A Tower To Reach Heaven

The stated purpose of the tower that was being built by the people of the world was to reach heaven. More specifically it was men trying to cheat their way through this life and not have to go through the trials that are a part of the learning process.

This desire that they had to reach heaven was not righteous. They aspired to obtain the things of heaven through their own knowledge and their own will. They determined that they knew better than God and it was this idea that they were independent of him that they didn't need his help. It was their unrighteous desires which caused him to change their language. In order to scatter the people he changed their languages. Not only does that make it so they were unable to finish building their tower but it made it so the basic connections of families and friends were separated. I imagine that the separation of languages caused the people to seek out those who they could understand.

The Brother of Jared lived during this time which the world was incredibly wicked instead however he was a man that knew God and prayed to be allowed to be able to speak with his family and friends. The lord allowed that those people with him to be able to communicate with each other because of their righteousness.

The people of the earth when they were building the tower to reach heaven were trying to gain a name unto themselves. This was their attempt to avoid using the plan of salvation. It was the same idea that Lucifer had in heaven. That the glory be his and not Gods. These people wanted to do the same.

What truly allows us to have a name is taking upon us the name of Christ, through baptism and through doing good works continually.

The Social Network

We just went to go see the social network. It's a Tuesday night and we were one of two couples in the the movie. We're not sure if it was just a slow night but you would think that a movie like this would cause a little bit more of excitement. I mean it's all about FACEBOOK!! The one social addiction that I am pretty sure one third of America probably has. Ok, maybe not 100 million people in the United States suffer from this addiction but surely a good number of us do. Thus being the case I'm not sure why people weren't there to see this AMAZING film. I at once want to say that it's because of where I am at. Rexburg, Idaho. How many people will actually be interested in this film? Well considering probably everyone at this school has an account on the website most everyone would be considered a target for this movie. Apparently not.

I particularly loved this movie because I remember when Facebook was just a college student only website. The only way you could access it was through a college email account. Meaning that you would have to have a .edu at the end of your email address and it had to be real. I wasn't a part of the first schools but I was still at the principal beginning of this giant social success. I remember when I received my University of Wyoming account and we were finally able to access it. What a glorious day. It was a great way to communicate. And it would have stayed that way but unfortunately it had to grow and grow. They started to come out with stupid applications and games like farmville, mafia, etc. However the greatest downfall of the Facebook empire in my mind was when they allowed anyone with an email account to access Facebook.

There was something unique that they had when it was just college students. It was classier, in a way. It was a way for those of us experiencing a new transitioning face in life to be able to connect with those around us who were also going through the same transitions. From child in a parents home, to a young adult trying to find a place in the world it was a way for us to connect. Upon allowing others to join Facebook, they lost it's uniqueness. It became another form of Myspace. With the same annoying profile pics taken in front of the mirror to the constant whiny, bitchy attitudes that teenagers always post; Facebook lost its soul by becoming another crap social website that caters to high school babies.

