Pictures

So I decided to post these pictures. They have been languishing in the depths of my cellphone, disconsolately waiting for me to a) get a microSD card and b) actually bother to use it.

This is a penguin I made from clay found in Jordanelle reservoir. I think it actually turned out pretty good, and I wanted to take it home and fire it, but I didn't think that Cara would really let me get away with taking mud in her car.

The people at the Logan temple definitely have a sense of humor.

Commutative diagrams ftw. This is more or less the proof of the snake lemma, as drawn by Prof. Roberts.

Joe Brinton made me a smiley pancake. It was as delicious as it was friendly.

In unrelated news, microSD cards are really, really small.

Preppy

So I think I might be turning into a preppie. Today I wore a white shirt, tie, sweater and jeans to school. (In my defense, we were planning on going to the temple this evening, but it didn't end up happening.) It is now half-past midnight and I am still wearing the tie (as well as all the other clothes, tyvm).

Oops.

Spending time writing up a homework set is all well and good - just make sure you don't leave it at home when you go to school the next day. I'm just throwin' that out there.

(fortunately, I did have the long, grindy, two-page induction proof safely in my folder, and the rest only took another two pages to write back up.)

Work. Bleh.

Hi Spencer,

Here's your tutoring center for the semester:

Monday 4:00 - 8:00pm
Tuesday 2:00 - 8:00
Wednesday 5:00 - 8:00
Thursday 11:00 - 4:00
Friday 8:30 - 10:30am

Thanks!
Angie [my boss]

Yeah, this semester is gonna be fun.

Trip Planner Fail

Because I was feeling masochistic, and was unfortunately forgetful of my last experience, I decided to engage in the self-abuse that is using the UTA Trip Planner.

So tomorrow I need to get to the university before my 10:45 class. Thus, I plug in my home address as a starting point, the U as an ending point, and tomorrow at 10:45 as my arrival time. Reasonable enough, right? Wrong.

The aforementioned masterpiece of modern computing returns five trip itineraries, three of which arrive at the U after 10:45. And I'm not talking, like, 10:47 - Itinerary 1 arrives at 11:02, Itinerary 3 at 10:53, and 4 at 10:51. Even the best of the planned itineraries, #2, arrives at the university at 10:41, which would more than likely still end up making me late for class. Good job, Trip Planner!

Remarkably, we have not yet plumbed the depths of the failure that is the Trip Planner. Itinerary #5 arrives at 10:21 - after transferring off a bus that would arrive on campus at 10:01, only to transfer to a third bus while we're at it. Going through two transfers to arrive 20 minutes later than I would have had I stayed on the original bus? I don't see why not!

Entirely abandoning computerized stupidity, I resort to a manual examination of two of my most frequently-used bus routes. Within mere minutes, I find a direct route that arrives at 10:21. There. Was that so hard, Trip Planner?

Opinion: President Bush and Iraq

I have all these opinions on current political and economic circumstances rattling around in my brain, and I finally realized that I can put them on my blog. How novel!

Today's installment, spurred by the recent craze of reviewing President Bush's time in office, is about his handling of the war in Iraq. Call me a Republican apologist, but I've really got Bush's back on this one, for several reasons:
1) It is certainly the case that we didn't find any WMDs in Iraq. Many have thus criticized President Bush's motives for going in. I don't think this should be laid on his doormat - he acted the best he knew how according to the intelligence he had. The real failure here is not from President Bush, but rather from his intelligence corps.
2) If nothing else ever comes out of the Iraq war, at least three body bags did. Okay, so plenty more came out as well, but I'm interested in three in particular: those containing Saddam, Uday and Qusay Hussein. Whether or not Saddam had WMDs is, in my mind, irrelevant: he was a madman with scientists and was an imminent threat. His sons were twice as crazy - Uday, in his role as head of the Iraqi Olympic committee, tortured athletes who failed to win, plotted assassinations of those who opposed them, had an Iron Maiden, and committed heaven only knows how many atrocities of rape, torture and murder. Qusay, it is claimed, masterminded the destruction of 3,200 square miles of marshland, supervised the execution by shredder of inmates in overcrowded prisons, and even masterminded an assassination attempt of his own brother. Can there be any doubt that Uday or Qusay would be extremely dangerous to the entire free world, let alone America, as the leader of Iraq?

