Random thoughts on most things from A. M. Craig.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

I can't think of a title and I don't care

I'm going to make this brief, or at least try. My posts are usually longer than I intend, and that takes more time than I intend. While I thought I'd have buckets of time being up here, turns out a full time job takes up...a lot of your time. Who knew. Not me.

Also, I've found myself wanting to spend my time in very different ways than I did at school.

Some things you might find interesting, or at least that I've wanted to say:
I'm really glad I'm working on a project that will have a visible and easily understood product at the end of it. I'm not getting somebody coffee for my internship, and at the end of all this I'll be able to easily explain to people what I did and why it was valuable. And they'll be able to honestly say, "Neat!", and for that, I'm grateful.

This is my first time in a singles ward outside of BYU. It is different.

We had a fireside for the 70th anniversary of the Seattle Stake. Elder Ballard came and spoke to the young single adult crowd. Really great to hear him speak in a smaller setting. He talked about his ancestors, the sacrifices they made, the sacrifices made by the early church members in the Seattle area, and how we can carry on the tradition of faith. Then we had a picnic on Alki Beach. It rained. I want to go back.

There is a health food store a block from my apartment. I've been eating a lot more and a lot healthier than I did at school. I'm gaining weight, and need to implement that exercises regimen I told myself so much about before I moved up here.

I'm cooking a lot more, and not doing a bad job of it.
While I'm in the kitchen, I turn on the TV. I almost never watched the TV at my old place, partly because it was in such a place that you couldn't casually watch. Here, I can cook and watch, and I do.

Speaking of Cooking and TV, a girl I know from school is on the Food Network's show to become the next Food Network Star. This season premiered last Sunday. She did far and away better than anybody else on the show, and has over three times as many votes as the next closest contestant on the fan voting site. Giada didn't like her, and I can understand that, but she is doing great. Watch the show, and go to the website and vote for her. I don't know why I'm telling you this, I hardly know the girl, but the fact that she went to BYU in the broadcast program and we had a class together makes us some kind of kindred, right? Okay, no, it doesn't. Vote anyway.

Still on the subject of TV (I'm a broadcaster) I came home from work the other day and watched more TV in one sitting than I have in a very, very, very long time. Here is the linup: Charlie Rose with Guest George Will. It's men like Charlie Rose and George Will that made me want to go into broadcasting and journalism. Seems strange, but I've like both of them from when I was a kid. No joke. I agree with (almost) everything George Will has to say, and can't for the life of me think why men like him aren't more popularly celebrated, i.e. why does Ann Coulter get more coverage than George Will. I could go on about how Conservative America (particularly young Conservative America) are in sore need of somebody to look up to, but that's a post for another time. What I'm getting at is they had a really great hour long discussion about America, and I loved it. Some highlights:



I then watched the NBC Nightly News. Brian Williams does a great job, but I think he might want to relax those empathetic eyebrows, just for once, or they'll stay that way permanently. Or maybe he's too late.



Then Anderson Cooper 360. Doesn't really grab me, but it's good. Then some Glenn Beck, and interesting guy. I'm afraid he is part of the tradition of conservative pundits who offer simple answers to complex problems, and more than that, are just so darned loud, opinionated, inconsiderate, and generally arrogant commentators. Don't get me wrong, the guy has some good points, but the whole style leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Just a bit. Then The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Then The Colbert Report, with guest, George Will (again)!

And you know what? If anybody would want to outwit a conservative thinker, it's Colbert. He has chosen an essentially unbeatable position. He has set himself up as a stick man of sorts. He can make you sound ridiculous if he wants, simply by agreeing with you. And if you try to come back at him, well, he is a com median, what are you going to do? Attack him on his stance and policies? But even Colbert couldn't get the better of George Will, Will is too smart.


Okay, post done. That didn't take very long, only a week. Ya, I started this post a week ago. So much for a fast post.

6 comments:

Jodi said...

Hey Austin! I'm glad you're enjoying your internship! I've been telling people to go vote for Kelsey and I never even had a class with her. But hey! She's from BYU! Woo!

Kellie said...

Wow. George Will is my new hero.

Angela said...

I'm wondering what makes a regular singles ward different than a BYU singles ward?

pam said...

I am interested in the answer to Angela's question too. Also it is great to hear from you again. I had started thinking that your new employer had somehow silenced you.

D Smith said...

George Wills just has confidence he's always right, it makes it easy to calmly see through all the crap.

Nancy said...

Glad you finally updated us! Sounds like you've been busy, but I want to hear more about the singles ward, any special ladies? That BYU/Food Network girl is my firend's cousin. Interesting that she was in broadcasting, that would explain why she's good on camera and at speaking. She's getting married in July so I wonder what she'll do if she's still on the show...