BYU 17 - UCLA 16 (Barely)

Pseudo Play-by-Play

Byu turnover on 1st pos
Goalline stand-ucla fg good
U 3 b 0
Collie 26 he ret
Pitta 12 rec
Unga 5 run
Byu punt-ucla 11
U punt
Collie 22 rec
Pitta 8 rec
Fg byu good
U 3 b 3
U punt-byu 31
Reed 6 rec
Pitta 3 rec
Unga 5 yds 3 rd conv
Fui 6 yds
Unga 5 rec
Unga 3 yds
Byu punt byu recovers on ucla 14
Collie td xp good
U 3 b 10
Criddle pass brkup
Pop pass brkup
U punt-byu 44
Tonga 3 yds
U penalty
Unga 6 yds
Unga 9 rec
Unga 1 yd-short
Byu to downs
Ucla fg good
U 6 b 10
Collie 44 ret
Unga 13 rec
Hall 2 yds-3rd conv
Semanoff 9 rec
George 9 rec-3rd conv
U penalty 1st dn
Reed td-xp good
U 6 b 17
U punt-byu 8
Unga fumble on 4
U td-xp good
U 13 b 17
Hodgkiss 4 yrd tfl
Jorgensen 10yd sack
U punt u 44
Collie 9 rec
Byu punt u 11
Nixon 10 yard sack
U punt Y 3
Tonga 17 yds
Pitta 9 rec
Tonga 2 yds-3rd conv
Unga 7 yds
Y punt-u 32
Hodgkiss int
Semanoff 8 rec
Unga 7 yds
Tonga 1 yd
Collie 9 rec
Unga 1 yd
Hall sacked 6
Y punt-u 17
U punt-y 13
Y punt - y 46
U fg good
U 16 Y 17
Pitta 5 rec
Y punt u 29
Collie 30+ rec
George 3 rec
Collie 7 rec
Y punt down on u 2
U last second fg no good!
U 16 y 17!

Sent from my iPhone!!!!

Looking Forward

I am looking forward to several things in the near future. I look forward to getting into a new routine. When I go home, I'll again be at my mother's house, but I will take a more active role there. Money has been tight there for the last little while, and without getting into many details, I'll be helping out with that in a couple of ways. Also, I look forward to going back to school. I have taken so much time off and it hasn't gotten me much closer to financing my own education, until recently. However, the school I want to go to is a lot more expensive personally than BYU was. That is a bit intimidating but I am committing myself right now to do what it takes. I've been saying that I would go back to school now for a couple of years, and then I push my timetable back for one reason or another, but the buck is stopping here. I feel like I have held myself back long enough, and I hope that you, my friends, will hold me accountable.

I look forward to being home for the holidays, to seeing old friends and making new ones. I look forward to having a life outside of my job. I look forward to supporting my teams from the sidelines rather than from my computer. I look forward to being more involved and not falling back on old tired habits that keep me in place. I look forward to getting active and trimming down.

I look forward to getting back into a stable church setting. I have taken a step back the last six months or so from regular church activity, and I am feeling the toll of this. I have no excuse that can hold any water, all the reasons I have given myself over this span are empty. I feel myself to be at a spiritual low, and I want that to change. I have been somewhat reluctant to be open about this with anyone, for fear that those of you whose friendship I value would think less of me. But I realize that I am only doing myself a disservice trying to act like nothing is wrong. I worried that you may see that as some sort of betrayal of trust, and perhaps it is, but it only grows worse the longer the pretense continues. I have convictions and faith, I have just neglected them far too long.

Anyways, I have set down much more than I had planned when I started, and it is almost time for work. I guess these are my New Year's resolutions, but why wait till New Year's to get the ball rolling?

Let's See if it Works Now

This is now my third attempt at posting this image to my blog.

This is the curtain call for the showing of Wicked I went to on Wednesday. I liked it, but I should have enjoyed myself more than I did. I was worried about parking in a "no standing anytime" zone. Nothing happened to the car.