Socializing

So i have decided to start writing in my blog about 100 topics over the next couple of months on this blog. Im sorry if it isnt that great or if you readers out there get bored. Hmm I wonder if i have readers not likely but here goes. The topic for today is How do I use my facebook.
Now facebook was such a simple social networking site for me to use when I first started college. I was attending the university of wyoming when I first got on it. I was also on myspace. And while myspace was allowing me to change my page with all sorts of images and ways to design i grew tired of the constant spamming to my account by nasty whorish girls. So I deleted that crap and dedicated myself solely to Facebook. That is correct i am just a Facebook man. Like I said I was addicted to Facebook my freshman year of college. When i wasnt playing halo at night to rot my brain i was on facebook looking at friends pictures and their newest status. I was hooked. I was a full fledged facebook stalker. I knew things about my friends within seconds of them happening and i used it as a way to know them with out having to actually talk to them. Yes facebook you destroyed my freshman year of college. I was put on academic probation and many of tears i cried to be able to go back and just go to bed instead of stalking til 3 in the morning and making fun of everyone on my friends list. Oh the regrets
Well now I am obviously older and of course I am much more mature. I now just use facebook to talk to my long lost friends from other places. I consider it such a great blessing to us because it has allowed me to stay in contact with my dear friends in argentina. I see their lives and I can talk to them about things that are coming up in my life. However i do not like all the applications. The constant application requests and the constant group invitations from friends that i have not heard from in 10 years send me invites to groups solely because my name is the first of the list of friends because its listed in alphabetical order. When i get these requests i just want to go and delete that friend from my list. There is nothing that i hate more than the constant requests. Oh while I am on things that have caused me to dislike facebook i will include the random friend requests. This isn't and should not be a competition for how many friends you can achieve. i mean seriously I saw a profile the other day with over a thousand friends. Is there any possible way that someone can remember the name of over a thousand "friends."
Facebook I am sad to say has destroyed the meaning of the word friend. The OED says the meaning of friend is "One joined to another in mutual benevolence and intimacy." This does not even apply to some of my friends on facebook. The urban dictionary says this about facebook friendships "Facebook friends are actually more like Facebook contacts. People will most of the time just add people they for example just saw walking in the hallway. The main reason for this is because it's almost like you go up in facebook popularity by having a lot of friends. In fact, a facebook user could have 600 friends and only 10 of them being real friends."
Our society has lost its ability to communicate one with another. We have forgotten what it is like to actually go see a friend. And while I am extremely grateful for facebook to keep in contact with people i once lived next to but now are a continent a way. I hate that it has come to the point that we use facebook to talk to our roommate who is down the hall. Or to talk to someone that lives in the same town. Social networks like facebook is erasing the need for us to get together with people. I feel that we have already started to take the step into the reality of the movie "Gamer" which shows what it's like when you live through your social networks. Ultimately I think we need to just get up off the couch. Go out and throw a ball. Go visit your freaking grandma stop stalking your ex girlfriend from ten years ago and fantasizing about what coulda been. Go dance, go to a game play some golf. Just get out.

My Amazing Weekend Adventure

This past weekend was one of the most amazing that I have ever had in my life. I'm glad that Brennyn was so adamant in wanting to come up here to see me. Thursday she started telling me that she was just going to come up and then head back Friday and I didn't see much point to that. And then Friday we talked about just meeting at our halfway point in Logan but that would have only been a couple of hours not even a full day together so I was kinda against that too. I didn't want us to waste money on gas for just a couple of hours.

Anyways, Friday night we spent chatting together like we always do. That is the cost of having a long distance relationship, only getting to see each others pixalated faces through skype because of the bad connection that we both have to the Internet. Anyways not to bash it at all. I mean we are grateful for the time and technology that we have to facilitate overcoming the distance between us. So as we sat there staring at each others pixalated faces at probably 2 in the morning on Saturday we decided that she would come up and be here by two when I got off of work. I couldn't believe it cause I was telling her all Thursday and Friday no lets just wait and I finally relented cause I missed her so much and wanted to see her. She left Saturday morning and finally I was able to see her at about 2. What a relief to see her !

We spent the afternoon together just talking and enjoying each others company. I made lunch not anything really special just some peanut butter sandwiches and jelly sandwiches really. And some really thin brownies than I had made. They were really only the crust of brownies. See what happened is that i needed a 9X9 pan and all I had was a 9X12 pan and that spread them way too thin. So when they first came out hot and gooey it was fine but after an hour of cooling they were officially just the crust of them. A la pucha!!! I couldn't believe it, i just had to deal with it all.
We went onto campus to check out the Art Department. And while we were we meant to check out their printing lab but no one there knew the code to the printing lab but we found out they had two printing presses. We admired the artwork that some people had done and then we went up to check some other parts of campus. And we were going to go to the bookstore but it closed at like 2 on Saturdays! That was not something we were expecting at all. I we continued to take pictures around campus some of which i might post on here. I think perhaps the most embarrassing one for me was when i was going to do a heel click and my shirt goes up and She gets a picture of my crack popping out!! AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!! I tried to convince her to not keep it but to avail. My begging and pleading didn't pay off. She kept reminding me I had told her I had no shame! And I normally don't but I ate my words. Really I don't care I guess my poor kids will just have another thing to be ashamed about their dad someday!!! My parents I know get a kick out of embarrassing their kids especially my dad! I don't know if I ever got embarrassed but I know my sisters have. My dad has ways that has always worked! My dad always dropped us off at the door when going to church and he would go park the car. A pretty nice thing right? Not making his family walk through the cold and snow? I know my sisters were always embarrassed by it and so he started driving up on the sidewalk just to make it worse. No one was ever watching probably but my little sisters just can't stand it! I think imma take a page out of my dads book when I have kids!
We were able to go to Sierra and Brittany's apt to take her stuff there. Which I am so grateful for! It has made it so much easier for us to see each other having people that are so willing to let us stay at their apartments. Garren Murray has played a big part in helping us out. I can't ever repay these people for helping us!

