BAM!

I'm just sayin this is where I'm camping next week... http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/california/preserves/art6335.html

And I love this part about their marriage:

Christmas Wish List

1. Backpacking stove - http://cascadedesigns.com/msr/stoves/category

2. Focus (the attribute not the car)

3. Camel back - or any water backpack that doesn't leak.

4. A cool job.

5. Rhodia Journal - orange journal

6. A catamaran trip around the world

7. Basketball Shorts - Underarmour

8. Tickets to the eventual George St Pierre v Anderson Silva fight

9. Black Athletic ankle socks - Underarmour, nike.

10. Darth Vader's heart, still beating

11. A t-shirt (large)

12. Inception, I want to create an inception in someone's mind.

13. 59Fifty Orioles black baseball hat - I don't know my hat size, so good luck

14. 4:00 Minute Mile. I don't want to break it yet, I don't want to get greedy.

15. A Nike Lunar running shoe, any model but preferably the Eclipse model.

16. Road Trip location package to a cool National Park, maybe the Channel Islands off of the California coast.

**I would ask for a book but I know those who buy books will get me one no matter what I ask for; and, I have too many unread to get more.

Trash

Hi My name is Oliver.

I like to jump.

Today I accidentally threw away my wallet while eating at Wendy's. We (MPA students) were celebrating by eating frosties.

I realized about 4hrs later what I had done. Dumpster diving was the only solution.

Do you know how much trash Wendy's throws away every day?!

We checked receipts for times of purchase to narrow our searches.

Checked contents to see if the trash was from the right trash can.

There was a lot of trash.

I prayed.

And just as some thought there's no way I'm going to find it. . .

It worked. I found my wallet.

Some where in all of this.

Grateful for

Nov. 30
1. Kind words from a professor
2. racquetball
3. good conversation - meaning sincerity

Nov. 29
1. Steak and Chocolate milk
2. Almost court side tickets to a Jazz game for free with a good friend
3. Shoveling snow

Nov. 28
1. Priesthood.
2. President Monson: http://new.lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/the-divine-gift-of-gratitude?media=video&lang=eng
3. Organizing, for some reason I am grateful that I have the capacity to organize. I think it's cool to be able to create like that.

Nov. 27
1. Good friends to spend time with after flying. And Johnny we watched some of Curious George together.
2. The temple, I didn't go today, I'm just grateful for that lodestar.
3. My mom said it was one of her best Thanksgivings ever.

Nov. 26
1. The Washington DC Zoo.
2. The Borne Ultimatum movie. All of them really. Never gets old.
3. Scott for driving me to the metro.

Nov. 25
1. My mission. I would drop anything to go back for six months if I was asked.
2. Being poor. It's so much easier to live simply and to keep track of stuff if you don't have much.
3. Knowing this is mortality. I am grateful I know what this life is not about and what will not make me happy.

Nov. 24
1. I saw a huge rat at a restaurant in DC. I'm kind of grateful I saw a huge rat.
2. Blow up mattresses
3. Sherlock Holmes

All at Once

Hoover Dam. Have you see this?

Nov. 23

1. My mom took me to see a fun movie and then to lunch.

2. Getting a bunch of homework done.

3. Being involved with planning in the Boys & Girls club.

Nov. 22

1. Movies. They are fun.

2. Mandy. I know her from Maine and she reminded me of what a great experience that was.

3. Good fitting T-shirts.

Nov. 21

1. Sis. Axley's talk on miracles. It made me stop and think about my life and the miracles I've had. Apparently you don't have to go to Harvard or have a perfect life to be good enough.

2. A good strengthening google chat conversation about Elder Busche's life.

3. I was able to sketch out some ideas for a documentary I want to make.

Nov. 20

1. Ryan, my friend since the age of 4.

2. Saw two black bears in Shenandoah National Park.

3. An employee from the GAO sent me an email in response to our conversation saying that working at the GAO is boring and you don't actually do anything. You just write about what other people do. I would hate that.

