It's that time again.

Yep I'm going on my fourth day of blogging in a row.  Crazy.  News of the day:  We had stake conference and Elder M. Russell Ballard came and spoke!  It was great!  Favorite quote from the meeting (not actually from Elder Ballard):  "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."  Think about it.  It's quite profound.

1.  So if I could have any internship in the world, it would probably be with ESPN or the Dodgers or the Lakers.  But ESPN is the only one I can actually find concrete information about.  Unfortunately I can't do it this summer because it's only offered who graduate this winter or next spring.  Hopefully by some miracle I end up doing it eventually.  But let me tell you about how great it is.  It is in Los Angeles first of all.  And here is one of the eligibility requirements: "Interest in and passion for sports."  Done.  You get to live and breathe sports and get paid!  I'm sure it is super competitive.  But one can always dream right?  :)


2.  Teleprompters.  I love them.  They fascinate me.  Whenever I'm at some event (ex: fireside) in the Marriott and am sitting in a place where I can read the teleprompter, I have an extremely difficult time tearing my eyes away from the scrolling words.  It's quite distracting.  It really shouldn't be.  But it is.  


3.  The other day at work we discovered that it is possible to get from the BYU homepage to ESPN.com in three clicks of the mouse.  Does that mean ESPN is a justified work activity?  Unfortunately no.  But it sure is tempting.


4.  ESPN's preview article for the U of U @ BYU basketball game a few weeks ago quoted Utah's coach as saying Jimmer was "a heck of a player".  While true, it was funny to me that he used the word "heck".  Only in Utah.  :)

Who couldn't use another picture of Jimmer?  :)

5.  More about the U of U @ BYU basketball game.  It was surprisingly kinda close at certain points of the game.  However, none of the BYU fans were stressed at all considering Utah's team is not very good this year.  It was also funny to me how excited we get about any game against the U regardless of how good of a game it's supposed to be.  I mean I don't think anyone thought Utah had a chance, but everyone (including me) gets super excited about any game against Utah.  Gotta love rivalries.  


6.  Ute cheerleaders.  I swear they acted like they were five years old.  They thought it was an excellent idea to scream right as someone on our team was shooting free throws.  In fact the first time they did it I literally thought it was some obnoxious child.  I remember thinking that distracting free throw shooters by screaming was a good idea when I was five.  But really?  Not necessary or very mature at all.  Best part: Utah's coach was proud of the cheerleader's tactics as shown by him high-fiving them.


7.  One of my favorite signs form the Utah game read:  
     YoU
     GoT
JimmEr'd
SuckaS 


8.  Another favorite sign read: "Breathe if you hate the Utes."


9.  And yet another sign said: "I'm no idle worshipper."


10.  Deseret Duel.  Deseret First Bank started keeping track of who won each BYU vs. Utah sporting event during a season.  Who ever wins the most gets a trophy at the end.  Excellent idea for getting their name out there, but really no one actually cares.  Sure we care about each individual game, but if you asked a fan what the score of the Deseret Duel is or was, I'm almost positive they wouldn't be able to tell you.  


Done.  Happy Sabbath.  :) 

Victory.

We beat SDSU.  Again.  It's great.  Can't wait to see rankings on Monday.

And now for the random list of the day:

1.  So there is this great video that ESPN made awhile back about Jimmer and his brother TJ.  Here it is for your enjoyment. Jimmer is super washed out and looks like a vampire, but it's still great.

2.  In choir, one of our main goals is obviously to sing in tune.  Our accompanists have way better ears than I do and you can usually tell just by watching their facial expressions whether or not we're in tune.  After we go through a song, our director will have the accompanist play our ending chord to make sure we're in the right key still.  Anyway, one time we finished a song and the accompanist played the chord and our director commented, "Not too bad.  Not as bad as your face."  Hahahahahhahahahaha.  She obviously meant that we were not as out of tune as the look on our accompanist's face had indicated.  I found it hilarious.

