Glass and Irony

Weird experience of the day: My roommate CJ and I go home teaching after church. The girls we home teach are sitting on the couch, and we pull up a couple chair and sit across from them. Before we start the lesson, one of the girls jokes about how it feels like a teacher-student setup, so I move my chair off to the side a little while CJ offers to sit cross-legged on the floor. We have a good laugh and go on with the lesson.

When we're done, CJ asks the usual question, "Is there anything at all we can do for you?" They say, "No." Just at that moment, their light fixture falls out of their ceiling and shatters to pieces in the exact spot where I'd been sitting at the beginning of the lesson. This light fixture is not the paper-thin kind we have at my apartment; it's shaped like a punchbowl and is at least a quarter of an inch thick--and unlike my light fixture, this one seems like it had my name on it.

When the shock has worn off (as you can imagine, none of us really saw that coming) we clean up the shattered glass and try to figure out what went wrong. The glass is hot enough to burn skin and there's an faintly acrid smell in the air, like something has melted. We don't figure out what made the light fixture fall, but we decide it's pretty ironic that we ended up with something we could do to help our home teachees.

Pomegranate ponderings

For years, pomegranate salad has been a Thanksgiving dinner staple in my mom's family. I don't know exactly how it got started, though I know my grandmother made it, and I suspect her mother might have made it as well. But for the longest time, I was under the impression we were some of the only people who even knew what pomegranates were. Which brings me to my question: Have I just been out of touch all along, or have pomegranates become a new fad?

Earlier this week, my roommate brought home a pomegranate cocktail mix (we regularly mix virgin drinks in our apartment). It was amazingly good. A few days later my coworker was telling me about a pomegranate chewing gum she'd tasted a few days before. Just a few minutes later we walked down to the candy jar at the receptionist's desk–where we found a pomegranate Tootsie Roll Pop. Then on Friday, my editor at the Daily Universe offered me some gum. You guessed it. Pomegranate.

Maybe pomegranate flavor has become the new rage. Maybe it's just a coincidence. But either way, I'm really enjoying the taste!

One crazy week

Has it really only been six days since school started? It feels more like six weeks. This is a good thing, in the sense that I now feel more or less like I'm back in the swing of things, but this is a bad thing, in the sense that it's still the second week of January, and school's not out until April.

In addition to going to class and working part-time, I spent almost 20 hours at the Daily Universe this past week. This would have been awful a) if I had never spent extensive time in a newsroom before and b) if I didn't love what I was doing. And what was I doing? Well, on Tuesday I had an interview with a microbiology professor, but really I spent most of the day playing phone tag with BYU's head spokesperson, trying to get some information about a hiring freeze at BYU. When I finally did get to talk with her, I found out she was also getting me a statement from church headquarters because the hiring freeze is church-wide. Surprise!

I got the church's statement on Wednesday, and my story ran on the front page on Thursday. Another story I wrote ran in the campus section. Thursday was also the day Print Services delivered our new magazine. I guess when it rains, it pours, right? Anyway, between my story running on the front page and Eagle's Eye being delivered, I was pretty dang excited.

Thursday's Daily Universe and Eagle's Eye magazine

Friday I covered "Sing for Your Books," a competition sponsored by BYUSA that was a lot like American Idol, minus the cruel remarks. And minus the bad singers. And minus the big contract at the end. Instead, the first-place prize was $350 for textbooks; second place was $150. The winners were announced a little after 1:00 and I had a 2:00 deadline, which gave me just enough time to run up to the winner, thrust my microphone in his face, and get a quote before running across campus to the newsroom where I finished the article and submitted it to my editor. All in a day's work.

In any case, it was a crazy first week, and now I'm looking at another week that promises to be just as insane. So far, though, I'm loving it.

Bring it on!

Stop . . . er, start the presses!

Today my boss and I got a phone call from the people at Print Services inviting us to come up and give the magazine covers a final thumbs-up while they were on the press. Turns out they were just how we wanted them. After we gave the okay, the printers offered to show us around and let us watch the covers as they came off the press.

A four-color printer like the one at the University Press Building

One of the guys took me up onto the printer and showed me how it works. At the top of each tower is a trough of dye (either cyan, magenta, yellow, or black). The ink runs down into the press and is printed on the paper in tiny dots--take a really strong magnifying glass to a colored page and you'll see them. All the colors on our cover come from dots from those four different colors. Pretty sweet.

We watched a batch of our magazine covers go through the press, saw several pallets of "True to the Faith" covers, and watched the workers spiral-bind the missionary planners (apparently Print Services produces at least some copies of "True to the Faith" but only does the binding on the planners).

It was a cool, unexpected field trip. The people at Print Services told us they'd call us when the magazine was being stitched together, so I might even get another one if I'm around for that. In any case, Eagle's Eye should be completely finished by the end of the week, and I'm pretty happy about that!

Back to school

The Brimhall Building. Most of my classes will be here from now on.

Today was the first day of class. My schedule went something like this:

6:30
I wake up and do my daily routine. I'm out the door and on my way to the bus stop by 7:35. Even with my coat on, it feels like I'm inside an industrial refrigerator.

7:55
I drop by One Stop before work to rent a locker. Outside the room there are a few people sitting against the wall in a row.

7:56
I realize the row of sitting people is part of an enormous line of students waiting to storm the room when it opens at 8 a.m. Since most of them are wanting to add or drop classes, and not get a locker, I decide to get in line.

