My Top 13 destinations around the World

So the other day I realized that I needed to write down all the places in the world outside of the country that I want to travel to before I die. Remember a goal not written down is merely a wish. These are not in any certain order.

1. Australia - I think I would visit Sydney for sure, but I also would want to travel north to visit the Great Barrier reef and I also want to go camping in the Outback.
2. New Zealand - The south island!
3. Dubai, United Arab Emirates - They have the coolest and most expensive hotels in the world, not to mention visit the tallest building in the world that is currently under construction.
4. Italy - Rome for the architecture and Venice because it is unique.
5. Greece - Athens and Corinth because they also have cool ruins.
6. Costa Rica - Because it is the most stable Central American country and its a rain forest! I want to walk through a forest and see monkeys swinging on the trees above me.
7. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - for the 2016 games!
8. Hawaii - I know this isn't another country, but it might as well be.
9. South Africa - because Capetown is Beautiful, and its Africa.
10. Spain - I need to visit the land where my second tongue was born.
11. Cuba - Because I met a Cuban once and they had the coolest accent. Plus the Caribbean sea is amazingly blue.
12. Fiji - Ever since I read the book 'The perfect Storm' now titled 'The Other side of Heaven' I have wanted to go to a south pacific island. The people are awesome and the place is amazingly beautiful as well.
13. Egypt - To see the pyramids and the Sphinx. The Luxor in Las Vegas just doesn't quite do it for me.

And there you have it. The top 13 destinations I would like to visit I'd the world. Why 13? Because it's my lucky number.

Negative Ads

I am not a fan of negative ads and their popularity seems to be increasing. In politics they have been around for every election that I can recall in my lifetime, but this fall they seem to have crept into a lot more advertising campaigns. About a month and a half ago Verizon came out with a TV commercial comparing their coverage to AT&T's service. Normally a company just says "competitor(s)" in their ad but in this case Verizon points at AT&T by name and uses graphics to emphasize that they are somehow better. In response to the negative ad, AT&T released at least three different commercials stating that Verizon actually doesn't have better coverage and had their facts wrong.

Similarly Apple just came out with an TV ad that bashes PC's and more specifically the windows operating system. Yes, I am a PC. (If I could have afforded a Mac I would have bought one instead.) Apple sells an amazing product and most people know that. Why does Apple need to bully their competitor. It makes me think poorly of the company, not want to buy their product.

I don't understand why you need to knock down your competitor to sell your product. Isn't that what middle schoolers do? ...Knock down others to build up themselves. Apple has an amazing product! They don't need to sink to a lower level and trash talk Windows. Same thing goes for cell phone companies. They all have a loyal customer base because they deliver a good service. Why do they need to say someone else is worse if they can PROVE they are better?

Every election it bothers me how negative ads skew information to knock down the opposing parties candidate. It is childish and not good for the public. It reminds me of the Jehovah Witness' proselyting strategy...find out what religion the person is and bash it! If your faith doesn't have a leg to stand on without tearing apart someone else s belief then something is wrong.

I will buy a product based on its own merits, I will vote for a candidate because of what they do and say (or what they have done and said), not what their competition says about them. And I will practice a religion that respects others beliefs and can show it's truthfulness without criticizing another faith.

How I like my Women

I believe appearance is very important. Not the fact that you were born with stunning looks or not, but how you present the body God gave you. I think it is important for a person to dress to impress, BUT I have seen many girls who go so far to impress guys like me that it goes a little overboard. Every time I see a young woman wearing designer jeans, I cringe. You know what I am talking about, the jeans that have the colored thread design up and down the legs and around the back pockets. The ones that cost around $300 bucks! Why does a girl think she needs to spend such an outrageous price on the material that will cover just her bottom half! (What is even weirder is when a guy buys designer jeans) Those pricey jeans do not tell a guy like me “hey look at me, I’m cute,” they tell me “I am not on a budget and I think I need to spend a lot of money to get a guys attention because I don’t have enough charisma to do it on my own.”

Think about this for a moment. What can $300 buy? Two ipods, at least a month’s worth of groceries, or 10 tanks of gas for my’ 97 Chevy Blazer. How amazing can a pair of pants be? Maybe I would buy them if they made me fly like Iron Man or something…

Sadly enough some guys do go for the girls in the “costly apparel.” But I think after they start buying the pants they might wish they hadn’t fallen into the trap. Don’t get me wrong, if a girl has no sense of style and doesn’t take care of herself I probably won’t ask her out, but a stylish outfit need not cost near $1,000, it only yell “I’m high maintenance!”

