Did October happen already?

I started school, took some tests, solved a mystery, was on the news, sold ice cream, criticized, quadrupled my effectivity (if not efficiency), smashed, and lost my marbles.

Since school started, I've been crazy busy.  One of my coworkers the other day told me that she has missed me.  My roommate Topher, who is in the class we TA for, said, "You know who else misses Zach?  His roommates.  We never see him."  I haven't been home much.  Last week, I think I came home before midnight twice.  Once, Tuesday, because I was feeling sick.  And the other time was Friday, because I was sick and tired of being at school.  After two weeks in a row of this, and next week looking the same, I figured I should probably sit down and write a post before December happens.

I was really excited about the mystery I solved.  Some of my students were getting really weird results (-55000% of their unknown sample...) and we couldn't figure out why.  I even sat and watched them do the whole lab (I thought, turns out I missed them doing one step).  Anyway, Dr. Goates struck them a deal, but right after, I was able to realize what they were doing wrong.  Probably over enthusiastically, I shouted, "I solved it!"  And I was proud.

Part of the reason a couple weeks ago was crazy is it was national chemistry week.  As part of that, and part of being in the ychem presidency, I helped organize the liquid nitrogen ice cream sales.  Fox news came out to do a spot, and I got to be on screen making the ice cream.  It was pretty cool.  (Liquid nitrogen is 78 K after all.  So literally cool).

I've recently started using my 42" TV as a monitor for my computer.  It, sitting next to my 23" monitor makes for great work space.  I can fit 4 chrome windows on the screen.  It has been wonderful.  I plan to keep doing this, because it is the bomb.

Overall, I'm doing well.  I'm ready for Thanksgiving break though.  It's been a long semester.

Things to be grateful for

A couple weeks ago(it might have been more than a month ago...time blends together) my sister posted on her facebook a status where she listed things she was grateful for, 3 a day for 5 days.  That didn't really fit with the usual sarcasm I post as my status, so I decided a blog post would be more appropriate.  Last year, I started a list of things I'm grateful for as a note on my phone.  Periodically, I add things to it.  So saying 15 things I'm grateful for, the challenge comes from narrowing it down to 15 things.  So here they are.  They aren't in particular order.  The numbers are simply to keep track of how many I've listed.  This will be a bit longer than my usual posts probably.

