My Honda Passport and Hard Drive Enclosure

Hi. Man, I haven't wrote for a long time. It's because I'm really busy with school. I've had five classes to jungle and contend with. Plus, I applied, was accepted, visited, and prepared to leave to Parker University College of Chiropractic in Dallas, TX. I've been so busy that I haven't been training in BJJ, haven't gone to the temple since the semester started, and been to institute only once this semester. I'm so happy that I was able to focus on my spiritual life last semester because I really needed to. However, my challenges somewhat came back in intensity after I visited Dallas. I'm trying my hardest to combat them. It's just hard though because there is a still a little part of me that still wants to do the wrong things. However, the majority of myself knows that it would only bring misery and woe.




Well, wish me luck because I still have some essays to write for American Heritage, a test to take in Physics today, and all of my finals to study for. Finals start on Saturday. Next Sunday will be my last Sunday in the BYU 22nd ward. :( I'm going to move sometime next week for Dallas with my parents. They are going to give me the BMW Z3 car because it's too expensive for them to keep. Plus, they can't drive it during the winter. It just spins when there it's icy. I found some pictures on the internet which looks exactly like the Z3 I'm going to get. I feel much better about that because I'm afraid that my Honda Passport is going to die in Dallas. It doesn't like the heat because it has trouble starting when it's hot out. I have to sit there sometimes and turn the key to the on and off position until I get all the lights lit up on the dash board. If that doesn't happen, it will not turn over and start. It also likes to die when going around town. So, I feel better about having the Beamer. I just need to take care of it and make sure I won't hit anything with it. It's an expensive and really nice car. Any sports car is a really nice car for the most part. I just need to learn how to drive stick when I drive to Dallas.





I found some pictures on the internet which just look like my Honda Passport. Mine doesn't have that black trim on the wheel wells. Imagine a whole bunch of sratches on both sides of the car. The black thing that holds the extra tire is somewhat rusted too. Ya, the outside of my car doesn't look too pretty. The inside looks great though. I took pretty good care of that. Everything else works pretty good on that car. We fixed the four wheel drive twice, replaced the driver's side door, front fender, and small window in the back, replaced the insides of the front driver side door and rear passenger side door because the automatic windows wouldn't work, and all of the breaks. We did more things to the front underside when I crashed it. So, it looks pretty good for a rolled car. It just need some body word to be done on it.

Here is a product review which I wrote for my Acomdata USB 2.0 2.5-Inch SATA Hard Disk Enclosure(Black) for Amazon.com: "About two months ago, my laptop hard drive died. The operating system was looping, meaning it would restart again and again because it thought it was that last stage of update mode. I called Dell and told them of my problem. They said I had a hard drive that was partially damaged. So, I bought a new one and replaced my old one. In the mean time, I wondered how to get my precious files back which was on my old hard drive. I went to Best Buy figuring that I could get my files back from the courtesy of the Geek Squad. However, that would have cost me 70 dollars. So, I went online to buy an enclosure for my hard drive to see that I could access my files. I decided on a little cheaper one before this and bought it. However, Amazon didn't have it in stock. So, I bought this one instead. It worked wonderfully. So, hopefully I can use my old hard drive as a backup since it worked. I don't want to lose my files again. It was really easy to install the hard drive too. I was very impressed with the quality of the product."

Emailing Dr. Clark Part 4

Hi Dr. Clark,

I contacted you two years ago. I told you that I have Asperger's Syndrome and was going to BYU. You sent me that DVD and packet. I lost that DVD and threw away part of the packet. I never got back to you because I knew that my parents would never fly me to Dallas to get treated. I knew they would say no because it would be way too expensive. I've never stopped following your blog. I've seen every video which you have put on your blog.

I tried going gluten free for a few months because you said that could help people with Asperger's Syndrome. I didn't notice a difference with me. Most of the gluten free stuff doesn't taste very good. I like rice bread though. Buying gluten free things can be expensive.

Now, I'm moving to Dallas at the end of April to attend Parker College of Chiropractic. I noticed that your office is 25 minutes away from the college. I would still love to get treated because I have some issue other than the Asperger's Syndrome that I would love to get looked at. I have this toenail fungus that I've had for years. It just recently got worse because it spread to all the nails on one foot.

I'm having issues with asthma. I think it's asthma anyways because I get weezy for no reason these last two months. I've always had sports induced asthma, but I never got weezy out of the blue. This started after I had a fevers which lasted for a week and went up to 102.6 degrees. It was very interesting that getting adjusted didn't get rid of my fevers because that that time I went to the Paker Seminar in Vegas. They finally went away when I took some antibiotics. When I was sick, I had these coughing fits which progressively worse. I was coughing and getting stuff out of my lungs. Since I went to the doctor, the cough has gotten less and less. However, it's still a little there because I'd never cough or get weezy out of the blue before I got sick.

