Hajj to Mecca (or in this case Glens Falls)

So, I was driving with my parents across the country on my way home from BYU, and I decided it was time to make the Hajj to Glens Falls. Just as devout Muslims make the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, so should all devout fans of the Jimmer make the hajj to Glens Falls in honor of the Jimmer.





It was actually a pretty big town. We went to the Civic Center where The Jimmer has played many a time. It was really beautiful, as are most towns in up-state New York. I would say it was inspirational to walked where The Jimmer has walked. All fans should make this trip at least once in their life!

I'm Ready For My Close-Up Mr. DeMille

I'm graduating in April and my parents want to milk that for everything that its worth. "We only get to do this once is their mantra. So we have invitations, party, etc. One of the conditions of me graduating was that I had to get pictures of myself. I really hate having pictures taken of myself, but the sometimes we have to sacrifice, especially for parents who are proud of their only child. Well, I didn't really know where to go to get pictures taken, but I did have a friend (a former FHE Sister) who takes pictures while she is studying photography at UVU. I had seen here work on her website and decided that she would probably be my best bet. So we went around campus and took some pictures both inside and outside. I thought she did an excellent job.

This is inside the JFSB on campus. They have some really neat staircases and windows there:















These were taken along the newly renovated path South of Campus:







These were taken at the Maeser Building on campus. It's one of the oldest buildings on campus:

California Dreamin'

I really don't have any excuse for not blogging since January. I only had one real class this semester, but I am somehow able to fill up my time. Skiing class went really well. I still haven't conquered the black diamonds, but I'm sure I'll get there one day. It was a lot of fun though. Other than school and work, I've just been enjoying my last semester at BYU. It was fun to watch Jimmer and the basketball team make it to the Sweet Sixteen. It was a tough loss, but at least they did not get blown out like Duke did. For Lent, I decided to give up Facebook. I know I'm not Catholic, but I think giving up something for forty days is a really good idea. I was spending way too much time on Facebook and decided I needed a detox from it. It's been about three weeks almost and I'm still Facebook free.

The highlight of my two months came over the weekend of March 19th. It has been a childhood dream of mine to go to California. I don't really know why. Maybe it was Hollywood, maybe it was something else, but I have always wanted to go, but it seems like something always comes up. I was supposed to go last summer, but then my mom had back troubles. I was supposed to go to San Francisco over President's Day weekend, but the weather didn't cooperate. Well, this past weekend, my dreams became a reality. I went with my friends Lillie and Lauren. Lillie is from Southern California, so it worked out perfectly. We left on Thursday afternoon and made the journey down I-15. I was really happy when I made my first step onto California soil.



We got to Lillie's house around 11. We got to hang around with her mom which was a lot of fun. In the morning we woke up and went with Lillie to get her BCP. Then we headed to the beach, Newport Beach to be exact. It was beautiful. The water was cold, but we had a lot of fun.



The Girls enjoying their grapefruit!









Bottoms Up! Bottoms Up!



Put simply, all of the white people got burnt. After we spent forever long in traffic going back to Lillie's house, I got a shower and while the girls were at a bridal shower I relaxed by watching some basketball. Then on Saturday we went to Hollywood. That really made the trip for me.









They even had an anti-war parade in my honor.



For lunch I went to Pinks. It's a famous hot dog joint where all of the celebrities go. It is really popular. I had to wait like forty minutes for my hot dog. I go a Mulholland Drive Dog. It had bacon, grilled onions and mushrooms and nacho cheese. So good. Well worth the wait.



After that, we stopped by the Temple in L.A. That was really beautiful as well. It was really massive. Then we went to the Santa Monica Pier. Talk about beautiful. The coast is so amazing. A really nice town. We walked out on the Pier and we road the bumper cars, which was a lot of fun.



After that, we went to Diddy Reise. It's this make your own ice cream sandwich place. It was really good and inexpensive, which was nice for a change. Then we eventually headed back to Lillie's house. The next day we just kind of hung out and then that evening we started the trek back to Provo. I drove the whole way. It was so nice to drive again. We got back around 5:30. We made really good time. So much fun to drive on highways where the speed limit is 80! It was an awesome trip. Everything I thought it would be. Honestly, California is an amazing place. The only thing I don't like is the traffic. There is always traffic.

