Thursday, May 29

'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars

According to the Strong Interest Inventory, my top 5 career interest areas are:  
  1. Religion & Spirituality
  2. Performing Arts
  3. Athletics
  4. Writing & Mass Communication
  5. Visual Arts & Design. 
Top five occupations
  1. Musician
  2. College Instructor
  3. Editor
  4. Advertising Account Manager
  5. ESL Instructor
Apparently I need to sing about spirituality... which will it be, Yusuf Islam or Janice Kapp Perry?  Maybe Thurl Bailey.


Areas of least interest
  1. Entrepreneurship
  2. Programming & Information Systems
  3. Finance & Investing
Bottom five occupations
  1. Medical Technician
  2. Firefighter
  3. Chef
  4. Vocational Agricultural Teacher
  5. Forester
I guess this means I will have to give up my dream of teaching livestock management and running sputum tests.

Sunday, May 25

McCain on Oil and Iraq:

This quote was given a few weeks ago, but I came across it today:

"My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will -- that will then prevent us -- that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East..."

So what he's saying is, if we were not dependent on oil from the Middle East, then we would not have started the war? Has he retracted this statement? He can't seriously believe this, can he? What about those of us that were told we invaded Iraq to free the Iraqis or to take down Saddam, or to fight terror?

mormon matters: all we can do

“We know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” Many of us seem to break out into hives when this scripture is mentioned. A while back I read a comment about this scripture (by a member of the church) that suggested the “after all we can do” should be left off the next time someone uses it in a talk. What does “all we can do” mean, and why does it bother us? Continue reading...

Thursday, May 22

David Cook vs. George W. Bush

97.5 million people voted on American Idol on Tuesday night. 122 million voted in Presidential election in 2004. Should we open up the election to 13 year-olds? Make the candidates sing? Might get the vote out more that way. Or maybe if one could just text message the word vote to "PRES OBAM" "McCA" or "CLIN" more people vote. ; )

Wednesday, May 21

Career Path(s)

I had an assignment in a career counseling class to write about my career path. Here goes...

When I was a child I was sure I wanted to be a paleontologist. I loved dinosaurs and everything about them. I collected books and rubber dinosaur figures, and even remember doing some sort of poster presentation on dinosaurs for my family. I do not know how I lost interest... maybe when I first saw paleontologists on TV digging in the desert. I also wanted to play in the NBA, but that dream was lost after a friend told me only one out of 400,000 or so basketball playing kids makes it that far. My career desires then logically moved on to “eventually taking over my father’s company.”

This lasted until middle school, when I realized that I did not have much interest in what he does, which includes spraying Teflon-like coatings on steel tanks (not the military variety), traveling two to three times a week, and keeping the peace between shop employees. His work (as well as my mother’s, who works with him) has had a lot of influence on my own path, however. It has taught me the necessary hard work and daily grind of providing for one’s family. The most important thing I learned from my parents career-wise is all the good that can be done if you're willing to share.


In high school I took an AP psych class. I learned there that I loved certain topics (such as social and personality psychology), and was completely bored out of my mind by others (cognitive and neuropsychology). In terms of the topics that I was interested in, I was pretty sure I wanted to study psychology in college.

Before college I spent two years as a volunteer missionary for the church in Japan. During that time I learned about the success many former missionaries had as international lawyers. This is what first sparked my interest in law. As a missionary I also gained confidence in speaking to people I did not know, more desire to help those in need, and learned how to work hard even when I did not feel like it.

Soon after returning home from Japan, while driving up a canyon to a snowboarding class, I listened to a tape of John Gottman talking about marriage that my older sister had given my parents. I was completely fascinated by it. While I loved the topic of marriage, I did not think of it in terms of a career at the time. Later on I also took some international law classes while doing a study abroad program. I got married soon after that, and began to think seriously about how to balance supporting a family with having a career that I enjoyed as well as one that contributed to society and to individuals.

With all this in mind, near the end of my undergraduate career I applied to law school. I also applied to a Master’s program in Japanese (which I got accepted to, but they did not offer the money that was mentioned in the application, so I turned them down.) I also applied to a counseling program. My sister had graduated from the same program here a few years earlier. On top of that, my aunt (who teaches in the program) made it sound really great. And that's where I am now. : )

Sunday, May 4

Iron Man (I can has cheezburger?)

After a really great post on American consumerism last week at Mormon Matters last week, I felt inspired and energized to begin my gradual shunning of all things corporate America...

Well, it's going to take a while longer, because last night I saw Iron Man (which is a GREAT movie by the way, I knew nothing about the character--it was surprisingly entertaining and funny, especially as a summer blockbuster). So, yeah, I still give in to the Hollywood machine. Anyway, during the movie there is some shameless product placement (which is in everything now, I suppose--BUT the movie was still really good--did I already say that?). The main character, upon coming home after being held hostage in Afghanistan for three months, declares that he wants "an American cheeseburger." Guess what they bring him? Which fast-food chain is marketing Iron Man in their commercials? Yep, that's the one. I won't repeat it here, lest they get more advertising (although I have plugged the movie 3 times now).

So what's the problem? After the cheeseburger scene, I was hungry. I wanted a cheeseburger too, dang it! A friend and I went out looking for one (promising not to buy one from previously mentioned chain), and the one we wanted to go to (a local, mom and pop type with the really good shakes) was closed. Guess what was across the street.  Yep.  I still have a ways to go in terms of living up to my principles.

Iron Man: A
Cheeseburger: B+
Adam sticking to his principles: C

Saturday, May 3

Mormon Matters: The Nature of God and Bible Bashing Sharing

Like many members of the church, I believe that humankind is of the same species as God; that our Heavenly Parents are like us only on a higher level of development. To me, the doctrine is one of the most awe-inspiring and exciting aspects of Mormon theology.

I have heard enough slams of Mormon theology on this issue, as well as plenty bashing the idea of the Trinity in Mormon circles. Unfortunately, I have to admit I have scoffed at the doctrine of the Holy Trinity in the past. I was amazed (to say the least) when I first read the Anathasian creed – unsure at how people could, or would even want to, believe in “The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.” However, what does one’s belief about the substance or shape of God have to do with the purpose of religion?

Read more...