The GMAT

"How has your Christmas break been?"

"It's been fun. I went to New York, had a good time in San Diego, and studied for the GMAT."

Logically speaking, I just said that studying for the GMAT is fun. The scary thing is that it is fun. The test isn't difficult conceptually, but the questions are worded such that you need more than memorized rules to do well. You need to think, and I like that!

For those of you trying to remember which test is the GMAT, it's the Graduate Management Admissions Test. If you want to get a masters degree in business (MBA or a masters in a business emphasis), this standardized test is required. The questions consist of algebra, verbal and writing, and two essays. However, the GMAT is not testing you on math and your writing ability (although it uses them as a vehicle). The test determines how logically sound you are in decision making, the essence of business.

For example, look at the following question and determine which of the two given pieces of information is needed to solve the problem:

Is x an integer (e.g. -2, -1, 0, 1, 2...)?

(1) x is evenly divisible by 1/2.
(2) x is evenly divisible by 2.

A. Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient.
B. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.
C. BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
D. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
E. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.

I'll give the answer at the end of this post if you tried to solve it.

I sat down to take a practice test without looking at any help guides, and I get to these type of problems. Due to the question's unique format, my mind first tried to decide if the answers covered all of the options (they do) before solving the problem. I thought I answered 80% of the questions correctly, but the answer sheet said only half that much. Pathetic! So I went to the GMAT book I bought in New York and started brushing up on my logic skills. As of now my logic is only 40% correct; according to the GMAT, you shouldn't take any advice from me.
B is the correct answer.

How We Learn

When have you learned something for what it is? I mean really learned it? Seldom do I learn something without tying it to an analogy. Even with addition we use apples. If you have 1 apple and I give you 2 apples, how many apples do you have? Why can't we simply learn the relationship between 1 and 2?

Dr. Hansen, one of my professors, taught me databases without the use of analogies. The difference is a clear and applicable knowledge instead of a memorized idea. When I talk about databases, I speak of them as they are and not like...

So here's my thought on this: without analogy or shortcut, learning something as it is will be more beneficial than learning it with outside ideas. Not only is the knowledge more valuable, but the exercise of learning develops the mind for the future. Even if how something works is forgotten, the mind retains its ability to learn.

Visiting Kingsbridge, New York

Last Sunday I took half of my family to my favorite place in the mission: Kingsbridge. Kingsbridge is the north-west part of the Bronx, and I served there for nearly a 1/3 of my mission. Kingsbridge has a lot of friends, converts, and memories. A new memory was made when Dad sat in a puddle of brown water on the subway. Bronxed. On the way up, old memories flashed in my mind as we passed familiar stops. 167th, Treemont, Fordam. Finally, we arrived at Kingsbridge Road.

At the top of the subway stairs, I took one deep breath for old time sakes. The smell of the Bronx still contained the fragrant stench of dead animal, trash, and mold. Unforgettable. The church building is right next to the subway stop, so the walk ended quickly and my parents could stop holding their breath.

Being Christmas, the ward choir sang The choir epitomizes, I think, the level that wards from the Bronx are at. If the choir can stay on the melody, they're deemed impressive. They were impressive on Sunday. The family met a few friends of mine before we went to a converts home to visit. In my eyes this was the best part. My family saw the beautiful grime and filth of the Bronx where I would walk and teach, but the apartments were where special memories that I will never forget were held. I love the Bronx.

Why I Couldn't Grow Up Earlier

Here are some statistics on me:

Before my mission, I:
- didn't like snowboarding
- didn't enjoy the beach
- avoided musical instruments
- only played video games with my free time
- read only for school

Yesterday I:
- was excited to go snowboarding today
- talked about enjoying the ocean water
- learned "Blackbird" on the guitar
- read a book with the super nintendo unhooked and stuffed in the corner

I don't feel like the old me at all. So what happened? I concluded that I simply avoided work-for-joy scenarios as a kid. My LDS mission, however, broke me of that ideology and tossed me around until I appreciated those things. I learned the joys of work and the pleasures that are taken advantage of when we don't have to work. The contrast is brilliant when juxtaposed with what I thought I had in the past.

