Moo Noon

I've quietly endured through TwiGate long enough.

The last thing I want to see at a gas station is a seductive slab of chocolate packaged in an Edward face.

I've been a proud supporter of a proud reader of the books. I read the first three books out-loud to my wife while she was pregnant last year--and I actually enjoyed them at the time. A bit mushy and fluffy but it was fun.

I would soon come to find the underlying truth. I enlisted in an army of 12 year old girls, the likes of which the world has yet to see. An unwilling soldier I dutifully paraded my wife Anna to the--I really like the name "Anna"--nearest theater to our apartment last year on the opening night of Twilight. Precisely one year later... history is about to repeat itself.

I'm not going to be attending the opening debut of Stephanie Myer's awkward bridge book between Tilight and Eclipse, dare I say New Moon, but I will be there front-row and attentive with my arm hooked on my wife's, chewing on twizzlers.

This year, I may consider bringing a pen and a pad of paper so I can jot down some tubular talking points. Just some topics to go over with my hunnn as I'm carrying her over my shoulder, barging out of the emergency door.

The fire alarm didn't exactly work out too well last year. Maybe this time I could act drunk and hurl Anna's purse (which I'll fill with cats before hand) at the screen while yelling "HANNAH LAZAAGNA, CHEESY MONTANA AND SHADOW OF THE MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

...repeated five times...

Oh. I'm not going to forget my favorite lip gloss either.

Radiation to Graduation

Josh Solomon graduated from UVU with a bachelor degree in Information Systems last April, after battling a rare brain tumor for half a decade.
In 2004 Solomon was living in Salt Lake City while pursuing an AS degree in General Studies at the LDS Business College. As the fall semester began he noticed that something wasn’t right.
“At first the headaches I was getting were just annoying. I thought maybe it was just stress.”
But the ‘annoying’ pain didn’t let up.
“[It] got to the point that it was just unbearable. Some days I wouldn’t be able to move. Other days I’d just be vomiting constantly.”
By this point, Solomon knew that something was seriously wrong. After a series of tests and numerous visits with doctors, Solomon finally received his diagnosis.
“My doctor explained to me that I had a grape-sized growth around my pituitary gland. My first thought was ‘What is a pituitary?’”
The pituitary, a gland situated on the base of the brain, is responsible for secreting growth hormones and controlling the secretion of other glands throughout the body. The expanding tumor was compressing surrounding brain tissue and altering the production crucial hormones.
Within a month of being diagnosed Solomon underwent a delicate operation to remove the bulk of the tumor, followed by years of radiation.
“Those first couple years were rough. The pain wouldn’t quit. I couldn’t keep anything down
I had lost over ninety pounds because of it.”
Eventually the pain would subside, though a portion of the tumor still remained, allowing him to enroll in classes at UVU.
“I decided on Information Systems because I love the idea of connecting the technical side with the business, or people, side.”
Graduated, Solomon is now the Senior Web Application Architect at ACR International in Provo, where he’s putting his ISYS degree from Utah Valley to good use.
Regarding his contribution to the company, David Garcia, Head of Development at ACR , says “He has been an excellent addition to our company. The solutions he provides—and the development as well—are innovative, creative. He just knows how to think things through.”
As a UVU alumnus, Solomon credits those traits in part to his education and accomplishments as a wolverine. Still, he stresses that the real accomplishment is his battle with a grape-sized growth at the base of his brain.

Camera Eyes

Josh Wolf, a freelance journalist and blogger, was imprisoned for 228 days for not complying with requests from federal agencies. His time spent behind bars is far longer than that of any other journalists convicted on similar charges.

Wolf was covering a protest in San Francisco for an organization known as "Anarchist Action". The demonstration grew to be rather ruckus, escalating beyond peaceful rallying to vandalism. At one point a demonstrator allegedly attempted to set fire to a police car. This caught the attention of the FBI, leading to Wolf's footage of the event for answers.

Only Wolf wasn't so willing to handover the video to the scrutiny of the agents, fearing he would from here on be labeled as a government tattle-tale and not a journalist.

I agree.

Hmm… I don't know actually. Maybe I don't.