When we got to Sierra and Brittany's apartment we ended up staying and talking! Those two are so contagious! If you start to talk with them you just don't want to leave! We had a fun time until finally my stomach was hurting cause i hadn't eaten anything other than a brownie and a sandwich after we left their apartment we decided to go eat at Bajio's, but first we decided to check to see if The Lovely Bones was playing at the Rex and it wasn't so we decided that we would go to Idaho Falls to see it. Yeah, It is that good of a movie to go drive 20 minutes to see. I hadn't seen it but Brennyn had and she wanted to see it together and so we decided we would. We then went to Bajio's which was amazing. I don't know if anyone really cares about all this but i figure I'll just keep going. Hey it was our weekend worth writing about! Bajio's in my mind is one of the best restaurants here in Rexburg. So much better than Ramirez's I know it's supposedly supposed to have good food but I just don't like it very much. So after dinner we took off to Idaho Falls.

As we drove I realized something for the first time, how much more enjoyable driving places is with Brennyn there in the car with me. I know I know it's kinda like DUH!!! but really I mean we have driven to and from Casper and Fair Oaks, but it wasn't until it was when I was talking to her in the care to Idaho Falls a drive that I have made many many times by myself and with other people that I realized how much more enjoyable it was with her! Being able to talk with the woman I love on the way to a movie. Simplistic but something so many people probably take for granted. We got to the theater that was right there in I think you might call it historic downtown Idaho Falls the buildings were obviously older and obviously not from this time period. Which, by the way, I find much more interesting than a lot of architecture now days.

The theater was, dare I say cute. How manly I know but it was an old theater and we got there just as the actually movie was starting. Gosh darn it we missed the previews! I don't know why but the previews are sometimes my favorite thing about a movie probably because they have come out with some horrible movies! If I see a bad movie but there was good previews of movies to come I almost feel like a sense of relief know that there is a possibility that Hollywood will redeem itself of the catastrophe that I had just seen. The Lovely Bones is not a movie that needs saving.


As we sat down and watched the movie I have to say that artistically it is one of the best movies that I have seen in awhile. It was a movie that was so well done that I would see it again that is if I could be assured that I wouldn't have another nightmare about it. I got out of that movie and literally felt pain for the main character and her family. The way that Peter Jackson directed the movie was amazing to me. The art work and the presentation of the after life was presented artistically in a way that caused me to think. The idea was also presented that a spirit must willingly accept to progress to heaven. And that until that point they are in a state neither in heaven nor in this world. The girl that had been murdered by a man in her neighborhood could not move on until he was brought to justice. I have never felt so emotionally sick like I did after this movie. It's not inappropriate in anyway to drive the spirit away I really can't explain it. Brennyn had try to explain how she felt to me after she first watched it but couldn't and after I saw it I understood why. It's just something you have to see and then you'll understand.

We went to wal-mart to get stuff for breakfast and dinner for Sunday! Saturday is a special day it's the day we get ready for Sunday! We got some frozen fruit and yogurt and fruit juice and chicken and vegetables and cheese for smoothies and Fajitas! I love FAJITAS! Brennyn and I love that word! Its such a fun word! Oh and we got her bottled water Idaho water doesn't like Brennyn and she doesn't like it either. We got her to Brittany and Sierra's apartment and said goodnight. Wow we spent so much time together just on Saturday!

Sunday's adventure started out with getting ready to go to church. We had a breakfast of smoothies and doughnut holes and then after a couple of hours I had to go to church to prepare the sacrament. We had sacrament meeting and Sunday school. It was funny because later Brenny pointed out that I sounded nothing like all the people in the class. For some reason I have this Wyoming accent that is harder to kick than a cocaine addiction. I try so hard sometimes too. I work at a phone survey place and when I talk to people I am so aware of how I sound to them. I notice my thick Wyoming accent probably plays a part in why some of them have to have me repeat what I say to them. Brennyn loves it though so I'll keep it just for her.