Then, today, BYU got a special visit from Mark Zuckerberg. For those of you who aren't familiar with him, he is the founder of Facebook. He did a forum with Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah. He spent a whole hour answering questions that students had submitted on BYU's Facebook page. I thought he did a really good job. I got a completely different feeling about the type of person he is than I did from The Social Network. He is a really down to earth guy and is really trying to help people through Facebook. This clip is him talking about how Facebook and Social Networking are changing the world.

Condie, Abe and Jimmer

So the new semester has been great so far. I'm only taking two classes. One is about the politics of Russia and the former Soviet States and the other class is a skiing class. I'm also working as a TA and an RA as well as a volunteer for a Professor's Research Project (check it out at WomanStats). Skiing was interesting at first. It took me forever to get the boots on. Then once I figured out how to get the skis on, I couldn't move. I just kept staying in place. After a few pushes I finally was able to figure it out. Then I couldn't figure out how to stop, which was a lot of fun. Luckily one my instructors was really a life saver and helped me out. By my third week I was able to go on the lift and come down without falling a ton and being able to control myself. It was an awesome feeling.



On January 13th, Condoleezza Rice came to campus and gave a forum address. It was probably one of the best forums/speeches ever given at BYU. My friend randomly had an extra reserved ticket which got me on the third row so I had a really good view. The speech was really good. She talked about how important education was and also the importance of mixing faith with our intellectual studies. “Whenever you’re lacking in optimism, remember your special responsibility because of where you are and what you’ve been granted, to hold up those who don’t fall to cynicism, and to hold up those who can see a world not as it is but a world as it should be.” It was really inspiring. The most amazing part was the fact that she did it all without a teleprompter. I think our current president could learn something from her. It was amazing. She was well received with multiple standing ovations. Once in a lifetime experience.



The day after that, my Cousin Abraham came out for a visit from Maryland. I was so excited that he was able to come. Due to a flat tire on the way from the airport he didn't get here until late. As soon as he got here Bethany took us to Walmart so we could get him some food. Nothing like a late night run to Walmart! Then on Saturday we went to Salt Lake City and did the Church stuff. Fun times. I also ran into an old friend David Cooper who is now studying at LDSBC. Then on Sunday we went to Church and Second Sunday Supper. Good times. Monday I did a lot of work while Abe was at a friends house. Tuesday we took a tour of Campus, had J-Dawgs and went to the Basketball game, which was a lot of fun. I think he had a really good time and hopefully he will come here in a couple of years. BYU really is the greatest place on earth.



Then this week I got to witness history! It was dubbed the "biggest game in Mountain West Conference History." San Diego State (#4 in the nation in College Basketball) came to the Marriott Center on Wednesday. It was a process just to get inside though. We first had to wait on Tuesday morning to get a wristband. Oh, by the way it was snowing like crazy. Luckily, my friend Sam that I was waiting with brought an Umbrella, so it wasn't that bad. We finally got one and even though we got our wristbands from the same lady, the numbers were still 90 apart. Ridiculous. Then we had to get there by six on Wednesday. I made record time getting home from skiing and then running up to the Marriott to wait in line. Then there was a stampede when the doors opened. We got decent seats though so I was happy. Then we had to wait two hours for the game to begin. Luckily, TJ Fredette performed for us and Sam and I played Fruit Ninja on my I-Phone. Good Times! The game was excellent. I was really happy with the Cougars. Jimmer had 42 and more importantly our defense did really well. James Anderson, a player I normally have nothing nice to say about, really stepped up and did a good job. After the win, the Cougar Faithful stormed the court. I am faithful, but value my safety so I did not storm the court. It was a pretty awesome sight though!



So, Jimmer is on fire and I really hope he gets POY. I think he is the most deserving candidate. Such an amazing player. I mean you show me someone whose name is also a verb!

"Steele" of a Surprise

I know I haven't posted in a while, but this semester was crazy. I was working as a TA, RA and CA and taking 15 credits, including my Capstone Class which required a 25 page paper, which was a lot of fun. I have really been enjoying my Christmas break. I have done nothing, which has been really awesome. It's so nice to not have any homework or assignments. I did get to babysit my cousin's kids one day. It was a lot of fun. They are two of the cutest kids ever and really well behaved. We had a lot of fun playing the Wii.



Christmas Eve we went out to dinner to Michael's and had the best ribs that I have ever had really. Then we got together with some family. It was really good to see them again. Christmas day started with us opening presents. I got everything I wanted which was nice. Then we had french toast for breakfast with Aunt Val and Jason. It was way good. Then after we got cleaned up, we went to Aunt Aun's. We had fun there. It was good to see the cute little kids and relatives.



