out.
"He'll end the war in Iraq," he continued. He felt that we were doing as much damage as we were good by remaining there.
Needless to say, my aunt and uncle were surprised.
At least they didn't call him "Barack Hussein Obama" or even "B. Hussein Obama" as some fear-mongering types do. They didn't say that they thought he was a "closet Muslim." They didn't mention his "terrorist fist-jab" with his wife (knocking knuckles together as a form of greeting). So I'm thinking that they're not avid talk/hate radio listeners, and they don't watch too much Fox News.
We steered the conversation away from politics, and the rest of the evening went great...but I was reminded of why I stay away from talking about politics in public.
Unfortunately, it's obvious that I need to talk about it...if only to dispel the ugly myths that keep coming up.

Idiot insurance company

So about three weeks ago we got rid of our old, beat-up Dodge Dynasty '89. April's parents took it for $300.
I called the State Farm Insurance to ask them to remove that car from our insurance plan.
Yesterday I got a bill...yes, that's right, a bill. For removing the car from our plan. $19.37. Apparently, a multi-car discount was removed.
Now, you might ask, wouldn't you save money by removing a car from the plan?
That's what I thought. So I called the insurance company, and they told me that they were sending me a check for about $24.
Now, just a five dollar savings is pretty lame.
But what's even lamer is that they bill me when they owe me money.
So not only do they waste paper and postage by mailing me a check and a bill, but they lose the respect of their customers.
Idiot insurance company.

Satire

There's a pretty funny satirical blog that just came out...http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/.
Realize, as this is satire, some of it may be offensive to those who are being made fun of.
And since I'm going to law school, and April just gave herself a pedicure (her first since we've been married), I guess those being made fun of include us.
Thanks to Eric Snider for the tip.
Enjoy!

Cincinnati, here we come

April was just offered a nice job in Cincinnati (actually, in Norwood, a city within Cincinnati). Practically no Sundays, and no graveyard shifts! And she'll be making more too! We also snagged ourselves an apartment in Norwood...our top choice. It's the main floor of a house (other renters live upstairs). It's very nice--hardwood floors, a great kitchen, two bedrooms, a dining room, a living room, a decent yard. $705/month is a bit pricier than what we're paying now, but it's worth the extra cost.
The crappy part is we're paying rent for the whole of July...and we won't even be there for the first three weeks.
Oh well. We're still pretty excited about it. And soon there will be one more "I've lived there" spot to fill in on the facebook map--for a total of six.

Racism in Utah and Idaho

A company in West Jordan has been selling Obama Monkey Dolls...
Ouch. Not a good thing for Utah's reputation.
I'm not sure if it was racism or stupidity (or, most likely, a mix of both). The company has apologized (kind of), and they've discontinued the doll, but still...
It reminded me of an incident while I was teaching...
I told my students to write a half-page opinion on evolution, and one student wrote that white people were created directly by God, but everyone else evolved...
(The assignment did not address human evolution, but most students focused on that aspect of it anyway).
I was certain that racism was rare in Utah, or at least confined towards Latinos. But based on many of the comments on the Deseret News forum (there's an article about the doll), I'm afraid that's not the case.

