So, it's the time of year when professional and collegiate sports abound and everyone can follow their favorite teams. I've recently been thinking about what my favorite teams are in each of the sports I follow... and conversely, which teams are my least favorite. Here are a few lists of my top 5 favorite and most despised teams in each of the 4 sports leagues I enjoy watching most.
NCAA Football
Favorite
1. BYU Cougars
2. Whoever's playing SpUtah
3. Oregon State Beavers
4. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
5. Air Force Falcons
Least Favorite
1. SpUtah SpUtes
2. Another Ohio State Buckeyes
3. University of Spoiled Children (USC) Trojans
4. Texas (not so) Christian Horned Frogs
5. Florida Gators
Major League Baseball
Favorite
1. Colorado Rockies
2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
3. Houston Astros
4. Texas Rangers
5. Toronto Blue Jays
Least Favorite
1. Arizona D-bags
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
1. San Francisco Giants
4. Atlanta Braves
5. New York Yankees
5. Boston Red Sox
NFL Football
Favorite
1. Denver Broncos
2. Baltimore Ravens
3. Houston Texans
4. Atlanta Falcons
5. Arizona Cardinals
Least Favorite
1. Oakland Raiders
2. New England Patriots
3. Green Bay (Fudge) Packers
4. Kansas City Chefs (Yes, I misspelled that on purpose)
5. Pittsburgh Steelers
NHL Hockey
Favorite
1. Colorado Avalanche
2. Montreal Canadiens
3. St. Louis Blues
4. Winnipeg Jets
5. New York Rangers
Least Favorite
1. Detroit Red Wings
2. Vancouver Canucks
3. Anaheim Ducks
4. Calgary Flames
5. Minnesota Wild
Some of these have interesting stories behind them, but I'm not going to go into detail. If you're curious about any of my selections, I'll be glad to reveal my reasoning. It's also noteworthy that there are a couple of cities with which I have a very ambivalent sports relationship, namely LA and Atlanta.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Bombshell
Before I begin, I want to make sure that you're caught up on the back story.
When I was 18.75 years old, I turned in papers to serve a full-time, proselyting mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A couple weeks later, I was asked to complete an additional medical evaluation to determine if I could serve in the field without the medication I was taking at the time. The evaluator determined that I was in need of the medication in question and, thus, could not serve a mission, because this substance was not allowed in the mission field. My branch president pulled me into his office and told me I wouldn't be getting a call in April of '07.
After this, I went to BYU, met a couple crazy girls, made some great friends, and made tons of people feel awkward in social situations. Best time of my life (so far). I graduated, couldn't find a job, sat around for a while and now I'm in grad school at Oregon State. You know that part of the story.
Now fast forward to the 24th of August 2012, almost two months after I had been through the temple for my own endowments.
During the previous days, I had been contemplating what I should do with my life and what my plans should be after graduation. As I awoke that morning, I had a very distinct, unmistakable impression that I should try again to serve a full-time, proselyting mission in my youth. I tried to dismiss this impression like Jonah and hop the next ship to Tarshish. This wasn't the first time since I'd been deemed ineligible that the thought had occurred to me. However, at other times, it has been easy to push out of my mind and dismiss as a stupor of thought. This time it stuck with me. I had already planned to return to the temple that day to do an endowment session. As I was sitting in the celestial room, I prayed as to what I should do in my future and if I should again try to serve a mission in my youth. I received another impression in accord with the first.
As it turns out, I actually took two different medications when I was 18.75 years old. For semantics' sake, we'll call one of them Pyridoxine and the other Tocopherol (not their real names). For years following my non-call, I had always assumed that it was the Pyridoxine that had kept me from serving. This is most likely from my own, internal bias resulting from the fact that that medication was more vital to my well-being than the Tocopherol. In reality, Tocopherol was a newer, more powerful, and more closely monitored medication (though it had received FDA approval, for what that's worth). In the years following, I've continued to take the Pyridoxine, but stopped taking the Tocopherol a couple years back, as it was no longer particularly necessary.
