Striving - a memory

In my first post, I told you that I view this blog as if it were my journal that I don't mind being public.  In that context, I feel no regret sharing a memory.  Yes, it is deeply rooted in my religious beliefs, but there are principles that I think can be universally applied.

President Thomas S. Monson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is quoted as saying many times, "Who the Lord calls, He qualifies."  Serving as an LDS missionary between 2008 and 2010, I definitely know that this is true.  I was called to serve in Washington state, and over and over I found myself doing things way outside my comfort zone and/or way beyond my abilities.  I received blessings that enabled me to love people more than I ever had.  An introvert in an inherently extroverted endeavor, I was able to open up and talk to people and help them.  It was a truly rewarding experience.

In June 2010, I returned home, and gradually returned to my former reserved self, but I still hold a deep, lasting love for the people that I met in my heart.  And when I do get the chance to go up to Washington, it feels at times that I'm returning home.  I've noticed that I'm a different person when I'm in Washington--a better person.  It may just be an interesting phenomenon that I can't adequately describe.  But others have noticed as well.  I offer the memory I mentioned earlier as an example.  I remember taking my family with me to meet a few friends in Washington, and after a dinner with an incredible family, my parents said that they almost didn't recognize me.  I was so engaged in conversation that it was like I was a completely different person.

Moral of the story?  I think a lot of people have identified ways that they can improve their lives and be better people.  That's an effort that lasts a lifetime, and it's well worth pursuing.  For me, I'm not perfect, and I don't always remember and/or care to try.  But I do strive to be the person that I was in Washington.

Reading the future

Whenever we get to that annual time of reflection between December 26 and about January 3rd...you know, the one with all the "YEAR IN REVIEW" and resolutions and stuff?...I always play a sort of game with myself.  I ask myself, "What have I done this year/What has happened that I would have thought absolutely impossible at this time last year?"  Answers to that question for 2012 included writing an 80-page lab report and participating an a charity bike ride.  It's always really cool to see the random twists and turns that life makes, especially the unexpected ones.  So far, 2013 isn't going to disappoint.

Even since school ended for the summer, I've been surprised a few times.  I never would have thought that I would start working as a marketer, and I never thought that I would take up martial arts, but it's been really exciting to take advantage of some new opportunities that I'd like to tell you about.  

First, I had been looking for ways to get more involved in the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah.  I got an email soliciting applications for positions in a business club called Business Leaders Incorporated, or BLInc. for short.  I sent in my résumé with little expectation of getting an interview (they have interviews because positions within BLInc. are "hired" just as in a corporation), but I was pleased when they called me to schedule one.  I didn't feel that I knocked the interview out of the park, per se, but I did feel good about it.  I told myself, "At least I got to practice my interviewing skills."  Shortly after, though, I was floored when they called and actually selected me.  An even bigger surprise though was the position they selected me for: Marketing Vice-Chair.  I know some about marketing, but I definitely wouldn't call it my biggest strength.  In the meetings we've been having, though, I've found that I will be working with some incredible people, and we have some pretty exciting things planned.  It'll be quite the unexpected adventure.  And, if you're reading this and you're a student in the DESB, let me know.  I'd love to tell you more about BLInc.

Second, who has heard of Krav Maga?  I hadn't until my friend Sterling posted on Facebook about wanting to go to classes.  I was looking for something to do that particular night, so I figured it might be an interesting experience.  Come to find out that Krav Maga means Contact Combat in Hebrew.  It's a system of martial arts developed in Israel, and it is meant as a system of self-defense that can apply to any situation.  I didn't really plan on going to multiple training sessions when I went to the first one, but it turns out I actually kind of liked it.  Who knew?  Like BLInc, I've met some amazing people there as well, especially our teacher, Kat.  It's a lot of work, and I have a ton to learn, but it's definitely worth it.

Sure, there are many clichés about not knowing what the future holds, but isn't that the exciting (and simultaneously terrifying) part?  And, with graduation and more coming in the near-ish future...(no, graduation can't come fast enough)...I say bring it on.

