Here's the rundown from the weekend:

Thursday:
----- 4:30pm :: Packed up the car, left Provo. Rachel Driving: In car: Me, Brady, Rachel, Brenna
----- ~8:30pm PST :: Arrived in Las Vegas. Ate Dinner at Wendy's, tanked up on gas. Me driving, rode the strip, hopped on the highway to finish our journey. Rachel and Brenna watched Ocean's 11, appropriate for the location, and we pressed on to L.A. They then fell asleep.

Friday:
----- ~1:45am :: After being detoured from the Mapquest (shudder) directions we were using, Brady and I find out that we are actually supposed to be going to the city of Temecula halfway between LA and San Diego, and not Rancho Cucamonga. At this point we are in L.A. and have travelled about 45 minutes out of the way. After calling Kristen, we are armed with correct directions and continue our journey South.
----- ~3:45am :: We arrive in Temecula at Kristen's house. Half a liter of Mountain Dew has kept me spry at the wheel. No one actually seems to be tired so we sit in the kitchen talking until about 5-ish.
----- ~11:00am :: Brady and I wake up and explore the house (amazing), We hang out for a bit until the girls wake up. Brady and I run for Bagels and to explore Temecula (No bagel shops! we had to go to Albertson's). We return with the goods, and eat breakfast of plain, blueberry, and cinnamon raisin bagels.
----- ~ 3:00pm :: We load into the car to drive to Newport Beach to see the ocean, and meet up with the rest of the gang that left on Friday morning (Josh, Allison, Marissa G., Marissa P., Steve B.). Kristen decides to spend the day with her family (aww what a good daughter).
----- ~ 5:00pm :: We are at the beach, enjoying the sand, water, people, everything (I don't have a picture, it was raining some, and I was scared to lose this camera too.. I'll have to get some from one of the girls).
----- ~ 7:30pm :: The passenger side rear door sensor has an issue, it thinks it's open. Since Ford failed to provide an on/off/door switch for the dome light, it stays on incessantly. After searching the Owner's Manual for the appropriate information, I pull the Interior Lights Relay from the Fuse Panel near the brake pedal. We can once again drive at night without that major distraction. Waiting in the Car...
----- ~ 8:15pm :: The rest of the gang arrives, finally. We wander around trying to decide where to eat, and eventually decide on "Original Pizza". It was actually fairly good.
----- ~ Rest of Evening :: We drive back to Temecula. Gather round the Giant Plasma TV, and watch Madagascar. The rest of the gang goes back to Rancho Cucamonga, and does who knows what.

Saturday:
----- ~9:00am :: Wake up. Ate breakfast of somekind, I don't remember what. We load up and head out to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
----- 1:00pm :: Arrived at the Wild Animal Park, enjoyed seeing various animals, Giraffes, Lions, Rhinos, Zebras, Hippos, and many others...
----- 4:15pm :: Leave the Park - Head back to Temecula for the Barbecue / Hot Tubbing
----- 11:15pm :: Party's over, rest of gang heads out, We watch Hitch, Rachel, Brenna, and Brady are all asleep within about 20 minutes. I actually watch the movie...

Sunday:
----- ~ 8:00am :: I get up and cook up breakfast for the sleepy-heads. Waffles, Scrambled eggs, Hash Browns... sadly no bacon or sausage... but Orange Juice... mmmm.. Orange Juice..
----- 12:30pm :: church, A snafu involving the other group and my dress clothes caused me to go in the best I had, looking like the inactive friend or investigator...
----- 4:00pm :: dinner, pot roast, various side dishes... quite tastey, hanging out, cooking smores, up to Rancho to hang out with the gang, and spend the night to leave in the morning.

Monday:
----- 10:00am :: pile in the Taurus and head out on the highway, the long journey home has begun. Rachel's driving.
----- ~2:00pm :: We again arrive in Las Vegas. Eat lunch at In 'n' Out Burger. fill up the tank, Rachel's still driving.
----- ~5:15pm (MST) :: Arrive in Cedar City. Grab a snack to eat. Rachel and Brenna feel the need to get giant milkshakes (or so they're called in the West, they're actually really thick DQ blizzard type things) despite it being about 36 degrees out. Top off the tank, and we're off again, me driving this time.
----- ~8:15pm :: We arrive back in Provo, sadly enough. It's cold. The adventure has ended. Back to the real world.


It was sooo much fun. Well worth the time, effort, and money (total Time: 5 days, Money: < $100). Good Times, Good Food, Good People; can't ask for anything more. And that's as much as I'll say about that....

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So after a grueling 5 days, I get to relax for 4, like whoa. I am going to California today, to Rancho Cucamonga to be precise, and then on to Disneyland. We've got a group of people from the ward heading out for long weekend vacation. It's as close to a Spring break as we're going to get. So I've been busting my butt for the past 5 days to make sure I got everything done so that I could go. And I did, it's quite refreshing. I'm just refusing to look at my calendar for Tuesday since it will only make me sad... but I will have to write that philosophy paper sometime....

So to all you that are not going to be in Southern California for the next 4 days I say,

So there.

And I guess one final thought to finish this off before going to bed, (if I sleep, there's a woot-off going on right now at www.woot.com... so tempting to keep me awake....)... anyways... I like liking girls, now if only I had some specific girl to like, and what more, for any girl to like me... although if that were the case I don't know when I'd find time for her this semester, so maybe it's for the best...

oh yah, and Dinner Group rocks... Hot meals each night is totally awesome.

