What did you learn today? (8/13/07)

Today we listened to one another's power point presentations. It was fun to see what was exciting to everyone else and what we each learned.

How many languages do you speak?

I speak, read, and write English and Spanish fluently. I can understand 95% of what I read and hear in Portugese as well as carry on basic conversations.

What did you learn today? (8/10/07)

Today we talked about how to finish off our GIS assignments with a North Arrow, a scale, a legend, etc.

What did you learn today? (8/9/07)

Today we worked on GIS some more. I learned how to modify the DEM files.

What's your claim to fame?

I'm a pretty good athelete. I like soccer and basketball the best, but I have played tennis, football, golf, baseball, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, frisbee golf, ping pong, croquet, ice skating, roller blading, mountain biking, rock climbing, swimming, etc. I can pick up on any sport pretty fast and play it decently well. It helps that I am very competitive in everything that I do, which leaves me unsatisfied with anything other than winning!

Tell me about your best teacher/class experience:

It is hard for me to choose a favorite, so I will classify my selections into three categories: GE teachers, Religion teachers, and "Major" teachers. My favorite GE instructor is Scott Walker, for my Honors 200P English class my freshman year. He was really good at teaching us how to write and helping us express our ideas. My favorite Religion teacher is Todd Parker. I've had him 3 times now and I love his class. Finally, my favorite "Major" teacher is Scott Ritter.

What did you learn today? (8/8/07)

Today we practiced drawing shapes in GIS so that we can begin to label the different formations.

Tell me about your worst teacher/class experience:

In all honesty, I have lucked out with teachers and classes here at BYU. Of course there are those who I don't like as much or get along with as well, but overall I can't really say that I've had a bad teacher. Middle school, however, was a completely different story. Mrs. Strobeck, my 7th grade Social Studies teacher was very hard to be around. She seemed to take out her problems on each of us in turn, whether in class or through her corrections of our assignments and tests. It almost appeared enjoyable to her to loudly correct a student for there mistaken attempts to answer a question. Luckily, she had a baby about halfway through the semester and we had a sub for the rest of the year!

What did you learn today? (8/7/07)

Today I learned how to use more functions of GIS.

What is your most embarrasing moment?

One day I was driving away from my school and I got pulled over by a motorcycle cop. I was leaving a little early to go to a spanish class at another school, but a few minutes later everyone else got out of class and started to drive past while I was being given a ticket. It was the only time that I have ever been pulled over and I didn't even get a warning! Just a $75 fine. The officer wrote on my ticket stub: "Great attitude, easy to work with." Oh, so I'm a pushover, huh?!

What did you learn today? (8/6/07)

Today we began to work with GIS and tracing.

What books are you reading for pleasure right now?

I am reading President Hinckley's biography, just barely starting Harry Potter 7, and a spanish literature book from the 18oo's titled "Don Juan Tenorio".

What did you learn today? (8/2/07)

The most important principle to remember is to be clear and concise in our presentations and papers. Ask yourself: Does this point to my objective?

Who is the cheapest person you know?

Legend has it that the people of the city of Monterrey, Mexico are the cheapest in all of Mexico. There is a large mountain shaped like a saddle that presides over the city, and the story goes that a man lost a coin (equivalent to a dollar) between the rocks and began to dig for it. After years and years of digging, the saddle was formed and the coin was found.

What did you learn today? (7/31/07)

Today we reviewed power point and its uses.

What is a good question to ask in a Geology 230 class?

If you could change your name to any other name (first, middle, and last) what would it be?

What did you learn today? (7/30/07)

Today we practiced blending photographs in publisher. I worked on my pictures from the top of Angel's Landing.

What was the worst haircut you've ever had?

When I was in elementary school I had a part right down the middle, but of course I could never get it to go straight from front to back.

What did you learn today? (7/25/07)

Today I learned how to modify the sky of a picture so that it looks more appealing.

Tell me about your favorite cartoon?

I really like Tale Spin, the cartoon with Baloo the Bear and Kit, his side kick. They would fly their plane all around together exploring, fighting air pirates, transporting their goods, and cloud surfing! It was great!

What did you learn? (07/23/07)

Today I learned how to clone things...in publisher.

What did you do as a kid that made you think you were in BIG trouble?

One time my brother and I were playing "hot lava", the game where any of the floor is lava and you can't touch it or else you die! So we took all of the couch cushions in the house, the pillows from the beds, and even some place mats from the kitchen drawers, and laid them out all over the house. Then we ran and jumped around as fast as we could without touching the carpet. Amazingly we didn't break anything for more than an hour, then a lot of things really quickly. Not good!

What did you learn? (07/20/07)

Today I was introduced to Photoshop for the first time. I am amazed at all of the things that you can do to/with a picture.

What are you afraid of?