3.  As you're probably well aware, Spanish Phonetics + me = love.  Only problem is that career options in the field of Spanish Phonetics are pretty limited.  That is why I am happy to be majoring in Broadcast Journalism.  However, my classmates and I did come up with one career path I could follow with a degree in Spanish Phonetics.  I could transcribe tourist's names into phonetic symbols.  I could work on a street somewhere in Mexico.  It could be the next greatest tourist trap!  Almost as good as engraving names on grains of rice. :)

4.  Something I learned in reading I did for a class:  "Determine to be happy, and you will be so--"  So true.

5.  Shade vs. Sun.  Obviously there's a difference in temperature in the shade and in the sun.  I'm sure the difference is not very drastic in the winter, but it is definitely noticeable.  So noticeable, in fact, that I often find myself trying to stay in the sun and out of the shade created by buildings and trees while I walk from class to class.  Lame.

6.  So, you could say that the majority of BYU students like Jimmer a whole lot and it would be an understatement.  Anyway, there are a few who do not like Jimmer or at least have no interest in basketball whatsoever.  These people like to write to our school newspaper, the Daily Universe, and express their opinions.  For example, some kid wrote a letter comparing our love for Jimmer to idol worship.  A bit extreme.  But the letter sure warranted some hilarious responses.  My favorite came from the February 10 edition of the Daily Universe.  Eric Maughan of Schenectady, New York wrote, "To the author of “Idol worship:”: Thank you for helping me see the error of my ways. My roommates and I decided we will no longer pray toward Glens Falls."  Priceless.  :)


7.  A few weeks ago, I had a choir performance and was not going to have time to come home to change so I had to bring all my stuff to school.  When I got to my first class, I realized that I had not put my pencil and eraser back into my pencil box.  This greatly saddened me.  But I figured I had left them at home, so I didn't worry too much.  (If you can't tell, I have a special bond with my pens and pencils.)  Anyway, later that day as I was getting ready for my performance, I opened up my makeup bag and guess what I found.  Yep.  My pencil and eraser.  


8.  I like to read the newspaper.  Or at least get a copy of the newspaper.  :)  A few Fridays ago, I was happy to discover that the entire cover of the weekend edition of the Daily Universe was a picture of Jimmer's face.  It was outlined with a dotted line so you could cut it out.  On the bottom it said, "We <3 Jimmer."  (There might be one in my window.  Schiess put it there OK?!)  How weird would it be to be Jimmer Fredette and see your face everywhere you turn on campus?  Very weird.  But I'm not complaining.  :)


9.  At work the other day we decided that we should use "BJ" (before Jimmer) and "AJ" (after Jimmer) to keep track of events from now on.  :)


10.  Templeton, CA.  It exists.  How would you like to live in a place named after the rat in Charlotte's Web?  

I'm sure that's not the actual reason behind the name of the town, but that's definitely what came to my mind when I heard it.


The end.  Happy BYU beat SDSU Day.  :)

Almost a habit.

I'm on a roll.  Blogging two days in a row.  Crazy.  And now for today's list:

1.  Testing Center late fees.  I hate them.  Luckily you can avoid them by just taking your test on time.  However, this semester I paid one for the first time.  Not because I wanted to, but because I didn't realize that the day I planned to take my test was a late day until it was too late to take it any other day.  In my opinion, studying for an extra day is never worth $5.  In fact what is the point of late days?  I appreciate the professors who just have their tests open for a certain number of days and then after that you just can't take the test.  No fees.  It's great.

2.  Laughing at yourself.  I tend to do it a lot.  In fact probably too much.  But sometimes I enjoy my own jokes more than anyone else.  :)  So why not laugh at yourself?  According to reading I did for a class, George Washington said that it was not polite to laugh at yourself.  As much as I like George Washington, this is one thing we are going to have to disagree on.  Laughing at yourself is great!  Try it.

3.  Back on the subject of the Testing Center.  Some professors have their tests online so you don't even have to go to the Testing Center.  One such professor is my Doctrine & Covenants professor Brother Perkins.  In fact, one day in class he said something to the effect of, "The Testing Center is Lucifer's abode on campus."  Hahahahahahahahhahahaha.  Love it.  I personally like the Testing Center.  At least I don't mind it.  The fact that we can choose when to take the majority of our tests is great!  I'm sure I won't like it as much when I have to take some super hard test there.  But for now, we're still friends.

