My final for my grade

The tide seems to be turning towards the Democratic Party in the historically Republican-leaning state of Utah, based on the strong showing in the 2008 presidential election.

According to the Web site Utah.Gov Utahns voted 67 to 26 percent in favor of the Republican party in 2000 and 71 to 26 percent in 2004. Four years later, while still keeping a dominant lead, the voting for the Republican candidate was narrowed to a lead over the Democratic candidate by a margin of only 63 to 34 percent.

In Salt Lake County where the Bush/Cheney ticket defeated the Gore/Lieberman ticket by 64,000 votes in 2000, the McCain/Palin ticket narrowly beat Obama/Biden by 2,000 votes in this years’ election. There are many possible reasons for the huge number change. Some, including students, think this could be the result of a poor economy led by a Republican president, among other reasons.

In Utah County, Democratic leaders are optimistic. Utah County Democratic Party Chairman Richard Davis said, “There’s a lot of interest now.” Though Democrats lost all of the major races in Utah County this year Davis is quick to point out, “The fact that we were close is a promising sign for us.”

Davis admits that the election didn’t affect Utah students the same way it did students nationally because Utah is traditionally a Republican-dominated state.

UVU student and first time voter Jennie Nicholls, said of the Democrats, “They’re kind of the underdog so they need all of the help they can get, especially here in Utah County.” Nicholls said she didn’t vote straight Democrat and was hesitant to officially declare herself as one.

Morgan Huff, a lifelong Utahn and UVU sophomore, said he voted “strictly on the issues” important to him and found that Sen. McCain more closely represented his views. When asked if he thought there would come a time when people in Utah would vote as a state for a Democrat to be president he said “I could see that happening as long as they were voting for the individual and not the party.”

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Cool Stuff

I'm a fan of cool stuff.

Here's a list of what I think is cool (in no particular order):

* Hugs
* Smiles
* Smash Mouth
* Matt Lewis Band
* Cory Mon
* Bare Naked Ladies (the musicians... this is not me confessing)
* The Office
* Prision Break
* Survivor
* ALL of the people I work with (and if I don't mention Dennis by name he will ask me why I didn't mention him by name). (And Holli because she is WAY cool and she leaves me goodies like mini sparkling ciders)
* Good conversation
* My friends
* My Beliefs
* Diversity
* Tolerance
* My family
* My Cats
* Teachers who give you school credit for typing a blog
* Institute
* The word pillow
* Pillows
* Alaskan summers with Princess Tours and all of the amazing people up there!
* Orlando summers and all of the people at The Daily Buzz
* Meeting celebs
* Jack R Christianson!!!!!
* The Michigan Lansing Mission
* People who DON'T take the lords name in vain
* Chalupas
* Working out
* Work out buddies
* Running buddies
* Funny websites
* People who can walk around on campus WITHOUT the use of head phones
* Staying in touch with old friends
* People who can take criticism
* People who can give criticism in a gentle way
* Self confidendence
* Self mastery
* Prophets
* Facebook
* Myspace
* Finding places that aren't main stream yet but amazing
* Happy music
* Deep lyrics
* Happy music with shallow lyrics that is fun anyways
* People forgiving me for typing and grammar errors!

Here is ROUND 2 of things I think are cool:

* People who can appreciate both sides of an issue
* People who know that although there is a God he does not care who wins a football game or sporting event (this means YOU BYU fans... your sins or lack of them had no outcome on the game)
* Apporpriately timed silence (pauses or moments of silence are beautiful... stupid people not knowing what to say for a couple of seconds also counts as gold)
* Childrens choirs
* Babies laughing
* Kittens and puppies
* Stepping on a leaf and hearing it crunch
* Popping bubble wrap
* Spelling a word correctly you're unsure of... the bigger the word the better the feeling
* Following your feelings NOT to do something and never knowing why
* Wisdom from God
* Wisdom from movies
* Overcoming fears by simply trying something new
* Being humble enough to accept help from others
* Giving help to people in need
* Waking up in another city and forgetting where you are... those couple of moments while your brain processes where you are is AWESOME
* Fresh out of the oven cookies (Annie just brought some up to the front desk)
* Finding out what your parents were like when they were your age
* Improving the genetics of you family by marrying a person WAY cuter than yourself (I hope I hope I hope)
* Finding ways to relate to people younger than you (my cousin Joyanna has a son who is 12 and he is a stud... I hope he feels he can turn to me as he gets older)
* Companies who have GREAT customer service and who will lose money if necessary to keep a coustomer
* People who can find ways of being unique without going out of their way to piss others off. Being a rebel and being a jerk seem to be synonomous.



