To Kneaders

Kneaders,

Hey, how's it going? How is business? I pretty much wanna say thanks and thats about it.

First, thanks a ton for breakfast. I really can't think of anything that I would rather eat in the later hours of the morning than there at your establishment. The french toast is awesome. It isn't only the french toast that brings me there in the morning. You also provide a great chance to get together with friends who are really busy at night usually.

Second, thanks for the turkey bacon avocado sandwich on focaccia bread. Wow. It's good. I have to say that honestly it is the best turkey sandwich I've ever had.

Finally, thanks for the quote.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" -Edmund Burke

Thanks.

To the MTC

Hey MTC. First off I wanna say thanks for being there. Thanks for being there to employ me as one of your teachers, but mostly thanks for being there for missionaries to learn and grow and stuff before they go serve the Lord.

I'm having trouble working through a mental debate I'm having with myself, so I figured I'd turn to you for your advice and help.

Being a student at BYU is fun and tough, especially in the business program. My classes this semester have me working hard, but also have me thinking about whether or not I should really be working there with you. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do. I love being a part of the missionaries' lives and helping them prepare to invite people to come unto Christ. I love being able to teach Tagalog to people. It definitely helps to keep me sharp on my language skills. Only thing is, I've been thinking lately that as much as I love working with the missionaries, I really don't know how much my job is helping me with my career in business.

I need the job to help me to pay for school and what not. I especially want to try to avoid any student loans if possible. Yet, at the same time I think that perhaps by quitting my job I can focus on things that will help me advance my career opportunities. All this meaning that even if I do take on debt, a better career offered by better focus on that now provides a higher opportunity cost.

I just don't know what to do. What do you think?

To the Mariners

I know this is too early for an end of season thank you letter, Seattle Mariners, but thank you.

First off, thank you for playing good baseball and really showing the world that yes, Seattle can still compete in sports. We don't just roll over and die in everything these days. Thanks for giving us a good effort and putting up a (soon to be hopefully) winning season.

Mostly I just want to say thank you to you, Mariners, for resurrecting my hero, Ken Griffey Junior. He is the best player I have ever seen play the game. I grew up watching him. I sometimes even think of him as my second father. He was the heart and soul of the Mariners my entire childhood, and watching him go all those years ago was one of the saddest days of my life. He leaves Seattle, and his career is plagued by injury. It is sad. He probably would have been the best player of this generation and one of maybe 5 pure sluggers in the game. Thanks for bringing Ken back to the house that Junior built. I love watching him. Tears well up in my eyes every time I hear that announcer say "Now batting, Keeeennn Griffeeeeeeeyyyy JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNIIOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!" Some say he didn't do much for the team this year because of his batting average. I say he saved the team completely this year. Not just the team, but the city. He brought us back to Safeco. He reminded us (and probably the team too) of what baseball is all about. That big smile put smiles on millions.

Thanks, Mariners, for a great season. I know your playoff hopes are shot this year. Best of luck next year. Sodo Mojo. My Oh My. Refuse to lose.

To Provo

I'm a student at Brigham Young University. Owned by the LDS church, BYU is tucked away at the feet of the Wasatch Mountains 50 miles south of Salt Lake City in a little college town called Provo. BYU is Provo. 99 out of 100 people you meet here are mormon. Most of which are BYU students or BYU alum. There are hundreds of congregations that meet for Sunday worship while the rest of the town is dead and even fast food chains are closed for the day.

Now you might think, being a college town, that Provo might have a lot to offer in the way of things to do for a college student (us crazy mormons!). Well, believe it or not you're wrong. It pretty much sucks living here 99% of the time because all there is to do is watch TV or movies and try to escape the fact that we are actually living in the nexus of the boredom universe. A crazy night on the town is usually topped off with bowling up on State street's famous Miracle Bowl.

But somehow, tonight, I love Provo. This fall has started no different than any, with the town holding its breath as the long awaited college football season begins and we all wonder... "how are the cougs gonna hold up this year?" We opened our season tonight ranked #20 facing off against the Heisman winning Sam Bradford and the #3 Sooners at the "neutral stadium" of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas, and somehow we won. This isn't necessarily why I love Provo tonight, because we win often nowadays. I love Provo right now because the town went absolutely crazy after the win.

2 hours after the final whistle traffic was backed up on all the streets, crazy mormon college kids were running around the streets jumping on cars driven by old ladies and screaming in victory. Honking cars crowded the parking lot of the stadium as thousands did nothing but yell into the night. I couldn't have imagined anything close to that happening here, even if BYU had won the national championship or Obama had been shot.

The time is now 10:32, and the crowds are starting to die down. Any other college town and we would be off drinking our livers to hell and probably getting laid. None of that here. We have church in the morning.

To the world

My name is Rob, and I'm from Seattle.

I attend school at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. I'm sure you'll be hearing lots about me and Provo in my following epistles. Not that I have anything against BYU, it's just that I have something against Provo. After all, I'm from Seattle.

In case you were wondering, yes, I am a Mormon. Hence my Biblical reference in the name of my blog. And I just thought it was clever. I served as a Mormon missionary (yes the 19-20 year old boys who walk around in suits and parted hair) in Manila, Philippines. Expect to be hearing more about that and my experience there too.

This is my first attempt at blogging. It was given to us as an assignment for my business writing course at BYU, but I'm actually really excited about this. I'm going to mainly use this to express my thoughts and opinions in letter format (mostly) to either an individual or an organization. Some may be angry, some may be funny, and, like it or not, some may be offensive. This is my brain. This is how it works. I'm not worried about it. You shouldn't be either.

I hope I write something interesting or worthwhile somewhere down the line.