Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Wedding Invitation

Just in case you never got yours in the mail or we didn't have
your address, here's the wedding invitation.

The one we sent out had a little different spacing because we had to make it shorter, but I only have a photoshop version of that right now (so I can't upload it). It's pretty much the same.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Finals


Click to enlarge.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Thanksgiving Break!

Christina and I were able to go back to Washington for the break. We spent some time at both of our family's. We actually forgot to take pictures so I got these from my dad and sister.


We arrived Tuesday night and my parent's took us out to dinner to celebrate my recent birthday.


Daysha got to see this Red Robin they had walking around.


I even got some dessert and they surprised me by singing happy birthday


Daysha, Christina, and me playing.


Ready for dinner!

It was a really fun trip!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Health Care—What to Think . . .

I had to read a lot of articles and write a paper on the current U.S. health care system and plans for reform for my Economics class. I also learned about the health care systems of five other countries--England, Japan, Germany, Tawain, and Switzerland. It was very interesting. I want all of your opinions and thoughts on U.S. health care, so make sure to give me your comments.

I'm still not quite sure what the best solution is for health care reform. I definitely think that President Obama and politicians on both sides are trying to look for quick fixes where the American people don't have to change bad habits--something that looks good, but in the long run will be much worse for us. There are so many inefficiencies in the U.S. health care system it's ridiculous. We spend more than any other country and our care is ranked 37th according to a Frontline video made in 2008. That's horrible!

One of the biggest problems is people don't care how much health care costs because the insurance is paying for it. So the health care providers (hospitals, etc) charge outrageous amounts to make large profits and the insurance companies pay for it. They don't really mind because they'll just raise everyone's premiums for next year. In 2005 health care was 14% of GDP (and rising) compared to about 5% in 1965 (see link). Health Savings Accounts seem like a pretty good way to put the money into consumers hands so that they are more conscientious about where the money is going. But I know that's not a solution to everything--and it doesn't work well for people with medical conditions or the elderly.

I also like the idea of universal health care, but the cost without totally revamping the current system would be tremendous (despite what Obama says). Japan has managed to keep mostly private health providers while supplying universal care, but the hospitals are in a lot of debt because of the government regulations of prices.

I think the government needs to help take care of the vast inefficiencies in health care (but the gov't itself is so ineffiecient I don't know how that will work), put money into consumers hands so they care about costs coming down, and learn from what other countries have done to expand coverage to those that don't have it and cut costs.

Comments please.

Monday, November 30, 2009

That's What I'm Talkin' About!

Best idea to hit college football.


Some people argue that 16-team playoff is too much (even though basketball has 64 (officially 65) teams). I'd settle for an 8-team playoff over the current system. At least we could find out who the real champions are.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Google Voice is great, but . . .

Google Voice sends me an e-mail and a text when someone leaves me a voice message. It's a great idea, but the translator they use doesn't work all that well. Here's the message from my roommate Eric this morning while I was in class:

"Hey Jordan here and flusher. It's Dean collect on this, But 3 inches long trying to touch is. Yeah, I just wanna let you know I'm gonna so growing Custer's right now come up and it."

Yeah, I was confused too. My roommate was gonna bring me up my flash drive that I had forgotten at home (I was already on campus). Here's what the voicemail actually said, from my own translation:

"Hey Jordan, I think I got your flash drive. It says Dane Elect. It's 1 gigabyte. About 3 inches long, has rounded edges. Um, I just wanted to let you know I got it. You're probably in class or something right now. Just wanted to let you know. I'll come up at nine and give it to you."

Yes, my roommate had just recently woken up and probably slurred some words together, but still. It's really funny when I get the translations of my voicemail messages.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Wedding Invitations

Wedding invitations are an interesting thing. Christina knew right away that I'm pretty picky about mine. I don't like too many pictures crowded on to the invitation, weird colors, pictures where you can't see the people, and distracting designs. I also think simple is usually better, not always though. We're in the middle of creating our wedding invitations. It's difficult balancing cost and finding one that we like. We've got an idea we like, we just need to work out getting it created on Photoshop. I tried teaching myself Photoshop, but that was a little frustrating. But I think we might have it under control now and you should be getting your invitations in a few weeks.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Charlie Bit My Finger becomes #1 on Youtube

For a while now the overrated Evolution of Dance video has had the most views of any video on all of youtube. Well, in the last few days, the much funnier Charlie Bit My Finger surpassed it in total views and become the most watched video on youtube with 129,719,233 views as of 9:25am MST. Obviously, since I'm posting about it being the most watched video, I know most of you have seen it, but here it is if you want to watch it again.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Halloween Date

Christina and I went on a Halloween themed date last night. It was a lot of fun. We went to the store before dinner to pick up a pumpkin and some ingredients. After dinner, we carved a pumpkin! Even though we didn't have very good knives for it, it turned out really well.

