i think i feel a research paper coming on!

i'm in a class about writing program administration this semester, and of course, we've got a 20-page final paper about--anything. having to do with writing program administration. that's one of the best things about upper-level education: all the papers you write, you can write about something that really and truly interests you. you can twist the prompt to make it be about what you want.

i've found that i'm really interested in investigating religion. and how it affects . . . everything. particularly my own religion, and how it affects culture and mindsets and actions. so last year, my final semester at byu, i wrote a paper about mormon mommy bloggers. it could have been a better paper, but that really is something fascinating to me: why is there this explosion of mormon mommy blogs? why are people so fascinated with them? why do they have some many common traits?

now i'm looking at investigating religion in a totally different sphere: the writing classroom. and writing program. (not exactly an original idea, by the way, but i'm still working on an angle. and hoping i get the okay on the project.)

for example. if you think about it--WHY are we so afraid to allow religion to be discussed in the classroom? or in papers students turn in? all other similarly formative issues of identity (such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation) are applauded and discussed continuously, especially in composition classrooms--but religion is shunned and ignored and discounted, because of the stigmas that come along with being religiously oriented, such as the stigma that religious thinking is incompatible with reasonable thinking. even at religious institutions such as byu, religion is not generally incorporated into the classrooms or accepted as general topics of discussion. and in such an environment, how are professors supposed to respond to a religious student who turns in a paper affirming their faith? shoot them down, discount them, ignore it?

really interesting stuff. i need to think a lot more about it and see if i can come up with anything original. but i've read a few articles so far and it's looking promising.

i don't care how good he is at basketball...

i still think that jimmer's a weird name.

new year's resolution: FAIL

well, it's been five weeks since the start of the new year (give or take) and i've already failed dramatically at my traditional eat-healthy-this-year resolution.

i resolved to (try to) eat only one dessert a week. (stupid idea, i know.)

it's impossible. really.

the first few weeks i tried to get by by just eating multiple packs of fruit snacks a day. those don't count as sweets, not in my book, but they kind of helped keep the edge off. that worked pretty well for a limited amount of time.

but i've baked three batches of cookies in the last three weeks. no matter what my high and mighty goals are, requests for desserts just come flowing in from all sides (i swear, it's because we're mormon) and tommy and i are left with the remnants of eighty delicious chocolate-chocolate chip cookies to work our way through.

and man, they are good.

(i don't even REALLY regret it.)

oh, well. it's a good thing it's a weekly goal--we can always try again next week. at least i'm keeping up on my goal of exercising every day to counteract it.

let me leave you with this lovely: a song tommy and i bought on itunes yesterday and that i've been singing in my head and ballerina-ing to all day. seriously. listen to it. seriously.

guess what?

tommy and i are the same blood type: B positive.

just one more sign that we were meant to be together. now if he ever needs a kidney, i can be first in line.

krispy kreme challenge

1 hour.

4 miles.

12 doughnuts.

2400 calories.

the krispy kreme challenge is one of the best traditions at nc state, hands down, even though it's only seven years old. it was even listed in sports illustrated's 102 things to do before you graduate. the basic premise of the race? start at the corner of nc state, run two miles to raleigh's krispy kreme, eat a dozen doughnuts, run two miles back. in under an hour. without throwing up.

and guess what? tommy DID IT. (i didn't even eat a single doughnut. i KNEW i would throw up.) he didn't even feel that nauseous while running back. he even BEAT ME by two minutes. he did the whole thing in 47 minutes. what a champion i married--he can eat a dozen doughnuts in five minutes and not even break a sweat. isn't he awesome?

it rained the whole time and was about 40 degrees. but that just makes the story even more exciting, right?

here we are, waiting in the rain for the race to start. (yep, i am wearing my northwood high school cross country jacket.)

there were over 7500 people registered for the race. it was MASSIVE.

just look at tommy downing those doughnuts! (i brought the camera along because i knew i would want to document this momentous occasion.)

and, the traditional post-race picture. with nc state's belltower in the background, of course.

we'd heard some horror stories about it beforehand--about people throwing up everywhere around you and such. but we saw no upchucking, fortunately--everyone around us seemed to be just fine. we are totally signing up for it again next year--and maybe i'll man up and actually attempt eating the doughnuts next time.

if you want to sing out, sing out

groundhog day

i just watched this. and i had no idea how much like the movie groundhog day the actual groundhog day is in punxsatawney, pennsylvania. old men with top hats, stroking the groundhog and all. i think i'm going to make it a life goal to be in punxsatawney one groundhog day, just for the experience.

thank you, phil, for an early spring. it's a lovely 63 degrees here--we'll take it.

in other news:

i'm in a social media class. my only projects for that class are a blog (about a product) and a twitter account (about the same product). i'm also doing a class presentation about how the lds church uses social media to spread its image (cool, huh? missionary work in class?). in other words--NO PAPERS ALL SEMESTER! my favorite class. hands down.

also, i'm reading robin hood right now. it's really good.

and i'm getting my first set of papers to grade on thursday. and i really like the new challenge of teaching--far more interesting than just taking classes.

and we discovered that we spent less than we made last month (!!).

and the krispy kreme challenge is on saturday. (don't worry, i'll post alllll about it, complete with vomitous pictures.)

AND we're trying to find a good weekend to go to d.c. and visit our niece and nephews (hopefully two weeks from now).

i think we just really like our lives around here. this nice weather must be having some effect on our psyches.