Planes, interviews, apartments, and Cincinnati

So this past week we spent in Cincinnati.
It's a nice city, really. Like most (all?) big cities, there are areas where you don't want to be alone at night. But there are also a lot of great places--a trendy part of town, a more family-oriented part of town, several wealthy parts of town.
We flew into Chicago (leaving SLC at 7:30) and then Louisville, Kentucky--less than two hours from Cincinnati (Cincinnati, for some reason, is expensive to fly into). Due to delays in Cincinnati (due mainly to weather), we didn't arrive in Louisville until late. We quickly picked up our luggage (I don't think I've ever quickly picked up luggage at SLC airport) and a rental car (and my experience working at Thrifty Car Rental made it very easy to say no to everything they wanted to sell me in addition to the rental). We didn't arrive at our hotel until around 10 pm...but the drive there was strangely peaceful--lots of trees, lots of green.
We looked at about a dozen apartments/shared houses/houses, and ended up picking three we like...we hope we can get our top choice. Due to intense research beforehand, all of the places we looked were in decent neighborhoods, but some were better than others. Our top choice is a shared house (other renters live upstairs) with a nice kitchen (decent kitchens seem to be rare in Cincinnati) and on a quiet, well-cared for street. Every front lawn on that street is carefully mowed...except for the one we want to rent. Definitely a nice neighborhood.
April interviewed for two jobs there. We'll see this week if she gets some offers.
I visited the law school. Apparently they like BYU students (or Mormons). Each class has two or three (and the class size is only 120). They actually had a 2nd-year student who earned his undergrad at BYU show me around. It's becoming more and more apparent that UC law school really takes care of its students--much more so than the Utah law schools.
The first year of law school is supposed to be brutal and demanding, so I asked my guide how many hours a week he'd spent on law school his first year.
Just forty. He did admit that he should have spent a little more time studying, but it sounds like he did just fine treating it like a full-time job. I expect to spend a little more time on it, but it doesn't sound too bad (compare that to BYU, which has a reputation for competitiveness and long hours).
The people in Cincinnati are laid-back and friendly. We're excited for the move.
We returned to Kentucky (the South is much more foreign than Ohio to me). We spent the evening with Brent, Katie, and company, ate an excellent meal with them, played Ticket to Ride (Europe), and chatted. Definitely the highlight of the trip.
I set our alarm for 5:10...and woke up at 5:30. I'd forgotten to adjust the volume on the alarm...
We left the apartment only a few minutes behind schedule, but then got stuck going the wrong way on the freeway...with no exit for several miles. That ate up almost 30 minutes. We arrived at the airport 25 minutes before our plane took off, and they refused to take our checked luggage or let us board without it.
We finally did get home...about seven hours late.
It was good to share the adventure with my wife (tomorrow is our one-year anniversary). She is a very patient woman.
Thanks also to the Wenerstroms (for feeding us and letting us crash at their place) and for both sets of parents (for picking up mail and watering plants, and for giving us rides to and from the airport).

Visiting Salt Lake and Cincinnati

We're visiting SJ this weekend; we'll be at my parent's place Sunday evening. We'll also be there Saturday June 14th. If you want to stop by and say hi...
Actually, the main reason we're going there is because Idaho Falls doesn't have a real airport (translation: it does have an airport...kind of like Provo has an airport...a fairly useless airport). It's April's first time on a plane. We'll be visiting our new home, April will be interviewing for jobs, we'll be visiting the law school and looking at apartments. We'll also be stopping by Brent and Katie's place (it's cheaper to drive into their city and drive the 1.5 hours to Cincinnati than it is to fly straight to Cincinnati, even with gas at $4/gallon). It'll be fun.
Anyway, we hope to see some of you soon.

Pictures from my last day

One of the best things about my teaching job was the other teachers in the science department. Some very cool people.
The first picture is of the three teachers that were new this year in the science department--a full half of the full-time teachers.
The second is myself and the department head--I don't think I've ever met a more passionate teacher.

School's Out

It's official. Teachers are more excited than the students when school gets out.
Think about it...how much work did you actually do in high school? (If you were like me, not much). How much did your teachers have to do?
Yesterday I turned in my keys and my parking pass. I am now a free man. It was sad to realize that I wouldn't ever see most of the students and the other science teachers again, but it was very nice telling a problem student who's failing the class and asking if he can bring stuff in tomorrow to raise his grade, "I'm not going to be here. You'll just have to take the class again next year."
In a week we travel to SLC to get on a plane to Cincinnati...we'll visit there for a week, visit the school, find an apartment. April already has one job interview set up.
We move there in mid-July.
In other news, my laptop came in a week ago. Very nice, very quick computer. It starts up about 10 times faster than my desktop.