Then we made some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for some friends and delivered them.

After we got back we watched a Halloween-ish movie (not a scary movie, cause Christina or I aren't huge fans of those). We watched Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. I thought it was an amusing story, pretty strange though.

Overall, it was a lot of fun!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

This is probably the most fame I'll ever get

I've had a lot of people tell me about seeing my face on posters around campus. They'll probably be gone after tomorrow since Homecoming Spectacular will end.

This one is of me and Jake outside the upper level of the bookstore, the electronics section. This picture might be deceiving, it's not very big.

This one is right by the restrooms and drinking fountain by Jamba Juice in the WILK. This one is pretty big.

Oh yeah, sadly, I am not doing Men's Chorus this year, so people have been confused that I am on the poster. Last spring term they asked for the most handsome members of Men's Chorus to come to a photo shoot. Okay, they really just asked who is available for two hours and still has their Men's Chorus jacket—even if we weren't gonna be in it again.

Monday, October 19, 2009

A Few Engagement Pictures


We got our pictures back on Friday night. Here are a few, I'll post more later on Facebook. We've almost made a decision.









Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Toy Story 3 Trailer!!!

Christina and I saw this in the theatre the other night when we went to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D. I am pretty excited for this next installment after more than 10 years! And for those who say it's just gonna ruin the previous two great films—come on, this is Pixar. Did Toy Story 2 take away from Toy Story? Not at all. I actually like Toy Story 2 a little bit better.

Watch this trailer. Sometimes I am disappointed by Pixar trailers cause they don't do a good job of getting across the humor and STORY of the movie, but his one is great. Here's a look at it, although I highly recommend going to apple.com to see the HD version.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Housing FOUND

Christina and I have found a place to live this coming Winter! It's around 300 W 100 S. It's a spacious (compared to a lot of married housing in Provo) two bedroom place. We're excited to have this big decision made and out of the way. We're also getting two nice microfiber couches from the current tenants for a good deal. So we don't have to search for those and get them moved in.

We also registered at Bed, Bath, & Beyond on Saturday . . . man, that was a marathon. You can look us up already!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Last semester before graduation + Being engaged = Lack of desire to study

Usually people mention one of those as being a contributing factor to not doing as well in classes. I get to have both of them at once. Of course, I wouldn't want to postpone either the wedding or graduation.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Engagement Pictures

Okay, so sorry if you thought by that title that I would have pictures to post. I just wanted to announce that we took them today. It was fun. We took them up at Bridal Veil Falls and the surrounding park and down by the Provo Tabernacle. Christina and I had lots of fun doing them and are excited to get them back and choose our favorites!

P.S. Max Hall needs to quit throwing two interceptions a game. The first one tonight was an understandable mistake, but the second . . . what was he thinking throwing that one?!

Monday, September 14, 2009

100th Wall Post!

This is a momentous occasion. Here's some random thoughts to celebrate it . . .

-Tennis is amazing. I watched the final U.S. Open match today between del Potro and Federer. What a game! Del Potro won, by the way.

-There's a lot to think about for a wedding.

-I'm excited to see all of my family together when they come to Washington for my wedding.

-I accepted the offer with Ernst & Young in Palo Alto, CA.

-I love Christina!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

BYU Football

Last week's game was a thrill ride! I'm a huge BYU sports fan. They do often disappoint (BYU basketball in the big tourney . . . ). This season will sure be exciting. I don't know if we'll go undefeated, but it'll be good, that's for sure. And I'm glad they're thinking about it one game at a time.

So . . . if anyone has all-sports tickets that they are not going to use because they will be out of town, please let me know! Christina and I decided not to buy all-sports passes this season because of certain other expenses that are coming up. I remember when I was in the Accounting Jr. Core I left two of my tickets with a roommate to use cause I was busy studying for tests (what memories).

Fortunately I get to go home for Thanksgiving, but unfortunately I won't be here for the Utah game (which is probably the most likely game people will be looking to get rid of, but will also be the best). Any other one though!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Engagement Ring

Here's the ring! And this is the wedding ring too cause Christina doesn't want a wedding band.


Thursday, September 3, 2009

Job Search

At the current moment I am looking for two jobs. One for after Christina and I graduate (I graduate in December and Christina in April). I have an offer with Ernst & Young, but am not sure if I am going to take it.