1. Technology: I love gadgets.  It's a slight addiction probably.  But there's so many things I love about technology.  I love the internet, the communication it brings, the info always there to be had.  I love having all of human knowledge in my pocket. I love that technology makes my work as a chemist possible.  I have a watch that tells me when someone across the world sends me a message, or calls me.  Before too long, we'll be signing up to become cyborgs!  It's a great time to be alive.
2. Mom: My mom has taught me a lot of things in my lifetime.  She taught me how to be compassionate, how to give what I am to help others.  She taught me how to cook.  She was an example of being humble enough to admit fault.  She taught me the importance of apology.  She believes in me, supports me, and is willing to drop what she is doing for me.  I wouldn't be who I am without her.  When I think of love, and when I think of perseverance, I think of my mother.  She's even an example to me while she's doing school now, after most of her kids are grown.  My mom's going to finish college.  So should I.
3. Dad: Dad is equally important to who I am, and I am grateful too for the things he's taught me.  Dad taught me how to stand up for myself, to expect respect.  He taught me the importance of making those around me feel comfortable, the art of being a gentleman.  He taught me the importance of doing my duty, even when I don't really want to.  He taught me by example how important it is to work to take care of your family.  Watching him work on projects growing up, I learned how to make my environment better, to think about what I'm doing, and to plan my approach to anything.  He's shaped who I am.
4. Siblings (and spouses and kids): Growing up, I didn't always get along with all of my siblings.  Sometimes, I still don't completely get along with them.  But I will always be grateful for my brothers and sister.  Growing up, they were a steady source of friendship when I needed it.  We're mostly grown, and live in different states now, but it's a source of comfort having them around.  I've lived with Jake for the last year, and that's been a great blessing in my life.  This summer, when I was by myself in Provo, no siblings around, it was hard.  (I'm glad Jake came back).  Taylor and Adam's spouses (Dillon and Kristen respectively) have also been a blessing to have, and I'm glad that we have them in the family.  And it would be hard to be the favorite uncle without my adorable nieces and nephew.  I'm grateful for my siblings, their spouses and their kids. 
5. Knowing how to cook well: In high school, I was in charge of cooking dinner for the family on Thursday nights.  I mostly think this was so my mom didn't have to plan the meal (she doesn't like picking what to cook), but it was great.  Mom was there to help if I needed it, but it was my job to get dinner ready.  I got lots of practice cooking, using recipes from one of the best cooks I know.  As a result, I am able to impress people here at school with my cooking skills.  I'm grateful for the training I've been given in Domestic Chemistry.
6. Moving a lot growing up: Dad's job moved us around a lot growing up.  I'm glad it did.  From moving, I got a lot of other things to be grateful for.  Moving taught me how to adapt, how to quickly make friends, and to not fear change.  I think my childhood was greatly enhanced by not living in the same place the whole time.  It was always hard moving, but I'm glad we did.  It shaped who I am.
7. Close friends over the years: Part of having moved a lot, is that I've had many many friends (not to brag or anything).  Over the years, I've had many friends, and many close friends.  I'm grateful for all of them, and miss many of them.  Sometimes, I think that moving so much made it too easy to say goodbye to friends, which may make it not seem like I don't care as much about them.  But I do, and I'm grateful for the friends I've had over the years.
8. Books: I love reading.  Just ask my family.  I've learned so many things from books, and have been on so many adventures.  I've always been willing to sacrifice sleep to read.  Books have been a constant source of entertainment for me.  Last summer it was awesome living with my good friend Travis while he was working on his book.  It was so exciting to get to see the process, and (right now) be a part of the process.  I can't resist reading a good book.  My kindle combines number 8 and number 1 into one awesome thing that I'm super grateful for.
9. Air Conditioning: I love having a cold house.  
10. Health: With how much I abuse my health (work and school make it hard to take care of), it's a miracle I'm as healthy as I am.  And I'm very grateful for that.  I would be a wreck without it.  I don't know how I'd handle it.  I look up to the people who go through trials of poor health, and come out sane on the other side of the problem.
11. Great Job opportunities: I haven't really ever had a problem getting a job when I needed it.  Part of that has to do with my parents, and not really needing a job for a long time, but the other part is something I've been grateful for.  I have more opportunities than I can take, and I'm grateful for every one of them.
12. Intelligence: I'm a pretty smart guy, and I'm very grateful for it.  Being able to learn quickly is the only reason I've survived this far in school (well, that and hard work), and I'm grateful for the intelligence that I was blessed with.
13. A car: A car is one of the greatest things about modern life.  It saves me a lot of time, and lets me go to more places in a day than would ever be possible without it.  Thanks to cars, I can be home with my parents or at my sister's house in less than a day.  In a couple days, I could drive out to my older brother's house in MN, a feat that used to take months.  What a great thing.  I'm grateful for the car I have to drive.
14. Both my legs: This is on my list of things I'm grateful for on my notes, and I thought it big enough to merit it's own bullet point.  Quite a bit of the things I like to do for fun revolve around being able to use my legs.  And even if they didn't, it would be extremely difficult to keep my same lifestyle without one or both of my legs.  These two chunks of meat deserve a spot on my list of 15 things I'm grateful for.
15. Failures: I don't like failing.  I don't think many people do.  Dis-irregardless, I'm grateful for the times I have failed.  It changes you.  It has reminded me that I'm not the greatest that as ever lived at everything I do.  That sometimes, I need to work.  And it gives me motivation to work.  It was during a time where I felt like I was failing at everything that I grew spiritually and mentally the most.  

So there you have it.  In no particular order 15ish things I'm grateful for.  I could go on.  I live a blessed life, and my list keeps growing of things I'm grateful for.  One things missing from this list is my gratitude for my faith, and my savior.  It is at the top of the list. 

The things that I'm grateful for most are those that shape my life, shape who I am.  I anticipate many more things to be added to my list in the coming weeks, months and years.  