Politicians

So I'm not usually a big fan of politicians. They tend to be more concerned with themselves than with the long-term success of the people they're supposed to serve. And I find that many of them do stupid things...(like the gas tax break that Clinton and McCain want to give the American people this summer--really stupid pandering to the public, instead of real long-term solutions).
So I'd like to write about a politician that I actually have respect for.
Governor Huntsman is not very outspoken. I've heard him speak once, and although it was a good speech, it was clear that his strength is not public speaking. He seemed very humble.
I also watched a debate between him and Matheson as both ran for governor. I was impressed by how civil the two were to one another.
He dropped out of high school to play keyboards in a band. More recently he played keyboards at a Styx concert and attended a Dream Theater concert (a progressive metal band that has a grand total of one hit single...) Clearly, by embracing artsy, intellectual rock and metal, he is not pandering to the people of Utah. He's an individual, with his own (not to mention incredible) taste in music.
He realizes that education is important, and has actually made that one of his biggest goals.
He knows how to make deals...when he first came into office, construction on Legacy Highway had stopped. An environmental group was suing because the highway would disrupt and destroy important wetlands, and the state of Utah was losing a lot of money because they refused to negotiate with the environmental group. Governor Huntsman very quickly took control of the situation, worked out a deal that (almost) everyone could live with, and building resumed.
He threatened to veto a bill that would've directly affected me as a science teacher...a bill that would've corrupted science education in Utah. He's smart enough to realize that the scientists and science educators should determine what's taught in Utah schools...and not a bunch of backwards state legislators and special interest groups.
I don't necessarily agree with every decision he makes, but I'm glad Huntsman's governor.

Coincidences

Aren't coincidences strange?
My parents happen to be friends with Caron's (my dad and her mom served in the same mission).
I guess that one's a little more likely, seeing that everyone involved is LDS, but this next one...
Unless something drastic happens and the University of Utah decides that they need me at their school (which is very unlikely) it looks like I'm heading to the University of Cincinnati. Even of U of U accepts me, I still might decide to attend UC.
A cousin I'm close to in Provo is heading to Indiana, less than two hours from UC, so her husband can go to grad school (which is nice, because it means we'll probably be able to share a moving truck and cut our costs in half, saving some serious dough).
Brent, of course, is less than two hours away in Kentucky, doing grad school.
Even more amazing, a cousin I grew up with (we're the same age) is also moving to Cincinnati. Her husband is starting a grad program at the exact same university the exact same year I am.
All of this is, of course, totally unplanned. I had no clue this cousin was going to UC until after I had made my plans.
Now, if it was U of U or BYU or something else not on the other side of the country, it wouldn't have been much of a coincidence, but this...
This I'm still trying to get over.
By the way, if anyone who read this is thinking of grad school in the Midwest...now's the time.

Laptop bought

So I bought a laptop today from dell.com.
They were having a two-day deal--a free upgraded video card on their Vostros. The exact model I wanted, but $75 cheaper due to the free upgrade.
I also decided to splurge and go for a much faster processor...I upgraded from 1.4 GHz to 2.0 GHz ($175 is a lot of money, and I'm not sure if I made the right decision, but I'll cross my fingers and hope I did). And of course this brand new laptop includes XP instead of Vista (I talked to half-a-dozen people, and Brent was the only one who didn't have issues with Vista, so I feel I made a good choice there).
It's a bit on the larger size (15 in. screen, etc.) but then again, so am I.
It'll be a couple of weeks before it arrives, but I'm already very much excited.
Cost: under $700 (before taxes).

Stalking Santa and my German professor

So there's a very funny movie out...filmed mainly in Provo...called Stalking Santa. I realize it's May, but stay with me.
It's a mockumentary involving William Shatner (yes, that's right). It also stars (well, okay, it features) my German professor!
It does a great job of making fun of pseudoscience everywhere. You might also recognize some familiar faces from other "Mormon" movies.
By the way, it's not meant as a Mormon movie. There are no lame Mormon jokes (or funny ones, for that matter). The only way you know it's a Mormon movie is that it features Mormon actors and (clearly) is filmed in Provo.
Lots of laughs...definitely worth a look.