I talked with my bishop the following Sunday and asked him to contact the missionary department on my behalf. It turns out that a young man is allowed to serve while on the medication that I've code named Pyridoxine, assuming that he can pass the same medical evaluation I underwent 5 years ago. Yesterday, I went to Eugene to undergo another evaluation. The evaluator said that she'd be glad to recommend me to serve a mission.
As I contemplate this concept, it makes the whole of my life since I turned 18 make much more sense. I was not called when I was 19 because the Lord wanted my grandfather to be able to supplement my education. When I sought to marry a young woman (or two) the answer was a resounding 'no' because the Lord still wanted me to serve. The Lord lead me almost forcibly to Oregon State University so that I could be prospered financially and be around people who would help me come to the conclusion that I should try again to serve a mission. I even think the Lord prompted my bishop to ask when he did if I wanted to go through the temple for my endowments so that my spiritual eyes could be more fully opened and I could receive these revelations. Without the clarity the endowment has brought me, I would almost certainly not be making this post.
Then there's the financial prosperity the Lord has brought me itself. For the last year, or so, I've kind of been wondering what I'd do with the big pile of money with which I've been blessed. I figured I'd use it to pay down my student loans and/or help get myself set up when I graduated and/or get myself a motorcycle. I was wrong on the last two accounts and mostly wrong on the first one. At this point the two biggest hurdles to my missionary service are the aforementioned student loans and some dental work. My teeth aren't nearly as pristine as they were in 2007. (Seriously, I had gorgeous teeth.) Now, I'll need at least 2 fillings, probably a[n inlay], and hopefully not too obscenely much in my roots. With the big pile of cash with which I've been blessed, I should have enough to make 25+ payments on my student loans, get the dental work done, and pay for most of my mission, assuming the dental work isn't absolutely obscene. My path has clearly been blessed by the hand of God.
At this point, my plan is to finish my master's degree as planned and graduate in June of next year. It's unlikely that I'll be ready much before that time, regardless. I will probably begin papers in February or March and submit them in May for a July availability date. At no point in this process will I absolutely assume that I will be getting a mission call. I have learned to not be pretentious. Though it seems very likely that I will get a call, I'm perfectly willing to accept the possibility that I, again, won't. I ask that you take a similar approach for me and any other prospective missionaries. I'd really appreciate it.
However, I'm more than happy to accept predictions. If you're going to make one, I recommend taking into account that I will be taking a medication, though that medication is fairly easy to get and fairly cheap. Still, I think somewhere in the US or Canada would be the most realistic prediction. If I had the luxury of hand-picking a mission, I'd want to go to Winnipeg, Manitoba, because I like Canada and Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and western Ontario seem like good places. Yes, I know it would be wicked-cold there; hand warmers would be a must. If I was to log a more realistic prediction, I'd say [Arcadia], California speaking Spanish, because that's where East LA is and I have a sneaking suspicion that the Lord wants me to learn to love illegal immigrants, even if I don't accept their life choices.
Updates will most certainly follow.
When I was 18.75 years old, I turned in papers to serve a full-time, proselyting mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A couple weeks later, I was asked to complete an additional medical evaluation to determine if I could serve in the field without the medication I was taking at the time. The evaluator determined that I was in need of the medication in question and, thus, could not serve a mission, because this substance was not allowed in the mission field. My branch president pulled me into his office and told me I wouldn't be getting a call in April of '07.
After this, I went to BYU, met a couple crazy girls, made some great friends, and made tons of people feel awkward in social situations. Best time of my life (so far). I graduated, couldn't find a job, sat around for a while and now I'm in grad school at Oregon State. You know that part of the story.
Now fast forward to the 24th of August 2012, almost two months after I had been through the temple for my own endowments.