4.  Spanish 326.  Spanish Phonetics and Pronunciation.  I LOVE this class.  You think I'm joking.  But I'm not.  It is SO interesting.  Probably because I'm weird, but that's OK.  I like it so much that I actually enjoy taking tests for that class.  Yes I'm not normal.

5.  Being productive.  It's great.  So is being on time to class and actually paying attention to what's being taught.

6.  So it's been decently warm here lately.  Meaning in the forties.  However a few weeks ago it was usually in the low thirties or high twenties at least in the mornings.  I became so accustomed to this weather that I would usually just wear a sweater or hoodie to walk to school because I was so warm by the time I got to campus.  Anyway, one morning in particular I remember walking outside in a very light sweatshirt and thinking that it was a nice day.  Not cold at all!  However, within a minute or so, my wet hair was frozen.  Meaning it was below 32 degrees outside.  Utah messes with your brain.  Thinking it was a nice warm day at less than 32 degrees.  Something is definitely wrong.

7.  The other day, I tripped walking up some stairs and my knee hit the edge of one of the steps.  It killed.  It ripped my pants, scraped my knee through my pants, and made my knee swell up.  In fact I was limping for quite awhile after.

8.  I am often talking to my mother or father on the phone as I am on my way home from school.  I also often ask about my new baby brother whom I like to refer to as Jimmer.  While on campus, I have to think twice about saying Jimmer out loud.  People could potentially get very confused.  :)

9.  Grant, my two-year-old brother, is quite the talker these days.  He can basically quote all of Up.  It's quite entertaining.  Lately, he has enjoyed talking with me on the phone.  For long periods of time.  One of my favorite parts of one of our conversations was when I asked him if Jimmer (my brother) was sleeping.  He replied, "No, he is waking."  Precious.

10.  My cousin Michael goes to UC Santa Barbara and has the coolest job ever.  He gets to be on the radio for I think about two hours once a week.  The other day I listened online and it was so cool!  My cousin's gonna be famous one day!  :)

Anyway, ten is far more than enough.  Peace.  Love.  Charity.  :) 

Spring Break.

For whatever reason, BYU does not get a spring break.  I'm rather indifferent to this fact.  I didn't feel like I really needed one last year and plus we end up getting out of school earlier than everyone I know.  However, I wouldn't complain about getting more days off school.  Because we don't have an official spring break, I like to consider our California trip as my spring break.  And surprisingly, this week has been not busy at all so I've been counting it as an extension to my fake spring break.  It's really been quite enjoyable.  :)  For example, it is currently 12:19 p.m. and normally at this time I would be frantically trying to finish a million assignments before my next class at 1.  Instead, I am in a study room all by myself (yes, I'm a loser) trying to keep myself entertained.  Thus, I am blogging.

1.  Apples.  They are delicious.  Fuji are the best.  (I think those are the right ones...I have to call my mom every time I'm at the market to make sure.)  And they stay good for a very long time.  I didn't buy apples at all last semester, but I rediscovered their deliciousness this semester.  And the whole "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" saying makes me feel especially healthy as I eat them.  :)

2.  Sports highlight reels.  I LOVE them.  (Really good ones can even bring tears to my eyes...I know...lame.)  In fact one of my goals in life is to learn how to make them.  In fact I'm pretty sure I could at least make a cruddy one right now with my Intro to Broadcasting skills.  However, I am lacking footage of sports highlights.  Someday.

3.  Three-point fouls.  I love it when the opposing team fouls players while they are shooting a three.  It's even better when they make the shot.  Seriously?  Number one rule of basketball: Don't foul a guy while he's shooting a three.  Pointless.  Thus, any player who can get fouled shooting a three usually is able to draw the foul himself.  Genius.  Kobe does it.  Jimmer did it last night.  It's great.  :)

4.  Quoting poetry.  Last semester I had to write a paper for my Spanish Literature class.  I'm pretty sure it's mentioned in a previous post.  I chose to write it on a poem about an artichoke.  (I love artichokes.)  I ended up writing the majority (if not all) of it the morning it was due.  It was supposed to be six pages and I'm pretty sure the only reason I ever reached six pages was because I quoted a lot of poetry.  In MLA format, if you quote more than four (I think) lines of poetry, you get to set it apart as a block quote.  It's a great space waster.