My new laptop

So I haven't ordered it yet, but here's the what I'm planning on ordering from Dell:
Vostro 1500 (with some upgrades)
PROCESSOR: Intel Core 2 Duo T5470 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition
LCD PANEL: 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD Display with TrueLife
MEMORY 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
VIDEO CARD 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS
HARD DRIVE 120GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
WI-FI WIRELESS CARD Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Wi-Fi Internal Card

I specifically sought out laptops that still have XP on them (I know Brent says it's nothing to be scared of, but he's also getting a doctorate in CS). It's marketed as a small business laptop, but there's not much difference between it and the one they market to consumers (Inspiron 1520). It's a little bit cheaper because it doesn't come with extras like Webcam (I figure I can buy a cheap one if I need it) or software that I wouldn't use anyway.
Once I start school, I can upgrade to XP Professional for very cheap (although I think that would wipe out everything I put on it before I start school).
I can also purchase the software I need very cheaply.

The two splurges (and I'm still not sure if I need them) are with the GHz (1.4 to 1.6, and it costs a whopping $75) and graphics card (Intel Integrated 3100 to Nvidia 8400, and also $75).
To those who know, are the splurge worth it?
Total cost (with splurges):$669.00

A funny phone call and a funny picture

First the picture:

(Thanks to Respectful Insolence for providing the picture)

Then the phone call:
Last night someone called asking for me. I didn't understand everything the lady was saying, but it sounded like a short opinion poll, so I stayed on the line.
And although it was dressed as an opinion poll, it was really pretty much straight propaganda. A two-minute recording told me why I need to fear for my life because my right to owning a gun would be taken away due to a possible Supreme Court decision...
Now, I'm not anti-gun. I went shooting every once in a while as a kid, and I don't have a problem with guns as long as they're locked up safely. But I do have a problem with the NRA, who, it turned out, were the ones calling me; I think it's stupid that if you want to run for president as a Republican you need their support (remember Romney?) and I think they usually go way overboard. Notice also that Hillary is now pandering for the support of the NRA crowd.
I also have big issues with fear-mongering.
So, after the recording, when the lady asked me if the government should have the right to take away our guns, I told her, "At certain times and in certain places." She thanked me for my time and immediately hung up.

Laptop

As I am attending law school this fall, I need a laptop. Problem is...what type?
Here are the requirements:
Type/Brand
Major Vendors (e.g., Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo )
The College of Law is primarily a PC environment, but most newer Apple laptops running Mac OS X 10.4 or better will work with the UC Law network, networked resources, and exam software.
Hard Drive
80 GB
Memory
1 GB XP / 2GB Vista
Processor
Intel Core 2.Duo 1.66 GHz
Optical Drive
DVD/CD-RW
Video RAM
256MB for Vista Aero interfaces; less for XP
Monitor
14.1 Inch
Operating System
Windows XP Professional or Vista Business or Ultimate
Wireless Network Card
802.11b/g (integrated or external) with 128 bit encryption.

I've heard some ugly things about Vista...
Anyway, if any of you have recommendations on what I should go for, that would be very much appreciated. Cost and reliability are the biggest factors.

Cincinnati it is (I think)

So April and I were leaning towards Cincinnati (over Portland)...and then we found out that if April finds full-time work before classes start I can get in-state tuition my first year...and then they offered me a bit of a scholarship on top of that. So Cincinnati wins out.
We're looking at homes already. And I've talked more with the bishop of the Norwood ward (which we'll probably be moving into) this past week than I've talked with my bishop here in Idaho Falls this last (almost) year.
Apparently there are at least two other LDS law students at the law school...which is actually surprising, considering the fact that there aren't many members in Cincinnati, and the law school is quite small (they admit around 120 each year).
Our grand plans could change...but the chances of that happening are getting smaller and smaller. There's still a (slight) chance that a university that has waitlisted me will change their mind and accept me...but if they want me, they'd better move quickly. We'll be buying a house in June or July, and once we've done that, we're committed.
Personally, I like the idea of moving away from the in-laws, doing our own thing, and joining a ward that has a weekly attendance of 100 to 120. I enjoy small wards much more.

Email forward

So about two weeks ago, my principal forwarded this email to all the teachers at our school. Feel free to skim it if you'd like...


Subject: Fw: FW: WARNING !!!

Please read this 'very carefully'..then send it out to all
the people online that you know.