During the previous days, I had been contemplating what I should do with my life and what my plans should be after graduation. As I awoke that morning, I had a very distinct, unmistakable impression that I should try again to serve a full-time, proselyting mission in my youth. I tried to dismiss this impression like Jonah and hop the next ship to Tarshish. This wasn't the first time since I'd been deemed ineligible that the thought had occurred to me. However, at other times, it has been easy to push out of my mind and dismiss as a stupor of thought. This time it stuck with me. I had already planned to return to the temple that day to do an endowment session. As I was sitting in the celestial room, I prayed as to what I should do in my future and if I should again try to serve a mission in my youth. I received another impression in accord with the first.
As it turns out, I actually took two different medications when I was 18.75 years old. For semantics' sake, we'll call one of them Pyridoxine and the other Tocopherol (not their real names). For years following my non-call, I had always assumed that it was the Pyridoxine that had kept me from serving. This is most likely from my own, internal bias resulting from the fact that that medication was more vital to my well-being than the Tocopherol. In reality, Tocopherol was a newer, more powerful, and more closely monitored medication (though it had received FDA approval, for what that's worth). In the years following, I've continued to take the Pyridoxine, but stopped taking the Tocopherol a couple years back, as it was no longer particularly necessary.
I talked with my bishop the following Sunday and asked him to contact the missionary department on my behalf. It turns out that a young man is allowed to serve while on the medication that I've code named Pyridoxine, assuming that he can pass the same medical evaluation I underwent 5 years ago. Yesterday, I went to Eugene to undergo another evaluation. The evaluator said that she'd be glad to recommend me to serve a mission.
As I contemplate this concept, it makes the whole of my life since I turned 18 make much more sense. I was not called when I was 19 because the Lord wanted my grandfather to be able to supplement my education. When I sought to marry a young woman (or two) the answer was a resounding 'no' because the Lord still wanted me to serve. The Lord lead me almost forcibly to Oregon State University so that I could be prospered financially and be around people who would help me come to the conclusion that I should try again to serve a mission. I even think the Lord prompted my bishop to ask when he did if I wanted to go through the temple for my endowments so that my spiritual eyes could be more fully opened and I could receive these revelations. Without the clarity the endowment has brought me, I would almost certainly not be making this post.
Then there's the financial prosperity the Lord has brought me itself. For the last year, or so, I've kind of been wondering what I'd do with the big pile of money with which I've been blessed. I figured I'd use it to pay down my student loans and/or help get myself set up when I graduated and/or get myself a motorcycle. I was wrong on the last two accounts and mostly wrong on the first one. At this point the two biggest hurdles to my missionary service are the aforementioned student loans and some dental work. My teeth aren't nearly as pristine as they were in 2007. (Seriously, I had gorgeous teeth.) Now, I'll need at least 2 fillings, probably a[n inlay], and hopefully not too obscenely much in my roots. With the big pile of cash with which I've been blessed, I should have enough to make 25+ payments on my student loans, get the dental work done, and pay for most of my mission, assuming the dental work isn't absolutely obscene. My path has clearly been blessed by the hand of God.
At this point, my plan is to finish my master's degree as planned and graduate in June of next year. It's unlikely that I'll be ready much before that time, regardless. I will probably begin papers in February or March and submit them in May for a July availability date. At no point in this process will I absolutely assume that I will be getting a mission call. I have learned to not be pretentious. Though it seems very likely that I will get a call, I'm perfectly willing to accept the possibility that I, again, won't. I ask that you take a similar approach for me and any other prospective missionaries. I'd really appreciate it.
However, I'm more than happy to accept predictions. If you're going to make one, I recommend taking into account that I will be taking a medication, though that medication is fairly easy to get and fairly cheap. Still, I think somewhere in the US or Canada would be the most realistic prediction. If I had the luxury of hand-picking a mission, I'd want to go to Winnipeg, Manitoba, because I like Canada and Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and western Ontario seem like good places. Yes, I know it would be wicked-cold there; hand warmers would be a must. If I was to log a more realistic prediction, I'd say [Arcadia], California speaking Spanish, because that's where East LA is and I have a sneaking suspicion that the Lord wants me to learn to love illegal immigrants, even if I don't accept their life choices.
Updates will most certainly follow.
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