tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115120952011-09-08T19:17:59.157-07:00Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.comBlogger1781100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136669457756521302006-01-07T14:30:00.000-07:002006-01-07T14:31:48.066-07:00

I've moved Top of the Mountains to TopOfTheMountains.net and all future posts will be there. Blogger.com, you're great and I'm gonna miss you, but this is goodbye.

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136597807056902762006-01-06T18:36:00.000-07:002006-01-06T18:36:47.070-07:00

I am stupid. :) Tonight I decided to try troubleshooting our Internet connection (it's been down since Monday), so I called my roommate up and he gave me the IP address to access the router via HTTP. Did that and it looked like everything was in order, but I did notice that the Internet link wasn't lit up. (There was a WLAN link that was, however, and I'd assumed it was the link.) So I tried

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136590298175305152006-01-06T16:31:00.000-07:002006-01-06T16:31:38.190-07:00

This morning I took the bus up to Salt Lake with a friend and watched the new Joseph Smith movie. Amazing. I really, really liked it. Before I saw it, I was half afraid it wouldn't live up to my expectations, but there wasn't any cause for complaint (except that Pennsylvania was spelled "Pennsylvannia" in one of the subtitles and one of the subtitles at the very end wasn't quite centered, but

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136516183024140282006-01-05T19:30:00.000-07:002006-01-05T19:56:23.043-07:00

It's time for another round of What-Books-Are-On-Ben's-Desk. :) We have the scriptures, of course; then Orson Scott Card's Shadow of the Hegemon (I'm a few chapters in), Donald Norman's The Design of Everyday Things, the Bible in Spanish and German, George MacDonald's Phantastes, Sheila Davis's The Craft of Lyric Writing, Allen & Greenough's New Latin Grammar, Mortimer J. Adler's Ten

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136440467208210192006-01-04T22:54:00.000-07:002006-01-04T22:54:27.230-07:00

Well, I've discovered that LibraryThing is very addicting. :) I couldn't help myself and so I ended up adding around 70 books to my collection (online, that is). You can check out my profile here: crowderb. Two interesting things to look at are my tag cloud (the tags I use -- larger = more frequent) and my author cloud (the authors in my library). This isn't quite a representative sample yet

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136437201243194562006-01-04T21:58:00.000-07:002006-01-04T22:00:01.316-07:00

Have I mentioned LibraryThing yet? It's an online book cataloguing system with tags and all sorts of neat stuff. Right now I only have one book listed, but I started entering my books into an Excel spreadsheet this evening (300 so far, out of roughly 600 if my memory serves me correctly) and I'll put them into LibraryThing sometime this week. LibraryThing lets you enter 200 books for free; to

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136416272697139432006-01-04T16:10:00.000-07:002006-01-04T16:11:12.713-07:00

Found a very interesting article on ontology (classifying information -- like the Library of Congress system and the Dewey decimal system, for example): Ontology is Overrated.

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136410067483876412006-01-04T14:22:00.000-07:002006-01-04T14:27:47.516-07:00

I'm thinking about moving to a CMS for Blank Slate. Coding by hand is cool, but it's the 21st century and I think I'd rather focus on the content. Using a CMS will help me work on the site more often, too -- I won't have to be at my laptop to make changes. Right now I'm looking at either Joomla or Mambo, though there are a few others like e107 and Drupal that are still possibilities. Today or

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136398565270815062006-01-04T11:15:00.000-07:002006-01-04T11:16:05.286-07:00

After six posts in a single day, one day missed feels like a long time. :) The Internet connection at my apartment has been down since Monday night (hopefully they're getting it fixed right now), thus no post.At work I've been writing a content management system for the Center's websites, but yesterday I had an epiphany: why should I reinvent the wheel when there are other CMSes out there that

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136240543864279442006-01-02T15:21:00.000-07:002006-01-02T15:22:23.890-07:00

I've started posting some of my mission pictures on Flickr: Thailand Photos

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136233605293378482006-01-02T13:26:00.000-07:002006-01-02T13:26:45.296-07:00

Check this blog post out: A Few Tips on Restoring Civility

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136233015156075462006-01-02T13:15:00.000-07:002006-01-02T13:16:55.156-07:00

And I read this on Creating Passionate Users:LESS EGOMost of you already know our mantra on this -- "Users don't care about YOU--they care about themselves in relation to what you offer." It's simply not about you. My co-authors and I believe--quite literally--that our "secret sauce" for why our books have been so successful is because we work very hard to take our ego out of the books. We are

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136232381637851922006-01-02T13:04:00.000-07:002006-01-02T13:07:00.390-07:00

I read this on 50 Books and thought it really hits the mark on the book-reading experience:Because they appear on the printed page alongside articles about world events and local news, book reviews have somehow got it in their head that they are pieces of journalism. As such, writers of book reviews dwell in sensory deprivation tanks where their analysis of each book they read can percolate in a

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136223042427167782006-01-02T10:29:00.000-07:002006-01-02T10:30:42.426-07:00

Once I switch to BlueHost (which will hopefully be within a week or so), here's the plan. I realized that there's no point in creating three new blogs when I can use categories to sort posts (that's one of the reasons I'm switching to Wordpress). Top of the Mountains will remain my main blog, but I will create a new blog, Bookland, for all my book posts. (See, I don't post often enough about