Something like this is nothing to be taken casually this is something you DO want to pay attention to. If a person with the screen-name of ROOSTER goes by his name JOE WINWARD contacts you, do not reply. DO NOT talk to this person; do not answer any of his instant messages or e-mail . He has the ability to track your home address. Whoever this person may be, he is a suspect for murder in the death of (3) women (so far) contacted through the Internet. He is a suspect in a shooting and is known
for raping and beating young women. He is located in the IDAHO area. Please send this to all the women on your buddy list and ask them to pass this on, as well. This screen-name was seen on Yahoo and AOL so far. This is not a joke!
Please send this to men too...just in case! Send to everyone you know! Ladies,
this s serious!
IF WE CAN PASS ON JOKES, SURELY WE CAN PASS ON A WARNING
THAT MAY SAVE A FRIENDS LIFE.
Thank You.
TIM LITTLE
Cassia County Sheriff and
Investagion
Phone: (208)878-2251


Let me ask you, my friends...what's your first reaction to this?
Yep. A hoax. Plain as day. To prove that it was a hoax, I went to a popular hoax website and typed in "Rooster".
I sent an email back to the principal (after editing it to make sure that it didn't imply that he was stupid to not realize it was a hoax).
I've gotten numerous other emails like this from other people in the district. It's amazing how gullible some people are.
In any case, I want to thank you, my friends, for being smart enough to recognize a hoax...and for not mass-forwarding things like this.
To his credit, the principal immediately forwarded my email to everyone else, and then came sheepishly up to my room to (kind of) apologize.
What are some of the things that tipped you off to it being a hoax? Was it the fact that they couldn't even spell "investigation" correctly? Or was it something else?

Inkheart

My sister has been telling me for a long time that I need to read Inkheart. It was originally written in German (although you wouldn't know it from reading the English translation) and for a while I tried to find a German copy. I gave up on that and read it in English. Maybe on my next trip to Europe I can get it in the original language...
Fantastic book. Technically a children's book. It's much better than Fablehaven. The best juvenile fantasy I've read in a long time...it might even be better than Harry Potter.
Highly recommended. I'll be reading the sequel, Inkspell, on the way up to Moscow on Thursday. I'm getting out of two days of teaching by chaperoning nineteen physics students to an engineering fair, and I should have plenty of time to read.

Deciding between Cincinnati and Lewis and Clark

So I've heard back from six schools so far. Two have me on waitlists (which means there's a small chance I maybe might get in) and four have accepted me.
UNLV and Villanova (in Pennsylvania) are the lesser of the four.
So the two I have to choose between (at least at this point in time) are Cincinnati and Lewis and Clark (in Portland).
Here's the comparison:
Location
Lewis and Clark is in a very beautiful green state with good weather...except for the rain. It's much closer to our families.
Ohio has less rain, but it is very humid in the summer and it's not nearly as green. It's quite far from our families, but a cousin's husband will be attending the exact same university (surprise!). He's getting his master's in music. Another cousin (close to me) will live two hours away in Indianapolis, and of course Brent and co. live two hours away in Kentucky.
Safety
Both universities are located in large cities that have the potential to be a bit dangerous. Cincinnati has seen riots in recent years. Portland is known for its large number of strip clubs. Lewis and Clark is away from the center of Portland, but the University of Cincinnati is in the heart of the city.
Tuition Cost
Cincinnati wins this one hands down. Even with a scholarship from Lewis and Clark, it'll be about $24,000 a year. Cincinnati will be $18,000 as long as April can find a full-time job in Ohio before I start school, so we can get in-state tuition for the first year. There's a bit of demand for Medical Technologists, so I don't think she'll have much of a problem there. So we're talking a difference of $18,000 for the three years.
Cost of Living
Cincinnati wins out here too. Much more affordable than Portland. We might even consider buying a house in Cincinnati...
School Ranking
Cincinnati ranks #52, Lewis and Clark #73. Cincinnati graduates make considerably more than Lewis and Clark graduates, but I'm not sure how much of this is due to the fact that many lawyers from Lewis and Clark practice environmental law, which doesn't tend to pay as much as other types of law.
Emphasis
Lewis and Clark is ranked the best school in the nation for environmental law. However, many lawyers advise that law students go to the best law school they can, without paying attention to what a law school specializes in. More importantly, I'm not certain that I want to practice environmental law. Cincinnati offers a grand total of four environmental law courses.
So, you see our dilemma. Lots of factors to consider (and if you can think of more, please let me know). Deposits are due May 2nd, but I'm considering paying deposits to both places to postpone making a decision.