The Return, Part II

I just booked my return flight to Utah. I fly from Newark to Phoenix, have an hour layover, then fly to Las Vegas. Once in Las Vegas I have a weird eight hour layover before flying to Salt Lake. So, I figure since I'm in Las Vegas anyways, maybe I can slip over and catch the bowl game against UCLA. Who knew the bowl game would just happen to be at the same time as my layover. Hopefully, this will assuage some of my guilt for not being "fully invested". I'll be back in Utah on the 23rd. Go Cougars!

Living With Cliques

There seems to be a feud going on among the people I work with out here in NJ/NY. There is my friend Rob*, his wife Julie, his sister Heather, her boyfriend Tyler, Julie's friend Nikki, and me. Julie doesn't care for Tyler, so he and Heather do stuff on their own most of the time. Last week Nikki and I ended up going into the city with Heather and Tyler. We told Julie we were going, and that she could come. But I guess she didn't want to because of Tyler, and resented us going. Or rather she resented Nikki. Now she is ignoring Nikki for no real reason. I think I have mitigated any wrath Julie may have had toward me. I have tried not to go with one group more than the other. But I am having trouble keeping it up.

You see, I think Nikki has a thing for me, and I don't have it back. I would choose Rob and Julie, just to avoid her, but I share a room with Tyler, so that group is always over. I think that Nikki is starting to pick up that I am being a bit distant, I just hope she doesn't take it the wrong way. I have no problem being a friend, but that's all I care to be.

I thought I left this all behind a long time ago in public school. I am not yet counting down the days until I can go home like I did this summer, but it is getting close to that. At least the money is a lot better here than it was in Denver.

* - names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Testing

I think my posts from my iPhone don't allow comments. This post is a test of that theory.

I Have Joined the iPhone Nation

I have just joined the iPhone nation. I splurged today, and so far I have no buyers' remorse.

Travel Nightmare

So I was able to go home for Thanksgiving, and it was great to see some of you while in Utah. The Masked Mallard invited my family over to his parents' for Thanksgiving. I went to a couple of get-togethers, met some new people (Thanks for the invite Carona), watched the Big Game (BYU 17-Utah 10, in another last minute nail-biter), went on a date to the Messiah Sing-in at Abravanel Hall (Thanks for the invite Princessplumeria). I had lots of good, home-cooked food, stuffed myself on all kinds of pie, and had a great time all around.

And then I had to go back to New Jersey. I had worried about the flight from NJ to Utah, but not the flight back. I should have. I had an hour layover in Chicago that turned into a 3 hour layover, that turned into a cancelled flight, that turned into a 5 hour layover and rebooked flight to Minneapolis. In Minneapolis I had an hour layover with another airline turn into an hour and a half layover with a 45 minute wait on the runway. I finally got to Newark seven hours later than anticipated. And then, to add insult to injury, when I finally got to our hotel, I found that my driver's license was missing. Aaaaaarrrrrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!! I stayed up another 2 hours trying to talk to different airports and airlines lost and found offices to track it down to not much avail. SLC didn't have it. Minneapolis had changed its number, and Chicago had an automated system that could take up to 10 business days to get back to me.

The next day I called the Utah DMV, and they said to get a replacement DL I have to be in Utah. That doesn't help me much here in NJ, especially since I use my DL to get through airport security. But they could send me a 'counter permit'. Which I just recieved today. But it looks kind of dubious, as the form is filled out by hand. At least it is better than nothing.

I called TSA and the recording said I could use other forms of ID to get through airport security other than my DL. So I can get through, I'll just need to go extra early on my trip back to account for any snags that might crop up.

If there is one thing I have learned from all this it is traveling around the holidays is a nightmare. Stay on the side of the country you are on for the holidays. And if not, give yourself plenty of time for travel or you could end up a total wreck.