Professor #4: Dr. Albrecht

I was watching "Home Improvement" the other day and Wilson, the character of infallible wisdom, taught Tim about our inherent drive to create. "You see, Tim, you can't bear children. So you are left with your drive to create which you satisfy through your projects." I've thought about this drive and realize that we all have it. Dad's flash tools, Mom's house, Dustin's art. This semester, I found my omnipotent niche in programming and it's thanks to Dr. Albrecht's vague and insufficient instruction.

Dr. Albrecht comes into class ready to fire 99mph fastballs at us. He launches into an hour lecture on how "easy" the next project will be. During his lecture, he explains the creation process as if we were gods. Then he'll under-estimate 8 hours of work. I respectfully disagree, Professor. To stay within his time expectancy, research starts building and code flies from my fingers. After doubling his estimation, I admire my completed creation. I love that feeling! When I can see what I have created, feelings of triumph and satisfaction begin to settle in. And I love that!

After every project, all I want to do is create something else. It's addicting! You must understand; I can't bear children.

Professor #3: Dr. Liddle

At 6' 1'', with a skinny build, and soft voice, he doesn't make a huge presence. However, I think many of us respect Dr. Liddle's personal goals to help his students. Dr. Liddle already has his full-time status which professors sometimes take as I-don't-have-to-be-impressive-anymore stamp. Dr. Liddle, however, is always looking for our feedback and strives to fill our needs. He'll always stop for questions and always appears to take each one seriously--don't expect the short answer.

One funny thing about Dr. Liddle is his attitude towards quizzes. The class schedule has a quiz listed almost every class day, but how many quizzes have we taken? About half that many. And how many times has he just given us all 100% on the quiz regardless? About half again. So everyday, after we say a prayer, we'll hear Dr. Liddle happily announce, "Ok. Let's take a quiz!" I'll rip a piece of paper in half for my neighbor to use--not like it matters--and we start taking the "quiz". At the end of the 5 simplistic questions, Dr. Liddle will announce the answers with a 30 second explanation of why it's so. At the end of each explanation, he might say "Now if you got it right, give yourself two points. If you got it wrong, understand why and give yourself two points, also." I love Dr. Liddle's quizzes.

Professor #2: Dr. Romney

Yes, another Romney. We Mackays can't seem to go anywhere without a Romney popping up.

Dr. Romney is a brilliant yet humble man. He's tall and of large stature with white hair combed over the top of his head. He always wears a collared shirt (usually one with the Marriott School logo) and matching pants to class. Once class is started, he usually puts a quiz on our desks. These quizzes are fairly difficult, but Dr. Romney usually comforts the students by reminding the class that we're graded against each other.

After the tedious quiz, Dr. Romney will lean against the chalk board with his hands clasped together in front and announce his teaching methodology: You learn more when you do it then from a teacher or a text book. With that, we role play! We either role play work flow processes as a class or walk through business cycles in our group. That's pretty much all there is to the Dean of the Information Systems Program. Oh, did I forget to mention that little known fact? He's the boss of our other professors.

Professor #1: Dr. Hansen

I'm really enjoying my schooling right now. When you have four great professors, it really helps. It especially helps when those four great professors have four distinct personalities (that must be a prerequisite). I think I'll write about each one so you can get an idea of what these guys are like.

When Dr. Hansen first walked into our classroom, he had a sour look on his face. He scanned the classroom up and down as if he was looking for someone in particular. At first he's not much to look at. His head is full of gray hair and his body is small. Now this body being small exaggerates another feature of his body: his belly. His belly sticks out considerably almost to where he could use it as a table.

It seemed his purpose upon entering the room was to "torture" our minds. And in a sense I was right. He started off by drilling us on our reading we were assigned. "What's a set?" he would ask.

"A group of items," came the feeble attempt. Dr. Hansen didn't even entertain the answer.

"No. *cough* Be specific." (He always coughs when he talks)

"I think its a..."