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136222755420906742006-01-02T10:25:00.000-07:002006-01-02T10:25:55.446-07:00

It has been a hair-raising morning. A couple of hours ago I decided to switch to BlueHost.com for my web hosting company, since they give you 10gb storage and 250gb/mo bandwidth for only $7/month. (I'm going to move to Wordpress as well, which I'll talk about in a moment.) So I put in my debit card information and click Submit, expecting it to charge me $7 for the first month. (Mind you that

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136150631974901422006-01-01T14:22:00.000-07:002006-01-01T14:23:51.990-07:00

In the last hour of church today I was about to raise my hand to answer a question when the following thought appeared in my mind: Why do you want to answer this question? I took a mental step back and saw that my plan wasn't necessarily for the spiritual edification of those around me, as I'd thought, but rather was for my own vain pride -- to make other people think, "Wow, he's so spiritual

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136128967539126182006-01-01T08:21:00.000-07:002006-01-01T08:22:47.573-07:00

Happy New Year!This morning in the shower I learned a few things about blogs. First, I personally like blogs that are devoted to a single subject area, rather than grab bags that you can't really classify. (Maybe that's because I'm a future librarian and have to classify things. :))Second, when I read subject-oriented blogs (library blogs, for example), it's ever so slightly annoying when

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136082755840758662005-12-31T19:31:00.000-07:002005-12-31T19:32:35.866-07:00

You didn't think I'd let the year roll to an end without posting some New Year's resolutions, did you? First let me announce (in a soft and somewhat sheepish voice) that I've looked through my logs and discovered that I read 31 books in 2005. Not too bad -- especially when you consider the people who don't read a single book after high school -- but then again, I'm aspiring to be a librarian.

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136071528266754212005-12-31T16:25:00.000-07:002005-12-31T16:25:28.306-07:00

It was a dark and stormy night. Wait, it's not night yet. Nor is it particularly stormy, per se -- it's more drizzly than anything. Days like these are made for curling up on a comfy couch with a good book in front of a roasty fire. But this is BYU housing and I doubt a roasty fire would go over too well, especially since I don't have a fireplace. :) I did enjoy the end of Till We Have Faces

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1136005730791802712005-12-30T22:08:00.000-07:002005-12-30T22:08:50.806-07:00

I've decided to take a short break from Beyond so I can work on the layout for a friend's book (Translating Scripture: The Thai Book of Mormon). I got most of the body layout done today (at least the first draft of it), and the rest won't take too long. The only real time chompers will be the cover (the inspiration hasn't arrived yet, but I trust it will come in time) and editing the text

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1135879563259652212005-12-29T11:00:00.000-07:002005-12-29T11:06:03.276-07:00

On my trip to Mexico (which I'll write up and post soon), I soon found that I'd much rather take still photos than video. Video's fun and dandy and all that, but editing it takes so much time which I don't really have. On the other hand, editing photos is relatively quick. (Not to mention that my PowerBook only has so much disk space on it and videos are a lot bigger than photos.) So now I've

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1135725072642732292005-12-27T16:09:00.000-07:002005-12-27T16:14:31.006-07:00

Wasn't quite satisfied with the old Beyond logo, so I spruced it up a bit, going for the Aqua look:

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1135578829736849922005-12-25T23:33:00.000-07:002005-12-25T23:33:49.750-07:00

This time I was in bed, but the thought came to me that today is Christmas and so I really ought to be blogging about the "reason for the season": Jesus Christ. Who is He? To me, He is my Captain, my Savior, my Leader, my Redeemer, my Friend, my Strength, my All. I really don't know what I would do if there were no Christ. But there is a Christ, and He is Jesus, and He truly is the Son of God

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1135577825783999782005-12-25T23:16:00.000-07:002005-12-25T23:17:05.803-07:00

I was going to go to bed, but I couldn't help myself. :) So, today in church I was thinking about Christ's statement in John 15:13 -- "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." That got me thinking about how we say a martyr gives his life. On the other hand, a suicide takes his life. (If you're picky about my pronoun usage and would prefer some

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1135576695564007312005-12-25T22:57:00.000-07:002005-12-25T22:58:15.580-07:00

I wasn't planning on blogging today (mainly because of a splitting headache) but I guess I'd better write at least a little bit. Christmas was good, though I've found that in the last few years my interest in getting presents has almost completely evaporated. Not that I'm not pleased when I do get them, of course, but I wouldn't be troubled in the least if I didn't get a single present. Spent

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1135468478418526122005-12-24T16:43:00.000-07:002005-12-24T16:54:38.450-07:00

I'm back! Got in a few hours ago and have been busy unpacking and reading e-mails/blogs. The trip to Mexico was great and I'll write more about it later (tomorrow or the next day -- I've got a family Christmas Eve party in a few minutes). Read C.S. Lewis's That Hideous Strength in our van on the way down and back and loved it. One last thing before I go: I just read an interview with Richard

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1134692812842672002005-12-15T17:26:00.000-07:002005-12-15T17:26:52.856-07:00

I'm leaving for Mexico tomorrow at 6:00 a.m., so there won't be any updates to this blog (unless I find Internet access at the hotel) until Christmas. I'm taking my camcorder and since I'll have two free weeks before school starts again, I'll edit the best parts into a little documentary on our trip. I got a Mexican Spanish phrasebook at the bookstore today and my goal is to learn as much

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1134595634084451832005-12-14T14:25:00.000-07:002005-12-14T14:27:14.083-07:00

I've tentatively put some lists at the bottom of the sidebar, but I'm not sure yet if that's the best place for them. Once del.icio.us is back up (it's not working right now), perhaps I'll put them there. At any rate, I like the idea of regularly updated lists reflecting what I'm reading about and working on and plans for the future and so on.