LCA Soars past South Summit

Orem, Utah—Layton Christian Academy defeated South Summit High School in the State 2A Girls Volleyball Finals in dramatic fashion, sweeping through both of the matches leading up to their trophy.
With fans and loved ones surrounding them, the LCA Eagles were congratulated by the uproar of the chanting crowd.
“L-C-A. L-C-A.”
Coming off 23 straight wins, Coach Joy Nakaishi, former PAC-10 star at Washington State University, doesn’t seem surprised by her team’s success.
“My girls understand how to make the right decisions. We really stress the importance of that and those values carry over onto the court,” Said Nakaishi. “My goal was to coach a state championship team, and the goal we had as a team today was to win our matches in three [games].”
Nakaishi is well acquainted with success having experienced state and national tournaments first hand when she played high school and college ball, she knows what it takes as a coach to fire up her players for the big game.
“She pumps us up and she always knows exactly what to say,” said junior Taelor Scroggins. “She really has a lot of respect for each of us.”
After finishing only seventh in the tournament the past two years, they worked their way through the ’09 bracket with confidence.
“This is amazing. This is so awesome,” said San Diego State commit Jasmine Porter. ”We’ve worked so hard—to have an opportunity like this—that it just doesn’t seem real.”
The Eagles’ hard work is all paid off, allowing them to celebrate together in the joy of their victory as the current 2A Girls Volleyball State Champions.

Cougars Hang on to National Ranking, Utes Climb Back Aboard.

PROVO, Utah—The Associated Press Top 25 poll was released today with both BYU and Utah strongly representing the Mountain West Conference.

BYU maintained their hold on the eighteenth spot while the neighbors to the north edged their way back in, landing at 24.

Each team faced their own set of challenges Saturday. For the Cougars, it was the mental task of staying focused on an inferior team and not looking ahead to a not-too-distant premiere matchup with fellow top-25 opponent Texas Christian.

"It was one of our best all-around games because we didn't have any turnovers," said quarterback Max Hall in an interview with Deseret News after the game.

By “we” Hall is mainly referring to himself.

Hall had thrown almost as many interceptions in the five games leading into Saturday against UNLV as he had touchdowns, with a TD to INT ratio of 11:10.

“It’s just too bad the game was played in Las Vegas not Provo,” said season ticket holder and BYU graduate Jared Kemp. “But I’ll trade that game for TCU. No question.”

The Cougars will face off with TCU on October 24^th, in what will be one of biggest challenges of the season.

The Utes, who have had their share of adversity this season, had nothing short of a heavy dose as they traveled in to below-freezing weather in Fort Collins, Colo.

“As a fan, watching the game… any time you can see the players’ breath you’re glad you stayed put at home,” said Joe Daily, a Mill Creek resident and longtime Ute fan.

Utah trailed by 14 points before thawing enough to make some big plays, most of which came at the hands of defensive back Robert Johnson, who had three picks for the day. Two of those interceptions ignited second-half drives, each resulting in a touchdown as the Utes managed to dodge a close call in frigid Fort Collins, 24-17.

The Utes and the Cougars appear to be slowly and steadily climbing back in the national rankings on their way to what will certainly be another epic battle at the end of the regular season.

Camaraderie

I heard a story on the radio today of an AWOL soldier who had fled from Fort Carson was finally taken into custody by the military here in Utah.

Accompanied by two military officials, Pvt. Terrance Hilton would be escorted back to Colorado Springs. Clad in waist cuffs Hilton managed to escape the clutch of his captors during a layover in Denver.

?

So how does a man in waist cuffs escape some of the best trained officers we have? I could understand this guy evading any of the graduates from the police academy movies, but not military officers in a crowded airport with plenty of witnesses to help narrow down the search.

This guy has got to feel like a dirt bag though, as soon as he learns of his infantry's fate. Hilton is a member of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. It was this division that suffered 8 casualties in a recent skirmish in Afghanistan.

Dishonoring your country and abandoning your comrades is such a cheap way to beat death.

A Crux in Flux

Whilst listening to two tourists speak of tedious details and mechanisms of transport, I oft times will ask myself the tough questions, life's deep probing queries, with such subtlety that I'm wont to flip dizzy style.

What is dizzy style? I just do not know. I came across the phrase in one of my fill-in-the-blank questions I quizzed myself on last Wednesday. I got it wrong.