Bones

So I was all kinds of excited to watch Bones tonight. I was already disappointed to find out that it's now on at 8 pm instead of 7 pm like it has been. But that's ok. I'm flexible. It comes on and I'm watching it and then something dawns on me. Zach was on it. He's in prison for murder (which he didn't actually do btw. They kinda dropped that story line. The most he should get is conspiracy to commit). I wish he'd come back. They need to bring back that story line, clear him and get him working at the lab again. That's my opinion. I miss Zach. I miss Angela and Hoggins being together and Hoggins being in a good mood. I still like the show but I have a lot of issues with the directions that it's going this season. Luckily, NCIS has been exceptionally good this season. I think I've yelled at the TV at least three episodes so far this season. That's a good sign from me. Although. This episode of Bones has been pretty entertaining. I like Dr. Sweets. It's also funny that he's the geeky version of Ben.

Finals.

So it's the end of the semester and I'm almost done with my finals. I only have to take my Spanish written final. I had to do my Spanish speech on Thursday and I did so good! I didn't get all the way through my speech in the time that I was allowed but I rocked at the question portion. I got easy questions but I still did good. I'm so glad that it's done.

Side note: I'm watching High School Musical 2. Normally I wouldn't watch this movie but tonight on Disney they have it with these great pop ups. It's made the movie hysterical. Without the pop ups it is just cheesiness.

The Nutcracker Ballet

I went to see The Nutcracker Ballet last night and even though I've seen it at least four or five times before, it was the most magical thing I'd ever seen. The music starts and I get a silly grin on my face. It's like the first time I saw it all over again. I still remember that day. I was five or six and we were in Colorado for Thanksgiving. My parents didn't tell my sister & I where we were going. All we knew that we had to be dressed up and wait for my newborn little brother to go to sleep so we could leave. It was snowing really bad that day and it was slow going to get down to Colorado Springs. We sat up in the first row of the upper balcony. I was completely transfixed by the music, the set and the dancers. I don't think I blinked the whole time. Last night when we were watching it, I still got chills when the Christmas tree grew. I know how's it's done, but still. 

Last night performance was a little rough, but maybe it's because I've seen it so many times by this same company that I noticed the problems. The Snow Queen almost slipped on the falling snow. I wonder if I saw it because I was waiting for some one to slip on that  stuff. Then during the Waltz of the Flowers, the cavalier almost dropped the principle. He had her up over his head with just one hand and he just wasn't strong enough to hold her up. But for all that stuff it was still the most amazing thing. 

The Capitol Theater in Salt Lake has a program where you can go an meet the artists up on stage either before or after the ballet. Up until last night I always wanted to do that. I wanted to meet the dancers that were in my favorite ballet. But while I was watching last night I realized that maybe I don't want to meet them. For me, the little girl that plays Clara is the cutest little girl. The guy who plays the Nutcracker is extremely good looking (side note: Last night the Nutcracker was played by the same person who played Clara's father. I think that should always be the case. The whole second half of the ballet is a dream and the Nutcracker is her hero and at that age, a girl's father is most likely her biggest hero. Ok now back to my real line of thought...) Then you get to my favorite part of the whole ballet, the Russian dance or Trepak. In my mind (cause I alway sit too far away to see their faces) the men who dance the Russian dance are the sexist men alive. Then you come to the Sugar Plum Fairy. I my mind she is the sweetest and most beautiful woman. He cavalier is extremely good looking and they are completely in love. Even though I know that these thoughts aren't always the case, I prefer to keep them. Sometimes you just need something that will transport you out of your real life for a few hours into a world that it perfect and dreamlike.

It is now officially the Christmas season. 

PET International

The PET in PET International stands for Personal Energy Transportation. In 1994 Rev. Larry Hills was a missionary in Zaire (which is now Congo) he saw the how many people had been crippled by land mines and polio who could no longer walk. Since there were few if any paved roads normal wheelchairs were useless. Rev. Hills told his friend Mel West about the need for a three wheeled vehicle that would be able to handle the rough roads in developing countries. Mel began working with Earl Miner, a product designer, to design a vehicle based on three principles:

1 - Sturdy: to provide service for many years.

2 - Simple: easy to maintain in outpost conditions

3 - Low-Cost: use common components

Within a year Mel and Earl sent four prototypes to Larry in Africa with the instructions to "put these in the worst places and see if they pass the test". They did and production began on more.

By 2004, 1,000 PETs had been built and sent to developing countries to help those who have limited mobility due to injury or illness. The PET vehicles are hand powered by a crank system and have a simple brake to slow the vehicle. There is also a piece of wood that can be wedged against the back wheels to prevent it from moving. The vehicles are fairly easy to use and greatly increase the quality of life for those who receive them. 

