Finals week

So we went to St. George last weekend to visit the Whites and Jared and Kelly came up with their boys too! It was great! And before we left I stopped by the BYU bookstore and sold my OChem book back and got $94 for it! That's way better than the $12 Bucks for Books tried to give me! And when I got to the front of the line I told the lady who was running the register how impressed I was with how fast they get the line to move, because it still impresses me every time. That line is LONG and I was only in it for like 15 minutes! And she gave me a bookstore gift card! So I went downstairs and bought some chocolate for the road trip to find out how much was on it. I was expecting $5, but it had $20! How awesome is that!? That's awesome.

So we went to St. George and Neil and I went for a bike ride on his road bikes and it was super fun! April and I totally need to get into cycling. Maybe using next year's tax money. Also we got to attend Elijah's 5th birthday party, which was super fun- there was a pinata and everything! And April showed off her mad kid-wrangling skills. Sarah even turned to me and said things like, "How come they don't listen to me like that?" and, "How does she do that?" And this is coming from a mother of 3 rambunctious boys and a 2 year old girl! April is going to be such a good mom. Makes me want to say, "That;s right- that's my wife."

So we got back late Saturday night and went to our new ward on Sunday, after going to our old ward so I could sing with some other guys in our sacrament meeting. We've been meeting Sunday afternoons and singing various things- including a really fun old school barbershop arrangement of You're a Grand Old Flag with so many scoop-able notes we almost get seasick every time we sing it. But in church we sang I Love the Lord which is an arrangement of Be Still my Soul with different lyrics and some awesome chords! My goodness, the harmony in this piece is gorgeous. I should find a link and post it on here. Ok- on to the afternoon!

So I need to stop beginning paragraphs with the word so. I mean it is informal writing, so I guess it doesn't really matter, but it's still annoying. Sorry about that. After church we went up to campus to meet up with April's family and then went into the MARB where our new ward has sacrament meeting. One of the girls I work with- Lyndsi- is in our new ward and it was really weird to see her not wearing scrubs! During sacrament meeting we got to bear our testimonies and introduce ourselves to the ward, and afterward there were like 5 guys who came and said hi who are all from Poway! One of them was in my ward when I was knee high to a grasshopper! That was cool. Then I got the full tour, a breakdown of my new responsibilities, an interview with the Bishop so he could make sure his new 2nd counselor isn't crazy, and I went home.

That's when the adventure started. I got home at 2:30 and by 4:00 I had a fever over 100. I took a nap and by 6:30 it went up to 102.7. Then it stayed there all day Monday and all day Tuesday (I had to find someone to cover for me at work and I didn't get to go volunteer at the family literacy center!). Now it's Wednesday morning and I still have a fever but it's under 100 now- 99.96! So that means that on Monday I got to take my OChem final (the American Chemical Society entrance exam) while hopped up on so many drugs I couldn't see straight. I just hope I did half as well as I think I did on that test. Now I get to take my OChem lab final and my Genetics test to day and tomorrow and I need an A on the Genetics test, because if I get an A then Dr. Maughan will write me a letter of recommendation for med school- and I need some of those! Ok, I need to start updating this more often so these entries are not so long. Until next time- Have fun you guys!

Man, when will I ever get good at this thing?

So you may have guessed that a lot has happened since the last time I wrote anything. Much adventures. yep. So the semester is almost over, and the basketball team made it to the sweet 16 this year, which is the second farthest we've ever gone and the farthest we've gone since 1981. It was exciting. Jimmer Fredette was named the national player of the year, which was exciting. Probably because of the game against UNM where he scored 52 points. By himself! And a tradition began this year that involves basketball. When our players are on the free throw line we put our hands in the air and if it goes in we clap and say, "Woosh, Cecil!" and point at President Cecil O. Samuelson, who then points back. So when President Samuelson came to my med school application class I asked him if we did that on the good points of his presentation if he would point back and he said, "Is that what you say?" I totally taught him a tradition he had already been participating in for 3 months! Man I'm cool. Let's see, what else...

I learned how to separate paragraphs in my blog. But not very well as you can tell from big mess up there. ^ Oh yeah and WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!!

We find out the sex in 3 weeks! I think it will be a girl and April thinks it will be a boy. We have a running tally on our refrigerator of what all our family and friends think too. So far girl is winning. So we are super excited about that. If you have a guess, anyone who should happen to read this despite our infrequent updates, leave your guess in the comments section and it will be added to the list on the fridge. Ok, I have some OChem to work on, but I will write sooner than 4 months from now, I promise! I have to tell you about the a cappella group I'm in now!