I don't have any extreme fears, but I used to be very afraid of heights. When I was about 9 I was trying to get a ball off of the roof of our house, and I got stuck on the way back down. I was laying on my stomach with my feet dangling down (trying to reach the ladder), but the overhang of the roof was too great for me to reach. So I layed there hanging on for my life until my brother came out and found me about 20 minutes later. Then my Dad came and got me down. Ever since then I have gradually overcome my fear of heights.

What did you learn? (07/19/07)

Today we learned how to set up the layout of an academic poster: where to place diagrams and text, overall size, placement of the title, and the usage of color.

Funny joke...?

I never apologize. I'm sorry, that's just the way it is.

-Homer Simpson

What did you learn? (07/18/07)

Today I began my first individual project in Illustrator! It is exciting to see things develope and understand how it can improve the viewers comprehension level of the information given.

What weird food do you like to eat?

I love my Mom's homemade vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. However, it is even better when you put a big piece in a bowl and fill it about half way with cold milk! You have to eat it just fast enough so that it doesn't get soggy but slow enough so that it soaks in. Yum!

What did you learn? (07/17/07)

Today I learned how to reflect and image around itself. Then we reviewed the vocabulary of Illustrator and the various tools that we have used up to this point.

What is one of your pet peeves?

One of my pet peeves is when people forget to take their shopping carts back to the corrals in the parking lot. I used to work for Home Depot in the parking lot and it was always nice to see the occasional customer take the time to return their cart instead of leaving it in the stall or worse, against somebodies car!

What did you learn? (07/16/07)

Today I learned more about how to use more tools in illustrator, but I still need lot's of practice!

Tell me about your worst date...

I think my worst date took place last fall. The girl was really nice and I was excited about the date, but it was akward from the moment I picked her up. We were just going to lunch at the malt shoppe, but all kinds of stuff went wrong. We couldn't seem to start up a good conversation about anything, and whenever one of us would get excited about something and begin to share more about it the other seemed to be falsely interested. I took her home and gave her the most uncomfortable hug I have ever had with anyone! Needless to say, we didn't go on another date. I think she's actually married now!

What did you learn? (07/13/07)

Today I learned how to trace and fill on an existing file to make it look more professional.

What is your favorite color?

I think that navy blue is my favorite color of all on the Crayola website. I love the ocean and a clear blue sky, but the navy hue represents a more conservative, constant shade. It's a close tie between pine green and sunset orange for my second favorite color, but I would probably mix them all to make a cool tie-die t-shirt!

What did you learn? (07/12/07)

Adobe Illustrator is an amazing program, and I have really enjoyed playing with it and learning new techniques to design and draw. It is much better than paint!

Tell me about your first love...

I think that the first girl I had a "crush" on was Marianna, an girl I met in Spain while my family was living there. I was in the 4th grade and every day we would all play soccer together as a class against our arch rivals 4th-B (we were 4th-A). She was the best soccer player out of all of the girls, and was better than a lot of the boys too. I think that's why I payed more attention to her. When it was time for my family to move back to the US our class had a big going away party for me. Everyone gave me a little present or a card, but Marianna gave me a new notebook with soccer balls on it and a kiss on the cheek!

What did you learn? (07/11/07)

Today I was introduced to Adobe Illustrator for the first time. I have used other programs like Paint, which are very basic in comparison, so I am excited to continue to use Illustrator and learn how to design my own projects!

Why did you decide to be a Geology Major?

I have always planned to be a Business Major, then to get a major or minor in Spanish, and then in the future get an MBA. Upon returning from my mission I received counsel from various people to get a degree other than in business so that I could specialize in a particular field and thus be more effective in the business world. I decided to look for a different major to supplement a Spanish Minor and the future possibility of an MBA. Last fall I took Geology 101 from Professor Skinner as a GE and I loved it! I enjoyed reading the books, doing the labs, asking questions in class, and applying what I learned in my daily activities. I decided to take Geol 112 in the Winter and make up the Geol 111 Lab so that I would be on track. Dr. Ritter's class was great too! As the semester progressed I became more and more convinced that I wanted to be a Geology Major. The more I advance in the program the more excited I get about what the future may hold!

What did you learn? (07/10/07)

Today was a good review for me to help me remember some of the subjects that we have studied up to this point in the semester.

Tell me about how you got your best scar?

When I was 5 years old, I loved to ride my bike. It was a blue huffy with black flames, a horn, big knobby tires, and, unfortunately, training wheels. Despite the extra wheels, I still loved my bike! Then my older brother Chris got a new bike for his birthday that totally eclipsed my own. His was fire engine red, twice as big, a headlamp instead of a horn, and no training wheels! I wanted to ride it really bad, but I couldn't quite reach the pedals, and he didn't want me to borrow it anyway. Then one day I snuck into the garage and pulled it out to ride while my brother wasn't home. It was amazing! I went up the street faster than I ever had on my own, barely reaching the pedals on my tippy toes without sitting on the seat, and turned around to come back. On the way back I was looking down at my feet instead of watching where I was going and I ran straight into a large rock that the neighbors were using for landscaping. The big red bike stopped on a dime and I went flying over the handlebars, over the rock, and head first into the sidewalk! My mushroom shaped helmet cracked right down the middle and my forehead hit the cement hard! I laid there in shock for a few seconds, then realized that I was bleeding all over the place. I ran into the house yelling for my mom, trying to stop the bleeding with my t-shirt. Mom drove our station wagon really fast that day...and at the emergency room I got 16 stitches into my forehead with a hook shaped scar. It is pretty faint now, but you can still see a little pink scar right in the center of my forehead.