:o)

CRAP!!!

A friend of mine just texted me asking me why I wasn't at a concert... "what concert?" I asked... "What group had a bunch of hits?"he asked me. Which is a line from a song by LFO called "Summertime" where LFO sings "___ ____ __ ___ _____ had a bunch of hits..." So then it hits me...

I'm missing the concert of one of my favorite groups of all time and I know it makes me a total girl to say this but I LOVE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!

I'm missing their concert right now and I wish I was there.

Danny Donny Jordan John and Joe PLEASE COME BACK! I won't miss the next concert!!!

--Skippy-- NKOTB fan

The universe is getting old, God and Prop 8

Not that I'm one to talk about age... but the universe is OLD!

I had an astronomy class today and was taught that the universe is 13.7 billion years old and that it started with a big bang. What astronomers admit that they do not know is: A.What caused it? B.Where did the energy come from? and C.Why did it happen?

My teacher rocks and I really enjoy his class a lot. He knows SO much! As a class we know that he doesn't like to talk about religion but does like to to point to evidence when asked what he believes. So I asked him point blank "If there is no heaven, and if the earth will die off then what does it matter what happens to the universe?" He answered "to be blunt, it doesn't matter."

That scares me.

The reason for Christianity is to help people who have no belief of an afterlife and the importance of this life, from imposing their views on those of us who do believe that actions here matter.

For a person who sees no purpose for this life, there is no thing or code of morals to keep them from doing whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want.

There is no belief and no one to be accountable to. There's no source of good so there can be no evil. There is no evil to be stopped since evil doen't exist.

I believe that evil is stopped by love, faith and the goodness of those who are willing to stand up for truth that can not be seen but only believed.

Most of the people who oppose the passing of Prop 8 do not believe the bible to be Gods word. I try not to be too religious on my own blog but I will say this:

I believe that the most important thing to God are his children which is what we are. So the most important thing to us should first be him and then our children. Making children is best done in families between husbands and wives. I believe there is a God and that this is his plan no matter what we say. I support the views of the people who lead the church I belong to. I belong to this church because I have prayed to God and I feel this is the best place for me to be. I respect others who choose not to believe what I believe. I love the freedoms we have to believe many things and to stand up for what we believe in.

I feel that people who supported Prop 8 should not be punished or protested for supporting what they believe is right.

Leave somments if you want and if not it's ok we're still friends.

Google me!

Look at what I found when broswing my name online:

http://blogs.sltrib.com/sundance/2008/01/paris-engaged-in-utah.html

And this was the year before as reported by USA TODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-01-19-sundance-notebook_x.htm

Mandy Moore says, "I Don't"

The premiere of the darkly comic love story Dedication ended with a surprise for co-star Mandy Moore: a wedding proposal.

As the cast took a bow onstage after the movie finished its first Sundance screening, a man in the second row, who identified himself as "Skippy" got the first question: "I don't think I?ll ever get a chance to ask this again, but … Mandy Moore, will you marry me?"

Dedication director Justin Theroux said, "I'll mediate that question. Mandy Moore, that's Skippy. …Will you marry him?"

The singer-actress melted in giggles, covering her face. "God bless. Thanks, Skippy," Theroux said. "I think that's a 'no' though."

Skippy did present Moore with a t-shirt he made and got a picture with her afterward.
Later, an audience member directed a question to Dedication's leading man, Billy Crudup. "I was wondering …"

Crudup got a big laugh by cutting the man off and declaring loudly: "YES! I will!" It was actually a question about how he researched the role.

This is how it happend!

:o)

--Skippy--

Who is in YOUR cabinet?