Law School Updates

So, last night we got a call from Lewis and Clark in Portland. They've accepted me. They're a good school (although they're not as highly ranked as University of Utah or Cincinnati). Tuition is comparable to Cincinnati (they're a private school, but they're offering me a bit of a scholarship), and the location (Oregon) is one of our top picks. Plus they're one of the best (if not the best) school for environmental law.
So there is a good chance I'll be heading that way (and we won't be too far from the Woods).
I have to make a $300 non-refundable deposit by May 2nd, but we won't decide 100% until June...we'll wait to see what other offers come our way, and see if the U of U takes me off the waitlist.
In a way, I'd rather go to Portland. It's a lot more expensive than Utah, and it's further from our families, but I think Oregon would be a great place to live and raise a family.

Wolves in Idaho

Very funny first paragraph in a news article in Idaho Falls today:
"It's only been a week since their delisting and already wolves are running amuck and causing all sorts of problems, especially in Ashton."
That's right. As soon as wolves were taken off the endangered list, they decided "oh, we're no longer protected by the law, and if we bug people or livestock they can shoot us on sight, so let's run rampant and terrorize farmers in eastern Idaho." Wolves have been in eastern Idaho for a while. There's no reason for them to change their behavior because they've been delisted. Stupid Idaho Falls reporters.

So it's fact that Idaho Falls reporters are dumb. The rest of this post is partly my opinion, and partly fact.

If wolves were dangerous, this might be more of an issue. But wolves are the least dangerous big predator (I know of one fatality in the last fifty years, and there have been many more fatalities from bears, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, domestic dogs, etc.) Wolves tend to be very wary of humans (much more so than bears). They tend to avoid humans at all costs. If a wolf even annoys you, or your livestock, or your pets, you have full legal authority to go out and kill it.
For some reason people have an irrational fear of wolves. Bears? No problem. A strange dog? We'll pet it. A wolf? Like Little Red Riding Hood? Like Mr. Huff and Puff? (Have you seen "Enchanted" by the way? That's right. Little Red Riding Hood was the bad guy.) A wolf? Run and hide or he'll eat you up!
On a brighter note, a loud, obnoxious scary dog that threatened my wife on our honeymoon was apparently killed by a wolf. The only sad thing is that the wolf can now be shot on sight.

Las Vegas

New acceptance email. The email made it sound like I'd already been informed of being accepted...so I emailed back to ask about it. Turns out they emailed me the info on Tuesday (and, this being Idaho Falls, mail usually takes a week to get here). UNLV isn't as highly ranked, but it's cheaper, closer to our families, and offering me a scholarship...
We'll see. If it was just my decision, I'd pick Cincinnati over UNLV, but...
In any case, we still have several schools to hear back from, and hopefully a few others will accept me.

Law School Update

My first acceptance letter today! Well, my first acceptance letter for 2008...(well, okay, it's an email...the letter will be here soon).
It's in Cincinnati...a good school.
Since I'm still waiting for a number of other schools to get back to me, my decision is a ways off. But...it's official! I am going to law school!

Google Reader

I just started using this google feature, and it's awesome.
There are a lot of websites out there that I check regularly...and some of them only get updated every week or so. Instead of checking back every now and then (or continually) all I do is put the all these website on google reader, and when I go to google reader it tells me what websites have been updated, and lets me read the content right there.
The only negative aspect is that if I want to leave a comment, I have to leave google reader and go to the actual website to do so.
In any case, a really cool feature.
Thanks, Aaron J., for telling me about it.
The rest of you should check it out (and if you don't have a google/gmail account yet, consider switching over).

Another Law School Update

Another waitlist...from Wake Forest in North Carolina. A private school, highly ranked (42, which is higher than BYU).