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Increasing the state penalty for phishing scams is a waste of time, money, and effort. The bill in the Utah State Senate would increase the penalty to a second-degree felony. This is the same charge as attempted murder. I think any reasonable person can understand that the two are not on the same plane of 'badness'. Not only does the punishment not fit the crime, but so far there haven't been any crimes in Utah for it to be applied to. Most phishing schemes originate outside of the United States, making identification of the perpetrators difficult; now try prosecuting them. A much more effective use of the time, money, and effort being used to push this bill through the legislature would be an education campaign. TV spots explaining to never respond to emails asking for personal information, to never follow links from an email for any reason, to call a company's customer service department to validate the need for your information. Any one of these steps will almost instantly stop any phishing scam from succeeding. We don't need harsher punishments that will never be applied to anyone. We need education for those being targeted and tricked.

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While the amount of good that technology has done for the church is undeniable there is a cost associated with its use. It used to be that during Stake Conference a presiding authority would be present. Usually a member of the Seventy, but occasionally a member of the Twelve. This would cause all sorts of excitement within the stake as everyone prepared for the conference. With the introduction of stake conferences via satellite a bit of that excitement has been lost. It just isn't the same to view someone on a projector screen as it is to have them there in person. This does reduce the strain on the general authorities, but it also distances them from the people. Hopefully this change doesn't foreshadow a day when we see these faces on the screen, but don't associate them with real people. There is a sense you can get when speaking face to face with someone that you can't get through a video feed. This is why companies prefer to interview in person when possible, and why interviews with the Bishopric and Stake leaders is done in person. Technology can take away as much as it gives. We should be careful to use technology as it fits the needs of the church, and to not adjust the needs of the church to fit technology.

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The security of the citizens of a country is far too important to leave in the hands of the government. The politicians that run the United States government are far too concerned with the 'quick fix' that will boost their poll ratings, and too ignorant on the subject matter to realize that a 'quick fix' is neither. While the quote is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, it is more likely authored by Richard Jackson, regardless of this fact, it still rings true: “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Unfortunately, this seems to be the only thing the government is good at doing. After the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon of September 11, 2001 there was immediate cry for a centralized database that would harbor all information on all individuals. A magical solution that by depriving citizens of their privacy would somehow allow the government to catch all the bad guys. Some of this has come into effect with the new airline security protocols. Billions of dollars have been spent to make airlines 'safe' by screening passengers through databases designed to identify terrorists. The fact is that no airline in the US will be successfully hijacked in at least the next 10 years. Not because of these expensive new security measures, but because the people on board won't allow it. If the passengers on the plane believe they will die, then they have nothing to lose in trying to stop the hijackers. Until we reach a generation where September 11 is only an event in the history book, planes are safe. But politicians need to make the public feel better, and do so by pushing for these fancy security systems. Meanwhile it is still possible to walk across a shallow river, crawl through a hole in a fence and enter the US via the Mexican border. Illegal Mexican immigrants know this, and I'm fairly certain that there are plenty of terrorists who know this as well. The only truly effective way to stop them is an increase in well trained security personnel, and not in elaborate computer systems that are easy to bypass, and needlessly endanger our privacy.

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So I finally was able to sort through all the trouble of last weekend. It only required talking with at least 3 different mutual friends whom the person in question had spoken with. Anyways, her idea of making things less awkward (I didn't know they were awkward) caused my frustration and confusion, and caused things to be awkward.... troublesome girls... So I've decided that it will just be easier to not have any emotions relating to girls this semester, I don't have the time or the energy necessary to deal with them.... (which is why this is titled "Things are better this way...")

I've finally caught up on all my work, and through a scheduling miracle, I have no classes tomorrow (they both got cancelled). So I can come into work, get some stuff done, and then not have to work as much for the rest of the week.

I got a new calling at work, I'm now an Elders' Quorum Instructor. And I get to teach the lesson next week-- interesting since they haven't told me what it's on yet.

Work is going well. I rewrote some C code into MatLab so that we can use real USGS terrain data to run our simulations. It may even get to the point sometime where you need to use a UAV on a search and rescue mission, so you pull in the USGS data, and start running search pattern simulations on your way to the site, then you can launch and use the optimal search pattern for the area. My work could save a life someday (now THAT'S cool to think about).

Of course, a few days later it may also be used to take a life, since all the funding is coming from military contracters, it is likely that anything we develop will be quickly modified for combat, and possibly search + destroy rather than search + rescue.

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So I believe my stress level yesterday was at an all time high. Combine the drama of the weekend which continued to a new plane of frustration and confusion Monday evening, with a million things due that weren't done, with little to no time to do them and you have a recipe for high blood pressure. I even tested my blood pressure at the little thing down by the post office in the Wilk. It was unusually high for me (normal for me ~120/80, yesterday: 138/88). I got home from work and cloistered myself in my room. I worked pretty much straight until midnight and got all my things done. So I'm in a bit of a better mood now.

I may be going to dinner at the Golden Corral (sounds like something out of Final Fantasy, but it's a buffet place) tonight before Mom and Megan leave town (Megan leaves tomorrow, but apparently Mom is staying another week). We may be watching WarGames tonight as well, since apparently Brady has never seen it... and he calls himself a nerd...

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