Les Misérables

Today I finished reading one of the greatest stories ever written. It took me over half a year to do (including 5 1/2 months during school when I didn't even pick it up). But when I picked it back up I could easily remember what I had already read.

Why was Les Miserables so great? The characters, especially that of Jean Valjean, are so intricate. He goes through an amazing transformation because of the charitable, hope-filled act of one kind soul. This changes his whole attitude and perspective on life. But he still has many choices to make, and things never come easy. There were times when I hoped, but didn't know what he would do. Then there is the determined Javert that seems the embodiment of the letter of the law.

If you have not read this book, read it! I did shed a few tears near the end. I'm not afraid to admit it. I don't know if I've ever had a book draw me in like this. I'll share two of my favorite lines from the last part:

"God knows better than we do what we need."

"It is nothing to die; it is frightful not to live."

Zion Narrows

This weekend I went to St. George and Zion National Park with my roommates Bwood and Kevin, and Kevin's girlfriend Aubrey. It was pretty spontaneous as far as road trips go. Kevin and I had been talking about going to Southern Utah all summer, and we finally decided less than a week before that we should do it. The Narrows was pretty much amazing. For those who have never been, it's a hike pretty much through a shallow river in a canyon. There were gorgeous views all around us. We didn't get to go too far because of time constraints. Pretty much all it did was make me more excited to come back some other time. I want to go back and do the entire hike from top to bottom.

Bwood took most of the pictures, so be looking for those on Facebook sometime next week.

Tennis

My friend Lauren and I organized a mixed doubles tennis tournament for our apartment complex and any friends that would like to participate. It was a lot of fun! Here's some pictures from the championship game, including the best dressed preppy outfit contest. (Keep reading though, cause that's not the main point of this post.)


Anyway, that's all kind of old news. My main reason for writing this post is to say, I want to play tennis pretty much everyday now. I have time. I'm just working and not taking classes. My thirst for it seems unquenchable. I think about it all the time. Greg Skidmore wants to play a lot too, but he's coming up on finals, so it won't be possible. So if anyone has a desire to just go and play tennis, call me up and I will be there. Even with short notice.

Free Music

I remember the days of Napster when we all lived in ignorant bliss. Any music you wanted for free. Those were the days. But honestly with the websites around nowadays you can still listen to just about any song you want for free (legally too). You just can't download it. Most people already know about Pandora. Pandora has created the music genome project where you can create stations based on any artist or song, then it will continue to play music similar to that. You can customize each station by adding new artists or saying whether you like a song or not. That's usually what I listen to at work. I like the variety. And it has introduced me to some great new music I wouldn't have listened to otherwise. I am now up to 22 stations on Pandora. Oh, and to get rid of the annoying advertisements just use Firefox and download the ad-block plus add-on.

Two other sites let you look up any song you want to listen to. The first is Project Playlist. I used this one for awhile. Lately though, I have been going to Seeqpod.com. This site searches all audio files, and video files if you want. It has a sleeker feel than Project Playlist, you can fast forward/rewind songs, search without interrupting the current song playing, and easily create a list of songs to listen to. Check them out and have fun!

A Sweet Reunion

After two years of being home (my two year mark was the 12th of July), I had my first reunion with my mission president, President Geschwandtner, Saturday evening. This is especially rare, since he lives in Brazil. He has been released for about a year and came up to see his new granddaughter that lives here in the United States.

This man (along with his sweet wife) has been one of the biggest influences in my life. For two years he was a leader that cared about me and about the work I was doing. He gave me advice for missionary work and showed me by example how to live my life. The meeting we had on Saturday evening reminded me so much of the time spent in the mission field. As time goes on, I forget how amazing those two years are. I love life now too, but those two years hand you life's joys and trials in a concentrated dose. I hope I'll be able to come the next time he makes it back to the United States.

The picture is a little blurry. Hopefully he can send me a copy of the one he took with his camera.


Some of my buddies.

Who doesn't feel this way at times?

Firefighter Fourth

In my neighborhood they had a parade led by a fire truck. Personally, I thought them blasting the siren was a little obnoxious, but the kids got to play around on the fire truck.

So here's some cute pictures of my nephews. Click 'em to englarge.