Law School Update

I just got accepted to Lewis and Clark Law School, a private law school in Portland.
For 2009, that is.
As far as 2008 goes, they're filled up, but I'm on the wait list.
Guess that's the problem with applying late.
Anyway, I'll keep the blog updated as other schools get back to me.

Eifelheim-Highly Recommended

I just (two minutes ago) finished Michael Flynn's Eifelheim ('ei' is pronounced like the vowel in 'ice'). I highly recommend it.
It's not an easy read--it's written at an adult level, and, unless you understand German, Latin, Middle-age history, and physics, there are bound to be things that don't make sense. That's okay. I've decided a good book is a lot like a good president--smarter than me. Meanwhile, just by reading, I become smarter.
Eifelheim is German for "home of the elves". The main storyline occurs in the middle-ages (think plague time). But it's not fantasy.
And the elves aren't elves...they're aliens.
The story had a bit of an emotional impact on me (and books rarely do that, so for that reason alone I'll recommend it).
It also examines how the language of religion and the language of science interact. The aliens don't comprehend religion, and the people don't understand science (although one in particular tries). Remember, during this time period people still thought that the earth was the center of the universe. They explained just about everything with "God did it". That explanation explains nothing (although it may be true). Some people still use it today. Fortunately, however, we now (like these scientific aliens) know what causes disease and malnutrition.
Anyway, a great book. Go and read it. Meanwhile, I'll go back and read some more stuff by Michael Flynn, and hope that it's as good as this.

Why kids in Finland are smarter

Compare and contrast education in Finland and the US.
US: Emphasis put on sports. Administration is made up mainly of used-to-be-coaches, and coaches are given special privileges (such as hiring priority, teaching the honors classes and better job security).
Finland: Sports are not a focus of the public schools.
US: Teachers are paid a fairly low amount of money.
Finland: Teachers are paid a fairly low amount of money.
US: There are plenty of history, English, and elementary education teachers, but there are shortages of special education, math, and science teachers.
Finland: Competition for all teaching positions is fierce. No problem with shortages.
US: Teachers are respected by some, but many students have no respect for them.
Finland: Teaching is seen as a noble profession, and many more students aspire to become teachers themselves.
US: Some parents instill love of reading into their children. Many parents don't see education as that important.
Finland: Almost all parents read to their children. Public libraries are everywhere (including inside of malls) and reading is a very popular past-time. Students know how important education is.
US: All children are put through the same classes from age 5 to age 18. Many drop out early.
Finland: Students don't start school until they're 7. At age 15 or 16, they attend either a vocational school or a university-prep school, depending on their skills or interests. Very few drop out (although they can do so legally at age 15 or 16).
US: Most students will do whatever they can to get out of schoolwork.
Finland: Students place high value on being intelligent and educated.
US: Teachers don't tend to be the smartest college graduates (according to test scores).
Finland: Teachers tend to be as smart as law school students or med school students, despite the pay (according to test scores).
US: Teachers can get a Master's degree if they want.
Finland: Teachers are expected (but not required) to get a Master's.
US: Discipline is the biggest issue for teachers. Disrespect, talking, cell phone use, etc. causes big problems.
Finland: Children are well-behaved in class (and they're interested in learning).
US: Let's face it. American kids don't compete well in language, math, science, etc.
Finland: Probably the best education system in the world, and the kids score highest or second highest on international tests.

It seems that the biggest issues are:
1. Teenagers are put into a program that makes sense for them (vocational or college-bound), and, more importantly:
2. Students have a respect for teachers and for education, which translates into less discipline problems, which means more people want to teach, which translates into smarter, better teachers (because of heavy competition).

Evidence against Empire

I posted recently about some reading I've done, including Orson Scott Card's Empire. Imagine my surprise when I read this article this morning.
Basically, the main idea of the article is this: each time a democrat becomes president after eight years of a republican president, some far-right people go crazy and start committing terrorist acts.
Interestingly enough, when the change is from democrat to republican, far-left people don't commit acts of terror.
Interesting correlation and some good evidence for what I thought was common sense: republicans fight with guns, democrats fight with words (but Orson Scott Card obviously disagrees).