End of the Line(Summer)

I sat at the bar, gained insight in the dark, got new roommates, dumped water on people, meditated, and began an adventure.

The last couple of weeks have been fun.  And busy.  

I've had trouble this summer sleeping.  I eventually stopped fighting it, and just started sleeping later, and working later.  But that left me alone a lot.  It's very boring.  

One night last week, I decided that rather than stare at my ceiling when I couldn't sleep, I'd go on a walk.  This was at about 3 in the morning.  So I went walking in my pajama bottoms my Mom made me.  Provo is very quiet that late at night.  After walking around a bit, I ended up laying on the hill under the stadium, looking up at the stars.  Very peaceful.  Great place to think.  I took a  look at who I am.  I ended up leaving my hill after awhile, and walked over to by the MTC, and looked at the Temple.  I think I figured out things that were going wrong, things I wanted to change.  Made a plan to be the person I actually want to be.  It was a good night.  

Travis moved out.  It was an awesome summer being roommates with him.  It was fun getting to watch him work on his book, and the little bit of brainstorming I did with him.  He's one of the people that I look up to, and easily my favorite priesthood leader I've ever had.  He'll be missed.  On the plus side, he's finally finishing up his 4th draft of his book, and I started reading it yesterday.  I'm excited to dig into it.  I've been pretty patient.  

New roommates include Chris Reed, which is pretty funny.  I've known his brother for a couple years, and I was Chris's TA last semester, and am slated to be his TA again this semester.  Guess we're keeping that tradition alive (Tyler was Jake's math TA last year).  I think the apartment will shape up pretty well.  I'm looking forward to the start of the semester, and a new year.  After this year, everything will change.

Childhood Passions

Kept the children clean, fixed my malfunction, rediscovered a childhood passion, lost my losing battle, heard life changing news (for my brother).

Last week, my sister's best friend got married.  More than a month ago, Taylor asked me if I would watch her kids, while she went in.  Being the great guy and brother that I am, I of course agreed.  I didn't really know what I was getting into though, apparently.  It was a long couple hours.  

At first, the kids were great.  We went around, looked at all the water features on Temple Square (Deacon tried to go into the water) danced, looked at the statues.  Every time we'd walk towards a fountain I'd ask Adi what the rule for the water was.  She'd respond (because I'd told her the rule enough times) "Look, don't touch."  The wedding supposedly started at 12:30, so I was expecting them to come out around 1, maybe 1:15 or so.  Unfortunately, it started at 1, and they weren't out till much later.  The kids were tired, and not listening anymore.  That was an adventure.  I will say this: they were both clean(ish) and neither one ended up in a fountain.  Deacon also still had his binkie.  Mission successful as far as I'm concerned.

At work, I've been having a lot of problems with things not working.  That's been very frustrating, because I hate not being successful, and I feel that lately I haven't been.  Well, this week, after a long time, I was finally able to get it back working.  That is a large burden, off of my shoulders.  And at the same time, lets me happily put the burden I want back onto my shoulders.  

We went to Classic Skating as a big group for an activity this week.  I haven't been roller blading in a long time.  It. Was. Awesome.  I'd forgotten how much fun it was to zip around on roller blades.  I'd also never realized how in shape I must have been as a kid, because I don't remember my legs feeling sore.  Ever.  But I've been feeling it this week.  It's great.  I've been looking around the internet at skates, trying to decide if I want to get some so I can skate up to school every day.  Only time will tell.

As for the life changing news.  Luc got his mission call in the mail today.  Still waiting to hear where he's going, but I'm excited to find out.  He'll have a blast.

Cabin Fever

I said goodbye to two great friends, found adventure on the big blue wet thing, conquered the builder, and was liberated from the oppression of pants.

Two of my roommates moved out this week.  Joel Anderson and Sean Southerland.  I've lived with Sean for the last 2 years, and Joel a little more than a year.  Over that time, I feel like I grew pretty close to them.  You'd think after moving around so much, I'd be used to saying goodbye to friends.  But I don't think it's ever gotten easier for me.  I'll miss them both a lot.  

I watched Muppet Treasure Island yesterday with some friends in the building.  I'd forgotten how funny that movie is.  I think I'm going to read Treasure Island one of these days.  See how close the movie got to the actual story.  