I know that you are all about function and don't care what I have. It's so interesting that you are going against what many people are telling their patients. I'm very interested in specializing in your field because it makes the most sense. Do I have to wait to do that until I'm done with chiropractic school?? I want to help people like me. My mom has Bi-Polar. I would love to help her.

Like I said that I'm going to Parker. So, I'm still going to be a poor college student. Six hundred dollars is a whole bunch of money which I certainlly don't have. I think you would be pretty worth it. I'm just wondering if I can have my student loans pay for treatment. I have no idea. I'm not going to work when I'm in chiropractic college. I know that it's important to be under chiropractic care as a student and when I become a doctor myself. I just want to help my body run at a 100 percent because that would really help with chiropractic school.

Do you have any Parker students shadow you to see what you do?? There are so many syles of chiropractic out there.

Thanks,

Lizzie

John's Birthday Party

Me and My Camera

This is me playing around with my new camera that I got for this Christmas. I love it because I can take pictures and videos. I kept this clip because I think it's funny. I deleted some videos that I made before this because I was seeing how everything works.

Parker Seminar 2011 Las Vegas

What does all of these pictures have in common?? You guessed it!! Public Health! That was easy because the sticker was in all three. What else does these pictures have in common?? This one is much harder. Chiropractic!!!! Dr. Scott Phillips is adjusting a Parker Chiropractic College admissions representative. How come giving adjustments is part of public health?? Getting rid of nerve flow interferences allows central nervous system to be in full control of the body. Being in regular chiropractic care, the CNS has the greater capacity to communicate with the rest of the body at a 100 percent. The second picture has to do with sanitation on a chiropractic table. The paper prevents viruses and bacteria to multiply and to be passed on to each person who lays his or her face in that area. The third picture is a device that decompresses the vertebrae and stretches the muscles in the lower back. It can stretch the muscles in the legs too.

This was for my public health 100 class. Everyone had to take a picture, post it on the class's blog, and define what is public health to them. I wanted to post it on Lizzie too. I loved the Parker Seminar in Las Vegas. I need to expose myself to more chiropractic throughout the year. That means I need to visit a whole bunch of chiropractors throughout the area. Good news!!! Sue said that I don't have to drop my profession when I have children. I can still practice chiropractic while still being a parent. I am so happy. She recommends that I keep practicing so I can still be on the top of my game if anything happens to my husband. She said that if I quit when I have children, it would be so much harder to start up again. Plus, I would have to go back to school. She said in today's economy, both parents have to work. Well, I'll see what my husband does for a living.

My parents gave me a camera for Christmas. This is how I took the pictures at the Seminar. The last picture is a picture of me. I don't know why I don't update my profile picture for blogger. I always do for facebook. When I started this blog, I didn't want to post any pictures of me on this blog because of privacy concerns. I don't really care now. My last name isn't still on this blog though. It will never be.

Student Rating for Fall 2010

This is for my Physics 107 lab: Hello Michael J. Besselman,

Please make the TA explain what we are doing when we first start class. That would have helped this semester. Steve was wonderful. However, he could have known what was going on a little more than he did. Sometimes, he didn't explain things very well. He was a great help to me though. Please have the TA's return ours labs in a timely manner, because we don't know what we are doing that's docking us points. Plus, can you have them take off half-points instead of full points if we miss a unit on one of the labs? I think that missing a full point is pretty steep. The lab manual is written pretty poorly so I have no idea to do the experiments. Our group always had to get help from Steve. Please make sure that our equipment works. A couple times, we had to work with faulty equipment. I am thankful that this lab isn't harder. I'm thankful that we don't have any tests or a final. I'm thankful that this lab followed the lecture. It actually reinforced what I was learning in lecture and made me understand the concepts more fully. I'm so thankful that this lab wasn't as nearly as hard as the O-chem lab.

This is for my Physics 105 class: Hi Professor Harold T. Stokes,

I think that you are an alright teacher. I've never seen so many demonstrations in my life!! It's a good thing that you concentrate more on concepts than you do trying to solve problems. Your tests reflect the way that you teach. That's a really good thing. Can there be more multiple choice questions though?? Your tests are so short!! I mean one has to know everything. If one misses something, one is screwed because your tests are so short. Can you make a study guide?? That would really help. You don't show how to do the homework problems. So, I had no idea how to do the homework. That's why I had to get a personal tutor to help me get through the homework. I haven't taken math for four years. I was really rusty and had to get some help since you don't cover any math in your class. The physics tutor lab had way too many people for me to get adequate help. It took way too long for me to get through the homework in that lab. That's one of the reasons I fell behind. The book is confusing too. I only read it a couple times. It was so much faster for my tutor to explain the concepts to me than for me to read the book. You just don't teach to my learning style. I'm so thankful that I have a good tutor that can help me get through physics. You've been helpful and nice the two times I've gone to see you. Your class is pretty well organized. I really appreciated that you cut down the homework problems sometimes. Thanks for giving me credit for my student rating.

