Tagged...

SO, my sister C tagged me to do this, and obviously that means I HAVE to do it now. I am obligated merely because I read her blog. Serves me right. Oh well, it's either do this or read Weber, and let's face it, I've already finished the interesting Weber stuff and don't really want to read the rest =P

1. What is the most ridiculous thing you have ever done in your life? Um...I seriously have no idea. I do ridiculous things every day. And anyway, isn't ridiculous in the eye of the beholder? =) Oh, I know one, I used to eat salt. Plain. I liked it a lot, okay? Also, one time on a dare I did the Tarzan yell at 10:30 PM in a mobile home park. I dressed up as "St. Patrick's Day" for Halloween once. Last year I performed (for no audience) an interpretive dance to Josh Groban with my roommate. There we go. I'm not ashamed of any of these things. =)

2. Describe your perfect vacation. Where, who with, what would you do, etc. Doesn't matter the cost! I would go with my spouse (this will have to happen sometime after I get married) to Europe, probably back to Italy, and just travel all over Italy for a few months. We would enjoy tons of glorious Italian food and gelato, enjoy the beach, enjoy the art, enjoy the warmness of the land and the people...and we would go to the temple in Rome. Obviously this trip will have to take place sometime after I get married and after that temple is dedicated. Seriously though, how awesome would it be to go to the LDS temple in Rome? If that didn't work out, we would do the same kind of things but in other parts of Europe, possibly all over Europe. If we did that, though, the trip would have to last longer to make sure we got to go everywhere we wanted. =) Now that I think about it, I think I'd prefer that to just Italy. I would love to go to Scandinavia and all over Ireland, Scotland, and England.

3. If you could automatically become fluent in one language, which one would it be and why? Either Spanish or Italian. Spanish because it would be extremely useful here in the U.S., or Italian because it is such a beautiful language.

4. You are stranded on a desert island and only have five books to read for the rest of your life. What are they? My scripture quad (4 books bound together with one spine = 1 book! I'm cheating the system!); The most recent General Conference Ensign; Harry Potter 1-7 bound into one book (ha ha! I'm cheating the system again! Man, that book would be huge...); How To Survive In The Desert: On Eating Desert Plants and Animals, On Finding Water To Drink, and On Avoiding Death by Poisonous Desert Creatures; and How To Build A Working Boat Using Sand, Rock, and Various Desert Plants.

5. You have the day off work/school and have no pressing responsibilities. What do you do with yourself? Go to the beach, of course. If I lived close to one, I would. If that's not an option, as it currently is not, I would find a friend to come with and blow off steam somewhere--maybe we'd go to the movies, maybe go shopping, or do something crazy that would probably involve spending money. Maybe I'd learn to hang glide. =)

6. What is your dream job? Do you think it's realistic? I would love a creative work life--to write books/stories/poetry, to write music, to perform music when and where I wanted. I don't particularly enjoy a rigid work schedule. I think this could be realistic for me if I get married and my husband's income is stable enough to provide for our family. If I need a more stable income, I don't think a job like this would be good.

7. What is your favorite thing about yourself? Any particular reason? I've never really thought about this before. I suppose I like my very unique quirkiness. I don't show it much until people get to know me--and indeed I would say very few people know it about me at all; most just know an aspect of my weird quirkiness--but I have some quirky habits, ways of talking, interests, talents, etc. that I like to think keep me at least somewhat interesting.

8. When you log onto the computer, what is the first website that you go to (after email or Facebook)? Well I was going to say Email, then Facebook...I suppose the next one is probably a toss-up between blogger.com, hulu, and blackboard. 

Now you know so much about me. Word. Okay, I am going to tag five people to do this, muahahaha...I don't know if anyone reads this, but I'm going to tag the authors of the following blogs: http://melodicallyme.blogspot.com/, http://amycarsten.blogspot.com/, http://paigiethoughts.blogspot.com, http://mwuest.blogspot.com/, and http://adverbfamily.blogspot.com/.

HERE ARE YOUR QUESTIONS:

1. Of all the music artists that you have ever liked, which are you most mortified about that now?

2. When you were a kid, what did you want to grow up to be, and if you aren't that now, why not?

3. What is the one place to which you would most like to travel? What would you do while there?

4. What do you hate that other people inexplicably love? (*credit this question to The Sassy Curmudgeon)

5. Is there anything you have a weird fascination with that other people just don't seem to appreciate? What is it? How did you come to like it so much?