I've been having a bunch of problems with my work.  I was getting down for awhile, because it seemed like every time I would fix one thing, another one would break.  It was frustrating, and annoying, and I felt like I wasn't getting anything done.  On Friday, I got back on track.  I fixed the problem I was having, and was able to move forward again.  It felt great.  And today, I discovered how great it is working from home.  My setup here is better, my chair more comfortable, and the best thing, if I don't want to, I can do my work not even wearing pants.  It's fantastic.  

Rexburg

Discovered a mountain of meat, acted spontaneous, faced my allergies, glimpsed another mind, raced a horse named Kezo, became Tarzan, visited the Orient, made a baby burrito, got sat on and kicked in the face.

I recently read a bunch of J Washburn's essays.  I really enjoy his writing.  In My Washington DC Adventure, he tells a week long story by starting with a blurb he posted, that tells the story of his day, but pretty vaguely.  For example, day 6 he said "Read the Bill of Rights penned by Madison, landed virtually on the red planet, saw in infrared, contemplated Charlie Darwin, avoided prehistoric monsters, touched the moon."  He then talked about that day.  Not really mentioning specifically what it was from each of those that went where, but you could kinda figure it out.  I liked that.  I think I'm going to try and do that for my blog.  Give me focus.

This weekend started early.  I went to dinner Thursday with a bunch of my friends to celebrate my roommate Travis's birthday.  Station 22 Cafe.  I had an amazing burger called the Chubby Checker.  (I think).  If any food was worthy of a picture, it was this burger.  Burger, pulled pork, bacon, onion ring, BBQ sauce, lettuce, the perfect amount of onion.  It was awesome.  I will go back and get it again I'm sure.

Friday, I left midday to go to visit my sister and her family in Rexburg.  It was kinda a last minute thing.  But I had a lot of fun.  I drove there and ended up showing up just in time for dinner.  The next day, Taylor went to a Bridal shower, so Dillon and I took care of the kids.  We took them to see the cats and dogs that were available for adoption, to McDonald's (Dad and Uncle are fun), and to the Carousel in the park.  Adi had a name for every horse, just off the top of her head.  And not even names she had heard before.  Her horse was named Kezo.  After the park, we went home for nap-time.  First for the kids, then for Dad and Uncle.  I introduced Dillon to Modern Family while the kids slept.  He tried to convince me he wasn't sure about it, but during kid sleeping time the rest of the weekend, that's what he wanted to watch.

After naps, we went out and played on the swings that they got recently.  Adi loves them, but not really for swinging.  She likes jumping off the slide, then swinging across them like vines.  Her mom was so pleased I was letting her do that.

The next morning, I woke up before 7 with Deacon sitting on my shoulder blades, bouncing up and down.  Guess it was time to wake up.  :/  I got back that afternoon by rolling him and his sister up inside of the deflated blow up mattress. 

I was pretty grateful that I got to visit my family this weekend.  Not only did they let me do my laundry, feed me (Curry and Sweet and sour chicken. Yum), give me a place to stay, but we got to just chat and hang out.  I love that.  I miss having family closer.  

School's out for the Summer!

That's a good song.

Well, school is over.  This was probably the fastest moving semester I've had so far.  It's a little sad that it is over, but I was taking several classes this semester that I wasn't really interested in.  I am very glad to be done with the Organic Chemistry Lab class that I was taking this semester.  I disliked that class, because your grade wasn't dependent on your ability, or your effort.  It was based on your ability to guess luckily on very ambiguous graphs called NMR's.  Which I very much disliked.

The sad part about school being over is that many people are leaving for the summer to go home.  This year I decided to stick around and do research over the spring term.  I'm really excited to get to do that, and be paid to do it.  I love research.  It's especially important, because Tyler, the grad student in my lab, leaves at the end of the summer to go to USC Davis.  So someone needs to learn whats going on with our research.  I'm going to miss my friends who left already.

But summer is here, which means sunshine and fun.  I'm glad that my schedule for work is super flexible.  I can do things during the day if I want to, then come into work later.  Wohoo!