Bizarre Bradyisms

You only think you know so much

This weekend I spent a fair amount of time preparing for one of the tests, 4 in total, to receive my CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional). It was the CIT (Cisco Internetwork Troubleshooting) and I had been postponing it all summer long, and feeling pretty good about it, I decided to take schedule it for Monday. I can tell you right now that it kicked my behind pretty good. To pass you need an 804 and I think I scored a 660. Honestly, as I was taking the test, I felt I would do a heck of lot worse because the questions they were asking had not even been presented in any of the study materials that I had. So, in short, I did not pass.

The problem that I have now is that the current requirements for the CCNP expire December 31 and if all 4 tests are not completed by then, I have to start all over. My current job doesn’t give me the opportunity to be learning and playing with this equipment and school occupies a large majority of the remaining time I have. The question is, do I postpone everything and start working on the new requirements knowing that I will not get them done until after December, or do I push myself to try and make it happen before then? After how poorly I did on this test believing it to be one of the easiest, I am learning towards waiting it all out (considering each test costs $125 to take), but I am not sure. We shall see. (I don’t know why I refer to myself as the 1st person plural, but hey, doesn’t hurt anything.)

Nicki and I went out this weekend and saw BYU’s World of Dance performance and I must say that it was really fun. The dancers was great and it was just a pleasant night overall. I especially liked one with Michael Bublé’s music which, according to Nicki, is called Lyrical Dancing (it was her favorite performance as well). Plus, we got to go to a Japanese Steak Grill before for dinner and did one of their Hibachi Grill things where you watch the cook prepare your food right in front of you with the fire flaring high and everything. This was especially fun for me and I asked in a joking manner if I could have one of those grills in my house. The answer was unfortunately no.

Also, I thought it would be fun to drive up to Aspen Grove (up by Sundance in Provo Canyon) on Sunday after the both of us got done with church to watch the changing color of the leaves. It was beautiful, however, a large majority of the aspens had not yet changed. The ones higher up in altitude had not, while those lower down had. Weird. You would think it to be the other way around. It was pretty nonetheless and perhaps we’ll have to go up again in a week or two if it works out that way.

    

I have not added any pictures recently so I thought this would be as good of an opportunity as any. I found out that Nicki does not like photos very much but I was able to steal this one before her noticing. It was pretty cold and windy up there, hence her odd facial expression, but I still like it.

Winter

Have I mentioned before how much I hate winter? If I have, forgive me for the rant which am about to begin. I really, really despise winter. I have never been much of a literature type of guy, but my internal hatred towards the cold, wet, dark, weather known as winter almost makes me want to break out into poetry just to get my point across. Strange huh? Anyways, it has been cold and raining off and on for the past week and I’m not happy about it. I don’t understand what happens in Utah that causes autumn to be non-existent. Really, it goes from summer to winter in a matter of days. No intermittent period that one can enjoy the brisk but bearable (nice alliteration, huh) temperatures while enjoying the changing color of the leaves. Now that means that snow is going to come shortly only to add to the deep despair and disgust I have for winter. The only bright side I can think of about winter is that it only makes spring that much more pleasant when it comes.

I have to publicly and vocally (well, not quite) state that my calculus teacher is crazy. It is weird how excited he can get at 8:00 in the morning while explaining the theories behind function limits. His eyes get big and the emotions expressed on his face are beyond humorous. Perhaps I would not be so bothered by it if I understood more of what he was teaching, but it kind of bothers me nonetheless.

I don’t mean to sound so negative right now, but having been sick for the past couple of days really gets to you when you are trying to stay ahead in school and work and relationships and everything.

I am sitting here at work trying to convince myself to do my homework when I am not taking calls and so far it is not working (hence the blog entry). I want to mention this person I work with and sits right behind me. His name is Roger and has got to be around 35 years old. He laughs at everything (or giggles, how ever you prefer to describe it). Also, he has a collection of sound files on his computer to match just about every situation. I can’t even begin to describe them all, but they come from movies, TV shows, cartoons, whatever. Some are funny and have just the right tone to make me laugh and keep me smiling, but others are kind of inappropriate (you the the type). Why do I bring this person up? I guess it is just a reminder to myself that there are a large variety of people in the world, unlike the lack of diversity that exists at BYU, and it is good to get used to it now instead of being “shell shocked later” after leaving Provo.

Enough ranting for now. You must be pretty tired of it. I know I am.

Oh the places you will go…

I do not know why the Dr. Suess book with that title is in my head or even if that is in fact the title, but I have been thinking recently of how quickly my life has changed how much I have been able to accomplish. First of all, based on my current plans, I still have about three years left of school to finish before I graduate and as depressing as that is to me, I have also realized that I’m doing pretty good overall. It has been almost 2 years since I came back home after serving a mission, and during that time I have completed almost all the requirements for a minor in Spanish, I have learned to play the guitar and the piano (not an advanced level, but intermediate), I have passed Cisco and Nortel certification exams and hoping to finish a second by years end, the two jobs I have had are amazing and will help build my career immensely, I have learned how to cook quite well (not to brag or anything), I’ve purchased a car, worked on some basic weight training, and the most recent major event is having a girlfriend (as odd as that sounds to me). What’s my point? I honestly don’t know. Just reflecting I guess trying to convince myself that things are okay.

This past week has just been normal, crazy and hectic, yes, but normal. Calculus is going pretty well, Accounting is interesting in its own fashion, and my IT class is time consuming, but I think it will be fun come semester end. Not much else to report and nothing more to say so I’m going to bed. I’ve been sick and don’t want to use my day off of work laying around in bed. Goodbye.