But I am also looking for a job right now. Once again I am asking for help of any of you reading that know of job openings. It is so much easier to get a job through a referral. I have spent the last 3+ weeks since being back in Provo looking for a job. I would like something that could be part-time right now and maybe turn into more full-time in January. And something that might utilize the fact that I'm six credits away from having a BS in Accounting. But, if you know of ANYTHING (even if it doesn't meet the requirements I mentioned above), let me know. Searching on websites has been very time consuming with very little results. I've also gone around to different places, but they just tell me to fill out on-line applications, not really knowing if something is available right now. And I'm looking off-campus since I graduate so soon and don't want to go through this same process. Thanks in advance!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

First Day of School Pictures

Here we are ready for our first day of school. (These were actually the retakes on the second day of school because I couldn't find my camera the first day).

Monday, August 31, 2009

Apartment Searching

Now that Christina and I are getting married over Christmas break we need to find an apartment! I hear that this can be hard to do in between semesters. But I figured I could get 50 eyes looking (or however many will read my blog post), rather than just us two. Not actively looking like us, but just let us know if you hear about something. That will help us out a bunch. We would prefer a furnished place, but let us know about everything. I'll have graduated and Christina will be student teaching, so it doesn't need to be right next to campus either. Thanks everyone!

Monday, August 24, 2009

The Proposal

As most of you already know, I'm engaged! It's pretty exciting! Christina and I have enjoyed all of the wall posts on Facebook. We will be getting married December 22 in the Seattle Temple. So here's how it went down.

If you already know the background story of Christina and I and just want to hear the proposal, skip this and the next paragraph, but it's a good story. Christina and I have known each other for two years. We lived in the same apartment complex until she moved out this last December. I had never taken her out that entire time, but we were good friends. We stayed in contact a little bit the next few months and saw each other at a few get-togethers. I even called her one evening in May, I believe, to see if she wanted go to a dance with a group of us. The whole group thing fell through and it just would've been me and her, so I called to cancel (I know, what was I thinking). After that I started thinking it would be fun to go on a date with her. But since I had already been accepted into the Jerusalem Center for fall and would be leaving for an internship shortly, I didn't expect anything to happen.

I organized a group to go see Up on it's opening night, May 29. That's the night we both decided we liked each other (but didn't say anything, we hadn't even been out on a date). Then that next day I invited her to volunteer at Special Olympics with me, we also went swimming, and then she came over to catch the last bit of a movie (the movie had just ended and we ended up talking for a while). Anyway, she was very clear that she liked me (hint, girls, that makes it so much easier) and we were dating by the next Friday (a week after Up). We didn't need a DTR (define the relationship, for those who don't know), but that's what day we look to because that was our first kiss. After an amazing three weeks, I was off to my internship in California. She came out to visit me the next week over the 4th of July. We video chatted or talked on the phone every day while I was in California. I had a tough decision to make about going to Jerusalem or staying and getting married in December. After talking to some great friends, praying, fasting, and going to the temple, I knew that I wanted to get married. And even though she would've waited for me, it wouldn't be worth it to be away from her for so long. And the fact that I would come back from Jerusalem broke didn't help. So on July 12th I told her I wasn't going on the study abroad and we decided we wanted to get married (I know, we had to keep it a secret a long time). We saw each other one other time when we went to go meet the parents at the end of July. Although I left out the part in that blog entry of me talking to her dad.


The Proposal

This last Saturday, August 22, Christina went wedding dress shopping (haha) so she could get an idea of what she was looking for when her mom comes to town this week. That gave me plenty of time to finish up my plans for that evening. She thought it might happen soon, but wasn't sure if I had the ring yet. (I had tried to make it seem like it would take a week or two to be ready.) Around 4pm we went to a favorite park of ours in Orem and played some card games (Lost Cities and Ligretto). Then we went out to dinner at Carrabba's. Afterwards we went looking for a dessert to take with us for a walk along the Provo River. She was getting suspicious, because she had suggested going there earlier, but I told her I'd rather go to the other park. We couldn't find any dessert, so we went over to the Provo River trail by Bon Losee off of University Parkway. She had worked nearby during Spring Term, so we had taken a lot of walks there during her work breaks. We talked for a little while on the bridge we usually go to. I thought about doing it there, but the fear of losing the ring to the river by accidentally dropping it was too great. So we walked about 20 feet to a bench. I told her I made her something and pulled out a book I had been working on. In it are all the journal entries I've written about her and the things we've done the last few months, along with pictures of many things we've done.
The last page I wrote a letter to her expressing my feelings for her and read that to her. Then I pulled out the ring. She said yes (or I probably wouldn't be writing this). We're both extremely happy and excited. We haven't been able to take a good picture of the ring yet, but hopefully we will soon. Oh, and the book has a lot of blank pages for the future. (Yes, the book idea does come from the movie Up.)