After Sunday School we parted ways, I went to priesthood and she went to Relief Society. In RS they asked her to introduce herself and she did and mentioned that I was her Fiance and it was kinda embarrassing when all the sisters are like AUSTIN CARMEN WHO IS THAT??? Well what can she do other than say "Uh well he is in the ward and he probably isn't here much cause he visits me in Provo?" I think that is pretty much what she had to say. I told her that it is so much better than having them all say oh yeah we know who that is! He has taken me out on a couple of dates! But it's true I probably know more people down in her ward than I do in my own. That is something will have to change. I think that it will here soon. I will try to be more sociable.

For dinner we made FAJITAS! They were so good! My mom has the best recipe for fajitas if anyone wants it ask! We finished dinner and after a short nap for Brennyn we took off to visit the place we went for our first date. Beaver Dick. Oh that was one of our favorite places until this weekend!! When we had our first date we went there and there are pictures of our date there. We decided to go visit the place and we went out there and there was a little bit of snow but not really a whole lot. We wanted to go out to the dock where we first had just sat and saw guppies swimming in the water of the snake river. But we got in there and realized we were going to have a heck of a time getting out!

Well we got stuck once and I got us out then we had the car rolling and we were about to get it up the hill and it got stuck again!!!! Well what to do what to do?? We tried everything to get it out! But to no avail!!! We had no traction! The snow had been melting all day and was super soft! And it just sank more and more into the snow. I called Drew and tried to see if he knew anyone with a truck and he only could think of brogan and he wasn't there right then. We found out that 30 min later he got home which means he could have been there before the tow truck that took two hours to get there. Later we also found out that Sierra and Brittany knew someone that could have helped us and I also could have called some other people I knew but unfortunately for some reason when you are just trying to get out the only obvious solution is to call a tow truck. Unfortunately the most obvious solution of calling the wrecker is the most expensive too.Here is why. They charge a minimum of 80 dollars which I can understand I mean it is still quite steep for only having to drive five miles out to where we were at from where they are located and then to pull out a cable and tow us 50 yards. Well they said if they had to tow us out of there which was 50 yards not even the length of a football field mind you, it would be a little bit more. When I hear "a little bit more" I think what maybe five or ten dollars? No not even close try 45!!

Anyways they got there pulled us up and out and we were going to follow them out just in case but while we were waiting for them to turn around we sat there in the snow sinking......sinking.......sinking. When they were turning around they slipped and got stuck themselves. So part of the reason we got stuck after getting pulled out was waiting for them to put on chains and get themselves unstuck. They got out and just pulled us out the rest of the way to the road and charged us a total of 125 dollars!!! That was the most expensive date we ever had!!! And we didn't even do anything!!! Oh golly gee wiz!! Oh well it's just money and like I told Brennyn I can always earn more. I wasn't happy with them robbing my bank account but hey i got my car out and that's what I wanted in the end.

We got home and played a card game when we got back to my apartment. We were able to spend time with each other just playing a fun game. That's what I love we don't really have to do anything to enjoy being together. The game was called Hate Your Neighbor the very same thing as skip bo. We played and talked and laughed and well ended one of the most memorable nights together so far. I walked her back to where she was staying and said goodnight after taking pictures of me biting her neck making fun of the Edward Cullen barbie that was in the apartment. We love making fun of Twilight!
Monday morning she came over and I made smoothies again for breakfast and toast which is one of the most epic things ever! Toast! Plain bread burnt a little with butter and jam. Wow it was amazing I haven't had toast all semester. That is something we need when we get married neither of us have a toaster! So we talked for a little bit after breakfast and then we went to get her gas for her car and then to fill her tires up with air. We went to check her air pressure and she was riding on 30 psi. When they needed to be at 60 psi. We got some quarters from Broulims and went to fill her tires up with air. Then I got my car and led her out of Rexburg.

