31 January 2012

Early Morning Ramblings

It's 3am and I'm still awake. William went to bed almost two hours ago but I just can't sleep. I have folded all the laundry, showered, and scrubbed the bathtub. I've been feeling sort of "blah" these past few days. I'm exhausted all the time, I work out but don't feel any better, and I am always hungry. I do know that I am NOT preggo again so it's not that.
I just read an article from a former member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (mormon). She expressed her poor experiences with the church and made some pretty gross generalizations about Mormon doctrine. I know that all this is coming up because of Mitt Romney. But you know what? I'm pretty freakin' sick of everybody hating on Mormons. Are we bad people? Do we do bad things? No. I'm sorry if you don't like that we send out missionaries. I'm sorry if our doctrine makes you feel uncomfortable. It probably does that since no one is perfect and we all need to change. Why can't a Mormon be president? Because we're a cult? What's your definition of a cult? When I think of a cult, I think of the KKK or something with people who do bad things in secret or practice weird things like human sacrifice. We don't do that. The Oxford English Dictionary says a cult is "A particular form or system of religious worship; esp. in reference to its external rites and ceremonies." So, that'd be pretty much every religion then, right? A later definition adds that a cult is "A relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister." First: the LDS Church has (as of 2010) over 14 million members. That is not relatively small by any means. Second: this definition states that practices of a religion must be regarded by OTHERS as strange or sinister to be a cult. So if I decide that infant sprinkling is weird, does that automatically make Catholicism a cult? No. Groups of people who worship little green men are weird, and are, in my opinion, cults. But who decides? No one in particular.
I just wish that people would stop make judgments about Mitt Romney and about Mormonism simply because they don't wish to take time and really learn about it. I'm sick of people telling me my religion is bad and that I'm a bad person because I don't do things that other people do. I was hurt when people "un-friended" me on Facebook because I supported Prop 8. My beliefs were different and they cast me out. I have gay friends who I want to be happy and successful.
I like who I am. I don't ask you to change, I don't ask you to hide your religious beliefs because I don't understand them, I don't judge you based solely on your beliefs. Please don't do it to me. Get to know me, have discussions with me, and make your judgments on that. Not from anti-Mormon literature. 
I will re-read this when I am fully awake and I'll probably delete it. Thank you for letting me vent.

19 January 2012

I love my job but sometimes...

I get really irritated with people. This is not a new thing. After working at Guest Relations for Universal Studios Hollywood and Independent Study for BYU I know all about people and their issues. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE PEOPLE! I would hate to be stuck in a cubicle, hunkered down, working on some meaningless project. I enjoy fixing people's problems and giving information. In a nutshell, I like to be helpful.
Helpfulness has been a quality of mine since I was a toddler. My mother tells me that when she was pregnant with my brother (2nd sibling of 4) I was always willing to fetch her things and generally help out. I would even stick a ball up under my shirt and pretend I was pregnant too. I enjoy being helpful because I get satisfaction out of solving people's dilemmas.
My favorite part of working with the people who came to play at Universal Studios was doing lost and found. We collected all lost and found, catalogued it, and tried to contact people who had made claims during the day. The last few hours were always chaotic in GR but it was worth it to return those lost items to their owners. People were so grateful.
What I have never appreciated about the customer service industry is the idea that customer service representatives (CSRs) must be trained to be unhelpful. As a seasoned CSR, I know that company policies are in place to protect it's employees, products, and, yes, income. I also know that the more irritated you become, the less likely we are to help you. We don't like being pushed around. I take my job very seriously and do not appreciate being told that I don't know anything or that I'm being rude or anything like that. I also do not appreciate being taken for granted. Without me and other CSRs, the customer would be left to navigate the procedures and policies of any company all alone.
Here at BYU I am grateful for wonderful co-workers and an amazing boss who have helped teach me the ropes. It's been interesting working with professors I took classes from. Some of them are nice and friendly, and some of them are more distant toward me than when I was a student! I appreciate working in the department I graduated from because I am gaining a new perspective of my department. I'm amazed at how many things this department does and I'm even more amazed that our department secretary knows all the things she does. It's impressive. It's one thing to be taken for granted by faculty, but by students? Heck. No. We do everything we can to help you out and make your life easier. So, if we give you advanced notice and reminders, do not show up here like a maniac demanding results. Sorry, we have other things that are more important than fixing your procrastinating-self.
Okay, vent over.
PS I truly love my job and feel so blessed to have found this position. It is perfect for me at this time in my life and it's going to be so hard to leave once Tyson graduates and finds a full-time position.

11 January 2012

Wellness, Cycling, and Post-Baby-Body

I love that BYU Wellness offers health challenges to employees. I finished the "Don't gain more than two pounds over the holidays and drink 64oz of water 80% of the days for six weeks" challenge. I drank that much water every day and didn't gain any weight.
Next up is the "Exercise for 30 minutes five days a week and don't eat sugar for six days a week for six weeks" challenge. I've wanted to cut sugar out of my diet for a while now since it's a serious problem for me. I've made Tyson swear to not buy me any chocolate and not let me make any baked goods. Ice cream isn't a temptation for me, but chocolate, cookies, and brownies? Ugh. 
In other news, Tyson and I are both doing a spinning/cycling class at BYU. His started on Monday and mine starts tomorrow. Mine is free since I work for BYU :) I certainly love that too. A boy I dated my freshmen year of college took a spinning class and always told me what an awesome workout it was. Ever since then I've wanted to give it a try. Tyson likes it so far but isn't used to the bike seats yet. His class is at 8am on Mondays and Wednesdays D: and mine is at 5pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I missed on Tuesday because I didn't know I could just show up. Oops. Oh well! I am looking forward to having my butt whooped into shape this semester. I still play Just Dance 2 on the Wii multiple times a week. William likes watching me dance, which is a good motivation to keep doing it. I really want to lose the baby weight but more than that, I want to be more healthy. William is a mover and a shaker and I want to be actively involved in his playtime as he gets older. I've never been able to lose weight. The last time I tried really hard was pre-wedding. I worked out all the time and ex-nayed sugar from my diet. I didn't lose any weight but I was more toned by our wedding. I was also on birth control which, I think, made it harder for me to lose weight. Now that I've had William, I'm not on hormonal birth control so I'm feeling more optimistic about my ability to lose weight. Most women lose weight when nursing but I don't. The same hormones are released during nursing as with my old birth control so it's been a pretty frustrating four months post-delivery. Luckily, I haven't gained anything either. I try to stay positive about my post-preggo body but it sure is hard sometimes. It's especially difficult since the other ladies who have had babies around the same time as me are successfully losing weight or already back to their pre-baby weight. It's irritating. But when I hold my beautiful son in my arms and he smiles at me, I'm reminded that it is all worth it. I have 20 lbs to go. I want to have it off by the time William is one-year-old. I have 9 months. Here we go.

04 January 2012

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

I don't believe the world will end this year but just in case it does, I would like to mention that "The Hobbit" will be in theaters on December 14, 2012 so really, it'll all be okay. I mean, the world couldn't just end with the LOTR movie series incomplete, could it? No. It could not.
Here. Have a trailer.