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1134577869924940592005-12-14T09:31:00.000-07:002005-12-14T09:32:10.253-07:00

I've been reading up on usability and interface design. Very interesting stuff -- I've learned all sorts of things that'll make Beyond more user-friendly. I read one book last night and I'm starting another one today, and I've got about five more to read through. I'd better learn to read faster. :)Took two finals yesterday. One went better than I expected, and one fell off the opposite end of

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1134445651345725992005-12-12T20:47:00.000-07:002005-12-12T20:47:31.360-07:00

Took my first final this morning. I'll be done by Thursday, and then it's off to Mexico till Christmas. More on that later. Tonight for FHE we made gingerbread houses, and I had grandiose schemes that collapsed because of a gaping lack of structural integrity. :) I consider myself somewhat of an engineer (my grandfather was an aerospace engineer for NASA and Boeing and other aerospace

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1134280638816050612005-12-10T23:50:00.000-07:002005-12-11T23:55:19.506-07:00

Saw Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) this afternoon and really liked it. There were plenty of feel-good moments in it, and the Christian symbolism was a nice change from the junk Hollywood's putting out these days. I want to go to Narnia. :) I'm reading CSL's Till We Have Faces, by the way (80 pages in), and I like it. At first I didn't quite like it, but it's growing on me.

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1134196049000148422005-12-09T23:27:00.000-07:002005-12-09T23:27:29.030-07:00

Today was a reading day, which was nice. Except I didn't do any reading, either of schoolwork or for pleasure. Pity. What I did do was spend the morning doing some Physical Science 100 tutoring, turn in a Modern American Usage paper on "a whole 'nother thing," run home to open the church for the choir to practice (Sunday's the ward Christmas program), go to work, finish designing the banner

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1134058556838193862005-12-08T09:15:00.000-07:002005-12-08T09:15:56.856-07:00

Here's something I wrote for my critique group meeting (which is in 45 minutes -- I hadn't written anything of substance lately and so I had to come up with something). It's called "4 Degrees," and no, I don't know what it is yet. :)Curling into a ball and tucking his hands under his armpits to keep them warm, the man next to the garbage bin softly moans in the cold. Snow is falling, beautiful

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1134053897949089102005-12-08T07:56:00.000-07:002005-12-08T07:58:17.966-07:00

In the second chapter of Reading the Classics with C.S. Lewis, I stumbled across these interesting paragraphs. Descriptions like these were what inspired me to want to be like CSL in the first place."In the material about Lewis as a tutor, three of his characteristics seem predominant and can be rightly called constants."First, Lewis had extraordinary intelligence. A precocious storywriter in

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1134020922827961862005-12-07T22:47:00.000-07:002005-12-07T22:49:10.193-07:00

Tomorrow's the last day of class. Mmm. :) I've been rather stressed these past few days but now I feel pretty good. That confuses me, because I still have stuff due. Oh well, I'll enjoy it while I can. :)In my Old English class today we finished reading "The Dream of the Rood" (a poem about Christ's cross). We've also read the Caedmon story and "Sermo ad Lupi" by Wulfstan and a few others.

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1133932391694869002005-12-06T22:12:00.000-07:002005-12-06T22:13:11.713-07:00

It snowed all day today. I think we should vote winter off the island...The printing press called today (meaning the man at the press, of course, not the press itself, though that would have been pretty cool) and informed me that the proof of my book was ready. (FYI, this book is an assignment in my print publishing class. No, I'm not published yet, at least not any books. There will only be

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1133821555802692272005-12-05T15:14:00.000-07:002005-12-05T15:25:55.840-07:00

First off, it'd be really nice to have categories on here... I haven't tried to find out it Blogger does that or not, but it's yet one more reason I'm thinking of moving on to my own host.Anyway, at work these past few weeks I've been working on Gibraltar, a content management system that will run all of the Center for Family History and Genealogy's websites, including the Immigrant Ancestors

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1133673978397189902005-12-03T22:25:00.000-07:002005-12-03T22:26:18.426-07:00

It's so icy outside that there was a policeman on the road outside my place just a minute ago putting flares on the road. Winter's too dangerous for me. ~sigh~Well, the end of school is nigh. I really should have spent today working on homework, but instead I read library blogs, went to Christmas Around the World (more on that in a moment), started designing a Mac productivity app, and went

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1133506965618547862005-12-02T00:00:00.000-07:002005-12-02T00:02:45.640-07:00

Went to see The Two Gentlemen of Verona today. I guess it's been a long time since I've seen any Shakespeare, but I found it really funny. The performance was good, too. And so now I'm thinking about auditioning for our stake play (which will be in February).My book is now officially "in" at the press. This morning I got an e-mail from the printer telling me what had gone wrong with it (I'd

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1133459019255689382005-12-01T10:40:00.000-07:002005-12-01T10:48:54.230-07:00