The day after Christmas was spent in anticipation of a snow storm, that we missed the brunt of. The night of Christmas, Savannah Steele called asked if she could come and visit us tomorrow. I said yes of course. They came over in the evening. We had a good time chatting and eating dessert. It was a good time! A really great Christmas!

Summer Reading List

So this summer I didn’t really have that much to do, especially the first half of the summer. I decided that I should read some books that I have been wanting to read for a while. Here are the reviews for the books that I read over the summer.

Going Rogue---Sarah Palin



This is essentially Sarah Palin’s autobiography. I thought that it was really well done. It gave a lot of her background, especially as governor of Alaska that didn’t come out on the Campaign Trail. There are two sides to every story, and I think that if you give her a chance to tell her side about all of the drama that took place during the Campaign, you’ll be surprised about how poorly she was treated by the McCain campaign. It is definitely worth your time.

Enough---Juan Williams




This was probably my favorite book of the summer. It is a book about the state of African Americans in America. It came about as a result of a speech Bill Cosby gave at an NAACP event paying tribute to the Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the Supreme Court. It is essentially a call to arms for the African Americans to work to change their current situation in America. I agree whole heartedly with all of his points. It’s awesome! A must read!

How to Save America: A Tactical Guide For Practical Patriots---A.E. Duzett



This is a book by someone who was in my Freshman Academy Group my first year at BYU. This is an excellent guide on how to get involved politically in practical ways that everyone can do. The tips she gives are so great. Most are simple things that the normal person would never think of being effective in influencing policy, but the ideas that she presents are good ways to get involved and have influence in the public arena. It is worth your time! It’s available on Amazon!

The last think I’ll mention here is not something I read, but rather something I wrote that you should all check out. I had a National Security Strategies class last winter semester and had to write a paper on a topic of my choice. I decided to write about Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) in Central Europe. The professor (one of the top one hundred global thinkers in the world) liked it so much she invited me to submit it for publication in an online journal. Needless to say it was published and you can read it here. One of the reviewers commented that “this paper is the best of three papers I have read on the subject of BMD. It is very well organized and well reasoned. It evidences independent thought without over reliance on quotations from secondary literature.” I think it’s worth your time to learn something about BMD. Enjoy!

Summer Vacation

So we started off our first family vacation in two years by flying into Vegas. Savannah Steele gave a ride to the airport which was way nice. My flight was delayed by an hour, but it worked out well because I got to hang out with one of my companions from the mission who was going to Alabama. Once we met up in Vegas and had lunch, we checked out our hotel. The parents took a nap because they were super tired. Then after finding out which buffet was the best in Vegas, we headed over to the Palms to try it out. It was really good. They pretty much had everything you could ever imagine. Then we headed over to the Venetian, my favorite of all the Casinos to see the Blue Man Group. It was pretty interesting. Nothing like I expected it to be, but it was awesome to say the least. Then we did some exploring of the strip and headed back to the hotel via the monorail.





The next day we went and saw the Hoover Dam. Yes, we went on the dam tour and it was pretty dam interesting. We then headed back to Vegas and found the Temple, which was really pretty. Then we pretty much just chilled the rest of the evening.





The next day we drove pretty much the whole day. We eventually made our way to Zion’s National Park, which was really cool. I had always heard about these parks in southern Utah, but never experienced them. Zion’s was a great way to start.



Then we headed on to Jacob Lake to stay the night. It was a neat experience. In the morning, we headed to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. That was absolutely beautiful. Words can’t even begin to describe it. There are so many natural wonders in just America alone.





Then we made the drive back to St. George in the afternoon. The next day we went Bryce Canyon, which I have to confess was my favorite of all the national parks that we visited. The rock formations were absolutely stunning. It was beautiful.



Then we made the trek up to Provo. I’m always amazed at how little there actually is between St. George and Provo. It was a nice drive though. Then, my parents dropped me off at my apartment. The next day they went to the BYU Bookstore, while I went and tried to run some errands, but I wasn’t that successful. Then we went to Walmart and got some groceries. I’m a huge Walmart fan. Then we went to lunch with Roberta Magarell, an old family friend of my dad’s. They hadn’t see each other for decades. She was really touched by it and we had a good visit. Then we just chilled for a while and then went to smashburger, which was enjoyed by all. Then we went to my apartment and hung out for a little bit. Then we said goodbye. All in all it was a good trip. We got to see a lot and bond.