This is for my Health Promotion class: Hi Marin Morgan Poole Meyer,

I really liked this class. I really liked going through the newspapers trying to find a health article. I really, really appreciate that you gave reviews for the tests. Not many professors do that. Thank you for telling what was going to be on the tests. Thanks for teaching me the importance of prevention. Thanks for making this class really manageable and interesting. Thanks for letting us have discussions. They were enjoyable. For the reading, can you pull all of them in a format where one can highlight the text?? Since I couldn't highlight a little more than half of the readings, I had to look for the articles on the web so I can have my natural reader read it to me.

300th Post

This is my 300th post!!!! It's pretty cool that I've been writing since 2006. I didn't know that I'd be writing this this blog four and a half years later. I like writing. It's just sad because I get so busy that I forget about writing about anything. It's only fitting that I'm going to write something that is martial art related. This is why I started my blog in the first place. I wanted to write about karate because I loved it. Plus, I thought that this was a good place to put all my thoughts down. I have terrible penmanship. That's is why I don't write in a journal. I love Google because I can write and save my entires in blogger and save all of my assignments in google docs. It's so much easier because I don't have to email myself the document all the time if I change computers. I can just save it on google docs and work on my assignments on my laptop and BYU's computers without any inconvenience.

The Healthcare System

In September, the CDC came out with statistics about ADHD and learning disabilities. I kept this in my email inbox for months because I thought it was very interesting and wanted to write about it someday. I thought it was really interesting of how low the preveance of learning disabilites and ADHD is in this the US.

I'm sorry that I haven't been writing that much lately. I've been writing in my private blog pretty regularly for the past year. This semester I haven't been writing that much because I've been really busy with everything. It seems like that the older I get, the busier I get. I'm going to be really busy for the whole year of 2011 because I'm planing on increasing my school work load so that I can graduate next December. Then, I'll be off at chiropractic school.

I'm really thankful for my public health major. Why?? Because it's shaping my view of the health care system. When I first came to BYU, I was really against vaccines and doctors in general. However, that never sat well with me though being against doctors. I was talking to a chiropractor who practices in Heber, UT on Tuesday night. He says that the health care system is going down the drain. Everyone is really fed up with them. From my public health point of view, I really disagree with him. I know that the health care system can be really improved on. I think that just disregarding the whole health care system as a whole is really brash and irresponsible especially for a doctor. The more I learn about public health, the more I really appreciate the health care system. We really do have a wonderful system. I know that there is a whole bunch of flaws, but I know that there are people out there who are actively trying to fix them. I know that we need to contact our congressmen about the issues that we are facing. It's just a matter whether they will listen to us or not. Only by laws, we can really fix the health care system.

I know vaccines are really important. I know that I'm not up to date with my tetanus shot and probably won't receive the flu vaccine this year. That's because I'm a poor college student and don't have health care insurance. That's going to change though because the amount of credits I want to take, BYU will require me to have health insurance. That's OK with me. I really need to get my teeth cleaned. I haven't had them cleaned in a few years now which is really bad. I've been forgetting about it. The chiropractor was saying that the infectious diseases were going down when the vaccines took place. I say that's untrue. Many of the infectious diseases decreased because of vaccines. It's just sad because many people haven't seen these diseases. "If they aren't around, why would they get my child sick??", they ask. Well, they are still there. Some of them at least that can be carried through other means than humans. That's how we got rid of small pox. Again, I'm totally thankful for my public health major. I've only taken two classes so far. I have a lot more to take which will further my understanding.

I want to truly help the patient instead of harming them. I need to look at the sources that I'm reading. The newspapers are an OK source. I like when they talk about journal articles. My last newspaper article that I turned into class was about Vitamin D and calcium. The Institute of Medicine said that most people make and get enough Vitamin D and calcium from their bodies and diets. It was interesting that my teacher disagreed with some sub-populations like pregnant ladies and teenagers. These experts looked at 1,000 published studies and the testimonies from scientists and stakeholders. I don't know what are stakeholders.

I know that Dr. Mercola is all about Vitamin D. I still get his emails about his website once a week. I hardly read them because it's a bunch of crap. I used to read a whole bunch of his stuff. I know what the alternative health world is saying about things. Now, I've been slowly changing my opinions because of my public health major. What really gets me is when they say that the swine flu was a big hoax because there wasn't that many deaths. However, we can only know about the prevalence and how quick it will spread after it spreads. We have no way of knowing. It's better to be safe than sorry. We know that the flu can really mutate and cause lots of deaths. That happened in 1918; however many people don't know about that. That's the thing about health in general. Many people don't know how to take care of themselves and make good, healthy decisions.

The public health class that I'm taking this semester is called health promotion. I learned about the importance of prevention. It's best to prevent than allow the people to get diseases. I learned the importance of really good marketing. Raising awareness of some health issue is really important. That's how people can see what's going on. For example, DARE and red ribbon week raise awareness of the dangers that drugs present. I know that the chiropractic community really, really need to make the public aware of what services they provide. Many, many people don't know what chiropractors do and treat. Some chiropractors treat only backs, some treat things like injuries to the muscles and joints along with the back. There are a whole bunch of techniques out there. I want to learn the techniques that will have a lasting impact on the patient so that they won't have to keep coming back all the time. I know that it does take time for the body to health though.