What did you learn? (07/9/07)

Today I learned how to insert the various different types of comments into a pdf file, like highlighting. I also think that the ability to make a link in a pdf file will come in very handy.

What is your favorite geologic sample?

I don't have a whole lot of samples that I have discovered personally, but I am hoping to find some good ones this summer during my 210 class. However, I do have a pretty cool sample of basalt that I found in the Columbia River Basin about 10 years ago. It's very generic, but I was intrigued by the shape, the quantity of pores and the near weightless feeling of the tennis ball sized rock!

What did you learn? (07/6/07)

Today I refreshed my memory concerning the different aspects of Excel and how to use those for making charts, graphs, and formulas.

Tell me about your weirdest relative?

Last year I learned about the man who gave my family our name: James Haere from Scotland. He worked for a rich businessman pruning his hedges and keeping his garden clean. The rich man was apparently very demanding because he had a rule that any one who killed any animal on his property would be arrested. James Haere arrived at work one day to find, to his dismay, one of his bosses hunting dogs had died during the night. Out of fear of reprisal, James fled the area with his family, eventually immigrating to America where he changed the spelling of his name to "Hair".

What did you learn? (07/5/07)

Today I learned how to use the equation editor program, thus making it much easier to write out complicated formulas including fractions, special math symbols, etc. I also learned how to find the symbols map in the start menu under system tools.

Do you play any musical instruments?

When I was younger I learned how to play the piano, but at age 9 I moved to a small town on the southern coast of Spain with my family. We couldn't find a teacher to continue giving us lessons for almost a year, and when we finally did find one, her style was completely different than any other teacher I'd ever had. She was talented, but I got so confused I lost interest. After returning to the US I tried to get back into it, but it was too late... Now I like to listen to classical music (particularly piano or spanish classical guitar), but I can't play them myself. I do like to sing and I was in some musical's in high school.

What did you learn? (07/3/07)

Before today I didn't know how to use page breaks in the column setting on Word. Before I had always used the "Enter" key to space down and reach the next column but this is much better. I also learned how to creat my own style for headers or footers.

What did you learn? (7/2/07)

Today I learned about some of the basic differences between technical writing and other styles (such as creative or persuasive) of writing. This will help me to be more accurate in my presentation of geologic ideas through writing.

If money were no object...what kind of car would you drive?

If money were no object I would drive a Toyota Tundra truck. I really like both the Tacoma and the Tundra, but I think that I prefer the bigger bed with the extended cab, forest green color and a small lift. I'd be sure to always have the tire shined black and the card clean inside and out.

My dream superpower...

I've always been intrigued by chameleons. The ability to camaflouge myself with any of my surroundings and then change as my surroundings did too would be exciting. I love games like capture the flag and hide and seek, so maybe that's where it comes from...

What did you learn? (06/28/07)

Today I updated my knowledge of how to create a professional resume that applies to the specific job that I am looking for. I began to modify the resume so that it fits the format given in class.

Worst movie ever?

The award for worst movie ever is a close tie between "Big Fish" ('04) and "Pirates of the Carribean 3" ('07). I saw big fish just before leaving on my mission and if it weren't for my date I would have gotten up and left. The characters were weird, the plot pointless, and the ending non-existent. As for Pirates 3, I was quite dissapointed in the lack of character developement. In the first and second movies of the series we can clearly see progress in each member of the plot, and we begin to understand them better and better as each film progresses. In #3, the events are confusing, the plot random, and the ending dissappointing. They got married during the fight scene by a pirate captain?! Nobody in the theatre ever seemed to know who was in charge of the Jolly Roger. And besides, who wants to see two of the main characters fall in love only to be separated for all but 1 day per year every 10 years for the rest of their lives?

What did you learn? (06/27/07)

Today we discussed the importance of color and combining various different colors to form an eye-appealing presentation. I had never received such an in-depth assesment on this subject, and I am intrigued to take a closer look at the color books that were passed around in class.

If money were no object...?

If money were no object and I could go anywhere in the world, my dream vacation would be to travel to Asia and visit the distinct countries there. I have a goal to set foot at least once on every continent in the world and every state in the United States, so this would be a huge step towards reaching that goal. The culture of Asia intrigues me! The food (that little that I've tried) is delicious, the language is mysterious, and the culture is so rich.

What did you learn? (06/26/07)

Today I learned how to create a blog and what I could use it for in the future. I have previously heard of others talk about them, but had not investigated further. I am excited to post new listings, expand its contents, and share my experiences with family and friends through my blog!