"You think? *cough* I want you to know! Tell me with confidence!" he answered as he grinned a clever grin that I would soon come to learn was his trademark. The round of answers kept on going for a minute or so when he explained his methods. "Look. My purpose here, and you'll hear me say this again and again, *cough* is to get you to think. (Ugh! It is torture!) I don't care what you learn necessarily in my class because you'll just forget it in a year. I care that you learn how to think." he stated as he pounded the podium. "Now, what is a set?"

I'll have a hard time forgetting this lesson, especially since he did in fact repeat it every week. Dr. Hansen is my favorite professor because of his challenging demeanor. I go to his classes hoping to beat him at his game. Never likely, but I try harder in order to see if I can outsmart the questionnaire.

Dating a Friend

There is a girl in my ward who I have liked but never liked enough to go after. In fact, I'm sad to say the one time I did go after her was out of envy, even dis-loyalty (sorry). However, as the months have past by, I've been able to discover her character's hidden gems. And if it's greed that I'm feeling, than so be it. I decided to go for it.

This decision was a tough one for a few reasons. First, she's a good friend. This makes me hold my breath because if it doesn't work out then I may lose a friend or at least part of the friendship. Second, her plans include serving a mission. Yeah, I could stop that from happening if things turn out, but that's if they turn out. Considering these and other details, I had to choose between folding before the hand was dealt and going all in. I chose to give it my best effort, and I hope it works out. Oh, I hope it works out.

Oh the Lessons You Learn

This past week I've been working on project after project, and that has caused me to work long days. But I've learned three things:

1. It's never good to work 10+ hour consecutive days
2. If you want something done right, do it yourself
3. Have a written plan before doing anything

I'm almost done with project 2 of 3 and my mind is already making trivial mistakes. However, this wear and tear does have its benefits. My mind is tired and beat, but just like any other muscle, it rebuilds itself and is stronger than before. I've been craving this strength for a while. When I first got home from my mission (the most exhausting mental event) I was very quick and witty. I'm not sure if it was the mental stress, being among New Yorkers, or a combination that gave me the strength, but it was awesome. After a year or so that quickness started to go away, and I'm finally getting it back.

So mentally I'm stronger, and I can also say that my patience has increased. One group member kept on handing in sub-par material and my roommate and I would look at each other and know that we would have to redo it. Well, as most big projects go, something sprung up last minute and it had to be done. Without saying anything, I stood up and took care of it. Ah, that was easy.

Finally, planning helps sort everything out. We had to write narratives for 20+ diagrams and they were becoming tedious and yet still challenging all at the same time. So I took out a pen and paper and wrote three relevant points to each diagram, sat at my computer, and fired away. Thirty minutes later I had a handful of good drafts. Now, who wants to edit them?

Facing Your Fear...Literally

Tonight I had to face someone I didn't care much to see. I was going to avoid it completely by hanging out at a friend's apartment, and my roommate was ready to talk to the person for me, but I got a phone call from an all too familiar number from the feared "old friend". At that moment, however, my mind went at ease and thoughts of words to say came into my mind. Suddenly the situation didn't make me want to hide, but rather face it and be done with it. I talked to the person and went to my apartment. I waited and about 10 minutes passed before the door knocked. Three people came in carrying the air mattress that was the cause of our meeting, and I smiled and didn't even flinch. I was myself! 100% me! The air mattress will help with me not have any rough nights of sleep, but my mind, my emotions, will finally be at rest. And in the words of my wise father, I "dodged a bullet."

The Scariest Halloween Costume

I'm sitting in the Isys Lab listening to TAs talk about their experiences in the Junior Core of the Isys program. From what it sounds like, the second semester has a lot more work as we create the same type of project we did as a group this semester, but we do it individually. Horror stories of 30 hour periods in front of a computer and back-to-back-to-back all nighters make me a little uneasy. Yesterday I heard another horror story of someone who transferred from business management to accounting and accounting to Isys and declared Isys was the hardest of the three by far. So this year I'm not afraid of the ghouls and ghosts, but rather the monstrous Isys Junior Core. Maybe that's what I should be for Halloween.

Programming Fiascos

One of my classes is a computer programming class. The class itself is pretty fun. I learn about how to make anything work on a computer, how to create some basic user interfaces, and sometimes even learn how to steal things from websites. However, the coding can be like raising a child: sometimes it will do what you want it to do the first time, and sometimes it won't work until the hundredth time.