Nov. 19

1. Skype - I co-hosted my ward's Price is Right game show in Provo while in DC. Really funny.

2. The week is over, now I can sleep.

3. Jennica for making me laugh over a large intercom system while hosting the Price is Right.

Nov. 18

1. Went to a calm social Mormon party in Alexandria. It was a good breather.

2. Sugar cookies with a big frosting 'S'.

3. Although I stayed up till 3am to finish a project I'm grateful I had something to do.

Nov. 17

1. NPR, I visited them today. They're snobs but it was still cool to see what goes into it.

2. Walking in amazing weather.

3. Architecture that is classic, enduring, and solid.

Nov. 16

1. Timing.

2. Norman Rockwell paintings - specifically the 'Freedom of Speech' one - it was so great to look at them in person.

3. Sincere people.

Nov. 15

1. Oil Paintings.

2. Free Museums in DC - they haven't privatized beauty.

3. Left over money on my Metro Card from last year.

Nov. 14

1. Good examples.

2. My mom for driving me and friends to the hotel.

3. Although things are always changing, I am grateful that some things stay the same long enough to learn from them even if it takes a few years - Like Gettysburg.

Nov. 13

1. Sleep, it saves me from throwing up while flying. I'd rather drive

2. My mom always having food for me. It means she loves me.

3. My mom getting a new house that's everything she wants and deserves.

Nov. 12

1. Homework. I am grateful I have things to do. Much better than nothing.

2. Carl Bloch. I went to his exhibit tonight on campus. Amazing, and free. Used an IPad as a tour guide, way cool.

3. Microsoft Excel. Yup, that's right.

Nov. 11

1. When my MPA program Team clicks well.

2. Music on my laptop.

3. My bed even though it sinks into the center of the earth.

Gratitude

Nov. 10

1. Well written history

2. Movies - to me they're art. We watched a clip from Schindler's List in Organizational Behavior today on the definition of power.

3. I am grateful that I can jump.

Nov. 9

1. Good timing - had two friends walk into my study room who at first were a distraction but quickly became strengths.

2. Naps that aren't laziness but necessities

3. The well rounded people out there: "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." --Robert A. Heinlein

Grate-a-ful

Nov. 8

1. Racquetball. Physical Activity is as necessary as sleep.

2. I can't believe I'm actually in grad school. I can't believe they let me in. I am grateful. And they don't care about grades once we're in the program either!

3. I like deep, strong words. I usually don't like others quoting them, haha, but I like knowing about them. Here let me quote one for you:

"It also means recognizing that we are not here on earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others" (Gordon B. Hinckley, Way to Be, 95).

P.S. This is a cool video: education

--

What is going on?

Gratitude November 7

1. Teaching Gospel Doctrine

2. My sister making me grilled cheese and tomato soup

3. People forgiving and forgetting

3.a. Friends who validate when you weren't looking for it.

Note:

In answer to the previous post's questions:

1. That picture was of me flipping off a lobster boat into the ocean off the coast of Maine.

2. Telephone Murder Charades is the funnest game in the world next to ga-ga ball (which is a form of dodge ball which neutralizes competition and aggression.) One person from one team has to act out a long elaborate way someone can die which the other team makes up. Then the next person has to watch the acting job and act it out for the next person and so on. So funny.

3. I am grateful for homeless people because they humble me. They make me realize a lot about this mortality. I don't believe it matters why they are begging. I beg all the time in my prayers for stuff I don't deserve.

I'll copy My Sister

I am copying elizabeth who has copied heather. Here are some things for which I am grateful.

Nov. 1

1. Pictures of good times

2. Road Trips and Back flips

3. Maine and Mount Rushmore

Nov. 2

1. Soccer

2. Answering questions

3. The smell of pumpkins and fall

Nov. 3

1. Spiking hard in volleyball

2. The word BAM

3. My Organizational Behavior class and learning about keys to creativity and insight - mixing it up

Nov. 4

1. Man talk

2. Knowing it's ok to be me even if that means not wanting to earn a lot of money

3. Knowing life will click eventually, it has in the past

Nov. 5

1. Telephone Murder Charades

2. Salt on Avocados

3. Prayer and PowerPoint homework over essays any day

Nov. 6

1. The Decemberists' songs CraneWife 1,2, & 3 and the Mariner's Revenge Song

2. Homeless People

3. Good friends who call me on the phone and tell me good things

Love it.

The complexity of society is illustrated in this article:

http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.html

This is a great response:

http://broadcast2.lds.org/general-conference/2010-october/2010-10-1070-president-dieter-f-uchtdorf-64k-eng.mp3

I'm in Provo. I just came from the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was a wonderful time there and I'm grateful for it; but, what isn't there to be grateful for in my life? It seems like everything works for my good, or some body's good.