Black Friday

Let me start out stating that I am a capitalist and support our capitalistic society. I am not a socialist, capitialism provides us with more personal responsibilities and freedoms. However, I support ethical standards in business as well. I recently read in the newspaper, yeah that’s right, I am 23 and I read the newspaper! Someone has to… but that is beside the point I want to make today.
I read an article that talked about how more stores were going to be open on Thanksgiving Day this year than previous years, in hopes to make more money and get a jump start on the busiest shopping day of the year. Opening your business on Thanksgiving Day I believe is un-American. Thanksgiving is a day to spend with your family, give thanks to God, give thanks for the freedoms you have in the greatest country in the world and get away from the distractions of worldly possessions. Not think about all the things the pilgrims didn’t have! What kind of business takes their employees away from their families on such a special day? Yeah you can say, well they can just not work, or get a different job, but many people can’t. I realize many people will have to work on Thanksgiving ie. Policemen, firemen, news anchors… but K-Mart cashiers do not need to be forced away from their families so the company they work for can make a few more bucks. I think most business men work hard to get where they are and many start at the bottom, but when you start making the big bucks it appears you forget about those on the bottom of the totem pole. As time goes on we see less people making good decisions in their professional and personal lives pertaining to the good of society.

Texas

After spending a week in Lubbock, Texas I have decided that I will consider it as a potential place to live in my future. Why do I like Texas? Well, it’s not because of its natural beauty, nor its tasty water! It has a distinct culture compared other states in the Union. Heck, I think it is the only state in the country that has a pledge of allegiance to the state flag. I think if Missouri had a pledge of allegiance to our state flag I would have a little more state pride, but it doesn’t.

They do have a pretty cool accent and a lot of people wear some pretty sweet looking boots, but the southern hospitality really makes it a desirable community to live in.
My Brother in law goes to Texas Tech law school so we got to tour the campus. They didn’t lie when they said everything is bigger in Texas. Texas Tech has the second largest college campus geographically in the country.


Hanging out with the nieces and nephews was a blast, except the time when Dallin's poopy diaper leaked on me when I went to go get him out of his crib.



Dallin loves his Uncle Brett and he warmed up to me pretty quickly since his sisters talked so much about me before I came. The kids and I had fun climbing trees, playing with cars, and walking/biking around the neighborhood while I pulled Dallin in his plastic car.

Thanksgiving in Lubbock had to be the warmest Thanksgiving I have every experienced with the temperature topping out at 70 degrees. Although I was there a week, it was way too short!

One More Month

One more month and my life is no longer planned out. What does one do after college? No one ever talks about that growing up. You go to school, graduate high school, serve a mission, finish college (I guess you are supposed to get married in Mormon culture by now too, but I missed that, Oops!) and then...you have to decide all by yourself what your going to do. Kind of scary!

I just applied for jobs all across the country this last week so I could really end up anywhere. I never thought much about what I would do after I graduated until this last year. But nonetheless it is fast approaching. It is scary to think I will venture out into the world all alone, but I am always up for an adventure.

I will miss the comfort zone that BYU provides me, yet will not miss its culture all that much. I will miss being strengthened by the people around me who have the same standards and morals, but will enjoy being the one who is different again. I will miss my friends, but look forward to making new ones.

Sometimes I wish I could go back in time not to fix my mistakes, because it's my mistakes that I have learned from. But I wish I could go back to re-live certain moments to enjoy them again one more time. I wouldn't mind even re-visiting some of the moments that I did not enjoy at the time I was having them. Life just seems to get more complex and stressful as time goes on. But I guess that is all part of growing up...

Obama's Peace Prize

So President Barrack Obama received the Novel Peace Prize today and it's the biggest news of the day...and a lot of people are upset. I will say, I don't believe President Obama deserved the Peace Prize. However I can see that Obama is trying hard to reach out to many people throughout the world to achieve peace. But what has he actually done? What has he helped change? No man who has only been President of the United States of America deserves an award after only 8 months to go. Obama's time in the service of his country has just begun. You don't get the trophy at half time, but the end of the game. Just because you are winning in the first quarter doesn't mean you will be at the end of the fourth...

I however do not agree in putting down the President for his recent acceptance of the award. Was Mr. Obama expecting it? NO. Did he apply for it? NO. Those that should be questioned are not Obama and his staff, but the committee who votes on the distinguished individual, worthy of such a recognition.

I thought Nobel Prizes were awarded to those who do something extraordinary. In literature those who receive an award write something that stands out among all the written words; in science they make great discoveries. They don't just think about writing, or fail at attempts to make great achievements...they do something. As should be the case with the Nobel Piece prize. If Obama can continue to put forth his peace keeping efforts and by the end of his presidency his efforts have made a difference in the world, then would such award be appropriate. But after only a few months of time in the White House mostly dedicated to Health Care reform and jump starting the economy, the time is not right.

The prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize has been corrupted, not by the man that received it, but by those that gave it...I want world peace too.