Monday night we were back to being pixalated images on a computer screen with broken sometimes robotic voices. I cant wait to see her again this weekend. Hopefully we can avoid getting stuck in a park we now hate! I love you Brennyn Thank you for coming to see me this weekend. Thank you for your art work. I love it completely!

Past Memories

Today as I was able to talk to a dear old friend I realized that this friend was one of the people that I never thought would play any part in my life. It was strange to realize that as I was talking with her we were talking about some books that we have been reading and she mentioned the name of one of the characters in the Book. Claudia. However the first thing I remembered was a Claudia that I met in Argentina. Poor Claudia, a very obese broken woman. I remember her teeth like most Argentines she had very poor dental hygiene. Probably a mixture of the sugary Maté she drank every morning and the failure to ever brush them or go to a dentist to have any type of dental work done to prevent cavities or any other kind of dental problems that she had. The funny thing is that when we would stop by her house to talk to her and help her two teenage girls with their homework. Claudia would use a sweet diet supplement for her maté rather than sugar to try to diet but at the same time she would send her daughters out each morning for some facturas which is basically a much better version of the doughnut and baked with fat and topped with sugar. So really her diet was nothing more than just for appearances.

Her husband was a taxi cab driver that would come home for a small lunch then go back out to drive. He did have a much better job than a lot of people that lived close by them. At least he could pay the bills and afford to give their daughter her 15 birthday party. Claudia like I said was a broken woman. As we began to get to know her and understand her situation with her children we realized that she had a very hard life. One time when we made our way to her house we walked in and she was in tears. I will never forget the look of this woman, tears streaming down her face heartbroken. When you see that it is a face that reminds you of every time you have ever broken your mothers heart. When I saw her there in her humble home I knew that something was wrong with son. We sat down and through her sobs and tears she continued to tell us what had happened.

Her son had a friend whose mother was going to have a birthday. His friend wanted to buy her something nice for her birthday so Claudia's son offered to lend him some money. His friend replied "I don't want to be in debt to anyone." So they decided to put a toy guns in their pockets and decided to go rob someone at the local bus stop. As they approached the bus stop it was dark and they approached a man and put the toy guns that was in their pockets and told the man to give them his wallet. The decision they made to rob someone that night was the biggest mistake they would ever make. The decision they made to rob that certain man just compounded the mistake they made. The man whose wallet the took was a police officer that was out of uniform but happened to have his fire arm on him. As they ran away he drew his fire arm and yelled "stop police" they didn't stop and he fired. hitting them both but he hit Claudia's son in the leg arm and hand.

Her son was arrested, and held in the local police station. His wounds were not treated or taken care of and because of his decisions he would lose several of his fingers to infection. His decision to help a friend to live a little would be the decision that cause him to lose every last one of his freedoms.

Claudia as she told us cried and sobbed and asked us what she had done wrong as a mother to have her son choose this path. The only thing we could tell her was that she had done nothing wrong. That she did the best that she could and her son was still free to choose what he would do with his life. That no matter what she taught him he still was able choose right from wrong. He chose wrong. There really is nothing you can do to calm the pain that a mother feels when she feels she has lost her child.

To Claudia I hope that you know now that you were a good mother and you taught your children well. I don't know if I will ever see you again but I hope to. I hope that your son realized how much you love him.

To all you out there who might read this. Remember your mothers, if you have hurt them apologize they love you and want the best for you.

First Post

Since I have one of the most monotonous jobs on the planet I figured that I would take the time of day to write about my boring life and post it on here for everyone to see. I do have some good things going for me here in the small town of Rexburg. I have a Job!! That's probably more than half the student population here at BYU-Idaho. You would think that it being a university town there might be a little bit more of an opportunities here but there are hardly any. So that pretty much explains why I am stuck at this little dead end job. At other jobs at least i felt that my work was meaningful to someone. The only thing I care about is reeling in the next person on the phone to get them to give me ten minutes of their life to help me earn a paycheck. I know what a horrible way to look at a person but really that's all they are to me. My next paycheck. If they take the survey i earn more. If they dont i make minimum wage and I wonder how I am going to make it all work. Anyways i suppose its not that bad of a job.

