Anniversary of a Deadly Event

Five years ago today, the Israelis squashed this bug:



Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the leader of the Hamas terrorist group. For some reason, Mr. Yassin doesn't strike me as all that charismatic. He did like children, though:



"Hey kids, how'd you like to be a great hero and earn money for mommy and daddy?"

This is Yassin's successor, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi:



He famously declared: "We will kill Jews everywhere. There will be no security for any Jews, those who came from America, Russia or anywhere."

...aaand 26 days after the death of his predecessor, al-Rantissi met a similar fate (an Israeli helicopter blew up his car.)

I'm beginning to see a pattern. I guess what goes around, comes around.

Also, does anyone else think Ahmed Yassin looks exactly like Saruman from Lord of the Rings?



...the resemblance is uncanny.

NOOOOOO!

An Army of One

Good news: last week I contracted with the Army. Some of you are still wondering why I switched to the Army when I spent so many years in the Air Force...well, it's a long story, and one that I plan on telling in due time...anyways, I'm having fun with Army ROTC. Every week, we have a three-hour lab that usually consists of practicing squad tactics in the mountains. For today's lab, we went down by the Provo fire station to do some repelling. It was awesome. First, we used this rope to cross the Provo river:



It was fun, 'cept for the "Swiss seats" were quite uncomfortable (especially for the male cadets...ugh!)

Check out this video:




You can see those fisherman staring at us.


After that, we went repelling off this tower:



Here's another view:



I'm naturally afraid of heights (I always have nightmares of falling) so I was super-nervous when I got to the top. As soon as I started my descent, however, that fear evaporated and I felt just fine. It seems scary when you're so far up, but when you have that rope in your hand, you have total control of what's going on.

I took a video of other cadets repelling:



Next time we do this, I'll be the first in line.

Life's not a race.

Today I joined roughly 2,000 other runners for BYU's annual Rex Lee Run. The university holds this benefit run to raise money for BYU's Cancer Research Group. The run is named for the late president of BYU (and former solicitor general) who died of cancer. All in all, we raised at least $33,000 on one day.

Here is my shirt and number:



We had the option of running the 5K or 10K route. I opted for the 5K.

I clocked in at just over twenty-two minutes, making me #142 out of 1470 in the race. It was fun racing others and trying to get a good time, but I think it's important we didn't lose sight of the run's purpose: raise money for cancer research and have fun!

It's almost like a metaphor for life.

You learn something new every day.

This is where I work:



It's the physics tutorial lab in the Eyring Science Center (home of BYU's physics, astronomy and geology departments.) I spend about twelve hours a week in this room, helping students out with their physics homework. It's a fun job, plus it gives me a chance to brush up on my basic mechanics and kinematics (I'm tutoring specifically for a class I took before my mission...over four years ago.)

Notice the lovely flower arrangement on far-right of the above photo. I made that in my floral design class!

Here, take a closer look:



The arrangement includes carnations, alstroemeria, roses and daisies among other flowers. I'm still girlfriend-less, and my mom lives in Alaska...so I decided to put my flowers up on display in the physics lab.

...hey, want to know a secret? You can extend the life of flowers in a vase by pouring in Sprite:



The soda's citric acid decreases the pH of the water (recommended by florists to be between 4.0 and 3.5) which allows the plants to drink more. It also provides nutrients for the flowers in the form of sugar.

Isn't that cool?