5.  The real King James.  A favorite fan reference to Jimmer.  Kinda ironic that he's a POY candidate during the same year as the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.

Well.  I must depart.  Fare thee well.  :)

It's the thought that counts.

So remember that new strategy.  (Shorter posts=posting more often.)  Well, looks like that failed.  But life is pretty great at the moment.  Just got home from an EXCELLENT California trip.  And I got accepted to the Broadcast Journalism program!  My roommates made me this cake.  It was blue.  :)  Presh.  :)

And...I bought a bunch of clothes.  Probably too many.  Outlets are dangerous.  No wonder my parents never let us stop.  But I have to improve my wardrobe if I'm gonna be on TV right?  :)  Now for the infamous list.

1.  Hair cut.  I got one.  On Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  I went to Paul Mitchell Hair School which is literally down the street from my house.  I can get there faster than I can get to campus.  Anyway, it was great.  Might have taken awhile.  But it's all good.  Note to self: Do not go to get your hair cut with your hair straightened if your hair is not naturally straight.  Yes, my hair is not outrageously curly (especially in Utah).  But still.  It is awfully hard to explain to a hair dresser what your hair normally looks like.  Anyway, I chopped off a lot of hair. My philosophy on haircuts: It's a waste of money to get your hair trimmed.  So go big or go home.  :)  Thus, I bid farewell to my long hair.  It was super cute after it was styled and when my roommates are kind enough to straighten it.  (Don't worry, I am in fact learning to straighten my own hair.  I had to do it myself for my interview for the broadcast program and I got in so it couldn't have been that bad right?)  It's OK when it's curly.  It's excellent when Kellie does my hair.  Kellie has truly mastered the art of curly hair as proven by the fact that her hair always looks AMAZING.  Ponytails are also great.  Really great.  Here are the latest stylings Bridget's hair.

Day after.  Still styled by hair stylist.

The ponytail.  Not that you can tell.  :)

After Kellie did my hair.  Excellent.  At least it makes me happy.  :)

P.S.  Pretty sure the short hair is gonna become permanent with the broadcast program.  But more info on that to come.

2.  Rice Cookers.  They are so great.  In fact it was one of the first appliances I bought for myself this year at school.  Rice at the push of a button.  What could be better?  Some people grew up cooking rice using different methods.  Not the Ostlers.  In fact, I grew up not realizing there was more than just white sticky rice.  Yes, I ate Mexican rice.  (I also grew up believing rice and beans at Baja Fresh was a whole meal.)  But somehow I never made the connection.  Anyway, I will forever be a proponent of rice cookers and eating rice in general (as shown by the 20 pound bag of rice I also purchased).  My rice cooker even has a steamer on top.  Pretty fancy.  Ha.  :)

3.   Narcoleptic basketball players.  So first you must watch this video to see what I'm envisioning.  So at the TCU @ BYU game, Brandon Davies went to dunk the ball in dramatic windmill fashion and missed.  It was quite embarrassing.  But kinda hilarious.  Anyway, my friends and I decided that obviously Brandon Davies fell asleep right before he was going to dunk the ball.  The cause: narcolepsy.  And then we couldn't help imagining all of the basketball players being narcoleptic.  How funny would that be?  Sad.  But funny.  Just like the dog in the video.  Trying to stay awake but eventually just collapsing and falling asleep right in the middle of the game.

And now let's talk about the most epic game in BYU basketball history.  6 SDSU @ 9 BYU.  Wasted my life away standing in line just to get a seat.  But it was all worth it.

4.  A favorite sign of mine:  "1 Jimmer 1:1 Let there be rain"

5.  Another favorite sign:  "You should have started guarding Jimmer when he stepped off the bus."

6.  Yet another:  "Hands up...so what?"

7.  And another (sorry, they are just so entertaining):  "We got Jimmer, your chances just got slimmer.  We got Jackson, move back, son."  This one really isn't that funny.  I just found it the "Jackson" rhyming with "back, son" part quite entertaining.

8.  One of my favorite things to do at basketball games (aside from watching the actual game) is to watch President Cecil Samuelson's reactions to everything.  And let me tell you.  When President Samuelson stands up.  It's a big deal.  Really any reaction at all is a big deal.  And guess what.  President Samuelson stood up during the SDSU game.  Translation:  It was a big deal.