So, to sum, let's give Bush credit where credit is due, for stepping in and ending a major threat to the future security of America.

Things that are well-designed, pt. 1

I really enjoy using things that are well-designed, so I've decided to create a new series of posts about my experiences using them. Today: those citrus peeler things.

You know the ones I'm talking about - they look kinda like a small-headed toothbrush sans bristles and with a curvy end. The head end has a little stabby thing that stabs in through the peel and then cuts it - without damaging the fruit! The curvy end perfectly mimics the example of the action of the thumb as it carefully removes the rind from the fruit. If the citrus you're eating is hard to peel apart into segments, you can poke the curvy end down in there and winkle the segments apart. And finally, if you're eating something like grapefruit, where you don't want to eat the bitter membranes, you can even use the curvy end to cut holes in and pull the membrane off the fruit!

A quick google reveals several blog posts and other pages dedicated to other uses for the citrus peeler, such as spreading grout, removing staples, pushing back cuticles, and opening CD's. Genius!

And all this from probably like 5¢ worth of plastic, which you can buy at the grocery store two for a dollar. That, my friends, is well-designed.

WINNARS

Dear national sports press:
Utah 31, Alabama 17. And don't play the "Andre Smith wasn't there" card, because he's not going to stop EIGHT SACKS, or 21 unanswered points of Utah offense in the first quarter. All right, let's hear the backpedaling.

RESPECT.

Music!

I went out and bought five (!) new (to me) CD's today. I was only planning on getting MAYBE two, but there ended up being a buy-three-get-one-free deal at FYE, so.

The 5 Browns - Browns in Blue (Amazing.)
The Bravery - The Sun and the Moon (I'm starting to really dig The Bravery.)
All-American Rejects - Move Along (I've been meaning to buy this for YEARS.)
Beck - Information (It came with a DVD with all the music videos AND a sheet of stickers!)
Beck - Guero (I've owned this before, but my copy disappeared, and since it was free...)

You know you're a geek when...

So I went up to the U today, for no other reason than to check some books about algebraic geometry out of the math library. I ended up with four, and I realized as I was driving home that I was totally excited to read them.

^{I also picked up my Muss t-shirt, so I'm not a total geek.}

The cat does sleep a long time.

To brighten up your Christmas Eve, I bring you Mr. Krueger's Christmas!

^{something in my eye. *snf*}

It's a Christmas miracle!

MATH 6310 001 A

\o/

Finals

Analysis takehome final: 4/6 - the last two are buggers. Due Wednesday at noon.
Algebra practice prelim (ungraded): While I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, the mistakes I made were ones I'm sure I could have rectified given enough time, so it was a confidence booster in my algebraic abilities. \o/
Complex variables final: Thursday.
Topology final: Friday.

Grading activities:
Math 1050 departmental final: Tomorrow starting at 8.
Calculus final: Picking it up tomorrow at 3.

And now you know why my Facebook status says "Spencer is finals week."

Also, my dad had eye surgery today. Eventually I'll get off my dead butt and post pictures, because he looks really funny. :)

Mitt hjerte alltid vanker

The following are the lyrics to Mitt hjerte alltid vanker, a Norwegian Christmas song, here translated into English.

My heart doth always wander
To Jesus' manger bed.
His lowly birth I ponder;
To Him my thoughts are led.
My yearning finds assurance,
And faith renews so bright,
When I recall with reverence
That blessed Christmas night.