While in South Dakota I worked at Mount Rushmore as a Intern Park Ranger. And because I only earned $15 a day I got a second job in Keystone working at a fudge shop! Ha! Imagine that. This entire summer was a sacred enough experience that I probably won't talk about it with people. Sure, I'll tell them what I did and how great it was. But how can you talk about something you don't understand, or is so custom fitted that its explanation wouldn't fit any one else? Whatever this summer was I don't know if I'll ever get it back again. But that's ok, there'll be more of life's tender mercies and I don't believe life will now progress into a decrescendo. But it was an experience through and through and I couldn't have made it happen if I had a thousand years of planning. And I don't think I care one bit whether I deserved it, or whether it was prudent, or whether any goals were accomplished. I don't care what was accomplished; or, anything really - it felt good and right and sure enough it was good and right. I wasn't looking for much.

And here I am a year later in Provo. It seems a year ago I was heading out to Maine. I knew things were off then, but I didn't know how to work to fix them. Now a year has gone by and a lot has been fixed. . . I should have stepped out of the way earlier.

From what I've learned so far - I've got no plans, or as Abraham Lincoln said: My policy is that I have no policy. I am going to deal with my situations as I find them, with the relevant data I possess at that time. So, it will be 2 years of graduate work, and that will be fun.

Because my mom checks my blog every day, here are some of the things I've been up to:

Books I'm Currently Reading
The Infinite Atonement
Mornings on Horseback
Edersheim's Life and Times
Always the Scriptures
Walden Pond
What Lincoln Believed
The Endurance

Fun Places I've Been Lately
Acadia National Park!!!
Old North Church and some other American Revolution Sites
Boston, Salem, Vermont, New Hampshire
Pemaquid Lighthouse, Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse, Marshall Point Lighthouse
Walden Pond
A couple of old forts
Fenway Park
Boat Building School
Of course the Boston Temple
Camden and Rockport



Fun things I've Seen or Experienced
OAR music
Yankees Redsox Game at Fenway
Juggler juggling 9 balls
Did a polar bear jump - 3 times
A professional Clown hose me down with CO2
Canoeing
Jason Veritek hit a homerun over the green monster at Fenway
Bonfire on a rocky beach with an orange moon rising out of the ocean

Great Eats!
Tennessee BBQ! I loved it - ate there three times - I wish there were more around.
On Veterans weekend I ate 3 fresh lobsters with clams and such.
Gelatto
sushi
Pizza in Little Italy in Boston
Klondike came out with a huge ice cream Oreo we have on campus

Things I've done
Kept my standards
Woken up every single morning at 6:30 and studied
Made my bed military style with sheets folded at top every morning
A lot of break dancing for the kids.
Played a lot of Ga ga ball with the kids
Given the kids man speaches and interviews every night
Kept to myself to feel and learn

Have you ever felt like this:

or better yet, and more appropriately, like this:

Lately I have. And when I am lucky I realize some things I don't like about myself. And in answer to this, I've felt the spirit of the strenuous age. A period in American history where the nature of accomplishments were different. A day wrapping up during Gordon B Hinckley's youth and a day of Teddy Roosevelt's creation. And on even better days I'm too engaged productively to think about it. (I don't think hearts are like cars. You can't fix a heart by troubleshooting it, and you can't improve an engine by using it.)

And so on reflection of the age, previous feelings, experiences, and pictures; and, after having read Mosiah 2:22 - And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you - have you ever felt like this:

or like this:

or better yet, in admiration of this man:

I know these two men are different but they both represent to me work of forward movement or momentum.

I think I can say right now that although I make bad decisions and do stupid things - even when fanatically trying not to - I am not done, I am not forever stuck with my weaknesses. And here's the important thing, I'm not moving on in the fallacy of the strenuous age. I am not, or hope I don't, move on the strength of my own back or will power. That just won't work, William Henley was wrong. I must move on as TR would hammer, but I must move on meekly, dependent, and confident. Confident solely for the reason that the tapestry of my life is being woven by someone who has my good and benefit in mind. An omniscient, loving God who is trying to make me happy and meet my needs. And I think in some twisted way the strenuous age was or is the product of Matthew 10:39.

Polar Bear Freeze in Vermont

Found It

Mom, sorry, I can't find my phone.

Today is Going to be a Good Day

I am excited about this day.

I feel like Nike has done a good job of describing some of my soul in these commercials.

It's only part of the soul. I am excited for 2010. A year to chase dreams.

Oh yeah not only chase, but get.

On my mind

The holidays have brought the best things.

I love these songs. I don't know about the pictures in "I don't Mind," I don't watch them. I just like the song.