Another thing that has kept me going is the fact that I have a beautiful Fiancee who I love very much and who has been a source of continuous happiness for the last ten months of my life. I had the very painful reminder of my old mission companion of what I might call the biggest mistake of my life. Anyways without going into details the first thing he has said to me since coming home was the one thing that could be the hardest for me to hear. I couldn't believe that the firs thing he would say to me is that. I mean sure I realize he would want to know how it all turned out but what ever happened to taking time and saying HEY! how are you?! Congrats on getting engaged etc?? No he went straight for the jugular! And it was as if 2 years have not changed anything in him or his way of being. What can you do to change those types of people who no matter what they learn or no matter the time that pasts require bringing up one of the things you regret the most? My answer is ignore them. What else can you do? Type in captial letters to know that youre pissed off? Let them get you all riled up and for what? Nothing! I may have made a mistake but it was that mistake that made me realize all that was important in my life! It was that mistake that helped me decide that I want to finish school and be a lawyer not work labor my entire life. While some people like that type of work for me it was not as satisfying as I thought it would be. So if he came and was asking those things in hopes for an apology I could of only said I was sorry for a few things. I realize that I messed up but I also found myself at a crucial point in my life. Wow how things work in our lives!

Now as I proceed in life I am doing things that I never thought I would do at least not at this point in my life. I proposed to the girl that I want to spend eternity with, and she has said yes. We have started to plan our wedding and we have a date and time for our wedding. August 21st at 4pm in the Sacramento Temple, where we will be surrounded by friends and family and will be able to share our joy with all those people that will take time for us.

Speaking of Marriage Brennyn and I talked about how weird the concept of family is. When I think of family I think of my mother and father and sisters and my grandparents and aunts and uncles, cousins etc. Not once have I ever felt that a girl that I date would become "family", I don't know why but it seems so strange to call the girl you love in such a different aspect than you have loved anyone in your life family. I mean I would rather just call her my girlfriend than my wife merely because of the relationship of dating versus marriage. I love that we are getting married but I want the relationship to be one where we are comfortable with each other but without the loss of the relationship we have. So many people lose that I think within the first years of being married. They get so comfortable with each other that instead of building on it they tear out the foundation they already built and put a new one labeled "MARRIAGE" and it's as if they start all over. I don't expect anyone to understand it but for me it's as if they say everything we built till now just doesn't hold up to what we are now. So it's start all over.

I have been reading the chronicles of narnia for the first time since middle school. I love C.S. Lewis and his way of writing he includes so many things from his Christian beliefs into his writing. And I know that many people probably don't think so but when ever I read his works I realize how much he must have loved the Lord Jesus Christ. If you ever read the first two books in the series it's most evident. In the book The Magician's Nephew he writes about the creation of the world Narnia and it's so amazing how he incorporates his christian views into the creation. And while he makes Aslan to play the part of the creator it's obvious that he is symbolic of the creator of our world. Then in The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe he once again uses Aslan as a symbol for the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us when Aslan goes to the stone tablet and sacrifices himself a blood sacrifice on behalf of the traitor Edmund. All of us are traitors to the Kingdom of Heaven. There is not a time in our lives that we need not call on the atoning saviour of this world. He allowed his blood to be spilled to safe those of us who betray him by sinning. While these books may be written as fantasy for children they also hold the declaration of gratitude to the lord and saviour Jesus Christ. There is one part in particular that was in The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe and it was when Lucy and Susan ask if Edmund needed to be told of the sacrifice that Aslan had made for him and they decided that he had passed through enough. Jesus Christ doesn't require that his pain that we caused be known to us. Repenting can be painful but its no where near the pain that he felt. We have been given so much through the Lord Jesus Christ.

I know that in my life he has been a big factor in the changes that I have experienced. In no way have I lived a perfect life consequently i know that I am full of errors and problems to this day. The one thing that i do take solace in is that he knows my struggles and that when the bitterness of having to repent stings my soul i know that he has felt the sting of my sins and that through proper repentance he can take away the sting. I know that repentance has to include that sting at first and it has to include pain and sorrow and guilt. It is not free of that. If so there would be no reason to repent. I cannot imagine just living a life where you feel that repentance can be a swift process of going to confession and having you told its alright. And then next week go back and confess and have the seen forgiven again. I don't believe in it and i don't see how anyone can believe in it. There is no meat it is empty and hollow.