So now that Barak is President and needs to select people to serve on his cabinet it got me to thinking... who would be on MY cabinet? Here are my nominations:

Department of Agriculture: Someone who knows fruit and farming... THE JOLLY GREEN GIANT

Department of the Interior : That guy from Extreme Home Makeover... Ty something. Or maybe the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy people to add some diversity.

Department of Commerce : Mitt Romney... he's good with money and he'd be there to fix the rest of the problems.

Department of Justice : I'm going with Judge Wapner of The Peoples Court.

Department of Defense : Chuck Norris!

Department of Labor : Brenda from work. She is one of my bosses and she works DANG hard. Plus she speaks a little spanish.

Department of Education : Former UVU President Bill Sederberg. He is an excellent educator.

Department of State : Brigham Young the first Govornor of the state of Utah.

Department of Energy : Richard Simmons seems to have a lot of energy... why not him.

Department of Transportation : When I worked in Alaska as a bus driver one of my favorite coworkers was a guy named John Kinmonth. He's a hippie but he rocks AND he has a cute wife.

Department of Health &Human Services : My trainer at Golds Gym would be good at this... Clint Friel.

Department of the Treasury : Another good money guy is Scrooge McDuck. IF you don't know who he is look up the name. He would be the only person on my cabinet who could show up to every meeting not wearing pants.

Department ofHomeland Security : Osama Bin Laden (you see I'd appont him and then when he showed up for his first day on the job Chuck Norris would give him a round house to the throat and take over both positions)

Department ofVeterans Affairs : Mccain is old and wants to be in the White House. There would be room for him there.

Department of Housing &Urban Development : Jay-Z seems pretty urban... maybe Doctor Dre; afterall he is a doctor.

That's my list!

PS My first lady would be Mandy Moore after she get's baptised mormon.

Birthday death wish

Birthdays are for kids or happy people.

The older I get the more distant I become from both catagories.

That's pretty depressing sounding, huh?!

Here's why: (PS I'm gonna end this on a happy note so don't start calling hospitals or mortuaries just yet)

I'm thirty-one years old. Typing out the words is a bit less intimidating than seeing the numbers which when looked at make my eyes hurt like the pain you get when you stare directly at the sun.

Ughh... I'm thirty-something. There was a show called Thirty-something that was on in the late 80's and early 90's. In order to remember that it was even on you would need to be thirty-something or older. I barely remember the show and I'm a TV-a-holic.

See I know I'm old because I've already wandered from the rant of reasons why I hate this age. Here are the bullet points:

*In the Mormon church there are church services for families and for young single adults 18-30. What about me? I don't have a family of my own and I'm no longer a "young" single adult. I'm gonna keep going until they kick me out. Of the singles group... not the church.

*I flirt with or ask out about 20 girls a week on average, which is only about 4 a day-ish. Of those I get .75 dates a week. (I go on 3 dates a month... it DOESN'T MEAN I'm asking out girls who have lost SOME of their limbs.) DURING an average week I get told that I'm too old about 4 times. I think it would be higher but the girls don't ask me because I look younger.

When girls don't ask my age I feel like the 20 year old who lucks out and buys beer at the one place in town where the clerk doesn't card you.

*When I felt old at the age of 25 and a girl would ask how old I was, I would say 31. Then when her eyes got wide I would say "Just kidding I'm only 25." One girl even said to me "so you're old but you're not OLD old." I am appearantly now OLD old.

*My mom subtley likes to bring up that since my brothers' divorce, which produced no kids but a lot of debt, I'm the new hope for brining grandchildren into their lives. I feel like Luke from Star Wars when he get's told he's the only hope. No pressure there mom.

*Oh and I've never had sex so there's a certain part of the anatomy that I hope isn't broken and when (**hopefully**) it gets used for the first time, works properly.

The good news:

*Disease free.
*Zero ex-wives.
*I smile a lot.
*I'm up to 25 girls who have had my lips pressed against theirs.
*Bro's are STILL before ho's.

PS My mom was the first person to wish me happy birthday. THE SECOND PERSON was... JOEY FATONE from the boy band NSYNC. We met two summers ago in Orlando, swapped emails and became IM buddies. He IM'd me to say hi and birthday wishes.