Things I learned crashing my bike

Hey!  I'm back!  I've put a rough semester behind me, and I've still got stuff to say!  So this last Saturday, I crashed while riding my bike.  You might be wondering what I was doing on my bike in February in Utah. I'm just wondering what ice was doing in the road on such a warm, sunny day!  I'll admit that as I was flung over my handlebars that my immediate thoughts weren't "I've got to blog about this..." (all I thought was "Oh crap..."), but there are a few things that I've learned from this experience:

1)  Helmets are wonderful things

This dent on my helmet prevented about 800 Newtons worth of force from being applied over a half a second to my left temple.  Medicine is not my specialty, but it seems sufficient to say that preventing the amount of force that a horse can pull with from being applied to my head was a good thing.

2)  You can't shave when your face is covered in road rash.

3)  Apparently, it isn't a crime to break a face as perfect as mine because no one's been arrested yet.

4)  I can actually grow a mustache and beard in 3 days.

5)  The noise that a helmet makes when coming into contact with pavement is loud and rather sickening.  It is, however, much more pleasant than the noise flesh makes when coming into contact with pavement.

6)  It has been really entertaining coming up with stories as to what happened to me.  I think my favorite was the one about saving poor children from a burning orphanage and terrorist squirrels.

7)  People don't notice zits when you have stitches in your face.

8)  Don't take your eyes off of the road.

9)  Gratitude is the feeling you feel when you realize that it could have been worse...a whole lot worse.

10)  Always...ALWAYS wear your helmet.

Travel Log: August 2012

This past week, I went on vacation to Washington state.  Washington is very close to my heart, and while I spent most of my time visiting friends, hiking and biking, I did take time to snap a few pictures.  This travel log will be a bit different from the last one in that I won't take time to tell you all the details of my trip (though getting TSA upset at me, paying an arm and a leg for a rental car and traveling for the first time by myself are worth noting).  I would rather that you just saw for yourself:

Mukilteo Lighthouse

This lighthouse, and others like it in the area, had a special significance

for my friends and I when I worked in Washington

View from Mukilteo

If I'm not mistaken, one of those islands in the distance

is Whidbey Island

I found this shot on the hike I went on.  We were up in the mountains,

in the middle of a few low clouds.

Seattle, Washington LDS Temple

View from above Chuckanut Drive

I hardly need to say it, but my trip was amazing.  Some of the sites I visited were just beautiful, and I'm really pleased that the camera on my new phone accurately captured the beauty of Washington.

I believe in...

This post is inspired by my friend, Megan.  Citing actress Audrey Hepburn's personal list of "I Believe" statements, Megan created her own list and then challenged her friends to create their own.  So, here goes nothing!  The following are in no particular order...

-I believe in these 13 statements.
-I believe in the power of music, both for good and for evil.
-I believe that this is the most thrilling experience imaginable:

-I believe in accountability and humility.  It is never a negative trait to be able to admit that you've made a mistake.
-I believe that the decision to serve an LDS mission was the best decision that I've ever made.
-I believe that laughter and yawns are both infectious.  They are both satisfying, but one more so than the other.
-I believe that the key of D-flat major is the most beautiful, and that it sounds different from C-sharp major.
-I believe in the feeling of wind though my hair, and that the sound that many bikes riding together makes is a very tranquil sound.
-I believe in planning, the antithesis of flakiness.
-I believe that science and religion actually do go hand-in-hand.
-I believe in gratitude, problem-solving, miracles, loyalty, creativity & friendship.  They're values to live by.

If you feel so inclined, please chime in with what you believe in.

Direction

"I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn, and we are led to those who help us most to grow, if we let them.  And we help them in return..."

Well, I certainly hope that the last part is true, especially because I feel like I've been helped a lot.  Tonight, I've had occasion to pause and think a little about the people I know.  The people that I feel close to are absolutely incredible.

A wise friend once taught me that we are the average of our 5 closest friends.  Well, I hope to aspire to such a standard.  For one thing, my best friend is caring.  Just today, I did him a favor, and it made me laugh thinking that out of favors and things we owe each other, I owe him a few thousand pounds of chocolate, and he owes me several dozen crates of Easy Mac, so we don't even care any more.  One time, our families had a big joke between us because someone owed the other a pie, and so we were giving each other pies for a few weeks.

Tonight, I was with 6 other incredible people, and by the end of the night (after we got kicked out of Dairy Queen because we were talking too long and they wanted to close), we were reminiscing of our many escapades throughout elementary school, junior high and high school.  I was laughing at things that I hadn't thought about in quite a while, from "Fish on the clicky, sir!" to "Did somebody say cheesecake?" to "2-9-6-2-3-9-9", just to name a few.  Looking back, we sure have had some great experiences.