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Education Week

I'm back in Provo and Christina and I decided to go to some Education Week classes. She got a morning pass, and I got a school day special (morning plus a few more hours). Last year was my first experience with Education Week. My mom had been in town and paid for me to go to some classes. It was a great experience. I still remember a few of the classes and what was taught, especially from one teacher--Randall A. Wright.

This year I've been to four classes (all today), and all the classes are at least okay, but there are some really good ones. I'm excited as the week continues to attend some more great classes.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Disney World!

My Florida trip got much better after the first day of traveling (see my last post). After that ordeal was over I went swimming and played beach volleyball at this cool looking place inside the resort. It was misty the morning I took this picture.

At night we had to sit for four hours to hear speakers and have dinner. I was tired! The next day after breakfast and a big meeting with everyone we had something called "team challenge." Some people I talked to loved it, others hated it. Imagine EFY for grown-ups, that was pretty much it. They even had us create cheers. I thought it was the longest six hours of my life.

That afternoon/evening we went to Disney World. The group I was with decided to go to Magic Kingdom since it was open the latest (for those who don't know, there are many parks within Disney World). Magic Kingdom is almost exactly like the original Disney Land.

Here's the group I was with. Yes, that is indeed the one and only, Kevin G. Brinkherhoff.

Monsters, Inc!!!
We went to the Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor. It was pretty funny. Mike Wazowski was the host. It was cool because they involved the audience in it. Highly recommend it.

We of course went on the Tea Cups.
I wasn't scared.

The fireworks show was really cool.

Getting ready to go on Splash Mountain!

Saturday there were some seminars that were pretty good. At night they had this mind reader/illusionist perform for us. It was crazy some of the stuff that he did. Then afterwards they had games for us to play--pool, foosball, darts, Wii tennis, Rock Band, and fake gambling. Here we are having fun!
It was a fun trip overall! Although Florida is so humid! And I don't know if I could ever afford Disney World, especially for a family.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Flying to Orlando, aka - Worst Day Ever

Here is an excerpt from my journal:

Wednesday just may have been the worst day of my life. I traveled to Orlando, Florida for the Ernst & Young International Intern Leadership Conference. This was my first time ever really on the East Coast (other than airports). In the morning I went to pick up a friend. Going to get him made my ride to the airport twice as long as it should have been. And it took him several minutes to get outside once I arrived. Then the long-term parking was at least a mile away. I was so worried we weren’t going to make our flight. We got the shuttle from long-term parking (which took forever) and I was able to check my bags 27 minutes before my flight. They told me it wouldn’t be guarenteed on the flight because it was less than a half hour before but they would try to get it on. The plane ended up being about ten minutes late, so I wasn’t too worried.

At the layover in Phoenix I got some California Pizza Kitchen despite not having liked it much before. I decided to give it another chance. Halfway through the four and a half hour flight to Orlando I started feeling a little ill. Mostly just a headache. I got some Advil from someone and tried to rest. My headache started to go away but I felt a little nauseous. This continued as we descended. But we were almost there—I could make it. I located the barf bag just in case. Right after we touched down I uncontrollably vomitted all over myself. I didn’t have enough time to react with the bag. It was disgusting! Everything I had eaten that day was now on my clothing. I went back to the bathroom (I was in the third row from the back) and a nice flight attendant name Kelly helped me out. I tried cleaning it off as well as I could with the little paper towels they had. Vomit does not come out very well. I couldn’t believe this had happened. The next flight was delayed because of me a few minutes (which I thought was a little funny). Southwest gave me this extra large bright orange t-shirt to wear and offered me a wheelchair, but I was feeling better. I honestly think it was the food at Phoenix since I have never thrown-up on a commercial jet. My jeans were still kind of dirty, so I tried covering that with my bag as I walked. I wasn’t too worried about what people thought though.

I got to baggage claim and waited for my suitcase, very anxious to change. I waited until there were only three bags still going around—the same ones over and over. I couldn’t believe it. Now more than ever I NEEDED clothes to change into! But nope, my luggage didn’t show up. They told me they would deliver it to the hotel as it was probably on one of the flights to come in later that night. I asked the same friend who I had taken to the airport that morning if I could borrow a pair of shorts. They were big on me so good thing I had a belt. So I was wearing these big shorts and the bright orange Southwest shirt. I got to the hotel and talked to the workers for awhile about the whole situation (I don't know why it took so long). Then I walked like fifteen minutes to my room (I'm not joking, this resort was huge!). I opened the door and turned on the light only to wake up my German roommate, Uwe. A little after midnight I checked at the bell desk to find out my luggage had arrived at the airport and should be there within 2 hours. I decided to go to bed at 1am and get it in the morning. The morning came and still no bag! And all the hotel staff had changed so they didn’t know the situation, and I couldn’t get a hold of the airline at the airport. Well, eventually I found out my bag was with the Disney Magical Express, and they had shut down the night before at 10pm and didn't start delivering until 9am. But at least it was good to know my luggage was safe and coming. I got my bag around 11am.