Here's some of the artwork I've worked on lately. This first one was a poster for Constitution Day, done in Photoshop:And this is a map of the emigration routes out of Spain (done in Illustrator, which I love dearly):

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1133419580103929502005-11-30T23:46:00.000-07:002005-11-30T23:46:20.120-07:00

Discovered Skype today. It seems to be quite incredible, and I can't wait to try it. Only problem is I don't know a soul who's using it. :) So if any of you want to call me on Skype, my username is "crowderb".Other than that, I'm going to spend the next two weeks focusing everything I've got on my schoolwork, but I think I'll still be able to post regularly on here. (Video may have to wait

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1133334047605378332005-11-29T23:57:00.000-07:002005-11-30T00:00:47.620-07:00

All these late nights are getting to me. :) But soon the semester will be over and it'll be back to normal early bedtimes. This evening I've been reading through library blogs, and there are a lot of them. I'll put a blogroll up here soon...Read an interesting format comparison between ODF (OpenDocument Format) and Microsoft's new Office XML format. Microsoft's XHTML produced from Word has

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1133243232585710442005-11-28T22:42:00.000-07:002005-11-29T10:04:15.280-07:00

It's cold. Saturday was nice, but Sunday the snow fell and the little red blob in the thermometer jumped off the diving board, and since then it's been anything but warm. I'm not ready for winter! I object. Anyone want to file a petition with me? No more winters, please. And what's with the ice on the roads and sidewalks? I can handle ice in my freezer, but slipping and sliding on my way

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1133147867114163362005-11-27T20:12:00.000-07:002005-11-28T14:01:18.510-07:00

Well, I am now a video blogger. Here's my first vlog post:Click here to see videoImpressions of video blogging so far: It took longer than I anticipated to put a simple two-minute segment together, but it was fun, even though I'm not terribly happy with the results. :) (In my mind's eye it was an amazing work of art, but somewhere along the pipeline it got run over and squished around a few

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1132987223335818032005-11-25T23:39:00.000-07:002005-11-25T23:40:23.353-07:00

Thanksgiving break is almost over. ~sigh~ Back to a meager diet of Ramen and saltine crackers... Just kidding. :) It's nice having most of my major projects done and over with. I do have to get my book to the press by Monday in order to get it printed in time for the final, but it's quite close (it's all done except for the cover), so that won't be hard. Oh, I discovered an interesting class

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1132789534046142872005-11-23T16:45:00.000-07:002005-11-23T16:45:34.080-07:00

I was depressed earlier today and on my walk home from campus I decided to come up with a list of my favorite things. Here they are, in no particular order: walking on paths with lots of leaves during sunsets, overcast days, rainstorms and windstorms, singing in the bathroom, solving math problems, discovering new places, the creative idea flood that won't stop, waking up refreshed, movies/shows

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1132721638149643912005-11-22T21:52:00.000-07:002005-11-22T21:53:58.163-07:00

Watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (rented the DVD from the bookstore for $1.29). Usually "weird" movies don't really interest me, but I loved it! Johnny Depp's sense of humor is great (or at least whoever wrote his character :)). The effects were pretty neat, too. And even though I usually don't care for dance at all, I did find the Oompa Loompa dances entertaining. And of course

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1132636858853982402005-11-21T22:20:00.000-07:002005-11-21T22:20:58.870-07:00

After reading a post today on the BYUMUG mailing list about Mac genealogy programs, I've decided to start my own project. It'll be a next-generation family history application with many cool features, most of which I haven't thought up yet (but will soon :)). Considering my background -- programming at Ancestry.com, studying family history here at BYU, and programming for IAP -- I think I've

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1132456202285461452005-11-19T20:09:00.000-07:002005-11-19T20:10:02.333-07:00

I'm even more sore today than I was yesterday. This is why I'm not an exercise science major. :) Lately I've been reading Alan Ayckbourn's The Crafty Art of Playmaking. And Jane Eyre (which I really like). Cleaned my desk today. Also went up to the bookstore to get some change so I could do my laundry. (I've never been so obsessed about getting quarters before. :)) My presentation

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1132381665135545882005-11-18T23:27:00.000-07:002005-11-18T23:27:45.150-07:00

I went bowling last night for our ward activity. The weird thing is that I'm sore now from it. How do you get sore from bowling?!? ~sigh~Anyway, my mom let me borrow one of the violins so I can start practicing. "Crowder" comes from the Old Gaelic/Irish/Welsh word "crwth" which was a fiddle, so a "Crowder" is a fiddler. Fitting. :) I'm sure it'll be hard, especially to get good, but this is

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1132296765826961582005-11-17T23:52:00.000-07:002005-11-17T23:52:45.826-07:00

Looks like I'm getting back into the groove of posting every day. :) Today was mainly a get-homework-done day. Tomorrow I'm giving a presentation in my English usage class on "a whole nother thing" (linguistically), so I spent the bulk of my homework time today putting together a handout and crafting a Powerpoint presentation. (Let me just say that while Powerpoint's okay, someday I'm going to

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1132206261258404112005-11-16T22:44:00.000-07:002005-11-16T22:46:19.610-07:00

It's been a long time since I updated Blank Slate. Most of the links are old, growing staler by the minute. Three inches of dust sit on almost every page, and there are cobwebs up in the corners -- not to mention the cracked paint and broken window panes. It's time to remodel. In spite of how busy I am, making both Blank Slate and this blog more interesting and useful are indeed important to

