Question

Is it weird when someone you dated is dating someone that dated someone else that you dated? And you don't actually know the girl they both dated/are dating, you just notice this because you're friends with the two dudes on the Facebook? And the two individuals you dated don't know each other, their only common link is you and this other girl?

Cause I think it's weird. Maybe me and this girl just have similar tastes. Except not, cause Lewis is not anything like either of those guys and I'm grateful for it.

How Was YOUR Birthday?

Cause mine was awesome.

Warning: if you don't like me, you probably won't like this post. It's braggy.

On top of the glorious silver Kitchenaid, Lewis gave me season 1 of 30 Rock and a gift card to Shade clothing (which I will be spending today, cause they're having a sale. Or a sell, as they might say. It's a Utah store). Pretty much, my husband is the best husband of all the husbands.

Even school and work were great for my birthday. I only had one class, and it's a really good class. We had a hunger banquet (because my teacher does cool activities like that), and I was part of the second world. Us second worlders got to eat oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon. I haven't had oatmeal for years and I remember absolutely loathing it when I was little. Turns out, it's not that bad. It certainly fills you up.

Maybe this is the vicious cycle of oatmeal. Parents give it to their kids, who hate it, and then the kids grow up and discover it's not actually that bad so they decide to give it to their kids because it's easy and nutritious. And the kids hate it, just like the parents did when they were kids.

Anyway, after class I went to work where I was surprised by a bag of mini-Toblerones by my good friend Paul. I love Paul. Thanks, Paul.

Also, my great boss, Jim, gave me a stylish BYU t-shirt. And a coupon for a free Jamba Juice. I have several of those. I haven't had to pay for a Jamba Juice in a long time. It's great!

My fantabulous parents sent me a bunch of cards with animals of Africa on them (all pictures taken by my talented mother, Mom) and some money. I might take that money with me to the mall today when I go to spend my gift card. I could use some new clothes. Thanks, parents! And grandparents, too, for the card from you!

While the gifts were great, the second best part of the day was getting to talk to all my family! My parents and brother called from Kenya, my sister called from Oklahoma, my brother called from Provo, and my other brother texted from Salt Lake City (we're diverse). And that's just my immediate family! I also got a call from my auntie dear in Idaho and boundless facebook love from a bunch of friends and family members. I'm not very good at calling my beloved peeps as often as I should, so I was really grateful they all thought to contact me. Hugs and kisses all around!

The best part of the day, however, was watching BYU beat Utah State. For having only won one game so far this season, Utah State is actually a pretty decent team. It was an awesome game to watch. We had extra room around us, so several of our friends came to watch with us. I really, really, really love football.

When Lewis would tell people that we were going to the game on my birthday, they would get kind of shocked and say something like, wow, that's so nice of your wife letting you go to the game on her birthday. Yeah, right, like I'd rather be anywhere else.

The game was less fun for Lewis. He bet a friend of ours, Matt Tison (a freaking Utah fan), that BYU would win by more than 24 points. Loser buys the winner lunch at Bajio. Well, Lewis thought he had the bet in the bag. We were up 35-10 until 2 seconds left when Utah State scored another touchdown. Sad day for Lewis.

The birthday greatness has just continued today. We got up early to go get two-for-one massages. I'd never had a real massage before. Oh em gee it was so great. I think I'm going to lobby for my future school district to provide massages for its teachers at least once every other week. They need 'em. I just decided.

Later tonight, Andrew is taking me to a movie. We're going to go see "Cloudy, with a Chance of Meatballs." Should be good times.

Speaking of Andrew, he read my blog about the weather from the other day really quickly and gathered from it that I wanted it to snow on my birthday instead of be nice and lovely and warm (PS, Weather, you were delightful yesterday. Thank you). Because of this, he planned to go find me some snow somewhere and surprise me with it after the game. But, he didn't get off work in time. I was really touched that he planned to do that, even though it wasn't actually what I wanted. It's still really sweet. I've got some swell brothers, I do.

Well, this post about my birthday awesomeness is long enough. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who made it such an amazing day. You're collectively the bomb-diggity.

(PS: did you know that Red Robin'll give you a coupon for a free burger for your birthday? Just sign up online. It's great! Lewis ans his mom and I went and cashed in on that benefit yesterday.)