Last weekend I made a bank program, and everything worked the hundredth time. My roommate and I (we both have the class together) sat on our couch, put our laptops on our laps, and ran mental circles around our programs. Finally, after working on the code all Friday and Saturday, we got everything to work. The best part came at 12:00 midnight between Saturday and Sunday when I looked to him and said, "We must be the coolest people around!"

Good Joke

There are only 10 kinds of people in this world. People who can read binary, and people who can't.

Bitter Sweet Ending

Last night, Megan and I had "The Talk". The Talk consists of one member of the relationship complementing the other on the great time he or she has had. Then the unavoidable and expected "but" comes in and you know where it's going. Funny thing was we were both expecting it. I knew Megan was too young and she realized that a college relationship is bigger than a high school relationship. So we cut it off.

I didn't feel any different walking away from it. In fact, I felt that the 10 days we were dating was a blessing. Before I was dating Meg, I chose to stay away from the library, which was my second home last year. However, Meg and I would meet at the top floor of the library to study together almost everyday, and I rediscovered its educational value as a great study environment that I'll continue to go to. Unanswered prayers are good.

Who Doesn't Like Movies?

So I'm an hour late on this entry, but life's busy. Onward with the story.

After a few tennis matches, I decided we should go on a real date. The kind where dinner and a movie are involved. So the next week we went to Zupas, a deli, where we sat outside and talked about our life stories. She was first to educate me on her life and I learned something in the process: the girl can talk. I eventually took my turn, but cut it short so we could make the movie.

At the dollar theater, I wanted Megan to see a movie she hadn't seen yet. However, to my surprise she had not seen any (I later found out she's not a big movie person...smooth). I was in the mood to see "Kung-fu Panda" that night, which looking back was probably the best choice. The other movies had some crude scenes, and I would have felt uncomfortable with her there. Besides, we had a great time laughing more at the kids watching the movie than the actual movie itself. I thought it better to not try to hold her hand, as I wasn't even sure yet if I liked her. I kept my distance and remembered what Eli told me: "Be the flame, not the moth." Thank you, Casanova.

Tennis in the Summer

How do you ask a girl out who you never see and whose number you don't even have? There I was sitting at home wanting to ask Megan on a tennis date, and I was without her number. Calling Maddie to set it up would have made me feel like I couldn't do things on my own, that I needed someone else to get a girlfriend for me. So in my pride, I opted for the universal college form of communication: Facebook.

The next day we had our tennis date. Megan played in high school so the game actually had a few decent rallies. Along with her skill,  she plays with finesse. I was having fun just watching her. She looked cute in her tennis outfit, too. When the tennis workers came around to check our BYU id cards, the girl commented on her skirt. "I like your skirt! You look cute!" I quickly jumped at the opportunity. "She does look cute, right?" Smooth.

After a few games, we called it a day and went to 7-11 for some drinks and to socialize. Her personality was upbeat and very mature, and I thought the world of it. On the way home, we decided to do it again, and I was excited. Self, great day.

Megan

I suppose I should try to answer the questions about my new girlfriend. Her name is Megan Nelson. She's from Phoenix, plays tennis, and currently attends UVU studying child psychology. I met Megan Nelson while taking another girl back to her dorm. She was very happy, and seemed older than her friends. A week later I was playing my guitar with Maddie when Megan came down to see what was going on. I was very attracted to her, and after she left I turned to Maddie and told her I wanted to take her out. Maddie made it happen. Thanks Maddie.

That's all for now. Everyday this week I'll try to add a little tid-bit about something on the story of Meg so you can all be up-to-date.

First Week of School

Ah, the Fall. Ever since New York, I have loved this time of the year. The colors on the trees mixed with the cooling air creates an awesome ambiance, and I love it.

The other day, my programming professor showed our class a neat function in our programming tools, but there's some background to understanding its awesomeness. Essentially, every program has two elementary functions called "getters" and "setters". These two functions allow you to "get" a variable you are working with (i.e. if you want to use the variable x in an equation) and "set" or reset a variable (i.e. if you want x to equal 2 instead of 1). In class, our professor showed us that the new tools we are using have a button to automatically take every variable in the program and create the code for each getter and setter. When I saw that, I turned to my group and said, "That is cool!" I guess I'm a nerd, but not yet a geek.

