His final address....perfect

As Alice and I watched President Hinckley's final General Conference address on our DVDs from last October's Conference, I was not only amazed at what a perfect address it was, but even more so at the fact that it wasn't overtly a farewell address. It didn't end with the air of "Geez, I think this is it," and yet it was a very broad address encompassing so many aspects of the Gospel. After beginning with Moroni's visit to Joseph, he went back in time to testify of God's hand throughout the ages and even alluded to the apostasy. His words encompassed the great First Vision, the restoration of the Priesthood, and the divine coming forth of the Book of Mormon. Appropriately, he spoke of the tremendous growth the church has experienced, particularly the Book of Mormon, as it has been translated in over 100 languages. All in all, I felt his talk was an appropriate step back from a focused doctrine or topic and was a broad, encompassing testimony of the divinity of the work and the fact that it will roll on without him, because the Lord is at the head. While President Hinckley's contributions to the rolling forth of the stone cut out of the mountain are too great to be listed, the stone will roll on. It is undeniable, however, that President Hinckley sure got that stone rolling down that mountain pretty darn fast!

Politics...Ever Present, Ever Annoying

Isn't all this political huba-baloo just the most exciting part of the new year? It sure makes me grateful I don't live in New Hampshire or Iowa, I feel inundated enough living two thousand miles away. As much as I love our political process, and believe it is divinely inspired, I'm more than a little annoyed at the degree to which it has strayed from its original principles and purposes. Today, races seem like nothing more than glorified Student Body elections from high school with most of the campaigning relying on gossip, hearsay, and character attacks while real talk about the issues is only mentioned in passing because candidates are obligated to mention them. Anybody remember the last gubernatorial election in Utah with the two candidates amicably acknowledging the character STRENGTHS of their opponent and truly remaining focused on the issues? And that was throughout the whole campaign, not one negative ad or attack on the other....there's how campaigns should work. Let me clarify, I am not advocating any sort of a boycott on the system at all. After all, nothing ignored will ever fix itself. On the contrary, I am advocating a greater need to get involved and clean the system ourselves. After all, when was the last time you actually heard a candidate for President quote the constitution? Prophets quote spiritual scripture, shouldn't politicians quote and adhere to political scripture?

Greater transition than a new year...

In a sense, I feel I will be starting a new life this year. Having graduated from my undergraduate studies with a double degree, by the end of 2008 we could be on either coast of this great nation as I pursue my graduate studies. Simply put, this is the year I feel that will give direction to my career and, in turn, my life as well as the lives of my family. Sounds pretty weighty! At times, it has certainly FELT pretty weighty, too... My only problem is there is so much I love doing that it's hard to focus on just one thing and attack it (hence, my TWO undergraduate degrees). I just want to attack everything (except "The Subjects of Death," you know, math and chemistry). I'm not holding out hope of simply finding a job this year and doing grad school in the evenings...my job search has been PATHETIC! I certainly have a stronger belief in the adage that when looking for a job, it doesn't matter what you know but who you know. At least for new college graduates who have no work experience. So what's more valuable--four years of an education or four years of job-related experience? You decide...
I honestly don't care whether I start a graduate school or find a really good job, I just hate being unemployed and not in school at the same time. Grad school would certainly be more exciting, but who can resist the allure of making money? I just want something to happen that can allow Alice to stop working full-time and actually be a full-time mom! We'll hopefully be moving come Summer, either to Washington, New York, or D.C. Alice hopes we move to New York, because that means I will have been accepted to Columbia University for a MA in International Relations/World History (a new program) and we'll be living in London for a year as part of that program. Most other programs would require us moving to Asia for a year, probably Seoul, as the other programs would be East Asian studies. Other schools I'm applying at are Cornell, University of Washington, Georgetown, and George Washington University. Alas, I found out too late from advisors that I had good enough grades and test scores to apply at Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. I hadn't even considered them so I missed their early deadlines...oh well! I could wait until next year, but don't want to put grad school off that long. Anyways, long post--I'm stopping!