9.  Cougarettes.  They are SO good.  They have won way too many national championships.  And they are proof that dancing doesn't have to be dirty to be good.  My high school didn't understand that concept.  And for being white, their hip hop routines are really good.  :)

10.  Vocal Point.  BYU's guys a cappella group.  SO.  GOOD.  In fact it's kinda ridiculous how good they are.

Alright ten is more than enough.  To be continued...  :)

New strategy.

Alright.  Short posts is the new strategy.  Meaning 1ish thought per post instead of 10.  We'll see how long it lasts.  P.S.  Happy new blog layout.  :)

So the next thing on the ever-growing "things to blog about" list is the Lakers.  Of course it's been so long that I can't exactly remember the specific reason I was supposed to blog about them was.  Too bad.  Anyway, they're great.  I like them a whole lot.  They beat the Celtics last Thursday in Boston.  It was great.  Of course I like Kobe a lot.  But I like the rest of 'em too.  Let's just say I can't wait for the playoffs.

OK one more.  Only because my love for the Lakers is not breaking news by any means.  And big surprise.  This one's about basketball as well.  Awhile back I was sitting in my Doctrine and Covenants class.  Tangent:  My Doctrine and Covenants class is SO great!  It's amazing how much good stuff there is in that book.  I swear I must have slept through seminary the year we studied it.  Anyway, if I remember right we were discussing the part of D&C 76:3 which says "His [meaning the Lord's] purposes fail not".  Our teacher likes basketball and comparing the gospel to it (which might have something to do with the fact his basketball coach is the one who baptized him).  So he asked a student what this scripture would mean if Christ were a basketball coach.  Obviously the answer is that Christ's team would win every game.  However, the student he asked answered, "Give the ball to Jimmer".  Hahhahahahahhahahahhahahhahaha.  This was even pre-Jimmermania.  It was great.

Alright.  I'm on a roll and my list is never gonna get shorter if I only do a few every time I post so I am going to write for seven more minutes.  Go.

Another day in Doctrine and Covenants class a girl in the row in front of me decided it would be a great idea to bring a hot dog to class and then eat it in class.  She did not buy this hot dog from somewhere on campus.  She brought it from home.  Note to self:  Do not bring and/or eat hot dogs during class.  They smell disgusting.

After hearing about my eating habits at school, my mom decided to copy down a bunch of recipes for me to bring back to school.  She included a corn bread recipe.  I love corn bread so I decided to buy ingredients for it when I went to the market (yes...the market).  I could not find corn meal anywhere.  But I did find masa.  Masa is used to make corn tortillas and tamales and other delicious Mexican food.  I figured it might be the same as or at least similar to corn meal so I bought it.  I proceeded to make corn bread with it.  Even before I put it in the oven, I knew something was wrong since the dough was the consistency of bread dough and not brownie batter.  Anyway I decided to bake it and see what happened.  Well it turned out tasting exactly like tortillas.  Who knew tortillas had such a distinct taste.  So I ate a whole lot of "tortilla bread".  My friends loved it.  And since I have a whole lot of masa, I plan on making it again.  :)

Time's up.  Happy new week.  Make it a great one.

Almost there.

Ok not really.  But we are officially done with one-third of the semester.  Crazy how that happens.  I. CAN'T. WAIT. FOR. SUMMER.  California, warm weather, the beach, baseball, no school...  Life doesn't get much better.  :)  But here are more random thoughts/occurrences to keep you occupied until then.  Enjoy.

1.  Angeles Crest Highway.  Angeles National Forest.  It's what we call the mountains close to my house.  Tangent:  I'm pretty lucky to live right in front of a national forest.  (Except when it catches fire.)  Not everyone is so lucky.  Ha.  Anyway, the point of #1 is that I never ever associated the "Angeles" in the afore-mentioned titles with Los "Angeles".  What do ya know?  They are the exact same word.  In fact I bet they're related.  Oh the things you learn every day.  :)

2.  So I went to Sunday School in my home ward over break.  My old seminary teacher was teaching.  We were talking about the Law of Consecration.  Tangent: I've been learning a whole lot about consecration in my Doctrine and Covenants class.  I must have slept through the entire D&C year in seminary.  Anyway, in reference to the law in our day he said, "The Church hasn't come knocking on our door asking for everything.  The government has, but the church hasn't."  Hahahahahahahahahahahahhahaha.  Oh how I love the sporadic political commentary in Sunday School.  :)

Breaking news:  I have nothing more to say concerning Christmas Break!  Oh shoot.  I lied.  I forgot about the Rose Parade.

