The Holy War

There is one day a year when friends go up against friends, when family ties get thrown out the window, and when you are allowed to act like the biggest jerk imaginable and get away with it. It is a day when everyone is separated into "us" and "them." For this one day it is OK for Mormons to gamble and swear. There are only two colors allowed to be worn on this special day and if you get caught in the right crowd wearing the wrong color - BEWARE! People talk about this day over the pulpit the following day at church either thanking God for their answered prayers, or letting everyone know how they were able to get through the latest trial of their faith. For my family, it is a day when half the people are ecstatic and the other half go home in tears.

If you grew up in the state of Utah then you know what day I'm talking about. If you did not, you may think I'm making up such a day - I promise you I'm not. This is the day of the big game: BYU vs UTAH. The state of Utah is not known for its big football programs, but not many rivalries can match that of the battle between these two schools. This is why it has come to be known as "The Holy War."

Since I can remember, people have been forced to choose a side. Even in elementary school friends wanted to know whether you were a Cougar or a Ute. Most people chose the school where their parents went, but my parents graduated from Utah State, so I was left to follow my own path. For me it was an easy decision - the boy I liked was a Ute so naturally I cheered on the U of U. I even got a coat and hat to declare my dedication to such school (which I think might still be hanging up in my parent's garage in Bountiful). Oh how young and foolish I was back then. I was a Utah fan until I repented and chose to go to BYU after high school. Since then I have been a dedicated Cougar (GO COUGS!).

This game is always fun to watch with my family. Half of us are dressed all in red while the other half is sporting blue. There is much heckling and ill wishing that takes place during the days that precede and follow game day. My birthday is always within a few days of the game and one year my sister lovingly gave me some Ute ice cream after they beat BYU (yes I did grudgingly eat it). Stats from previous games fly around the room like...well...flies. Even my nieces and nephews get into the rivalry. I've never heard so much trash talk come out of a 10 year old than I do during this time of year.

Unfortunately, I will not be with my family this year for the big day. I leave tomorrow for my 17 day excursion to Spain and France (I know - pity me). I have been looking forward to this trip for a while, but I do feel sad that I am missing this game (and the Twilight premiere - don't get me started). However, I did tell Kelli that she should blow up a life-size picture of me, dress it in blue, and every once in a while yell "Go cougs" for me. But since Kelli's a Ute, I don't think my wish will be carried out.

On November 22, however, I will be praying from Spain that my Cougars can keep up their winning streak and beat those Utes. For your viewing pleasure - here is what happened the last two times these two teams met in battle. It still gives me chills every time I watch these videos! Now all that is left to say is... GO COUGARS!!!!

(PS-I hope you noticed my subtle use of colors)

Bragging Rights

I'm a nerd. I've always been a nerd, and I will be until the day I die (come on - I'm an accountant for Heaven's sake). I'm not ashamed of my nerdyness. I embrace it daily. So allow me a few minutes of nerdyness to really shine through.

I just received an email announcing the 2008 Public Accounting Report Rankings. I am proud to say that for the first time ever BYU's graduate accounting program is named #1! We finally unseated University of Texas who has held the position for the past 7 years. So now when people ask me what's the big deal about BYU's accounting program, I can proudly declare that it is the #1 ranked graduate accounting program in the U.S. Go Cougs!

One more reason to LOVE the holidays

There is no better time to be in NY than at Christmas time. It is such a wonderful time of year! But today I discovered one more reason to love the holiday season (that really has nothing to do with NY other than that I am in NY). Per my usual routine, a couple of co-workers and I took our daily trip to Starbucks and I was introduced to my new favorite drink...gingersnap soy steamer. Drinking this wonderful gingerbread drink out of the holiday cup (which they started using again this week) made me even more grateful for the upcoming Christmas season. Hooray for Starbucks special holiday drinks!!

Belated Halloween

Everyone has been posting about their Halloween adventures. So not to be outdone by anyone...here is what I did to celebrate this fun time of year. A couple of weekends ago some friends and I took a trip to Sleepy Hollow. It was the perfect day to be in such a creepy little town. It was foggy with a permanent misty rain. It was such a fun thing to do at this time of year. We did all the things that you would want to do while in Sleepy Hollow. We visited the HUGE cemetery, saw some really cool old churches, and saw a lot of really cool carved pumpkins. This place called The Blaze had thousands of carved pumpkins. They were some of the coolest things I've seen! They had arranged the pumpkins to look like skeletons, dinosaurs, spiderwebs, and many other things. Sadly that night it started raining pretty hard, so we got kicked out before we could see all the pumpkins. But it was still fun. Since I took a lot of pictures I decided to put together a slide show for you all. So...enjoy!

Here Comes the Sun

I'm so glad to finally be blogging about something that has made me very happy instead of depressed, frustrated, etc. This ray of "sun"shine came with the release of Snow Patrol's latest CD - A Hundred Million Suns. You may be asking yourself - "how can a CD release make someone so happy?" Well, if you don't know this already - I'm basically obsessed with Snow Patrol. I literally almost screamed when I heard their new song, Take Back the City on Gossip Girl the other week. I immediately got on iTunes to see if I had somehow missed the release of a new CD...but it wasn't there. So of course I went to SP's website and found out that it was going to be release in the States on Oct. 28. I was so looking forward to Tuesday that I even put a calendar reminder on my phone so that I would for sure not miss it! (I know I'm a dork - but that's why you love me!) And let me tell you - they did not disappoint me in the slightest. I've been listening to this CD non-stop for the past few days and I'm loving it more and more. Let me just share some of my favorite lines of a few of my favorite songs from this new CD...

From Set Down Your Glass: And I'm shaken then I'm still; When your eyes meet mine I lose simple skills; Like to tell you all I want is now.

From Take Back the City: Two weeks later like a surplus reprieve; I found a hair the length of yours on my sleeve; I wound it round and round my finger so tight; It turned to purple and a pulse formed inside...I said I knew the beat 'cause it matched your own beat; It's become my engine my own source of heat

I could seriously find amazing lyrics like this in basically every song on the CD. I'm totally obsessed! Thank you Snow Patrol for this ray of "Sun"shine in my life right now. My only complaint is that Snow Patrol is not coming on tour to US anytime in the near future. But you can bet that I will be one of the first to know when they do come.