6. We can all think of at least one word that sounds weird, disgusting, just plain wrong, or makes our skin crawl. Without getting too gross, what is your least favorite word, and why do you despise it so much? 

7. If you had the power to sign into law an amendment prohibiting a specific human behavior (i.e. using a Bluetooth or singing karaoke), what would you outlaw? (*credit this question also to The Sassy Curmudgeon--what?! I like the questions!)

8. What was/is your favorite cartoon?

I know getting any of you to fill this out (particularly you last three) is a definite longshot, but come on. Do it for the kids. ...and since none of you have kids (yet), do it for me. =) Here's lookin’ at you, kid.

Be Still, My Soul

You may know that my favorite hymn is "Be Still, My Soul." The peace that song brings is so powerful. Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God", was twice quoted in General Conference last week. Here are the lyrics to "Be Still, My Soul" and a video of an amazing boy's choir (Libera) performing the hymn.

Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side; With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide; In ev'ry change He faithful will remain. Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav'nly Friend Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake To guide the future as He has the past. Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake; All now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.
Be still, my soul: The hour is hast'ning on When we shall be forever with the Lord, When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored. Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past, All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

I have a Pandora music station dedicated to "Sunday music", and through it came across an instrumental rendition of "Be Still, My Soul" by one Chris Rice on his album "The Living Room Sessions". I highly recommend looking it up if you like the hymn. Though the piece was instrumental, there were lyrics, different ones that the traditional words in the LDS hymnal. I would like to share them here. They clearly have a non-denominational or born again Christian perspective which provides a different perspective than we might normally have.

How far are you? How close am I? I know your words are true and I don't feel them inside. Still I believe you'll never leave, So, where are You now?
You're all I have, You're all I know, Your breath is breathing in my soul. Still I am gasping, aching, asking, Where are You now?
'Cause I just wanna be with You. I just want this waiting to be over. I just want to be with You, And it helps to know the day is getting closer.
Every minute takes an hour, Every inch feels like a mile 'Til I won't have to imagine And I finally get to see You smile.
My journey's here but my heart is there, So I dream and wait and keep the faith While You prepare our destiny, 'til You come back for me. Oh, please make it soon.
I just wanna be with You. I just want this waiting to be over. I just want to be with You, And it helps to know the day is getting closer.
Every minute takes an hour, Every inch feels like a mile 'Til I won't have to imagine And I finally get to see You.
Every minute takes an hour, Every inch feels like a mile 'Til I won't have to imagine And I finally get to see You smile.

I just found those lyrics interesting. I feel as though the singer is struggling with his testimony, just as the person singing the traditional words is, and pleads with the Lord to be there for him. However, this perspective demonstrates a greater sense of aloneness, while in the traditional one it is as though the individual is consoling himself with the knowledge that God is with him. In that sense it is as though there is a great distance between the individual and the Lord. I do not believe that is the case; I believe the Lord is with us always, so long as we live worthy of His presence. I prefer the original lyrics because they demonstrate the closeness of the Lord to us. Yet this different perspective also draws more attention to the fact that each of us will be able to see our Father in Heaven once again, and the singer looks forward with eager anticipation for that day, not only when he will see His Lord again but when he will see Him smile. I think that will be one of the greatest sights to look forward to: a smile upon the faces of our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. I just wanted to post those lyrics here mainly for that reason: that we can remember how absolutely wonderful it will be to see Him again, and to see Him smile. I, for one, am very excited to see Him again. =) I hope for the strength to live worthy now so that I can live with Him eternally.

I'm a...what?

In the past little while I've taken on a few new identities, and while they've been good to me, I suppose, I'm having an identity complex right now with these newer identities.

I'm a sociologist...right? Aren't I? Haven't I put in three years of school and am planning to put in two more years just to prove that I am a sociologist?

I'm a grad student...or am I? Well, technically I am, because I'm taking graduate courses, but do I really want to be a grad student? Is it worth it?

I'm a researcher...I do lots of research, at least, and I see that it is important, and I can come up with good ideas, yet do I really care that much about it?

I'm an academic...or am I? Knowledge is important, and I want to keep acquiring it, but do I really want to be a part of the "professional academic world"?