Pure Insanity

I was thinking that perhaps it would be better if I didn’t try to intentionally kill myself with schoolwork in addition to everything else that is going on in my life right now, so I switched things up at the last second. School started without much fan fair (I didn’t even have to go shopping for school supplies, I had everything I needed from previous semesters). Tuesday I snuck out early from my first class to make it to my Salt Lake class on time and by the time I got up there (and got lost in the process as well) I realized I wasn’t going be able to do that twice and week. So, I dropped in on my Grandma and my Aunt’s place to say Hi. It was a bit unexpected for them and because I used a spare key I think I frightened them when I walked in.

My aunt had had a pretty rough day at work and so being able to listen to her helped to calm her down at least a little bit. As tends to be customary when I visit families’ houses I helped fix their computer (which I don’t mind doing at all) and even convinced her to write an email back to a guy who someone is trying to set her up with. I enjoyed being able to tell her what goes through guys mind when trying to talk with women and seeing her reaction to that was. I love her tons, she is such a wonderful person. But knowing that I had a long drive ahead of me still, I left at around 10:15 and made it home just after eleven (not having been home since 7:30am). Luckily enough I found a Calculus class at 8:00 daily here in Provo to replace my Salt Lake one that had one opening and snagged it before someone else did. My other classes were slow like the first week of a semester tends to be (review the syllabus and the such) although I did find out that I don’t have to attend my Accounting class any more all semester because all of the lessons and lectures are on CD (Hooray!). All in all, I think I’ll be able to handle school a lot better than I first imagined (every morning at 8:00 for an hour and twice a week at night, that’s it).

Today we did not have normal Sunday meetings because there was a Regional Conference for all of Utah County and Wasatch County in the Marriott Center. Elder Worthlin and President Monson came to speak for two sessions (mine was at 1:00pm). President Monson of course had a number of great stories to share and told some good jokes while Elder Worthlin shared some inspiring words (even though he tends to struggle with the teleprompter). I went and had dinner with someone and then there was a CES fireside with Elder Eyring. Good stuff it was. Good stuff. Oh, I also forgot to mention that I was called today as the ward financial secretary and thus ended up staying in a shirt and tie for 12 hours today (not recommended) between interviews, some training, conference, dinner, fireside, friends, etc.

Well, I mentioned last week that I was kind of going out with a girl a lot recently and I have to say that your head can really mess with you sometimes. Trying to figure out what you want out of a relationship, what the other person expects, what type of commitments are going to be required, and all the other little things in addition to a normal busy lifestyle is not an easy task. But nonetheless, I have finally given in to the whole dating scene because we are now officially a couple. I am not sure what all that defines but I think I like where things are going. Wish me luck with that (’cause I’m gonna need it).

Tomorrow is my day off of work because I was there for 11 hours on Saturday getting all caught up with my school work. I still have my one class, but after that, nothing. I do have a job interview in the afternoon, although I have been thinking that the job I have now may turn out to be the best for me after all. We shall see.

PS – I have to ask if it is normal for a guy to like a store named Linen’s and Things? Such is the case with me. I have recently purchased a number of cooking products (Cast Iron Fajita plate, Pizza stone) and a new bed setup (bamboo pillows, bed comforter) from them. Also, a KitchenAid mixer (from Amazon) has recently become part of my ever growing assortment of kitchen items. Even if it isn’t normal for a guy to have such things, I guess I already knew that I wasn’t “normal” for a while now. On the plus side, if I ever get married, I guess I won’t have a ask for kitchen appliances for the wedding.

Ready for School?

As you might notice the title of this post is in the form of a question and although I think I want the answer to be “yes,” the more I think about it and how crazy of a life I am going to have for the next 4 months just astonishes me. School starts on Tuesday and so I will begin work at 8:00am all the way through 4:30. After which I will attend my first class at 5:00 until about 7:00. Head up to Salt Lake City for a class at 7:30 until 10:00. This means I will not get home until around 11:00pm. I imagine that homework will of course be added to that routine as the semester moves along making things just that much more crazy. So am I ready? Gosh dang I hope so, because if not, I am in serious trouble.

Anyways, I think I might want to mention publicly to those you read this every now and then that during the past 2 weeks or so I have gone out on a couple dates with a girl from Colorado Springs. I knew her from my previous BYU ward last year and was a part of the dinner group that I participated in. She came back from Colorado and we started spending some time together. It is nothing serious yet, but it is possible that it might develop into something. For me, it has been a learning experience so far because I have never really had a relationship with a girl before and it is interesting to me how the thoughts that go through a person’s mind such as “Do I like this person? Does she like me?” can influence you and your everyday thought so radically. We cooked dinner together tonight and took a walk in downtown Provo for a little bit. For me, it is nice to be around someone with whom I feel so comfortable and know that I can be myself and not have to worry about trying to live up to some other person’s standards. Now, I tend to be very cautious and move slowly so I can only imagine that this will be no different.

It is Labor Day tomorrow and I am kind of tired right now, so I think it is bedtime for me and can only hope I will survive this next week of pure insanity. Here’s hoping.

PS – I have spent every night after work this past week cleaning the apartment because it was so dirty and the management was not very helpful in this effort. But now it is in decent shape and should be quite easy to maintain. I don’t have any pictures of it, but I’m sure it must have been a sight to see while I was hanging outside of the windows trying to clean them the other day. I must have come close to falling a least a half a dozen times and still couldn’t reach all of the windows. I’m thinking now that a ladder might have been helpful.