The Belizen Experience

I know I said one of my goals for this blog was to not forget about it, and you might have thought I had done so, but to save this blog from being amongst the googlies of forgotten web pages, I decided to write about my Bedizen experience.

Last Thursday, we arrived on the island city of San Pedro. The hotel, Paradise Villa, lived up to its name providing us comfortable, cozy, and beautiful rooms and beach-front views. We had a kitchen and living room to our disposal which I was thankful for as the food in the restaurants, I'm sad to announce, was mediocre at best. The TV even received a signal from Colorado! At first I thought the TV would only be a distraction, but with the activities being scarce on the island and the Olympics going on in Beijing, we found it to be a great filler for the night time.

We filled every morning in San Pedro with scuba diving. My first real dive experience was a huge highlight of the trip and will be hard to forget, at least until I replace the snorkel I lost on my first entry. Once underwater, I immediately noticed the sense of moving in 3 dimensions as I would swim through the coral trenches like an X-wing fighter on the Death star (sorry for the Star Wars analogy, but that's all I could compare it to). My excitement for the adventure was unfortunately evident in my high intake of air which caused me to come up early, but the experience alone was unlike anything I've done and well worth it.

After a few days in San Pedro, we embarked on the road trip to Chaa Creek. The directions to get there are as simple as drawing a line from point A to point B, but we never saw a single sign for Chaa Creek. We passed San Ignacio (where the address for the resort is) and continued through some hills and farming land. Still with no signs for Chaa Creek, we stopped on the road and thought about turning around to ask for directions in the city. The thought passed me, If the resort is on the other side of this hill and we turned around now, I'd kick myself. I saved myself a self-kicking when we reached the top of the hill and Paige jumped. "Look! Chaa Creek!" Sure enough, an old broken sign bore the name of Chaa Creek and pointed down a dirt road. How much were we paying to stay here?

The sign was deceiving as we popped out of rainforest into a pristine landscape. That set the tone for the whole stay as everything from our rooms to the service followed suit. How much did we pay to stay here?

That evening we went canoeing up the river. Yeah, we went up. Paige and I struggled to maneuver up the faster currents while mom and the guide did so with relative ease (good thing Paige and I still have the energy to waste and still keep up). Our guide knew everything about everything, or at least appeared to know, as he explained everything that did and didn't move.

A few hours later we had the same guide take us on a night walk. We all had headlights on and the first thing he had us recognize were the Jewel-like bellies on the spiders by just shining your light on them. At any given time, I could have counted five spiders in front of me. Any arachnid-phobics should probably not do this on their trips to the rain forest.

The next two days were spent spelunking. The first cave we floated down on inner tubes which was OK. The real highlight were the zip linings we did through the jungle afterwords. The next day's cave had us crawl, swim, and climb to get through. In an hour, we reached some Mayan pottery and bones which were left over from sacrificial activities. The time period was 800-900 AD which made me think of the apostasy the people had fallen into; the sacrificial activities were made to the gods of the underworld. The adventure of seeing the stalagmites and the ruins was breathtaking! In some caverns you could have fit a two story house. To think that water alone could have made such formations and large caverns.

To sum up, the trip has been a success. We have 4 more days to explore, and today will be a day at the resort as Paige has picked up something in her stomach and won't be out of bed until later.

I'm In!

Yesterday morning I received an email directing me to view my status for my Isys (short for Information Systems) application. It briefly said that I was accepted and was able to begin finalizing my status. Then I started filling out a simple questionnaire (a lot of which was directed towards programming) and quickly printed off an acceptance letter to turn into the main office.

When I got to the main office, I recognized one of the professors who helped me decide whether to do Isys or accounting. After the awkward I-don't-remember-your-name stage, he congratulated me on getting in. I then configured my graduation plan and had it approved. Walking towards to Wilk, I dusted my hands off, bought a jamba juice, and rented spider-man 3 as a way of celebration.

