What's New?

Hello ya'll.

Life is a little crazy right now. Crazy, but as always, good. Here's a quick summary:

School: Getting a little senioritis. It's hard to believe that i'm already half way through my last semester EVER in college.... but it's exciting too. Reading up and preparing for the GRE- man, that's a little bit intimidating. It's slow going but it'll all pay off for sure when i take it. August 3rd is literally just around the corner.

Research: Can't remember if i posted or not, but i got accepted into Bro. Eckersell's lab to do actual neuro research on rat brains (Whooo!). It's really been a blessing and I'm really enjoying working with the brains. Feel so... professional. I also just recently launched Bro. Delton's survey on Qualtrics for his research on student's opinion of current advertisements on campus. I've already received.... 81/600 responses. That's amazing really since we sent it out yesterday afternoon. We typically get roughly 120 ish total. We're over half way there! Excited to see and analyze those results.

Textbook drawings: Went to go sit in the textbook meeting with Bro. Eckersell, and two physics professors as Bro. Delton's representative and the textbook artist. They all really enjoyed the sketches, requested a few more, and we discussed uploading and editing them in Illustrator. I've never done that but have never been one to avoid learning. We'll see how that all goes. Got a kick out of being in a staff meeting though- they're just like us students only... older, and with Ph.Ds.

Roommates: They are all as lovely and as sweet as can be! We do have one "edition" to our apartment, she's in love with Austin Heywood (friend from back home) and is over everyday for hours on end. Love her and all, but she brings with her a lot of uninvited drama. Bleh. Their's only so much i can handle.

T.A. Position: I've been so blessed with this position. Though it's not a paying position, I reap so many rewards and benefits. Like when i ask for letters of recommendations- they are gonna be top notch since I see and talk to all the Psych professors daily. So cool. I love being in the "in" crowd. Bro. Delton actually asked me and another T.A. if we'd like to substitute for his class. We each took one of his classes and it went pretty well. Asked if we'd like to do it again next week while he's at a teachers conference at Harvard. Why not? It's EXCELLENT on a resume/CV.

Grad School Options: Sat down with Bro. Eckersell to discuss getting a letter of recommendation. He said he'd be happy to (Oh yeah!) and he curiously asked where i plan on applying. He asked if i had considered UCLA (his school and one of the top programs in the nation) and if I was interested he has some great connections. (This is coming from the guy who just calls them up and tells THEM when and how many students he's sending over for internships- no applications necessary) So that's pretty exciting. I also discussed with Bro. Delton whether i should apply for a masters program and then Ph.D. or just shoot straight for the Ph.D. program. He said that based on my current GPA and how amazingly awesome my resume's gonna be to just shoot for the Ph.D. "...apply for 6 Ph.D's and 4 master's- you'll get accepted to a couple Ph.D's and Master programs and you can choose from there". All that remains for consideration is how high my GRE scores will be. Oh snap. No pressure right? We'll see where life takes me after the mission. I'm still hoping for BYU.

Mission Prep: I've absolutely loved reading my scriptures and studying the Preach My Gospel manuel. Gets me more and more excited. As for the shopping, my wonderful parents helped me by picking up some of the major things i'll be needing (gloves, sleeping bag, boot spray, etc.) Hopefully tomorrow i'll be able to ride with Sarah Hills and her sister to Idaho Falls to find mission clothes. I'd be nice to get most of it out of the way so i don't have to worry.

Other than that i'm doing GREAT! Was a little bit homesick yesterday but i think that's just cuz all the kids are home for summer and have already gone on some fun summer adventures. I'll be home soon enough though. No worries!

Love you all! And thanks for caring enough to read!