Car accident

Yesterday was quite a day. I had a wonderful morning at the Capitol building getting ready for the hearing for one of our bills which has been making the nightly news and the cover of the Boise paper. I found out that that my degree from McGill had cleared every last hurdle and was officially awarded (if you remember my "deportation" posts, then you can appreciate the additional relief I felt at this news), and I also found out that if offered a job, I can get on the fast track to a work visa and legally work in Montreal. This was great news since I'm hoping to spend as much time in Montreal as possible for my convocation in June, the jazz fest in July (which I still haven't ever attended) and of course to be near the lovely Sarah. Feeling good about life and wanting to spend some time meditating, I decided to go to the Temple, which is less than a mile from home. As I turned into the parking lot, a car in the far lane came from behind cars backed up waiting for a stop light and slammed into the front right of my car. While I'm pretty sore today, I luckily walked away with no injury. While my car didn't sound perfect, it did make it home after the accident as well. Because my insurance only covers damage done to other vehicles, Alan and I got pretty creative this morning trying to get my car up and running. I also took it to a mechanic who said that it should last me the rest of my time in Boise as long as I don't try it on the highway, which is fine since I can get to work on the regular city streets.

We took the hood off and moved things around so nothing was rubbing against the belt anymore. We were also able to bend back some of the metal so it's not quite so disformed.

Alan put his welding skills to use on my hood so that it would latch down properly (well, at least close to properly).

While this has been a terrible experience, at least I had an excuse to wear these cool coveralls and this cool welding mask.

3,000 hits?!?!

Since I have only had the counter at the bottom of my blog since Nov 15th I don't know how many hits I've had since I started. Since it's taken about 3 months to get my 1000th hit, and since I've had the blog for more than 9 months, I'm estimated that its had more than 3,000 hits since its humble beginnings as a beard growth progress documentor. Thanks to everyone who checks out my blog, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Katie's Bday

My sister Tara came down to the Boise area for the weekend to support their high school girls in the state basketball tournement (which they won!!) We stayed in Fruitland, Idaho which is just accross the snake river from Ontario, Oregon, so I got shop at the largest Oregon Wal-Mart! It was Katie's 4th bday, so we had a blast celebrating that on Saturday morning. She and I both got great haircuts. Josh and Caleb discovered how to make the bird in my ear chirp (my hearing aid). We really had a blast of a weekend.

6 more applications!

This morning I sent off applications to 6 more schools of public health: Boston, UNC, Michigan, Albany, George Washington and Ohio State. It's very exciting to imagine being accepted any of these wonderful schools. I still have one more to go, and I'll be sure to let you know when I start hearing back from these schools.

Happy V-Day Sarah

Here's the girl that's on my mind this Valentine's Day. If you want to imagine me blushing, follow the link to her blog and read her V-Day post about me and then use your imagine about how I reacted when I read it. If you've been following my blog then you've already met her in my new year's eve post, but I'm glad to have this special day to convey my affection for her. She is wonderful, talented, supportive, accomplished (an RN), spiritual, service-oriented, bilingual, incredibly cute and perhaps most importantly, she has a great sense of humor (ie, she laughs at all my jokes). The first picture is her in the sweater I sent her for vday. I thought I was being pretty funny to have sent her a Jones NY sweater, and I'm relieved that it fits her and that she looks so darn cute in it. The second picture is her at the subway stop I've called home since 1987. The third is us in Washington Square Park in Greenwhich Village on Dec 30th. Et maintenant, un message juste pour Sarah: Je t'aime et je prie pour que notre futur soie riche et joyeux, et que nous allons avoir beaucoup de belles experiences ensemble, et que tu vas continuer a etre patiente quand je parle francais. Il n'y a rien plus important pour moi que tes reves et ta joie, et j'espere que je peut les accomplir avec toi. Je sais que tu sens la meme chose pour moi. Merci; je t'aime; joyeux jour de spooks!

Korean Dancing, Napolean, Marilyn & Mary Ann

One of the best parts of working at the Capitol building is to experience the many cultural events that take place there. I don't know what the occassion was, but there was a group of Korean children and women performing beautiful dances. I wish I had better pictures of the incredibly cute 3 year olds. As part of Idaho Film Day I got to meet Marilyn Monroe and Napolean Dynamite! (look alikes of course...) I did see the real actress who played Mary Ann on Giligan's Island, though I didn't get an invitation to go on a three hour tour with her (was that joke too cheesy?)

Alan & Sharon's Grandkids

Alan & Sharon had 8 of their grandkids over for a sleepover last friday night and we all had a blast. Friday evening was spent watching Bambi 2, an extremely cute movie. On Saturday Alan took a couple of us to ride his horse Trio. I thought you would all get a kick out of a picture of this city slicker on a horse. We also decorated valentine's day cookies that Sharon made for us. I was very touched that when I turned my back for a minute and then looked at my plate again, somehow there were three extra Valentine's cookies on my plate. I'm grateful to have made such great new friends.