Phew, what an ordeal. But honestly it wasn’t as bad as it sounds. It’s kind of funny and a good story. I was surprised how positive of an attitude I was able to keep throughout it. It’s almost as if I was able to look back and tell myself, this won’t be such a big deal, but while it was happening.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Palm Pre vs Blackberry Curve 8330

I need to get a new phone. My current Samsung m500
has served me well, but I've had it for 2 1/2 years. For the last year I've had to set something heavy on top of the charger where it hooks into the phone so that it would stay in at the right angle, otherwise it wouldn't charge. That's been a little bit of a hassle.

I have Sprint, and I have a really good deal with them--$35 a month and I get internet, unlimited texting, 500 anytime minutes, etc. So don't try and convince me to get an iPhone, cause I'm not switching. I went to the Sprint store on Saturday so I could handle both of them. Here are the pros and cons of both that I see.

Palm Pre
Pros
  • Very user-friendly. I love the touch screen. You can have multiple applications open and just sort through them like cards. Want to check something out on the internet or your calendar without losing an e-mail you were writing? No problem.
  • Sleek. And the colors are really vibrant.
  • Pretty small--smaller than the iPhone when the keyboard isn't out.
  • Universal Search--just start typing and it will search everything on your phone that starts with the letters you type.
  • webOS, the operating system, is very fast and intuitive.
Cons
  • $199
  • It doesn't have an expansion slot to add memory. So you only get the built in 8GB I believe it is.
  • Battery life isn't that great.

Blackberry Curve 8330
Pros
  • $49
  • A slightly bigger keyboard
  • Does have expandable memory
  • I've heard it works really well for business-oriented people
Cons
  • The keyboard makes clicking noises that I don't like
  • When compared to the sleekness of the Pre, it doesn't look very cool and feels kind of outdated. I want to touch the screen!
  • I also don't like the rollerball very much. I got tired of it after just a few minutes of messing around with it.
Obviously you can probably tell I like the Pre better. But is it worth the extra $150? Let me know your opinion--especially if you've had either one of these phones (or if you've had another similar type of Blackberry).

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Giants Win

My internship paid for all of the interns to go to a San Francisco Giants game on Thursday. My Brazilian friend, Leo, pointed out to me that hardly anyone was watching the game. It was true. I was socializing more than watching. I'm not really a Giants' fan. And baseball isn't the most exciting sport (although I had arguments about this with co-workers the next day). Here are some pictures from the game.
AT&T Park

Tyler, Leo, and me

People talking to each other while the game is going on.

Me, Leo, Damaris


Oh, the Giants were playing the Phillies and won. I got to see a homerun or two, so that was cool.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Sweet Home Washington

This last weekend I made a trip up to Washington. Christina came too! This was a weekend to not only see each other, but meet each others parents since we are both from Washington. She picked me up Thursday night from the airport and we went down to my house. Most of the pictures in this blog will feature my adorable niece--cause she's really cute (well, so is Christina, but she gets tired of me trying to take pictures of just her). Friday we went to a small water park. That was fun and the weather turned out nice, but the water was still super cold.

That afternoon Christina and I went out to the Chambers Bay park overlooking the water in my city (University Place). That evening we had pizza with the family and played some games.


In the morning we went over to my sister's to play with my niece for what we thought would be the last time and to say goodbye. She was soooo hyper and excited to see us. She would run up her slide and come down over and over, stomp all around, and squeal as I chased her around.

On Saturday we went up to Poulsbo, where Christina is from. I always tease her cause she says she doesn't live on a farm--but she does. There's a barn, cows, and five acres. But it's a nice farm. I met her whole family (her oldest brother wasn't there, but I'd already met him). We went to a ward activity, walked around downtown Poulsbo, watched some old home videos, went mini-golfing. Then the young couples (her sister and husband and us) went to her sister's house to watch a movie. Here's the one picture I took in Poulsbo.

Sunday was relaxing and we went to church. Because I forgot my sandals at my place that gave us a reason to go back there (I didn't do it on purpose!) on our way to the airport and I got to see Daysha once more. A very eventful and great trip.