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1132121488165550672005-11-15T23:10:00.000-07:002005-11-15T23:11:28.193-07:00

Have I mentioned that school's being a beast right now? I have lots of projects and midterms and papers due. Not so fun. Especially because I really really really want to start writing some good software for the Mac, but I need time to do it. I've already got thirteen ideas for apps, so it's just a matter of time. Today I was looking at Jahshaka and found it quite interesting. It doesn't

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1132018040728568572005-11-14T18:16:00.000-07:002005-11-14T18:27:20.763-07:00

A while ago I tried Adium and wasn't very satisfied with it, so I switched to Fire for my Mac instant messaging needs and found it suitable. But today I decided to check Adium out again and wow, I'm amazed. I'm wondering if my memory was accurate after all. :) It's a really, really neat program. Fire was having stability issues anyway, and with the proper themes Adium is quite beautiful.

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1131946971202891952005-11-13T22:42:00.000-07:002005-11-13T22:42:51.216-07:00

One other thing my roommates just told me: in my talk today in church, I was talking about sacrifice and said something along the lines of, "Selfishness sucks the love and happiness out of our lives." But after "Selfishness sucks" I unwittingly paused to take a breath and it sounded like I said, "Selfishness sucks." LOL :) Good thing I didn't realize what I'd said or I would've burst out

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1131946304424893892005-11-13T22:20:00.000-07:002005-11-13T22:31:44.456-07:00

I'm not doing so well at the regular updates now, am I... Here, let me list the titles of the books on my desk right now. Some I'm currently reading; some are on the to-read list. In the back left corner (closest to my pillow) I have the Book of Mormon in English, the Book of Mormon / D&C / Pearl of Great Price in Thai, and the Bible. In the front left corner I have C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1131500786826261402005-11-08T18:45:00.000-07:002005-11-08T18:46:26.843-07:00

I finally finished this poem:"Seventeen Steps"by Benjamin CrowderSeventeen steps down the way, she said,Not more or less, dear, or you'll end up dead,Then turn to the left and count all your toes,Your fingers and eyeballs and even your nose.Follow the footsteps that lead to the woodsWhere darkness and danger and shadows like hoodsCling to the trees like a leech on its prey;You'd better walk fast

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1131457342236854292005-11-08T06:41:00.000-07:002005-11-08T06:42:22.256-07:00

Whoops, I kind of lost track of time for a while. :) Let's see, what's happened in the past week? First, I decided that with all the other projects I'm working on, particularly at school and at work, my novel (Doubletake) is going to have to sit for a while on the back burner. So no, I won't be finishing it by the end of the month. I would like to, of course, but I really have to give the

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1130908536253870812005-11-01T22:15:00.000-07:002005-11-01T22:15:36.273-07:00

Lately I've had an itching to program something for Mac. At work I code for Windows (ASP.NET), and in the last five or six years that's about all I've written other than website stuff. So I spent a couple of hours reading up on Cocoa and Mac development this evening. Fascinating stuff. Interface Builder is really cool. I've got ideas for two applications in mind right now (a flash card thing

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1130858910099815652005-11-01T21:53:00.000-07:002005-11-06T07:27:16.353-07:00

Today marks the first day of National Novel Writing Month. :) We have one month to write a 50,000 word novel, which means around 1,900 words a day for me (since I won't be writing on Sundays). Spent 40 minutes this morning and pumped out 1,100 words, so I think an hour a day will do. My novel is called Doubletake. As a way to keep me working on it, I'll post what I write each day. Feel free

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1130687585506224892005-10-30T08:41:00.000-07:002005-10-30T08:54:08.623-07:00

It hurts to miss someone (or someplace, or something). Yesterday I watched a Thai movie, The Letter, and I missed Thailand so bad that it was almost like Thailand had died and wasn't coming back. It drives me crazy because right now I can't go back (and probably won't be able to go back for at least a few more years). And even if I did return, it wouldn't be the same. I think memories become

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1130557438310263732005-10-28T20:43:00.000-07:002005-10-28T20:43:58.323-07:00

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)I often feel burdened, like I'm supposed to be perfect. The realization that I'm not sends me into a whirlwind of depression, knowing that God's law and my actions have separated paths, and it's not God's law that's meandering off

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1130463980827127532005-10-27T18:45:00.000-07:002005-10-27T18:46:20.846-07:00

My camcorder came this afternoon. It's a nice camera and I've been having fun tinkering around with it for the past hour or so, learning about the different features. The real fun will start when I start vlogging and making movies, though. :) Now I just have to figure out how to balance this with my homework... (I'd have some video up here already, but the camera didn't come with a FireWire

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1130380195611502482005-10-26T19:29:00.000-07:002005-10-26T19:31:04.966-07:00

One more day till my new friend (aka my digital camcorder) arrives. :) This afternoon Apple held an Education Seminar here on campus and it was awesome. In the first hour they talked about the new features in Tiger (10.4 -- why does it have to be a whole $129 to upgrade?!? ~sigh~), and then for the last two hours they split into two groups, one talking about IT/server stuff, the other covering

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1130300949452470152005-10-25T21:28:00.000-07:002005-10-25T21:29:09.460-07:00

