I've discovered the cause of inflation.  As much as I'd like to blame President Bush, it's not his fault.  It's obesity.  Inflation is God's punishment for obesity.

No really, think about it.  If you were God and you saw a whole nation of your favorite people getting fatter and fatter, what would you do?  You'd want them to walk more and eat less, and what better way to get them to do that than to raise gas and food prices?  Who can afford to drive everywhere and eat all the time?  Not me!  His plan is flawless.

In all seriousness, I do foresee a drastic change in our culture, and I like it.  The transition is pretty painful, but hey, in the long run we get to be like Europe!  How exciting is that?!  We'll be skinny and healthy (cause not only will we eat better, but we'll have better health care coverage).  Maybe if we're lucky we'll even start building beautiful buildings and making delicious dark chocolate drinks.  There is a lot that we need to learn from over in Europe.  Their dollar is strong, and ours is getting weaker and weaker.  No wonder a candidate like Obama is doing well.  It's what we need.

P.S.  I got an email requesting permission to print my letter to the editor in the Daily Universe, so pay attention to the Reader's Forum tomorrow.

BYU students know that once a week the Daily Universe publishes a police beat describing various calls the police have responded to in the past week.  The police beat is famous for the ridiculous things it reports.  For example, this week the paper states:

"An international student reported seeing an 18-inch snake on the Maeser Hill trail.  The snake turned out to be a harmless garter snake.  The student was assured that it was not poisonous."

"A suspicious-looking man covered in tattoos was seen in the Tanner Building tunnel area.  It turned out that he was a construction worker."

"Witnesses reported a 30-year-old male bathing in the Provo River in the nude.  A police sergeant issued the man a citation for lewdness."

Etc.  Many students have a goal of somehow getting into the police beat, either by doing something stupid that gets called in or by calling in something stupid.  It's actually a much harder task than it seems.  Most students graduate without ever getting to be in the police beat.

Well.  I have succeeded in getting into the police beat this week.  The paper reports: "A loud explosion was reported from the Brewster Building.  It turned out to be a tire explosion on a vehicle outside the building."

I am a custodian at the Brewster Building, and I heard the explosion.  I was the one who found the tire that had exploded, and when the officer arrived at the scene, I was the one who showed him that the explosion had just been a tire.  Man it was hot that day!  Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know who the anonymous hero was in the police beat.  Stay tuned into the Daily Universe tomorrow.  I wrote a letter to the editor that I hope will be published in the Reader's Forum.

I was just at the JFSB chilling with my friend in the courtyard when I saw one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.  I was lying on the edge of the fountain, enjoying the cooler night air and trying to relax watching satellites.  All of a sudden I noticed something in the sky moving, almost like a ripple.  It was a large dark shape, like a glider, with small flecks of light like stars all on its underside.  It was an owl- a beautiful, humongous owl.  I couldn't believe how big it was or how silently it soared across the JFSB courtyard.  Over the course of the hour this owl, or perhaps several owls, passed over the courtyard 5 times.  It was just amazing.  It was so high up, yet I am certain its wingspan was much larger than my arm span.  It was beauty in a terrifying, chilling way.  Owls truly are magnificent birds of prey.  Tonight this one captured my respect and fascination.

As a kid my dad used to play this Liz Callaway CD (you might know her as the singing voice of Anastasia).  She went to his high school, and he likes to listen to Broadway songs.  Meadowlark was by far my favorite song on the CD.  It's such a beautiful song.

Isn't that a great song?!  I just wanted to share the thoughts I was having as I listened to that song and decided to post it up here.

I was accepted into BYU's BFA program, which means I can get a more specific degree in painting.  I feel like such an upper classman now.  I am completely immersed into my art major.

I love telling people that I'm an art major.  Their reaction is always the same.  "Oh, that's fun."  Fun.  Being an art major, they perceive, is fun.  While I can't lie, I enjoy art and it is fun, I get kinda bothered by the fact that people associate the major with "fun" and not "work."  For example, I just handed in my lithography final.  I finished the edition at 4 in the morning in the hfac amidst toxic gasses.  The project took me 37 hours.  37 freaking hours.  And it cost me $100.  That makes near $300 that I have spent for the half semester class.  That's a lot of money, and that's a lot of work (keep in mind the final is not the only project for the class).  The best part is, that the class is worth 1.5 credits.  1.5 credits.

When was the last time you, as a non art major, spent 37 hours studying for a final for a 1.5 credit class?  And you know it takes a lot more than 1.5 credits to graduate.  My BFA degree is going to cost me so many precious hours, dollars, and probably years of my life considering the toxic stuff I work with.  It's insane.  It would be so much easier to get a BS degree.

So the next time someone asks me what my major is, and I tell them what I'm studying, and they say, "Oh, that sounds like a fun major!", my response will be, "Actually, it's a very expense, difficult, labor intensive major.  If it wasn't so gosh darn fulfilling, and if I wasn't so gosh darn amazing at it, I might do something else.