My New Job

My new job is as a programmer for the BYU Independent Study Arabic 102 course.  Apparently, I'm supposed to know some programming in order to do this job... go figure!  Anyway, today is my first day on the job and I think I already made the job a thousand times easier by creating what is found below.  They told me they were having a lot of trouble making one-off flashcard games and deploying them on the website so I recommend we use Quizlet found below.  I use Quizlet to study all the time and think it will be a great addition, and time saving to boot!  So, do you wanna learn some arabic?  Check out the drill below and you can learn some basics (There will be sound bits included soon for your listening pleasure).

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study arabic flash cards

College Sleep Habits

You know what I love? I love the fact that professors and college administrators constantly tell college students that we need to get over 8 hours of sleep a night in order to be healthy and then slam us with projects and homework that will of course make us sleep much less than that. One of my favorite things in the world is spending all night doing homework, wake up early the next morning, and doing it all over again!

Seriously though, sometimes I don't know how my bodies keeps going. I think I've just learned that my body answers to me instead of the other way around. That, however, will probably cause me to get sick sometime soon because there's only so long you can function without sleep, good food, or adequate relaxation time.

On a side note, CAPTAIN AMERICA ROCKED!!! Seriously, if you haven't seen it you should. It was definitely one of the better superhero movies.

A'ed Istiklal!

This is a video I made for a competition at my university. It's only two minutes long but it describes one of the coolest experiences I had while studying abroad this summer in Jordan. I hope you enjoy it!

Let's Start From the Very Beginning

  Those who know me have probably told me at least one time to stop being facetious and grow-up a little.  In honor of that, I've decided that I will make a blog talking about lots of different things including my research, school work, rants, projects, and current thoughts.  I will probably use this blog as a sounding board for the crazy ideas that constantly enter my head and as such I can not say that this will necessarily be extremely cohesive.  Sometimes you just need to put your two cents out there and get it off your chest right?  I suppose the first thing I should do is write a little about me (but not too much since we are in the time of online stalking), so you can know who's writing.

  I'm currently a Junior at Brigham Young University in Utah.  Utah?  What?  Does that mean you're a Mormon?  Heck yes it does, and on this site I expect to talk a lot about how my religious, political, and personal beliefs connect.  Since we're on the subject of Mormon, I'm not your typical one in any sense of the word.  I love my faith, but I do not believe my faith mandates that I vote republican, support certain people, or think a certain way.  I strongly believe that diversity is one of the most amazing and beautiful things in the world and feel that if we lose diversity we lose part of what makes us human.  This sort of leads into the next thing I would like to say.... I hate ignorance.

  The problem with hating ignorance is often I am ignorant myself, so can I hate myself?  No, but I can admit that I don't know everything (which seems to be an increasingly difficult thing to do in a world where I can know the answer to anything by pulling out my iPhone and typing the phrase into google with a question mark after it) and seek to learn from others.  I suppose that's why I love learning, and I love having my mind blown away.  The reason I travel, the reason I speak with people, the reason I read books and research papers is because there is so much truth in the world and truth brings beauty into our lives.  I believe that as we collect the bits and pieces of truth scattered around the world, we slowly create a better and clearer picture of God (or if you want to call him Allah, or Brahman, or Supreme Being).

  If you aren't running and screaming for the hills by now, maybe we can have some interesting discussions.  I will make one final disclaimer, I firmly believe that opinions and beliefs are supposed to change and mold as we receive new information and refine our thinking processes.  I think that expecting someone to instantly form an opinion on every subject and have that opinion be intelligent is ridiculous.  Most of the stuff I write on this blog will be me asking questions and wondering about things that I have likely not made my mind up on.  I'm luckily at that period of my life where I already know I knew everything as a teenager, and once I'm a middle-aged, job-holding, tax-paying American I'll know everything again but this time with a little more wisdom under my belt.  Right now, I'm young, idealistic and being completely ruined by the liberal education in our country that teaches me to hope in a better future and think I can actually make a difference.  Hopefully, as I write here and put some of my thoughts out there in cyber-space we can all learn a little more about the world, see the beauty in diversity and get rid of some of the ignorance...