3.  Rose Parade Adventures.  So, my friend Kellie from school was kind enough to sleep on the Rose Parade route with me.  Yes, we slept outside on the sidewalk.  No tent.  It's fun.  And quite entertaining.  Sometimes you fear for your life, but for the most part, the wandering cops keep you feeling pretty safe.  There are many drunk people and if you're lucky you get to camp right next to a group of them.  :)  We were that lucky.  This kind man gave us part of the spot he was saving since a lot of people he was expecting weren't going to come.  We got front row spots and we didn't get there until a little before midnight.  Unheard of.  Anyway, to our right was a group of three very intoxicated individuals.  They liked to yell many things including many not so nice words.  Let's just say I've never heard the F-word used in so many different contexts.  So, I didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night mostly because I didn't want to miss any of the excitement from our drunk friends right next to us.  One almost got arrested and it was his own fault.  He called the cop over.  So smart.  Two of them were gonna fight.  Just for fun.  Drunk people are very interesting.  The best part was the next morning their families showed up.  Yep, despite us thinking they were single thirty-something-year-olds, they were married with kids.  Special.  Oh what is this world coming to?  The parade was great!  A good experience overall!

OK.  Now we can move on past Christmas Break.  Hurray!  2011!

4.  So, when a new semester starts (in particular winter semester) everyone in the universe turns in books to the library.  This is because we make it so that no books are due during Christmas Break.  Thus, we get the two weeks worth of books that would have been due normally during the break on the first day back to school.  One thing we get to do is look through every single book that is returned and make sure it is not mutilated, yes mutilated is the word we use, in any way.  Thus, the process takes FOREVER and we get pretty backed up at the beginning of semesters.  Because of this, many people will call and tell us they turned in a book a few days before and that it is still on there account.  (The reason for this is that we just haven't got to checking in their book yet since we get backed up.)  One Monday morning when this was working, I received probably over 5 of these calls.  So many in fact that I could usually predict how the entire phone conversation would go.  If we determined that the book was still on their account and should have been checked in already, we either have them come in and fill out a form or we can do it over the phone for them.  As you might suspect, most people would rather do it over the phone.  During one phone call, the girl was inquiring about a book entitled Foul Play that was still on her account.  To be clear I had the right book title, I asked, "Was it Foul Play?"  My co-worker Catherine was working in the vicinity and became very confused.  Since we often ask the patron for details concerning how and when they turned in the book, she assumed I had asked the patron if foul play was the reason the book was still on her account.  Hahahahahahahahahhaha.  I apologize for writing such a novel to explain an occurrence that is probably not even remotely funny unless you work at the circulation desk in the library.  Sorry.  :)

5.  Jimmer Fredette.  First of all, it makes me happy that all you have to type into Google before Jimmer's name shows up is "ji".  Of all the things in the world that begin with "ji", Jimmer Fredette is the the third thing to appear after Jimmy Johns (what in the world?  I guess it's a gourmet sandwich place) and Jiffy Lube.  And no, it did not pop up because I searched for it before.  Anyway, Jimmer was on my list of things to blog about.  And at this point I can't exactly remember why.  But don't worry.  I am never short on things to say about Jimmer.  To begin, HE IS RIDICULOUS.  The end.  It really is that simple.  He makes insane shots on a regular basis.  This video demonstrates the madness.  And it is now just expected that he will score some obnoxiously high amount of points every single game.  If you can't tell, I'm a HUGE fan.  HUGE.  He's just great.  I don't understand it.  He's white.  Not extremely tall.  Doesn't look like he'd be very good.  He tucks his warmup sweatshirt into his shorts.  Why?  Because he can.  More on Jimmer later.  I can assure you of that.

Alright I'll stop here.  Five is plenty considering each one could be it's own novel.  Happy semester being one third over!  :)