This is why I'm so excited to go to chiropractor school. I really want to start learning and forming my own opinions about chiropractic. I just need to get done with BYU first. I'm thankful for my education here though because my knowledge that I obtain in schooling, I will have forever. I know that I will and have forgotten much of it throughout the years. Probably much of it can come back if I re-learn it again depending on how long I've taken the classes. I think the basic premises and the things which I thought were really interesting will remain with me forever. I know when I die and get up into spirit world, I'll remember everything which I did and learned in life. With this life, one needs to learn how to discern what's truth and what's garbage. This is why I'm so thankful I have the Holy Ghost. I need to be worthy of his presence though.

Another thing that the chiropractor said to me that medical mistakes are the leading cause of death in the Untied States. I looked at accurate sources and knew that was untrue. The CDC reported 616,067 people died of heart disease in 2009. Heart disease is the leading disease of that causes the most deaths in the United States. The Institute of Medicine said, "At least 44,000 people, and perhaps as many as 98,000 people, die in hospitals each year as a result of medical errors that could have been prevented, according to estimates from two major studies."

New LDS Website

Here is a little letter that I sent to the people in charge of the Latter Day Saint website. This is the first time that they changed the format of the website when I started useing the website back in high school!!

Hello,

I love the new format of the new lds website. However, the text margins are pretty narrow compared to the old site. I really loved seeing a whole bunch of text on the screen. Now, I have to scroll down a lot when I read anything. You guys got rid of the scriptures in this format too. :( I just want to see a whole bunch of text at once. It makes it seem that the talks and the scriptures I read are shorter. Plus, you guys need to fix the highlight function. I want to unhightlight things. However, the website isn't letting me do that. I like the look of things. Plus, navigating through the website is pretty easy compared to the old site. Thanks for having the function for to listen right on the page. I didn't know that the LDS church had people read their magazines. I love people reading to me. However, they are much slower than my natural reader.

Thanks,

Lizzie

The Amazing Race and the Stupid Cold

Last night, I participated in BYU's Amazing Race. I thought that it would be like the TV show. Nope, I just 1.5 to two miles all around campus to these "not like the TV show stations." All our hints were just what building to go to next and either wait for 10 minutes while doing some activity or try to accomplish something in the least amount of time. Then, I had to wait for about an hour to see if I got a Tee-shirt. I really wanted it, but didn't get it. The group that got first was a bunch of guys. Figures. They needed to make the groups for fair. Plus, I don't think the routes for every group was fair too. Oh well.

Ack!!! I just spent 45 minutes watching the real Amazing Race. I need to do laundry and go to the temple. Well, I hope that I'll have my own adventure when I go to South Korea this spring and summer. It would be fun to be in the Amazing Race. However, probably it would be really competitive just to be in the show. Plus, probably there would be lots of running. I hated running around all across campus last night. Yuck!!! At least Lilly pushed me. In high school, she was the one that pushed people in the back in cross country. I'm pretty humble, so I didn't mind her pushing me. I actually appreciated it. I could tell that she did it a lot because she was pretty good. I needed some conditioning.

I need to be more prepared for the up coming tournament. It just sucks because I haven't been doing BJJ. Instead, I was taking care of my mental health as well as my spiritual health on top of school. Now, my mental health is pretty much taken care of. My spiritual health is always going to be a work in progress. Now, my physical health isn't letting me do BJJ because I have a blasted cold. Yesterday morning, I had the most painful sore throat I had in years. I remember having a sore throat in high school when singing. This one, everything is going back into my throat. It's coating my voice box which is making my voice really funky. I sound like a guy whose voice is changing. I can't hit any high notes. I wanted to hum along with my I-Pod yesterday. I couldn't hum/sing very well because of this stupid cold. I have never had a cold which affected my voice this this before. It's pretty interesting. However, a lot of more people are saying "What" to me now because of it.

My Three Lovely Stripes

It's been a long tradition on this blog to write whenever I'm promoted in a martial art. Well, Paul Tom put three lovely white stripes on my black strip which is on my white belt. I finally put a black strip on my belt when I went to Bellingham to visit my family a week ago. I got back last Saturday. It ended up that the girl who let me sleep on her bed when I was staying at Rhea's house had black theater tape. Before Rhea was married, she lived in a house with three other girls. I slept in the only bedroom which was down stairs. The house is about 100 years old and has really nice wood floors. I really liked the house. I would have felt comfortable living inside that house. My bed room had a half bathroom which was pretty cool. Man, I wish I had that much living space. However, I get to share a tiny apartment with three other girls. Rhea was pretty lucky.