The FedEx Site says the Camcorder will arrive Thursday. Then the Fun will begin. In the meantime, School is coming along okay, but I spend most of my Time reading Textbooks and not other Books.And to think that languages like German still capitalize all the nouns. :) It bothers the heck out of me, but I guess that's just the editor in me. Anyway, one of my (many) projects right now is the

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1130048541598805242005-10-22T23:21:00.000-07:002005-10-22T23:22:21.606-07:00

Got back half an hour ago from a late-night run on Wendy's with my roommates and some other friends. It's way past my bedtime now, but I've got to blog. :) So, I've been checking out more vlogs in the vlogosphere, and it's pretty darn cool. So cool, in fact, that I bought a camcorder today (a Panasonic PV-GS31). Ordered one, actually -- it should arrive within a week. Pricegrabber.com's

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1129869901863839912005-10-20T21:43:00.000-07:002005-10-20T21:45:01.873-07:00

Discovered some cool new things tonight. The first is Books, a Mac OS X app to help you manage your books. As soon as I find some time I'll start entering all my books into it. That way it'll be easier to find if I have a certain book or not -- this is good librarianhood preparation, eh? :)Tonight I discovered the new phenomenon known as vlogging, or video blogging. It started when I

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1129597042235401472005-10-17T17:57:00.000-07:002005-10-17T17:57:22.246-07:00

I've been researching the various library schools in the UK, thanks to the OWL website. (I was rather naive, assuming that since Oxford and Cambridge didn't have degrees in Library Science, there must not be any other library schools in the UK. Silly.) Anyway, I'm determined to do whatever I can to attend school there. If it doesn't work out, then I'll try for the University of Maryland, but

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1129522345572944202005-10-16T21:11:00.000-07:002005-10-16T21:12:25.580-07:00

Today was busy. Translation: Left at 9:30 a.m. for meetings (church-related), got done at 5 p.m., went home teaching till 6, went up to my little brother's Eagle Court of Honor till 8:20, and then had ward prayer till 9:30. I think there was one five-minute break somewhere in there, but that was it. I'd much rather be busy like this than bored with too much free time, though.Read an article in

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1129428802284511222005-10-15T19:12:00.000-07:002005-10-15T19:13:22.296-07:00

I've decided that serializing Adventures in Thailand when it's already on Blank Slate is somewhat pointless, so you can just go read it all there.It's been a somewhat overwhelming few days lately, with the combined weight of work and school and other obligations pushing down on me till I thought my spine would snap, but it'll get better soon. It always does. I'm still writing away, 30 minutes a

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1129073617636361822005-10-11T16:33:00.000-07:002005-10-11T16:33:37.646-07:00

Well, I'm not moving. Nor is Elder Haase. Nor is Elder Pete. But Elder Jorgensen is, to Bangkok, where he's going to be a zone leader. Elder Haase is now the district leader and a new senior (one who's turning senior this moves) will be moving up here tomorrow. Nobody in Lampang moved. Elder Jorgensen and I will leave on the train tonight at 10 p.m. and I'll come back tomorrow with Elder Pete's

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1129006406774560662005-10-10T21:52:00.000-07:002005-10-10T21:54:13.903-07:00

Wow, so much to write about and not nearly enough time. Yesterday we went up to Lampang for a special mission tour to meet President and Sister Hansen. We left at 8:10 a.m. on a bus and arrived at one o'clock, which left us enough time to find a naamtok raan (it's Isaan food) and catch a song thaw to the church. After the traditional rendition of "Called to Serve" to open the meeting, we recited

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128901605803788802005-10-09T16:46:00.000-07:002005-10-09T16:46:45.813-07:00

Is it already July? Goodness, the time is blipping by. In fact, today I have very, very little time as we just got back from Sukothai. The work is going really well, especially with Loogkit and Ao. They actually moved to a different house on Sunday, so Loogkit couldn't go to church, but she sent Ao and we were able to meet with them that evening. They're friends with lots of the members and it's

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128783689823006912005-10-08T08:00:00.000-07:002005-10-08T08:01:29.823-07:00

Last night I sat down for my daily 30 minutes of writing and almost instantly began to write, which rarely happens (usually I have to sludge around a bit in my mental marshes to find a clear pathway and a story to tell). The words just started coming out, and I had no idea what they were going to be about. I kept writing and then in the fourth paragraph interesting things started happening, and

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128783211527419742005-10-08T07:52:00.000-07:002005-10-08T07:53:31.536-07:00

We just got back from a wonderful zone conference yesterday, President Slater's last in Thailand. President Hansen arrives on Tuesday and will be mission president on arrival. The one thing certain about missions is change. Investigators change (a *lot*, for good or for worse), members change, companions change, areas change, mission presidents change, the weather kind of changes (hot, hotter,

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128736525393591202005-10-07T18:55:00.000-07:002005-10-07T18:55:25.393-07:00

Finished reading Dreams and Wishes this evening. (I wouldn't have finished it so soon but the library sent me a recall e-mail a couple of days ago telling me that some other user had recalled it. At first I was awfully jealous, as if some cad had just stolen my girlfriend, but I got over it and spent a few pleasant hours yesterday and today reading it. :)) Speaking of which, I spent well over

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128736073864439062005-10-07T18:47:00.000-07:002005-10-07T18:47:53.876-07:00

Last Thursday we had the special DDM with Elder Keenan, who came down with Elder Rock from Lampang. He talked about how we need to make ourselves available to the Lord to do His work. After the DDM was over, we went on switchoffs. I got to go with Elder Rock for four hours, which was wonderfully fun -- it's been six months since we last did switchoffs together back in Bangkapi. Time sure flies by

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128608321789586212005-10-06T06:40:00.000-07:002005-10-06T07:18:42.043-07:00

It's been an interesting week. Last Thursday was Elder Haase's birthday. While we were teaching English, Sister A and Muy went out and bought a cake, and after English we all sang songs together. The members here are sooooo incredibly nice. Once we were done, I had to answer a call from Mother Nature. On my way out of the bathroom, I looked down and saw a black scorpion on the ground, alive.