Salt Lake for Easter

April and I are planning on coming to Salt Lake for Easter.
I get the Friday before off (although Thursday night I have to stay extra late at work for Parent-Teacher conferences, and since I'm in the middle of the big evolution unit in all five of my biology classes, that should be fun...)
So we'll drive down Friday morning.
The week after Easter, I have off.
Unfortunately, April works graveyards that week, starting Sunday night.
We're pretty sure she'll be able to get Sunday night off (she filled in for someone else this last Saturday night, and so he owes her a night's work). So we'll probably be able to stay in Salt Lake until Monday.
Our plans? Spend time with friends and family, celebrate Easter and my birthday, visit a law school or two (although my chances of being accepted to either Utah school are fairly low--they're both excellent schools that place a very high emphasis on the first undergraduate GPA, which is my weakness).
Speaking of law schools, I should be hearing back within two or three weeks from some of them.
My LSAT is fairly good, and it's been a while since I graduated from BYU, so that should help. I also have experience in medicine and education, and a strong second GPA (3.75 at UVSC, and that includes a bunch of difficult science classes). So hopefully I'll have a couple of decent options (I've applied to at least ten schools so far).
Anyway, we're hoping to meet up with some of you. Let us know if you'll be around, and we'll stop by to say hi.

Good reads

I haven't had a lot of time to read recently, but here's a list of what I have read:
Orson Scott Card: "Empire", "A War of Gifts", and a short fantasy story (that's supposedly being followed up by a new novel and maybe even a new series). The short story was very good (I'm excited to read more from this world), as was the short novel "A War of Gifts". "Empire" would've been good, except I never bought into a big part of the plot. I don't want to spoil the book for those planning to read it, so if you're planning to read it, skip the next paragraph.
Card basically sets up a war between extreme left-wingers and the US government. My problem...if liberals were to attack the US, it wouldn't be with guns, tanks, etc. Those are right-wing tools. So the whole scenario is screwy, with liberals guiding around amazing killing machines and killing every cop they can find. Sorry, but when liberals attack, it's with words, not with guns. And yes, the pen is mightier than the sword.
April and I have also been reading the Fablehaven books. They're fun. April loves them.
My favorite new books are by Cinda Williams Chima. I read her series out of order...I read "The Wizard Heir" before "The Warrior Heir". Not a big problem. The main characters are high-school kids, and "Wizard" reminded me early on of Harry Potter...except the school is evil and the kid's very tech-savvy. Highly recommended.
So go read the Ender's Game short novel, and definitely check out Cinda Williams Chima.

Flood

Besides being the name of a cool Jars of Clay song (I'm not into Christian rock unless it features Neal Morse of Spock's Beard, but I do like "Flood"), Flood is what happened to us a week ago, Saturday night.
I'd found a copy of the movie "The Forgotten" for $3 (I don't recommend it--it sounds kind of cool but it's not). We were watching it. April was keeping a load of laundry going.
And then we heard a knock on the door. We left the second bedroom (where we keep the TV) and found our living room and kitchen were flooded. The neighbors below us were at the door...water was leaking in through their lights. The hose behind the washing machine had come out, and water was everywhere.
This was 9:00 p.m. We spent the next four hours soaking up water with a machine from Albertson's. April's mom helped us out a bit, leaving at about 11:00. At 1:00 a.m. we were too tired to work, and we weren't getting much water out of the carpet anyway.
The landlord came and looked at the damage the next morning. We were up and working; I was trying to suck more water up from the carpet (it was coming, but slowly), and April was making sure things were dry. We decided to skip our 9:00 a.m. church to clean up, and we needed every bit of that time. The landlord rented a high-power fan from Home Depot, and I started drying out the carpet.
Meanwhile, all of our furniture in the living room, including a large desk, a bookshelf, and two heavy couches, needed to be moved. The couches are too big to move anywhere but to the kitchen (they don't maneuver easily into the other rooms).
Once the carpet was dry, I focused the fan on the pads below the carpet. Some of the wood underneath that was badly warped. This Saturday morning (almost a week after the flood), the landlord and I cut out the worst wood and replaced it. If all goes as planned, the carpet guy should be here Monday to put the carpet and the pads back down, and we'll be able to reclaim our living room.