Today there are many PET building sites all across the country and one of them was in Brigham City until two days ago. For the past year people in my community have been gathering tools and materials to begin building and shipping PETs around the world. We had the use of an old building called the Merrell Planning Mill for a minimal cost. This is the same building that my brother earned his Eagle Scout by organizing his scout troop to paint the building and fix it up a little bit. 

We had been storing all the equipment we'd been gathering in the building while we were working on getting all the other supplies we needed to begin production. 

For Vacation Bible School this past year we had the children bring in items that we would be using as packing material and that could be used by recipients and their families. These included clothing, toys, plastic milk jugs, metal clothing hangers or empty pill containers.

This was a project that I have been very excited about and was looking forward to doing everything I could possible do to help get these vehicles to the people who need them most.

But now all those items that the children brought to VBS, the items that I promised them would go to help other children, that I watched grow everyday and how excited the kids were to see the pile growing, all those items are ashes thanks to an arsonist. 

Early Monday morning Brigham City firefighters were called out to a fire at the building. By the time the sun rose, they had managed to put the fire out and had prevented it from getting into the area where the PET Project materials were being held. When the last person left Monday night the whole area was wet and there was no heat or even the smell of smoke. But Early Tuesday morning they were called back out and found the side of the building that the PET materials were was on fire. They managed to put it out and I thank them so much for that. But it did come at a cost. The fire had only consumed the roof and the flames didn't reach to the ground but the foam that they used to put it out cause a reaction with the metal of the tools and they all began to rust.

My dad had to beg to be able to get a crew into the building to get all of our stuff out. He along with a few others from our church, those that had been involved with the PET Project as well as the same scouts who'd helped beautify the building a little over a year ago, to get what they figured could be usable. All these items are now in my dad's shop and he has spent the last two days trying to fix what he can. 

This isn't the first building that was set on fire. In August the Bott Memorial Building, a historic building that was still being used by the Bott family to make headstones, was set on fire. That fire was even worse because people almost died. A woman and her child were staying in a section of the building. If their neighbor hadn't seen the flames and got them out it would have been much worse. But now the building has to come down and the Bott family, like the PET project, must find a new place to do business. 

This isn't fair! How could another person think that they could do this? What must be so wrong with a person to make them think that it is alright to set fire TO ANOTHER PERSON'S PROPERTY! It makes me so angry and sad. 

This person sets a fire and gets a kick out of it but it's the rest of us that have to deal with the aftermath. A family business that has to relocate. A group of people who just want to help others forced to a halt. They didn't see the joy on children's faces when they knew they were going to be helping others only to have their efforts turned to ashes. They didn't watch their dad take two days off of work to try to save the tools that were purchased with donated funds. He had to work fast both to save the tools and to raise the spirits of the people who have put so much work into this project. 

I just don't understand how someone could be so horrible. I always try to believe that people are basically good but then something like this happens and it makes me wonder if the human race is only getting worse.

Random thoughts by Michelle

I voted today. I wasn't going to but I did. I had to drive all the way up to Brigham City too because I've never registered down here in Ogden. I need to. I'm not going to tell you who I voted for because I don't want to fight. I'm sick of politics and this election. I actually don't want to talk about it anymore so new subject. Spanish. I'm not a big fan of my clase de espanol. I used to love it but somewhere around the midterm it became the bane of my existence. I was doing so well but then I had a hard day at work, took a nap and didn't wake up in time to go to class and I fell so far behind and no amount of studying has allowed me to catch up. I did get a perfect score on the verbal part of my midterm but as Brandon said, is it any surprise I get a high score on something that involves me talking. I just can't seem to get it. It also doesn't help that I'm having to fight back what little French I actually remember. I didn't think that I knew as much French as keeps popping into my brain at bad times, like during a test. Yes my sister is a Spanish minor but we don't actually see each other a whole lot. I feel like I'm constantly doing homework for my Spanish class when I'd really rather be working on Ab Psych stuff. That class is cool. Yes there are the nights that we cover stuff like Anti-Social disorder and I feel paranoid all night and decide that I'm putting who ever I marry through psychological testing before we get married but then there are the nights that we study things like Epilepsy and what to do if someone has a seizure. Last night we covered alcohol and drug related disorders and learned how alcohol effects the body. I find it so interesting. I guess that's why I want to go into medicine. It's the only thing that has been able to keep my attention all these years. I tried to make myself focus on business but even though I was good at it I was so bored. I've finally decided to just go forward with medicine. I'm terrified that I'm going to fail but I'm going to give it my all and do what makes me happy.