Mobility Photography

The thought occurred to me today that I have a whole slew of random pictures on my phone that I don't really do anything with. I mean, probably the only time I've ever uploaded pictures from my phone to the introwebs (or anywhere) was for the April snowstorm debacle. And I'm sure no one wants to relive that.

But I've got some pretty awesome photos on my phone. Well, they're okay. In any case, I'm going to post them here, mostly because Facebook doesn't offer mobile services for T-mobile (I know, right?).

I've divided them into two categories:

1. Pictures others have taken of themselves.

I leave my phone on my desk alone for ten minutes, and this becomes my wall paper.

Something similar happened here. Although the background offers no clues to this picture's origin.

This next one was from Lewis trying to be cute. Or something. Either way, it was while we were in bed and I did not want my picture taken. That sounds dirty.

I think this one speaks for itself. Clearly, it is the reason I married Lewis.


This is another one that magically appeared as my wallpaper when I left my phone on my desk. I think this one is Lew's caller ID picture now.


And then one of me, that I took right after I got this phone, before I let myself go and also to tell my friends that I finally joined the 21st century and got a camera phone.


2. Pictures of people/things I deemed worthy.

Misprints in the Daily Universe.


Celebrations.

Evie.


Nature.


Weirdies.


And, of course, my own personal sexiness. Like the nightie?


Enjoy!

Celebrité

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?

Similarly, if a celebrity that I've never heard of does something, does that mean they're famous?

Because, obviously, the world of celebrité revolves around me.

But seriously, who is Selena Gomez? Cause her picture is all over my Facebook ads, and I'm at a loss for who she is.

Mean Monkey

Check out pictures from our super sweet trip to the zoo!

You really should, cause, uhh...this monkey be watching you.

I Heart Nerds

Today is Cinco de Mayo. But I don't care about that right now. I want to talk about yesterday.

I saw on someone's facebook profile that yesterday was Star Wars day - May the Fourth be with you. Since Lewis is the fan of all Star Wars fans (really. I think he even beats my dad.), I asked if he knew that. He said, wait, shouldn't Star Wars day really be May 25th? Cause the first movie came out on that day in 1977.

Yeah. I love him.

And may the Force be with you all.

Dear Facebook... Pretty Much You Owe Me Big

Like much of the world, I am a Facebook user. Unlike much of the world, I have been on Facebook for four and a half years.

It's true! Back when I joined, Facebook was exclusive. It was only open to colleges, and a limited number at that. Shortly after BYU was added to their growing list (circa September 2004), a friend of mine from Dartmouth sent me an invite and I began my four and a half year long (and counting!) journey.

Back when I joined Facebook:

-It was known as TheFacebook - I remember when the "The" was dropped.

-You could only join a group if it was made for your network.

-You could browse all the groups in your network. There were maybe 10 when I joined.

-I created one of those first groups. It was about pirates.

-We were impressed when we got over 100 members in the group, and kept pushing towards 200.

-You could also browse all the people in your network. There were maybe 30 when I joined.

-Mini feed? What's that?

-You could write something on someone's wall, and someone else could edit what you wrote.

-Other than your profile picture, you couldn't post any photos to your profile.

-It was acceptable to add people you didn't know to your friend list. A good chunk of my "friends" were people I had never heard of.

-When someone updated their profile, it didn't say what they updated.

-There were none of these annoying applications. No one cared which Harry Potter character you are.

-There was an actual face to represent Facebook. He was blue, and made out of numbers.

-Gifts? I don't get it.

As I'm sure you can tell - no doubt much of this sounds foreign to you, unlike any Facebook you know of - I've been around this website for a while. I know it's ins and outs and what it was like, you know, back in the day.

So, it's been established: I've been on Facebook for some time. In my long and prolific history with the social networking phenomenon, I have brought many people into the fold. I think it's fair to say that each of my immediate family members except for my dad joined because of me... two of my freshman roommates joined because of me... various co-workers and other friends also have me to thank for their introduction to the site. And who knows how many of them were the cause of their friends and family members to join! The list could go on and on.

What I'm trying to say is, Facebook, you have upwards of 175 million users, right? Isn't it fair to say that I had a hand, direct or indirect, in a decent-sized percentage of that 175 mil? Don't you think it's time to thank me for my loyal service? I'd like a slice of that lucrative financial pie. I'll take cash, check, or PayPal. Whichever is convenient to you. Also, you're welcome.