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128568936378886472005-10-05T20:21:00.000-07:002005-10-05T20:22:16.386-07:00

Moves has come and gone. Wednesday night we went to the train station, as did about twenty of the members. They bid farewell to Elder Bevell and Elder Burin and we hopped on board the train. As I looked out the window at the members waving goodbye, it felt like I myself was moving and I almost burst out crying. It will be soooooo hard to say goodbye to these people. I never want to leave here. :)

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128488304463699982005-10-04T21:57:00.000-07:002005-10-04T21:58:24.463-07:00

I listened to the Wicked soundtrack for the first time today. Wow. It's amazing! I really, really, really like it. When I came to the end of the last track, I found myself wishing it wasn't really over. Isn't that one of the qualities of a good story? A story should weave a wonderful world in your imagination that you really miss when the curtain falls. They're the best kind, at

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128488004999253722005-10-04T21:52:00.000-07:002005-10-04T21:53:25.006-07:00

Moves is here again. Yesterday Elder Bevell called the APs and found that he is moving to Bangkok, Elder Burin is moving somewhere outside of Bangkok, and Elder Vue (in Lampang) is moving to Bangkok. All four of us here have to go down to moves, which means Elder Jorgensen is either ZL or trainer (he'll get a call from President Slater today to let him know which). I'm excited to get to go to

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128352738859325932005-10-03T08:18:00.000-07:002005-10-03T08:18:58.873-07:00

Good news: Root's getting baptized this evening! :) Elder Jorgensen (Elder Joe as they call him) and Elder Burin had an investigator get baptized this past Sunday, Bia, and within a few weeks Bia's cousin M will be baptized as well. Bad news: Boi disappeared last week and we haven't seen him since last Monday. He reportedly came back, though, and we hope to meet with him soon. We found two good

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128306298900393892005-10-02T19:23:00.000-07:002005-10-02T19:24:58.956-07:00

Rainy season started a few days ago and it's not quite as hot anymore. :) Today we went to Sukothai (the old capital of Thailand, 700 years ago) and visited some of the old ruins. Pretty neat, as usual. We got back with not much time to spare and so this will be very short. The work's going well. Our two main investigators, Root and Boi, will be baptized within a few weeks. School is starting (a

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128226644409697262005-10-01T21:15:00.000-07:002005-10-01T21:17:24.416-07:00

I'm going to Wales next spring. At least that's the plan. :) You see, my work (Immigrant Ancestors Project) is having a student researcher team go over to the UK to photograph emigration records. And it looks like I'll be able to go to Wales with one other guy for at least three weeks, provided that we get the mentoring research grants which we're applying for (I wrote my proposal today). I'm

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128182260640701162005-10-01T08:56:00.000-07:002005-10-01T08:57:40.650-07:00

It really is the hot season now. :) Earlier this week I found out where everyone moved. Elder Berlin moved to Ratcha Thewi; Sister Grimmius is now in Bangkhen; Sister Kravetz moved to Bangkapi and is companions with Sister Aemon (small world :)); Elder McLelland and Elder Walker both moved to Udorn North; Elder Suttiphong moved to Bangnaa and is companions with Elder Orrock; Sister West moved to

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128122000680914222005-09-30T16:12:00.000-07:002005-09-30T16:13:41.953-07:00

Last week Elder Bevell and Elder Segsan went down to Bangkok for moves and ZLTM. Elder Segsan moved to Thonburi and is the new zone leader there, companions with Elder Lo. Elder Jorgensen (who used to be the office) moved here and is the district leader, and Elder Blodgett (who I replaced here) moved to the office to replace Elder Jorgensen. "It's a small world after all..." :) Elder Rock moved

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1128055195767310002005-09-29T21:38:00.000-07:002005-09-29T21:40:28.246-07:00

Here's the update on moves: only Elder Segsan is moving. We thought Elder Bevell would move (he's been here for six months), but we're both staying. Elder Segsan is moving somewhere in Bangkok. I'm veeeeeeeeeeeery glad I'm not moving. :) P-lok is the best area in the mission, hands down.The work's going fairly well. Sak was going to get baptized last Saturday, but on Sunday he wrote us a note

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1127954366088697092005-09-28T17:34:00.000-07:002005-09-28T17:39:26.096-07:00

It has been a craaaaazy week. :) Everything was normal till Saturday afternoon. Around noon, kids started hanging around on the side of the road with water guns and little buckets, giggling as they squirted us. There were a few scattered groups of teenagers as well, but still Songkran hadn't really started. On Sunday we held church as usual, and surprisingly quite a few members showed up. We'd

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1127883282687500882005-09-27T21:54:00.000-07:002005-09-27T21:54:42.693-07:00