After a long year of studies and tests, I can finally say I've accomplished a great feat. I feel good that I can say I made it. Academically, I've never been the top of my class before; I dragged my feet in high school and made it to BYU on something other than grades. So I guess you can say I've changed. That's what a mission can do to you.

To close, I'll quote the format. I think it's appropriate:
What's left to lose
I've done enough
And if I fail well then I fail but I gave it a shot

These last three years
I know they've been hard
But it's time to get out of the desert and into the sun

Thanks to everyone who pushed me through life, even when I didn't want to go.

Fruit Salad to the Rescue

I took Megan, Maddi's friend, on a date today. We went to the store and bought some fruit for a fruit salad which we took with us to the Y. Megan was struggling to get up the switchbacks, but with the view of the city I didn't mind the breaks. She started to feel a little dizzy, and we pulled out the fruit salads early and ate half of them. That did the trick as she was okay the rest of the hike. Once at the Y, we sat down on the white rocks and talked for a good hour. This was the proving grounds to see if her personality checks out. Unfortunately, it didn't (it turns out she's only 17 so she may just need some time to mature) but she was fun to talk to and I enjoyed my time with her.

I've been having daily gospel chats with a girl in my ward. Her name is Annelise and she has a very upbeat and righteous personality. However, Annelise wanted to get more out of her scriptures. She felt she was wasting her time reading because she wouldn't get anything out of it. So I called LeGrand. The next day we sat in LeGrand's office and he taught her a very important principle of scripture studying: we need to ask questions. As we find answers to these questions, our understanding becomes clearer and we can apply the scriptures more fully. To find the answers are not particularly hard either. We generally know the answers to our questions so we are mearly applying our knowledge. And since wisdom is the application of knowledge, help is always available, according to James 1:5.

Stadium of Fire

The morning of July 4th, I got a call from a friend inviting me to go to Seven Peaks, the water park in Provo, with her and some of her friends from Salt Lake. So I got my stuff together and headed out. When I finally met up with everyone, I recognized one of her guy friends but couldn't remember from where. It turned out he used to play volleyball for Poway High School, one of the local schools we played every year. In fact, we used to play beach together! He's going to school at LDS business college now. I was glad that he was there because I knew we had a lot in common already. So we talked about everything from volleyball to school to girls to home.

After Seven Peaks, Eli and I met up with Maddi and some of her friends for dinner. One of Maddi's friends is a cute girl named Megan. She's frm Gilbert, AZ and just got up here for summer term. She's a lot of fun, but I'm not sure what kind of a girl she really is; when I asked her about herself, she wasn't that explicit. It's kind of frusterating, but I'll just have to wait and see for myself.

After dinner, Maddi and her friends headed off to the Stadium of Fire, but being ticketless I headed back home to see what others were doing for the night. A couple of friends were planning on sitting just outside the stadium to watch the fireworks, and I decided that would be the next best seat in the house, but I was wrong. I couldn't have asked for a better view! The fireworks exploded right on top of us and along with the up close view, the show lasted for a jam-packed 30 minutes! It was kind of funny that we were standing right next to a gas station. (Fire hazard anyone?) All in all, I had a great fourth. I just wish I could have been with the family. I called Paige when she was at the Del Mar Ward's 4th of July breakfast and it made me miss being there. So many good memories.

Welcome to My Blog!

The other night I was at Uncle Ralph's talking about life while coincidentally having the life sucked out of me by mosquitoes when one of the cousins (I'm sorry I can't remember who) asked if we all had our own blogs. I thought to myself, Self, why don't you have a blog? I have only two reasons for why a blog would not be worthwhile:

1. I would forget about the blog all together

2. It would be difficult to talk about girlfriends if they knew about it

So I have two simple solutions: I won't forget and only family will know about the blog. Therefore, you'll always have insights into my life and even have access to the juicy stuff. Well, maybe not that juicy. Let's face it. I'm as juicy as a dried mango when it comes to romance.

I hope you all enjoy this feeble attempt. I miss writing weekly letters from the mission, and I just hope that there is enough excitement in my life to keep you all entertained and updated.