Exposing My Soft and Squishy Underbelly... and Other Tales

I know that I may appear to be a coarse and unfeeling little blogger, but the true is... I'm a sucker for a nice story. Like this one that I found during my daily perusal of sport headlines. I mean it didn't make me cry or anything (lie), but I thought it would be a nice one to share.

*****

Last summer, the Utah Supreme Court made a ruling that is now under attack. I just spent about ten minutes trying to explain the situation here, but I just can't do it justice. Basically, the ruling opened up rivers to the public for legal activities, live fishing, even if the river runs through private property. As long as you enter the river at a public access point, you're golden. Anyway, now a bunch of old rich dudes are trying to get the ruling overturned, and we just can't let that happen! My brother-in-law, Dallas, explained the whole thing a lot better through a Facebook group. Join in and support the cause, especially if you're from Utah!

Really. Join the cause.

*****

Will someone please explain to me how it is that Chris Buttars was re-elected as a state senator? I mean, yes, he does support raising minimum wage and that's just great, I appreciate that, but come on! A year ago, he said the following about a bill he didn't like, "This baby is black, I'll tell ya. This is a dark, ugly, thing." Nine months later he's got the votes for another four years. Whiskey tango hotel?

And then yesterday, he said, with regards to a gay rights bill, "I believe the whole thing is immoral. What is the morals of a gay person? You can't answer that, because anything goes. So now your moving towards a society that has no morals." I know, right? It doesn't matter what your beliefs are about homosexuality, or the family, or morals, or whatever this particular bill was about, what he said was just plain wrong. Not okay at all. I don't even know what to say about it, it just gets me so steamed. You don't judge an entire group of people based on a tiny sliver of knowledge you have about them, no matter how strongly your beliefs are about that sliver.

Honestly, I do not understand how the people of West Jordan can put up with him! He must have some dang good bits of legislation up his sleeve for them to want to keep him around. I'm talking no taxes for everyone and Christmas once a week good. There's gotta be something like that keeping him around. Although maybe it's just because the alternative is (gasp) a democrat! (Dun, dun, dun!). Oh, the horror!

*****

A word of advice: if you are in the Business Management program at BYU-Idaho, on the summer-fall track, and you come to Provo for winter semester to find a job, the best place to look is not the School of Family Life Internship Fair. I'm just saying.

*****

There really needs to be a candy niche for St. Patrick's Day. Without one, the next candy after Valentine's Day candy is Easter candy. And this is bad because Easter candy is my favorite candy in the world. We're talking Cadbury Creme Eggs, Cadbury Mini Eggs, Reese's Eggs, and more. And Easter this year isn't until April 12th! That's almost two months of me passing Easter candy galore on my way to work every stinkin' day! Not to mention the fact that last year we discovered the pure and unadulterated goodness of deep-fried Cadbury Creme Eggs. This is not good. Oh no, this is not good at all.

Good thing Wii Fit is on it's way to my house.

It's the Whopper Sacrifice!

My brother brought this article to my attention. Apparently there's a new facebook application where if you "sacrifice" (delete) ten of your friends, Burger King will give you a coupon for a free Whopper. And that immediately piqued my interest because I delete friends all the time! I have no problem doing that! In fact, you might say that I enjoy deleting friends! One time, Lewis and I even had something of a competition to see who could delete the most friends! It's really quite cathartic.

I do hope that this has gotten all of my readers who use facebook nervous. The jig is up! I'm a facebook friend deleter! You could be next!

I think I'd like to put that on a t-shirt:

But that is neither here nor there (not right now, anyway...). The point is, this article gave me an idea. What if me and ten of my facebook friends conspired together to get ourselves some free Whoppers? We could all delete each other, collect our coupons, and then re-add each other! No harm, no foul, right? Plus, we'd all get some highly amusing news stories on our feeds: "Alyssa sacrificed Mary Shurtz." How great of a story would that be?!

There is a catch, though: I don't like Whoppers. Actually, I've never had one. But they look gross. Now, if Burger King was offering a coupon for a free Hershey's Sundae Pie or a chicken tenders kid's meal (don't judge me!) I'd be all over that. But I do hope I've inspired some of you and ten of your friends to satisfy your desire to beat the system and get a free burger to boot.