Happy Wednesday!

So today was good. I went out to scrape the ice off April's car like usual but there was no ice! Then I came back to the apartment and the door was locked! With my phone and keys inside. So I enlisted the help of my friend Brian Earley and broke into the bedroom window. Yeah, on the second floor. It was fun. Then I went to classes, and I learned that if I run from class to class, then I can get good seats. Then I learned that I'm really out of shape. So during my Organic Chemistry lab I found out that I'm the smart one that everybody comes to for help. Go me! I even had enough product (that I synthesized myself) to give some to two other people who needed some because of difficulties they had! (probably defective equipment, and yes it was approved by the TA's, I'm not a cheater) Go me!

Also, I heard a girl singing on my way to campus as she was walking away from campus and the only words I heard before she realized someone was around and stopped singing (social stigmas being what they are) were "maybe you're a rich man too". That got me thinking. I am rich. I'm super rich! I may not drive a Bentley, live in a mansion, or have power in the traditional sense, but I have things that everyone in the world wishes for. I have a wonderful wife, a job, a family that loves me, in-laws I get along with, great opportunities for learning on a near daily basis and a very bright future ahead of me. Life is great!

Here's a random fact for today: Gingko biloba is the missing link of the plant world. It has parallel venation like a monocot, but it has bark like a dicot. Weird huh?

My wife is sick drunk

So today we are feeling a little under the weather. We didn't even go up to the Jones' for dinner. Just now April noticed that our ravioli bag has "approximately 78 ravioli" and I commented that it was weird because when you use the word approximately it should probably be a round number. Then she started laughing uncontrollably. That was when I noticed that something was amiss. We weren't on a first date, so she wasn't pretending that I was funnier than I am. She wasn't high because I didn't smell anything weird. So that left sick, and apparently so sick that she was sick drunk, you know- where everything is funny and nothing really makes sense unless it's crazy? Like that. But then I said something else and she kept laughing and laughing. I didn't know what to do, so I just left her there and told her to make me ravioli. In a very mean fashion. Grrr. (that's my mean sound, it has an accompanying face but I suppose you can't see that- hence the parenthetical observation)

Here's another joke

An engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician got arrested and thrown in jail for a couple of days. You know because they're such rowdy people. So the only thing they had to eat was a large can of beans with no way to get it open. After the 2 days were up the warden went to the engineer's cell to get him out and saw the can. It was beat up like Rocky coming out of retirement. It had dents and dings all over it, but it was open and empty. Then he went to let the physicist go and saw that he had scribbled equations all over the walls of his cell and his can of beans had one large dent in it and was open and empty. Then he went to get the mathematician, his can of beans was sitting untouched in the middle of the floor and was on his bed screaming at it. "I DEFINE YOU TO BE OPEN! I DEFINE YOU TO BE OPEN! I DEFINE YOU TO BE OPEN!" Silly math guys.

Merry Christmas month!

In Finnish, the word for December is Joulukuu. That means Christmas month. They know how to party over there. That probably explains why they're so friendly and extroverted. So today we're listening to Straight No Chaser. We love their version of the 12 Days of Christmas. It includes a Toto cover! Also we (meaning I under April's guidance) made some really delicious cookies. They're those chocolate ones that are covered in powdered sugar so that when they cook they look all cool. (we'll post a picture) I always dreamed of being married to a girl who knew how to make awesome things like that- and now I am! Anyway, we put some on a plate and doorbell ditched our neighbors. It was fun. Then April told me she signed the note that she put on it. Then I remember that we gave them our nice plate that has our name on the bottom. D'oh! Oh well, maybe they will doorbell ditch us with some goodies.

So Christmas is coming! But first finals are already here! I'm not excited about finals. My molecular bio final is scheduled for 7 AM. Who's crazy idea was that!? That's right- I feel so strongly about this that I used an interrobang! Kind of. Then my organic chemistry final is right after that. The only good one is my microbio final that is at 5:45. Humbug. I'll let you know how they go.

Hi. How are ya?

So it's December. Christmas season! The best season of the year! And finals are upon us again! That's not the best part, but after they're over things will be better. It amazes me how much I hate school at the end of each semester and how I excited I inevitably get for school to start again two weeks later. It's an eternal round, like the hydrologic cycle.