Anyways, I noticed that the guys at Paul Tom's are pretty supportive of my accomplishments in BJJ. Jerry knew that I took first and third at my last tournament. That was pretty cool because I never told him that. I haven't been around that much during the summer because of O-chem lab. Then, I was gone for two weeks visiting my family in Washington. Now, I'm the same rank as Sid. I still feel he's much better than me. He always beats me all the time. It's intresting that I'm a one more stripe higher than Heather. So, I have one more stripe to earn, then I'll get my blue belt. That's really exciting!!!! A blue belt tells people that you are legit. Plus, my blue belt would even be more legit because Paul Tom aquired his black belt from a grandmaster. He said not many people get their belts from grandmasters.

Brent finally got his blue belt yesterday!!! I knew that he was going to get it because Paul Tom said during class a few months ago. I'm very happy because that tells other people in the club that we actually have someone other than a white belt teaching which is pretty cool. It's kind of funny that I don't really care about other black belts in other martial arts any more. When watching that Northwest Profile video of Sensei Chinen, I thought he had way too many black belts. Paul Tom is the only legit black belt I've seen so far. I might have seen other legit black belts at the last tournament though. It takes forever to get a black belt in BJJ. That's OK though. I really want to train in this martial art my whole life. I just love it!!! It makes me very happy. I love rolling.

Google Docs for O-chem

This letter was to nine people who was helping me with the google docs. This sucks because this means that I really have to spend a lot more time on these stupid lab write ups. They were pretty much answering the questions for me, which was really cool. After Jared and my TA's strongly discouraged me to create them, Bill said he was still interested. So, I email those nine people who contributed in the past saying I wanted these to be on the down low. I didn't want anyone to print these. However, someone did in the other lab. There are two labs that go on at the same time. One with girl TA's and the other with boy TA's. I have the lab with the girls. Obviously, someone didn't follow my instructions and printed them off anyways. That's why the guy TA's told us not to use them. I just don't want to get into trouble. That would suck.

Hi Everyone,

So, Guess what??? I think someone didn't follow my instructions and printed the google doc for our last two labs. Why else would the guy TA's in the other lab would say not to use the google doc. I was hoping that people wouldn't print them off so we can still work together on them. Since this cannot be done, I'm closing down everything because I don't want to get into trouble. I don't want to be accused of cheating. I've been doing this because this saves me a little time. I type much faster than writing. That's why I started these. The TA's and Jared are strongly discouraging us to use these anyways because they don't want the why questions to be on hard copy. They don't want the next class to get their hands on them. This is really too bad because this has been saving me lots of time. However, my hand was forced. I just wanted to save people and myself time because I'm still going to create these google docs from myself. Stupid O-chem. :( Thank you Bill for your help with these. You were the major contributor for most of these.

Thanks,

Lizzie

BYU and New Spice Commerical

I'm here in the Benson Building doing my O-chem homework. A few days ago, Joey told me about the new Old Spice Commercials. He mentioned that the BYU library made a parody of the Old Spice Man. So, I found two Old Spice commercials and the library's New Spice guy. The end of the library's commercial make me shriek with laughter aka squawk. Update from last post: Now, I have more time with my O-chem lab. I have a test I have to study which is on Monday. O-chem took over my life again. :(

More Time and Google Documents

This email is to my instructor for my O-chem lab. I'm not calling him a professor because he's a graduate student. I'm posting this because I want you to get what's it's like in the O-chem lab. I don't think it's too personal about my instructor or myself.

Hi Jared,

OK, your way of having more time isn't working. On Friday, I didn't get the melting point and my IR for my acid for the lab we did on Wednesday. That means that I'm going to get points docked off. I tried to talk to you before and you pretty much dismissed me saying that I'll have more time the next lab period. Well, I didn't this time. So, I still want to be able to get that IR and melting point because I want those points back. PLEASE be more accommodating to me!!! This lab is really time consuming and stressful. If I don't get a lab done, can I work on it in the afternoon?? I just want to be able to finish a lab in the day that I started it. If I do finish a lab in the afternoon, I would like a break in between. I just don't like being chronically behind anymore. Don't tell me that I should be able to finish the lab in the same day like everyone else. I'm slower than everybody else and it isn't my fault. That's why I have you that letter. If you aren't going to accommodate me, I'm going to email Dr. Bronson. I'm assuming that you're not used to dealing students like me because don't have that much experience teaching since you are a graduate student. This class shouldn't be this stressful.

So, I just received an email about the google doc which I've been creating for each of our labs. She said, "you should not be answering questions for everyone else and then giving away the answers." I'm pretty sure that email was to everyone. For the first two labs, I did that because no one was helping me for the most part. However, I didn't want to be answering everything and giving the answers away because that wouldn't be fair. With these last two labs which we turned in, I only gave the people access to these google docs who contributed. Right now, I have eight people who are helping with these labs. I'm just surprised that more people aren't helping because in my last classes, lots of people helped. I created these google docs for us because these labs write ups are really time consuming. I mean I can spend more than five hours on one lab write up. That's a lot of time!!! My physiology class class required much less time than this last spring and was a four credit class. This is a two credit class!!! I'm just hoping the way that I set up these Google docs are OK with you. I only let people access if they contribute. I just want to make things easier for everyone who contributes while still being fair.