But in the course of our conversation, we also briefly discussed where others have gone with their lives.  Thinking back to some that I was friends with in 1st grade or so, I found out tonight that one is in prison, and another has been in and out of rehab for a while.  I think of the direction my life would have taken if things hadn't happened the way that they did, and I lost interest in spending time with those friends.  I've discussed the above quote and related ideas with some close friends, and the consensus seems to be that we all feel gratitude that we have been led to our friends.  I certainly feel that way.  So although the list of people that I've thought about while writing this post is way too long, and amidst apologies for the many inside jokes and stories I've included here, I just want to say thanks for setting the direction of my life and making me who I am.

Super-powered Benefactor

So apparently I have superpowers, though nobody really told me.  Now don't go thinking that this is an exciting adventure story with a happy ending; let me clarify before you think this post is something that it's not.  This story is a sad story and it makes me sick.  It is mildly interesting, and it shows you just how random my job can be.  You'll also understand why my heart sinks a little bit lately every time the phone rings.

Before getting into all that, let's rewind a little bit.  Part of my job description is to answer all phone calls that arrive to our department, and then transfer the calls to the relevant professor or staff member.  About 20%-30% of the calls can be likened to junk mail, and we have deemed them "crackpot phone calls."  These include telemarketers, spammers, clueless people who ask outrageous things and crazy people.  Basically, the objective with these phone calls is to get them off the phone and make sure they don't call back again.  So, for spammers, this could include yelling at them, for example.  Sometimes, it requires more tact than that, though.  For example, we have people call to present their scientific theories.  I admit that I have pretended to be a professor so that they would actually swallow that I am qualified to tell them that they haven't really solved the mysteries of the universe.

A few months ago, I received a call that doesn't really fit the categories of clueless or crazy, per se, but I didn't particularly want to spend a lot of time talking to him.  He introduced himself as Orville, and he desperately wanted help.  He told me that he was from Idaho (by now, I don't remember where), and that he had an enemy up there.  What he described next was out of a science fiction movie: his enemy lived in a trailer with a whole bunch of antennas and satellites attached to it, and that this man had a machine that would track Orville wherever he went.  Although Orville now lived in the Salt Lake Valley, this enemy (whose name I don't remember, but I do remember looking up his name and address, and it really is a real person....I was tempted to call him) would find Orville and shoot Electromagnetic Radiation at him, causing him severe pain and numbness.  (Typing out Electromagnetic Radiation over and over is going to be really annoying, so I'm just going to use EMR, ok?)

Over the course of multiple conversations, I gathered that this pain and numbness were, in fact, real to Orville.  I also learned that he was a resident in an assisted living center, and that he was regularly seeing a doctor, though I never knew what for.  He did, however, tell me that he was on medications, and that he wasn't taking them.  "Aha!" I said to myself.  That has got to be the solution to his medical problem.  He was convinced that his problem was a physics problem and that our department had whatever means to protect him from the evil EMR.  So, I had to very methodically convince him that his doctor was, in fact, very well-trained in physics, and that his medication was specifically designed to help him.  It took some convincing, and he started calling me Dr. Merrill, but eventually he stopped calling.  Although I had felt horrible that there was some older gentleman in severe pain, and that there was absolutely nothing that I could do about it, I didn't give the matter any further thought and put it behind me when the calls stopped.

Fast forward to this week...  I got a call from a doctor at an assisted living center.  Apparently, I was promoted to 'Dr. Merrill, Head of the Department of Physics."  Anyway, she had Orville in her office, and she was trying to figure out what he was trying to tell her.  He was telling her that a few months ago, this guy was attacking him, but that Dr. Merrill had done something to protect him.  Just this last weekend, he had moved to a new senior apartment, and apparently the change had caused the pain and numbness...a.k.a. the EMR attacks...to return.  So, he pleaded with her to call me.  His words were to have me do whatever I had done before to help him.  Well, I felt a pang of guilt...knowing full well that I had done nothing.

So, I'm praying and hoping that Orville can get feeling better.  It kind of makes me feel guilty as lazy as I am as a super-powered benefactor.