Nearly There

I took my last college exam last night. My very last one. It hasn't quite hit me yet.

And I have two more weeks of student teaching, which isn't really quite teaching... I am team teaching this week, and next week I am observing. I can't believe how close I am to being done.

Then I will be graduated, with no idea what to do with my future. Anyone interested in hiring me. I have a BYU degree in History Teaching (with a Psychology Teaching minor)? It doesn't have to be in a school? Anyone? Please? It's probably going to get desperate over here.

Yeah, the job is my next problem. Along with what on earth to do with the upcoming free time, time when I would have been studying or writing lesson plans. Anyone have any good book suggestions? If not, I think I hear Harry Potter calling my name. (Make fun of me all you want - they're great books and J.K. Rowling is a genius.)

"My Boss is Literally the Devil"

In my US History classes, we are talking about the Industrial Revolution. To give students a little taste of working conditions during this time period, I formed a little factory in my classroom. Students had to pass books around the room, while not smiling, talking, laughing, or sitting; I even cranked the heat up to about 90 degrees while they were working. And I did a lot of yelling (I don't think I've ever really yelled at a class before this).

A lot of students realized that this was just a simulation. Their assignment after the activity was to write a letter home as if they worked in a factory during the Industrial Revolution and describe the conditions. After reading through their letters, I found that some students took the simulation a little too seriously. One girl wrote, "My boss is literally the devil." I know she was talking about me, not a fictional boss, because she was describing our box-moving factory, and she said "she" when referring to the boss (there were few, if any, she-bosses during the Industrial Revolution). I feel like that should have hurt my feelings, but it only made me happier.

In other news, Rich and I went to the BYU basketball season opener versus Fresno State on Friday, and it was a wonderful blowout. It's going to be a great season! Have I mentioned that BYU basketball is my favorite?!

2-in-1

Yesterday was a sports-filled day for the Nelly family. We started our day with a drive to Provo for BYU vs. UNLV. That game was reminiscent of the BYU in John Beck years, with a final score of 55-7. It's always nice to watch a blowout like that. It helps your self-esteem. (Sorry any UNLV fans. Nothing against you.)

Our seats were the best we've had all season. On the second row by the north end zone. And the people in front of us never showed, so Andrea and I sat in the very front row. The weather was AMAZING. In the 70s in November, and I even got a little tan line from my glasses (hopefully, only a couple more weeks of glasses left).

This is how close we were to the field. I think this may be the closest I have ever sat in my 5 years of college football.

We also scored tickets to the Jazz vs. Clippers game, so after the football game (and lunch in the Cannon Center provided by Andrea) we quickly came back to Midvale, changed gear, and headed to Salt Lake. We thought about taking Trax to the game since we live right next to a station, but we're glad we drove because we even scored free parking.

Our seats at the Jazz game were pretty much the complete opposite of the football game. Here's a picture of our view for comparison.

We were literally in the VERY top row. You can see everything from up there. Only, things are the size of ants.

My brother Skyler has season tickets to the Jazz, and Rich I actually found him and his buddies from our seats. (They're kind of hard to miss - they're perhaps the craziest ones out there. If you know Skyler, you know what I'm talking about.) He even came up to say hi to us, after catching his breath from our thousand-step climb.

The Jazz game turned out to be pretty intense. Things didn't look so hot as the Clippers dominated the first half, but the Jazz came to life in the second half, and the game ended after a second overtime with some pretty crazy shots and dunks. It all paid off in the end when they pulled off a 109-107 victory.

I think our pictures from Jazz games look almost identical. But it's nice to get a shot every time. (Thanks again, Scott, for letting me use the jersey. Maybe someday I'll get my own Jazz gear.)

To top the weekend off, Utah got dominated by TCU, 47-7. A BYU win. A Jazz win. A Utah blowout. What more could I ask for in a sports weekend?

P.S. This has nothing to do with sports, but it's funny. Rich and I totally forgot about Daylight Savings Time this morning. We didn't set back any of our clocks and got ready like normal this morning. It wasn't until I turned on my computer right before we were heading out the door that I saw the real time - 7:44 AM. Yeah, we went back to sleep for another hour.