Ah come, dear Lord, be with me,
And in my heart reside.
Sweet comfort Thou shalt give me;
Come, Jesus, here abide.
To my heart be no stranger -
Thy home it e'er shall be.
And as within the manger
My love shall cradle Thee.

Thy holy crib I'll honor
And round it palm leaves lay.
To Thee alone, dear Savior,
I give my life each day.
Come, grant me heav'nly pleasure
And true delight impart.
For Thou art my soul's treasure,
Born deep within my heart.

Grading

Yep, that's pretty much accurate.

If you were grading an English paper written by a junior in college, and they spelled clock "klox", would you be dismayed?

The nature of God

I ran across a post today on a web forum I frequent. In it, the poster expressed his view that God created us, got bored, and moved on to more interesting things. I couldn't disagree more.

The God that I know is a God of miracles. Yes, even today. He is a God who answers prayers, who knows and loves each one of us individually and by name.

The God I know is the Creator, Preserver and Upholder of the universe, yet cares enough about my infinitesimal concerns to speak to me personally through His Holy Spirit, and I claim that this grand, sublime experience is available to all who will in faith call upon Him.

The God that I know is my heavenly Father, the epitome of fatherhood. Imagine the best possible Father ever - do you think such a Father would abandon His children? I don't, and I assert that He hasn't, and never will.

The God I know provides wise, loving guidance through my trials, if I only ask for it.

The God I know gives us wise commandments, not as fences or restrictions, but as guideposts and safety rails, to warn us away from things that will harm us.

The God I know possesses perfect love, all knowledge, and all power, and invites us to join Him and become like Him.

This is the God I know, and I invite everyone who reads this to come to know Him as I do.

Prophets in the land

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. (See 1 Kgs. 18:21.)

"President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life'. This is a hard doctrine, but it is a particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ!"
- Elder Neal A. Maxwell, "A More Determined Discipleship", Ensign, Feb. 1979

I see more and more members of the Church saying things like, "I think it's wrong that we are fighting against gay marriage. I think gay people should be allowed to marry. There's nothing wrong with that." Of those people, I ask, is President Monson the prophet of God, or isn't he? Are you going to follow the prophet or no? As for me, I will follow the man whom I sustained as the prophet and President of the Church, because I asked God if he is truly the man who should be the prophet here and now, and He answered me in the affirmative.

Proposition 8

With all the furor surrounding the passage of Proposition 8, I thought it would be apropos to give you all the view of one member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Many have said that the Church is anti-gay. We're not; we're pro-traditional marriage. There is a difference. We strive to love as Christ loved: unconditionally and universally.

Many have said that the Church promotes a double standard. We don't. The standard is the same for everyone, and it's called the law of chastity. Simply stated, the law of chastity prohibits any and all sexual activity outside of the bonds of marriage between one man and one woman. Those with homosexual inclinations can live the law of chastity thus defined.

With sufficient desire and the help of the Lord Jesus Christ, those with homosexual inclinations can change. To categorically deny this is to deny the efficacy of the Atonement and, more to the point for those who don't believe in God at all, the power of the indomitable human spirit.

I hope anyone who reads this will respect my views, even if they don't agree. Remember, prejudice against the religious is just as unjustifiable as any other kind.

Lifestyle

As I was kicking back in the recliner after a long hard day of school, homework and grading, relaxing with a Caffeine-Free Diet Coke and watching an episode of NUMB3RS, I reflected on how fundamentally different my lifestyle is from "the norm".

And I'm fine with that. :)

Manuscript paper

I want to give some free advertising to BlankSheetMusic.net. I needed some manuscript paper for this Wexford thing, so I googled up some sites for printing manuscript paper. BlankSheetMusic.net was the first result, so I clicked. It's highly customizable - you can decide how many staves in a set, add clefs, key signatures and time signatures, and even put measure bars on if you like. So if you randomly need some manuscript paper and you don't have any, check out BlankSheetMusic.net.

*goes back to arranging*