I'm a young single adult...and I don't want to be, but do I really have a choice? It is hard to ask guys out without them getting scared off, and sometimes it is hard to get guys to ask me out, mostly because I'm "old" and a grad student in a place where most of the guys and girls around me still have a few years left of their undergrad. So I'm a young single adult...but I don't want to be.

I don't really know what else I am these days, and I am struggling with how I feel about all of this. How I feel about some things is clearer than how I feel about others, but mostly I just don't really know what I'm doing.

Maybe I'm not really struggling at all with it; maybe I'm just creating a problem where there wasn't one, like the "crisis" in social psychology in the 1960s-1970s. (Hey, at least we know I am learning stuff in grad school...but once again, do I care about it? Does it really matter? What am I doing here?)

My experience with SONY.

I purchased a brand new Sony Vaio laptop at the beginning of August 2010. It was an excellent computer and served me well for a month and a half, until it decided to stop working (it won't even turn on). The moment I realized it wasn't working, I called Sony. That was Sunday Sept 19. The first phone call was miserable--15 minutes long, with only a minute and a half total of actual conversation with the agent, who kept putting me on hold while he tried to figure out what he was doing. He put in an order for a tech to come on-site to fix it. The next morning I called again to see if they could suggest any troubleshooting, since the other guy hadn't suggested anything; three phone calls later (the line kept getting cut off, which never happens with anyone else I talk to on the phone in my apartment, so I know it was on their end) I was able to talk to someone who seemed to know what they were doing. He had me do a few things and we were able to get it to turn on--miracle! So he canceled the service request and I celebrated by treating myself to lunch. However, an hour later I went to turn it on, and of course, it didn't work, even after I tried everything we'd done earlier...so I had to call again. Another request was put in. The tech called on Wednesday the 22nd, and he came in the morning because he had to go to Nevada later that day for another appointment. He replaced the hard drive, tried some other things, and couldn't fix it, even with tech support on the phone. Unfortunately he got there a bit late and then stayed for an hour, which meant I had to miss a class. Not cool. He left, unsuccessful, saying that they were going to order a new motherboard that usually takes two days to arrive, so it should get there by that Friday and someone would come out with it to fix my computer. I didn't receive a call on Friday, so I waited until Monday since they don't do business over the weekend.

Monday Sept 27th around noon, I called them to find out what was going on (note that it had already been over a week). The agent I talked to said that he would put out an alert for a tech, who would be calling me within two business days, and he specified that those two days were that very day (Monday) and Tuesday, not Tuesday and Wednesday. I called Tuesday evening, having not received a call, and was told that another alert had been put out and I would get a call at 6pm the next day from a tech to schedule an appointment. I told him the situation and asked how I was supposed to believe that I would get the phone call when it hadn't been true for any of the other times I'd been told that; his answer was "ma'am, a tech will call you at 6pm tomorrow." I called at 11:30pm Wednesday night, having once again not received a call. Finally, I talked to someone who knew what they were doing again (every other phone call I'd had to re-explain the situation even though I was giving them reference numbers where they could look up everything that had happened so far). This lady told me that the product had been shipped the day before, on Tuesday Sept 28th. I asked why it was ordered on Wed the 22nd and not shipped until Tues the 28th, and she said she didn't know, but a tech would call me within four business days to schedule an appointment to come out and fix it. I asked what I was supposed to do while I waited around for the call; I asked if there was anything they could do to compensate or at least help me. Her only suggestion was to borrow a computer from a family member or friend (by the way, who has an extra computer just lying around that they don't need?). Of course, I never received that call she promised.