A person did email me that posting these google docs with the answers in a public domain won't hurt because the freeloaders will bring down the curve for the people who work hard. That's assuming that they will do poorly on the midterm and final. I disagreed with him to a point because the smart freeloaders will study the answers and get a good grade on the midterm and final. However, it makes sense that one doesn't want these "free answers" in the class because it would mess up the curve. These last two google docs pretty much have all the questions that are in the lab write ups because I included all the fill in the blank, the questions in the lab, and the why questions in the lab. Now, I want to start working on the why questions in the book because you are really emphasizing to do them. I don't really mind working on the google docs because it's easier for me to type my answers out instead of writing them. The TA's says that I'm over achieving. I don't think I am because it's less time consuming for me. Plus, I don't have to type all of the questions because I have all of them in digital format. So, I have a plus compared to everyone else. I can copy and paste instead of typing everything. That's why I included all the the fill in the blank for the last two labs. I figured it was easier putting my answers in bold instead of writing them down. Again, I only allow people access to these documents if they contribute.

Thanks,

Lizzie

Self Defense Email to Ward

Hello everyone,

Women's Services is sponsoring a free men and women self defense class this Wednesday, 6-8 PM, in the Wilk Ballroom. This will be taught by the BYU Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club and Michael Pease who teaches the martial arts class at BYU. He is also a black belt in Japanese Jiu Jitsu. I encourage everyone to come especially the girls. I just want to emphasize the need of how to defend one's self. I know that Provo is relatively safe; however, it can happen any time, any where, and to anybody. The class will contain verbal, standup, and ground defense. All three are very important to know. Verbal might contain of how to yell for help when being attacked. It's better to yell "fire" instead of just "help". We can avoid lots of situations that will put us in danger like running alone at night. Standup might contain how to escape when a person grabs our wrist and tries to drag us towards where they are going. Always yank free towards the thumb because it's much weaker than five fingers. Ground might contain of how to fall properly when you fall on your back. Whenever you fall, don't put your hands out to catch yourself because you can break a wrist that way. I know it's hard not to do because it's a reflex. In ground defense, we might teach you how to choke someone with your legs. A girl can put a big guy to sleep in five seconds only with her legs!!! I think that's pretty cool. If attacked, fight with everything you have. Normally, a guy is looking for a girl that will NOT put up a fight. They are looking for an easy target. Having pepper spray is good too because it can incapacitate a person to 30 minutes to an hour.

Thanks,

Lizzie: The Sword Wielding Roommate Saving Ninja Master :)

Commenting on Nienie's Blog

This is what I wrote in Nienie's blog today. Her husband finally let her readers to comment on her blog. There were days that I really wanted to know what was going on when she was in the hospital. I really wanted to comment but couldn't. However, I can always email. That's not a guarantee that she or her husband will write back. I just feel so sorry for her.

"I don't know if you will read this, but Happy Birthday. My heart really goes out to you. I'm sorry that you have so many health issues!!! :( I hope that you can get to a point where you don't have to spend so much time in a hospital. I would hate being there for a month!!! Now, you are back again. I'm sorry. You are going to get yourself again in the next life that's for sure!!! Thanks for your blog. I'm sorry that you have to go through so much. I know that Heavenly Father knows that YOU can handle it. Trust and lean on Him. He will comfort you if you ask Him. Remember to read your scriptures and pray every morning and night. That's what has really gotten through the hard times. Plus, talking to my roommates helps too. You are so beautiful. It doesn't matter what you look like on the outside. It matters who you are on the inside. Again, Happy Birthday. I wish you the best for coming year."

Terrible Morning for O-chem Lab

Gerr. I wish I was hiking right now. It's a really nice day outside. However, I need to my homework. I wanted to write in this blog before I got started. I think it's more important for me to keep on top of things for my O-chem lab. I had a horrible yesterday morning. I needed to get help from a TA because I didn't know how to do some problems for my lab write up. Then, I found out that I had to some spectroscopy work for that lab which I didn't know I had to do. After going through some of the spectroscopy questions, we all had to go the class. So, my TA couldn't answer my question of how to do a percent yield. I haven't done that since high school or when I was in Spokane Community College. After class, she showed me how to do it. It finally came back to me; but it's been a long time ago since I learned it.

After everyone left for class, I sat in the classroom and started crying because I was overwhelmed. So, I worked on the why questions that we just went over. When I was finished, my computer restarted on me. So, I went downstairs and tried to figure out how to print from Google document. I finally realized that I had to use Word instead of Google doc. To my ultimate dismay, I found that the printer was jammed. So, I went back upstairs and started crying again. When I was crying, I realized that I forgot that letter from the disability office saying I need more time in the lab. I just felt horrible because I didn't know how to get this first writeup done. So, I ran home, grabbed the letter, and ran back to school. I tried to calm myself down by saying that I'm still progressing and not failing. I hate it when I don't do well in school. I'm trying to get away from my black and white thinking.