8:00
One Stop remains closed. The pregnant girl in front of me tells me she feels like she's going to pass out and asks if I'll save her spot in line so she can go sit down. I oblige her.

8:10
One Stop is finally open. Inside, I find that there are several stations set up to accommodate the add/drop people, but only one line for lockers.

8:40
I finally get my locker and head to work, where my boss is understanding and doesn't mind that I'm late.

11:00
My first class. There are about five girls for every guy in the room. One more good reason to be in the Comms program.

The Daily Universe newsroom: My new home away from home

12:00
Time for my first Daily Universe lab. We new 321ers meet our advisers, Kaye and Rich, and take a tour of the newsroom. It is everything I hoped and more. I talk to the editors at the Campus desk and they give me a press release about a salt irrigation study to work off of for my first story.

12:15
Rich walks by as I'm working on the story and I ask him about how writing at the Campus desk will affect my chances of getting a good internship or job (print majors are encouraged to write for the Metro desk, but you need a car, which I don't have). He says I need a good beat and puts me on the student government/clubs beat on the Campus desk. Then he gives me a really interesting story to write. I work on both of these for the next few hours.

3:00
My Research Methods for Journalism class. Our professor tells us he will give us 20 extra credit points for joining his Comms 308 group on Facebook and 5 extra points for adding him on Twitter (he's conducting a study). We also find out we will be attending a legislative hearing and a district court trial this semester. Sweet!

4:00
I leave the Brimhall Building for the first time in five hours and find myself in the middle of a snowstorm. Do not let the picture deceive you. There is no sun or grass to be found today. I slip and slide my way to the Joseph F. Smith Building for my persuasive writing class.

4:45
My persuasive writing class gets out early. I go back through the storm to the Brimhall, where I work on the salt irrigation article and wait to hear back from someone on the really interesting story.

5:15
I call it a day and walk home. I look like a snowman by the time I get back to my apartment. Home evening is cancelled because of the storm. I sit down to write a blog entry and do homework.

A necessary evil

Two gift cards and $157 later... all but one of my
required texts for next semester

I bought my books for next semester today. It wasn't so bad--at least in terms of crowding. In the week right before fall semester the bookstore is packed with people, at least half of whom are parents dragging around their angsty freshman kids. ("But the dorms are full of preemie guys, Mom! If I live there I'll never get married by the end of the semester!") The week before winter semester is much better. Everyone is still out of town except for the few of us who live in the area and/or work on campus. Nice.

The books, on the other hand, cost a pretty penny. Today I almost spent $217 on five textbooks, four of which are smaller than your average novel. I say "almost" because I used two gift cards to get the total down to $157 (shout out to Mom, who gave me one for my birthday, and the Multicultural office, which gave me one for Christmas). For the record, the bookstore itself doesn't get much of a cut from its profits, or even much of a say in pricing. I guess it's nice to know the nice cashier who rang me up and her boss weren't trying to rob me, even if I did spend half my paycheck on textbooks.

For your information/entertainment, here's a list of all the different methods of book-buying I have tried during my three years of college.

Method 1: Divide and Conquer (Winter 2006)
You sign up for the same classes as your live-at-home sibling, and split the cost of the books and share them, swapping them in the hall between classes. Note: this only works as long as both of you are living at home, and only if you're taking general ed classes.

Method 2: Cowboy Up (Fall 2006)
You go to Beat the Bookstore, the private college textbook store across the street from the school. Once you have realized they don't carry the books you need, it's time to cinch up your belt, walk into the bookstore, and buy your books there.

Method 3: Freeloader (Winter 2007)
You're too broke to buy one of your textbooks. Instead, every time you have a reading assignment you check the book out from the campus library and do your reading right then (since they only give you an hour or so) and there (since you can't take the book out of the library).

Method 4: Class Reduction (Fall 2007)
Fewer classes=fewer books. This isn't a good reason to lighten your class load (it wasn't my reason, anyway) and sadly, it can't guarantee that you'll find your books at Beat the Bookstore (which you've stopped believing in) or that you'll have a better experience at the bookstore.

Method 5: New Age (Winter 2008-Fall 2008)
You buy most, if not all, of your textbooks on Amazon and Half.com. This makes you feel like a bargain shopper, even if you're always crossing your fingers that your books will make it to your doorstep before your professor gives you a huge assignment involving the book.

Method 6: Coming to Terms (Winter 2009)
Right after you tell your roommate about the New Age method, he points out that more often than not the cost of shipping books from Amazon makes the online purchase just about as costly as the one you'll make in the bookstore. You reluctantly cowboy up, but still decide to see if you can get the $82-used book for less online.

Looking back at 2008

This year I...

Started at a new school
Got laid off
Found a better job
Got straight A's
Biked to Utah Lake
Got straight A's again
Got a scholarship
Ran a 5K (in 25 min.)
Biked to Bridal Veil Falls
Watched fireworks from Y Mtn.
Went to the Salt Lake Temple
Went to a Hare Krishna Temple
Visited Idaho...twice
Almost visited New York
Started a relationship...
...that didn't work out
Hiked a mountain
Discovered paintballing
Got accepted to my program

Overall it's been a pretty good year. Still, I'm looking forward to 2009 and the adventure it will be. Bring it on!