I called them this afternoon (Monday Oct 4th) and once again asked for information on my order. The guy said that the product was on back order, so I told him that last week I'd been told it had already shipped. He seemed very confused and said that it was never shipped, that it was on back order because they were doing some updates for the company and hadn't been able to process everyone's orders yet. I asked to speak to a manager, and was put on hold again (of course they were playing country music, which did nothing to help my already extremely annoyed mood); after 10 minutes of being on hold, the call was disconnected. I called back and asked to speak to a manager again, so he transferred me to Customer Relations (which is apparently the highest I could go; they refused to transfer me any higher). I talked to the Customer Relations lady, who put me on hold for 15 minutes while she read my information and tried to figure out what to do. She came back and said they would send someone out as soon as they could. I didn't want to wait around anymore (it's been over two weeks now), so I told her I wanted them to replace my product. It's under a limited warranty, but even that clearly says Sony will "repair the product using new or refurbished parts or replace the product with a new or refurbished product". I read that to her and said that since they'd failed to repair it, I wanted them to replace it. She refused to do so and said that the best option she could give me was for me to send my computer to San Diego (they'd pay for postage), have them look at it and try to fix it, and then if they couldn't, they might replace it. This process would take 3 business days for the box to come to me to package it in, so that I wouldn't have to pay, and then another 9-14 business days for the computer to be sent to San Diego, fixed, and returned. Basically I have to wait another 2-3 weeks at best. I accepted this offer because apparently it's the best I'm going to get, but I told the lady that I will never buy another Sony product again because of how bad the customer service is. She said only "we respect your right to make that decision", and did nothing to try and change my mind or even show that she regretted losing a customer. She seemed eager to get off the phone with a "difficult customer" and ended the conversation as quickly as she could without seeming too rude. Now I'm just waiting for my box. Updates soon.

Overall, my experience:
- Probably an hour total of being on hold.
- Calls were dropped at least six times, which meant calling back and re-explaining the situation to yet another person.
- Only three of the fifteen or so people I talked to knew what they were talking about.
- Only two of the people I talked to had English as their first language, and these were included in the three who knew what they were talking about. I understand that everyone needs jobs, but this is a huge problem with customer service! Especially for those taking calls in the U.S. and who don't seem to know what they are doing!
- I was lied to multiple times--they lied several times about when they would call me, they lied about the product being shipped, they lied about what was going on with the part.
- I tried to be civil; I never swore or yelled or anything like that, just spoke firmly, because I didn't want to be rude. Didn't help my situation.
- Only once did it sound like the person I was talking to actually cared about my situation, even though I told several of them how long it had been and that I am a grad student who needs her computer for school and for work as a graduate research assistant. Yet they didn't say anything like, "I understand and am very sorry about what is happening, but I can't solve your problem," or even, "would you like to speak to someone who might be able to help?"

I will never buy another Sony product ever again, not even earphones or speakers. I don't care how high quality it seems or how great the price is. If it breaks, their Customer Service will not help me at all. Of that I am certain.

180th Semi-Annual General Conference!

General Conference was AMAZING! A few highlights (my favorite talks)...

Elder Holland (video) - He thanked the good people of the world for the hard work they do, and encouraged us to keep contributing because we're all useful. He shared the story of how his parents sacrificed so that he wouldn't have to pay for his mission (even though he'd earned the money to do so), and expressed his tearful gratitude. He made me get a lump in my throat, and that doesn't happen to me very often.

Elder Christofferson (video) - He talked about consecrating our lives to the Savior. He described how a consecrated life involves purity, hard work, respect for one's physical body, service, and integrity. Moroni 7:48- "that ye may become the sons of God, that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

President Uchtdorf (video) - Slow down and steady the course! Focus on the essentials, especially when experiencing turbulence. He quoted Leonardo da Vinci, who is credited to have said that "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." He also referenced Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God." We should make the changes necessary to simplify our lives, spend time with family/friends/ourselves so that we can strengthen our relationships with all of the above, and remember that strength comes from a true, settled foundation on simple things.

Elder Scott (video) - Faith and nobility of character. "When protected by self-control, righteous character will endure eternally." Faith strengthens our character.

President Eyring (audio) - Trust in the Lord. Trust comes from knowing God; he also quoted Psalm 46:10. We show our trust in God by listening and obeying Him, and over time as my trust in Him grows, I will be overwhelmed with gratitude to know that He trusts me.

President Monson's Sunday morning address (audio) - This talk made me cry, which never happens. He talked about gratitude and expressing it. Do we give sincere thanks for the blessings we receive? Christ is a perfect example of gratitude. Though there is much bad in the world, there is also much good, and we should cultivate an attitude of gratitude. A prayerful life is the key to expressing gratitude, and "to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven."

There were other good talks, of course, but these were my favorites. I love General Conference; it always gives us just the renewal of spiritual energy we need to keep on keeping on. I for one know what I will be focusing on: living more simply, trusting the Lord in faith, and being grateful.