When I finally came to class, I listened to the last five minutes of the lecture for lab. I gave that letter to my teacher. I'm not going to call him professor because he's a graduate student. He said that I can have ten more minutes of lab. I was so thankful when the end of lab rolled around because I didn't have to worry about leaving on time. If we don't leave on time, we will get docked points which sucks. During lab, John let me copy his spectroscopy homework. John was my TA for O-chem for winter semester. I'm so thankful that he's in the lab with me. For the past two labs, we've started together and finished separately. Each of us has to do our own lab work. We don't have partners. However, John helps me with my lab though. I'm very thankful that he's right next to me and is in the same class. I know that the lab would be harder without him. Plus, he can help me with our spectroscopy homework too. He's a TA for the second half of O-chem for this summer term. So, I'm planning on working with/getting help from him during his office hours.

Yesterday, I ran my IR and aquired my refractive index for my banana oil. That was the rest of what I had to do for the lab that was due yesterday. I didn't finish everything for yesterday's lab. I almost finished one lab and in the middle of another lab. I realized that I forgot to do one thing for another lab yesterday. That's OK though. I got behind because I didn't make enough product. I think most of it went down the sink. So, I had to borrow someone else's product to run the IR. I got enough product to do a melting point. I have to do that on Monday though because I ran out of time. At least, I'm almost done with that lab. Half the class had restart that lab because they grabbed to much of a reactant that destroyed their product. I heard from the TA that Monday's or Wednesday's lab is going to be pretty short.

It's pretty easy to break things in O-chem lab. Trevor said that he always broke something there. It cost him around 100 dollars to pay for everything he broke. On Wednesday, I broke a test tube. I was thankful it wasn't anything else because I don't have to pay for those. However, I broke a 5 ml vial at the start of lab yesterday. Thankfully, I didn't start crying. I did get upset, but not to the point of crying. After that point, my day started getting better. At the end of lab, my TA said that I can turn in my write up Monday morning since I still had to print some things off.

If anyone is interested in the banana oil that I made on Wednesday, look at this little article about Isopentyl Acetate in Wikipedia. It tells you how I made it too.

The IOGKF 2010 Miyagi Chojun Festival and Goju-Ryu

Last week, there was a big Gasshuku at my old dojo in Spokane. I knew about it for a few months now. However, I didn't go because it would have been too expensive and because of school. I thought it would have been cool because I would have liked to go to back into my roots and meet Higaonna Sensei. I would have loved to go to that class that Chris Charnos taught. I would have loved to roll with him too. Sensei Villa wrote big article about the Gasshuku for the IOGKF newsletter. It was really interesting to read. Some of the videos were intresting to watch too. However, reading and watching really made me glad that I'm in BJJ now. BJJ is so much a different art than Goju-Ryu. Goju-Ryu is all about stances, basics, kata, and bunkai. That's it. There's hardly sparring at all. Even Sensei said that they hardly practice Iri Kumi.



Look at my comments at the end of the video on Youtube. I wasn't really that impressed at first. I thought they were showing the drill to people who participated in the Gasshuku, not the general public. I liked the takedowns and kicks after watching stopping and starting it every second. It's looks weird that they aren't protecting their heads. I know that some fights are like that though, like Smoker Bouts.

When Sensei Higaonna first came to Spokane, he taught the kids class for Sensei Villa. In this video, you can see my Sensei and the dojo that I trained in. I'm very happy that I had an opportunity to train there. Sensei Villa is really nice.



I liked watching the other videos in the newsletter because in one of them, I saw Sensei running across the screen one way and the other. I found another video that shows what a testing looks like. Seeing these poor people still training while being really tired reminded of Sensei Chinen's Gasshuku in Spokane a couple years ago. You need to skip the first part of it though.



I'm not trying to bash Goju-Ryu. I just think that BJJ is more applicable for fighting than Goju-Ryu. One sees it all the time in UFC. You don't see Goju-Ryu. I'd much rather roll than do kata. I think that Goju-Ryu needs to have more full resistant sparring. I thankful that I know how to kick and punch correctly. However, I'm really bad at timing because we never sparred. I don't know what stances are all about. One will not use all of those stances in fighting or real life. They need to teach to kick with the calf instead of the top of the foot. They should get rid of that basic down block because one cannot block kicks with their arms. If the block is only used to catch an incoming leg, teach it that way instead of a block.

What if I Get Attacked???

I really feel like venting right now. So, there was a brutal rape in Provo right next where Colin lives. It was in a secluded area, in the middle of broad day light. I just feel bad that's she's 19 years old and is in intensive care. Her face was really bashed in because she couldn't even talk to the cops. She had to use sign language. Colin said that area was dangerous at night. However, I wouldn't think about it during the day!!! However, it's pretty easy to hide in the bushes next to the river.