Legislative Update

I am having so much fun with my internship in the Idaho House of Representatives. I love the opportunity I have to interact daily with important and impressive legislators, and to be a part of the discussion surrounding new legislation. There are now 6 bills that I have contributed significantly to which each have unanimously been approved to be printed and given a full debate and committee hearing. These bills are important, such as making Idaho only the second state in the country to have an online prescription drug monitoring database that allows pharmacists, practioners and law enforcement agencies to track potential drug abuse in real time. Other bills require insurance companies to provide coverage for cleft lip/palate procedures and treatment dealing with inborn errors of metabolism. Yesterday Rep. Henbest did a wonderful job introducing a bil that would limit the amount of junk food schools are allowed to sell to students in vending machines. She actually received a lot of positive press for the issue, including three TV interviews. I was proud that not only was the info I found for her useful in answering the questions that arose, but it helped the reporters frame our bill in such a positive light. Check out this article for example. You can read the full text of each bill by following the following links to House Bill # 614, 615, 616, 644, 667 and House Concurrent Resolution 041. If you scroll down to the bottom of each link you'll see the Statement of Purpose and the Fiscal Impact of each bill, which I wrote for all except 667. This picture was from a press conference led by Senate Minority Leader Clint Stennet (at the mic), responding to Pres. Bush's new budget proposal which includes provisions allowing for the government selling of public land. This would essentially eliminate regular citizens from having access to huge chunks of the State, including some of the most beautiful and popular. I admired the Democratic caucus for taking a stance on the issue and calling for a press conference. It was especially fun to see the coverage that night on the news and to see this picture on Betsy Russell's wonderful blog (http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/boise/).

My dear Sarah

Many of you have expressed interest in knowing more about my friend Sarah who I am becoming very close to. Here she is! Just kidding of course, though Alan and Sharon (the wonderful people I'm staying with in Boise) do have this dog named Sarah who follows me around everywhere I go. It seems that whenever I am at the computer she is near my feet, and then when I look down at her, she rolls over onto her back expecting to get her tummy rubbed. Seriously though, my Sarah is a wonderful person I hope you all get to know. I've added a link to her blog on the right side of my page so you can read all about her adventures as Primary President or about her trips to France and NYC, and how much she likes me.

Peace of Conscience and Peace of Mind

As I mentioned last week, my recent trip to Utah was fantastic and included some spiritual experiences in which I felt I learned (or was reminded) of some important life lessons which I promised to share. While driving back to Idaho I thought a lot about my Aunt Brenda and how much I love her and how impressed I am with the overall sense of peace she somehow seems to have. It almost didn't make sense to me that someone suffering from cancer could exude peace and love the way she does. As I thought about this I thought of two other experiences which reinforced the lesson I was learning. The first was a combination of many events from my mission, in which I so badly wanted to bring peace into the lives of the people I was befriending. The specific moment that encapsulated this for me was a heartbreaking moment I had on a Saturday morning in a trailer park in Pocatello. As I stood with a woman not much older than me, and experienced her 3 kids running around, trashing her trailer, making insane amounts of noise, and thinking I saw bruises on her arm as I heard about the mixed emotions of anxiety, fear and relief she was feeling about her husband leaving, I wanted so badly to take away the complications in her life. I wished I could have convinced her to stop drinking and doing whatever else she was doing to numb her pain. She told me she had a lot to do that day and so I only had 5 minutes to share my message. With the opportunity to share only one thing I had her read John 14:27, a verse that summarizes the Savior's promise to those who follow Him. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." I never saw that lady again and I don't know what effect that meeting had on her, but it had a major impact on me as my faith was strengthened that somehow Jesus Christ really did have the power to bring peace into her life if she would let it. I knew that I felt at peace with my life in a way that I never had before and that it was through Christ, but I had a hard time articulating exactly how this happened. The thought I had on the drive back from Utah that brought all of this together was the memory of a talk given by one of Christ's Apostles, named Richard Scott. Because of his direct connection to my family, and the experience I had with him, his words always mean a lot to me, but I particularly remembered the distinction he made between peace of conscience and peace of mind. In Oct 2004, he explained the difference, that peace of conscience "relates to your inner self and is controlled by what you personally do," and that it is the "the essential ingredient to your peace of mind" and "provides a foundation for happiness." Peace of mind on the other hand is affected by external forces such as family, economic stress, school, relationships and sickness. It seems to me that he's saying that these concerns are valid, but fleeting and temporary, and that if we do not feel peace of conscience, or at peace with the life we are living and the unfixed mistakes we have made in the past, then no amount of peace of mind can bring enduring happiness. As I described in my Christmas post about the recovering crack addict I heard on the subway, peace of conscience is possible because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I wanted so badly to tell everyone in southeastern Idaho that there is no reason to live with guilt or shame or fear of retribution, that all mistakes can be fixed and forgiven. I know this because I have experienced the dramatic difference that comes as I have peace of conscience despite unnerving experiences that temporarily disrupt peace of mind. I learned this again from Brenda, who perhaps has reason to struggle with feeling peace of mind, but whose life is so full of love and forgiving and charity that she really does feel peace of conscience and really does experience enduring happiness. As I drove past Burley, Idaho on I-84 and realized once again that what Elder Scott had taught wasn't purely theoretical, but that it was real and that it was the source of peace I feel about my life, I broke down and cried. Having once again tasted of this fruit, nothing would please me more than for my family and friends to enjoy it as well. I hope that if you have any feelings of wanting deeper peace and happiness that you'll follow the link in this post to Elder Scott's talk, or follow the link at the top right of this page that says "learn more about my church." Just as I promised that woman in Pocatello, I can promise you that deep peace and enduring happiness really are possible.

MPH Applications

On Jan 30th, I sent off grad school applications to 3 fantastic schools: The Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in NYC, The Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and the School of Public Health at Yale University. All are fantastic programs at fantastic schools in fantastic cities and I'm very excited and nervous to have sent those out. I still have 7 more applications to send out, and I'll be sure to post any updates that I hear.