I've been feeling kind of overwhelmed lately because I've been sitting in the shadow of a large paper for my writing class which is due on Thursday. Procrastination is the bane of my existence. :) Anyway, it's gotten close enough that I realized I'd better start writing it. Before I actually began, it felt like it would take forever to write and would be dreadfully boring. And I thought it

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1127878080034716422005-09-27T20:26:00.000-07:002005-09-27T20:28:00.063-07:00

It's definitely getting hotter. :) Since I arrived in Thailand during the cool season, I'd completely forgotten just how hot Thailand can get. In a few days we'll be able to cool off a little, though -- Songkran starts on Sunday. Songkran is the huge water fight that goes on for several days. In fact, everyone says people will start playing on Saturday or even Friday. Everyone rides around and

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1127778125794339652005-09-26T16:40:00.000-07:002005-09-26T16:42:05.806-07:00

Yesterday a horde of elephants stampeded down our road and crashed over our neighbor's car. Oops, April Fool's Day was yesterday, sorry. :) Is it really already April? Time still keeps accelerating -- this moves is already halfway over (three more weeks). The next moves period will only be five weeks, by the way.Life is great here and it's really hot at times but not unbearable. Sacrifice brings

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1127709864962021062005-09-25T21:42:00.000-07:002005-09-25T21:44:24.980-07:00

Sawutdee krup once more, hailing from here in Phitsanulok, the hottest part of Thailand. :) It's not too bad, actually -- heat doesn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would. The work goes on because it must, regardless of heat, rain, etc. (Rather like the postal service.)This week's big event was the district/zone conference trip up to Chiang Mai. We left Sunday morning at 1:15 for the

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1127602107451508482005-09-24T15:47:00.000-07:002005-09-24T15:48:27.453-07:00

The weekend has come soon. Watched Madagascar last night. Gotta love the penguins. :) My roommates are at the BYU football game right now, and I suspect the guys upstairs are watching it too, judging by the "Hoorah!"s every ten minutes. I had a ticket (all-sports pass, actually) but really didn't feel like going today. I've been doing homework instead. Perhaps not quite as fun, but the good

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1127602062018885652005-09-24T15:46:00.000-07:002005-09-24T15:47:42.030-07:00

Sorry there wasn't an e-mail last week; I wrote the letter but the instant before I sent it, the Internet died. So, last week on Tuesday Elder Serrao called the office and found that I'd be moving outside of Bangkok. He was released as zone leader because the Bangkapi and Srinakarin zones merged. I got up early (4:00) on Wednesday and Thursday to pack and get ready. From now on I don't think I'll

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1127520050895122812005-09-23T17:00:00.000-07:002005-09-23T17:00:50.903-07:00

I don't have much time this week (virtually no time, in fact), so I'll just write a quick update on what's going on. This moves period has gone by soooooo fast. The term at the Wat Bangtoey school ended last week, which is really sad because I miss those kids a ton. That's the thing I'll probably miss most about Thailand -- the kids. Sister Tu (Bunying's wife) was baptized this past Sunday, along

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1127442173233488882005-09-22T19:21:00.000-07:002005-09-22T19:22:53.243-07:00

This moves period is going by sooooo quickly. Only two weeks left. Yesterday we had our zone conference/mission tour. Elder Lee Ray Bateman (I think he's in the Asia Area presidency) was the visiting General Authority. I love zone conferences because the Spirit inspires me how to improve myself, areas I should focus on, etc. Elder Christiansen, Elder Frischknecht, Elder Serrao, and I sang "I Need

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1127361007487235602005-09-21T20:48:00.000-07:002005-09-21T20:50:07.496-07:00

The sickness remains. I went to my early morning classes and then decided I really needed to get some rest, so I came home and slept for a while, woke up and read some books, then went back to sleep for another long while. I seem to get sick every few months and it usually is the same kind of sickness (cough/sore throat), and it usually lasts a week. And tomorrow will be one week now, so

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1127360214750982732005-09-21T20:36:00.000-07:002005-09-21T20:36:54.756-07:00

This week there wasn't a whole lot to write about, so I suspect this letter won't be as long as usual. Last Friday I went on switchoffs with Elder Houston (the greenie), in my area. In the evening we went to visit a family that we met last week. They handed us a drink that looked like diluted beer. It didn't smell like beer, but it didn't smell like water either. I didn't know if it was some kind

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1127220385350529492005-09-20T05:44:00.000-07:002005-09-20T05:46:25.360-07:00

I'd forgotten that Thailand can be humid, but on Monday the stickiness returned, and it's probably here to stay for quite a few months. It's getting hotter, too. So much for the week-long cool season. :) On Wednesday last week we went bowling at the Mall Bangkapi. I doubled my score from the first game to the third one (57 to 102). Needless to say, I'm a much better missionary than bowler. :) As

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11512095.post-1127187575425664882005-09-19T20:39:00.000-07:002005-09-19T20:39:35.433-07:00

Tonight as I was working on "Too Late," I tried listening to some John Williams as I worked, but I found that the rhythm of the music got in the way of the rhythm of the words. It makes sense, really, since prose and especially poetry are music in a way. I do listen to music whenever I do art, though.For the record, I'm still sick. It's wretched. I'm stable enough that I can go to school (

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09706335539920926982noreply@blogger.com0