Anyways, women and girls NEED to KNOW how to defend themselves. However, it doesn't help that most people teach crap. I like how those little self defense programs teach girls and women to say "NO" and teach them to really fight out the situation. However, will that help a girl if the guy really wants to rape her??? I'm assuming that most self defense programs doesn't teach any ground techniques. Every rapist will put a woman on the ground to rape her. Why not teach her how to defend herself on her back with her legs wide open?? In Brazilian Jiu Jistu that's a common position call the guard.

I've put a lot of thought about if I get attacked by a man. What would I do and how will I protect myself. I know that self defense isn't fool proof even for me; however, I know that my martial arts training has greatly improved my chances. When training in Goju-Ryu, I felt confident that I was able to defend myself when standing up. I think that I can handle my own against an untrained guy when standing up. However, I am much more comfortable on the ground now.

I walk on secluded path at night by myself on campus sometimes. I'm pretty confident that I can protect myself. I just need to keep aware. There's a section that's really dark and secluded. I normally keep really aware at that part because I know that's a perfect area for a rapist. If someone does try to attack me, I will try to stun them and run away as fast as possible. I'll be kicking and screaming if anyone tries to do that with me. If I end up on my back, I think I'll will be really able to defend myself. I have to have my legs wide open and on my back to rape me. So, I'll will probably have tons of chances to defend myself with either an armbar or a triangle. The guy has unzip his pants anyways. That's a perfect time for a triangle. I'd choke the guy out and then, get out of there.

What if bashed my face in and couldn't see?? Well, hopefully that I'll be still conscious enough to feel what's going on and still pull off a triangle or an armbar. I'd be safer with a triangle though. I think I would hold on for a four minutes or a little more to make sure he wasn't waking up for awhile. I know that one will get brain damage if the brain doesn't get oxygen in four to five minutes. I'd probably call 911 because I always have my cell phone on me when I have the guy in my triangle. What if the guys has a gun or a knife?? Well, I'd be more screwed. However, I learned from Sensei Villa that a gun in close quarter combat doesn't always work. It's easier to disarm a person with a gun when they are really close to you than being farther away.

What if a guy tries to rape me when hiking by myself?? Well, I'd defend myself with my hiking stick. I probably need to buy bear pepper spray to for the animals and any creepers. I would probably need to buy rope so I can tie the guy up if I choked him out. I don't know any good knots or how to tie a person though. There's always those slip ties. What if the guy weights my size or even 100 pounds more than me?? I'd be even more screwed because I can hardly control them. I know I'm mostly talking about guys that has some experience in wrestling or grappling. However, I just worked with a guy who's 330 pounds in Paul Tom's dojo last week. He didn't know much. He didn't know how to submit me when he got on top of me. I couldn't even lock my ankles together while he was in my guard because he's so big. I've never had that happen before. I just need to bank on that big guys are slower, so they will give me a chance to defend myself. I can control smaller guys much better. However, they are faster and more agile. One would hope that the rapist is looking for easy pray. If I put a big enough fight, hopefully he would lose interest and run away on his own accord.

Stewart Falls

Last Saturday, I went with people in the ward to hike Stewart Falls. About 20 of us, carpooled up. Luckily, I was one of them who drove. I felt pretty good after my big hike the night before. I brought my backpack because I didn't have to switch everything to a smaller bag. Everyone took off right from the start because I had to put some things in my backpack. I was so happy that Amber hiked with me. I was going pretty slow because of the night before. I found a blog that has some good pictures of the trail.



I also found a little video about it too. Amber thought she saw some wild strawberry plants on the trail. When we were almost to the falls, everyone from the Ward passed us and started hiking back. I saw a few people who were drenched from head to toe. We didn't take explore around the upper falls. We took the trail down to the lower falls. When we got to the base, we were sprayed with water from the falls. I opted to walk through it and get wet. Luckily, I brought my water sandals. When I came started walking in the water to get to the falls, I remembered how cold mountain streams were. When I walked under the falls, I started hyperventilating because it was so cold!!! I waited for minute to get warm again. Then, I walked back across and hyperventilated again. Amber didn't want to get wet because she was wearing white. Plus, she was wearing tennis shoes too.

On the way back, I walked pretty slow up the hill because my left thigh hurt whenever I took a step and my right calf just under the knee started to ache. So, Amber started pushing up the hill. I went much faster and hurt less that way. However, that tired her. When going back, Neal called Amber telling us that everyone is leaving. That's why I was so glad that I drove. I wanted to enjoy the falls and walk at my own pace. I felt sorry for Amber though because I was walking so slow. However, we made really good time when we walked down hill. I was so happy that I was wearing my sandals because they weren't bugging my blisters at all. I was happy that I got wet too because I would have became hot and sweaty on the way back. I felt like a cripple on the hike. I hiked 10 miles in less than 24 hours. I was so happy. I felt crappy after the hike though. However, I felt better on Sunday.