Death

Disclaimer: I'm not real sure what I'm trying to say in the following post as I'm trying to sort through my own opinions on the topic. I think it was just important for me to get my thoughts jotted down.

As anybody who lives here in Utah probably knows, Ronnie Lee Gardner was killed by firing squad approximately 24 hours ago. Gardner escaped from prison in 1984, seriously injuring a guard in the process before murdering a bartender in 1984 and an attorney in 1985 (while attempting to escape from prison yet again). He was sentenced to die and selected the firing squad as the method.

With all the news of Gardner's frantic last minute pleas for a stay, the death penalty has been on my mind a lot lately. My current stand on the death penalty is somewhat neutral. While I don't like it or condone it, I'm not pushing for its abolishment either.

I strongly believe that there are many crimes for which the criminal deserves to die. The question is whether or not any of us here on earth have the God-given right or authority to pass this judgment. I don't think that we do, or at least I would never want any portion of such a decision to weigh upon my mortal conscience. The United States is virtually the only Christian nation that allows for the death penalty. Would Jesus Christ condemn a man to die? (I think that the LORD of the Old Testament would, but not the Savior of the New).

Graphic found at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jun/18/death-penalty-statistics-us-world

What I found especially disturbing in this particular case, was the celebration and excitement the victim's families showed when Gardner's final appeals were rejected. While they see Gardner's death as closure (many of them witnessed the execution), I find it sad that this grief/grudge/hatred has been festering in their lives for the last 25 years. As a disclaimer, I have never had to forgive somebody for killing a family member (or worse crime), so I cannot speak specifically to the pain that they have had to endure. My only hope is that as tragedies or criminal acts impact me in my life, I will have the strength to forgive and move on (not to say that justice should not be served and punishments handed out).

I find myself becoming more compassionate as I embrace democratic principles and have the opportunity to interact with people from all walks of life. If the death penalty is to be used, it should be saved for the most heinous of crimes and only used when the identity of the criminal is known without a doubt (which actually probably justifies it for RLG).

I realize that all circumstances are different. I do not judge those who seek death as retribution.

Your thoughts?

Poor Lurp

It must be Monday...

Mondays are my longest day of the week (as far as school is concerned anyways). While not as bad as other semesters I've got three classes, a break for a couple of hours and then an awful lab from 3:00-6:00 PM. Today during my break I went up to a design team meeting in Farmington for a big development (around 1,000,000 square feet) we are working on there. On my drive up, the interstate was clear for a couple of hundred yards ahead of me, but out of the blue my windshield was smacked with a rock leaving a chip out of my window. I had to leave the meeting early to get back to my lab and while getting onto the freeway I hit a decent sized pothole. I was hoping that nothing serious had happened but I could tell that my alignment was screwed up. A couple of miles down the interstate, I knew that my tire was flat as well so I pulled over to change it.

I pulled the spare and tools out of the trunk and was pleased to see that everything was there in good condition as I’ve never had a flat in Lurp (fyi. Lurp is my car) before. I took off two of the lug nuts and got the other two started but was having trouble getting them off. For probably 15-20 minutes I sat there trying to unscrew the lugs but the threads had obviously been ruined. Trying one last time, I busted the whole bolt off one of them. There were only four lug nuts and I figured that I would feel okay driving with three of them connected, but I still had one more nut to take off. I didn’t want to break it, but I figured I had nothing to lose seeing as I’d be calling a tow truck anyways. Well, I busted the last bolt off and then didn’t feel safe driving on a spare tire held on by two lug nuts so I called for a tow.

My Grandpa came and picked me up (Ada was sleeping and needed her sleep because she was sick) and we followed the tow truck into Salt Lake where I had the car dropped off. They were able to repair the rim and lug nuts, I had to get 2 new tires (the one had run-flat damage and I replaced the other because it was pretty well worn) and get an alignment done. $400 later, Lurp is good as new.

Two weeks ago we spent almost $900 repairing Lurp’s clutch. Last week we spent $770 replacing the Malibu’s brakes (front and back) and getting it to pass inspection and registered. And to think that only four weeks ago Alison and I were talking about how we haven’t had to have any big car repairs done for quite some time. That’s the last time we’ll say that aloud.

Utah 50, Wyoming 0

I'm not sure where to start with this one... First of all, Wyoming's coach gauranteed a win against Utah while talking to students last Monday. This obviously angered Utah (and Coach Whittingham especially - he should have been happy after the game, but he was on one) and Utah came to pay a bit of revenge. Utah played a fantastic game, but took a few minutes getting started. After Wyoming tried a fake punt in the first quarter (on their own 25 yard line) Utah used a modified version of the old fumblerooski play (watch for it in the video below) to score from 25 yards out.

This game seemed to be a throwback to the Urban Meyer days. Everything was working out, there were a bunch of "trick" plays, the defense was fantastic and Utah could have kept up with anyone in the country playing the way that they were. They were up 40-0 going into the half (and they threw an interception in the end zone in the last minute of the first half - they should have had another TD...). The best play of the game was probably a faked punt by Utah where Louie Sakoda (the punter) faked his kicking motion before tossing the ball (like a girl, I might add) across the line to a defensive lineman who ran the ball down to the 1 yard line (it was actually a touchdown, but the officials had already reviewed three calls and Utah wasn't afraid that they wouldn't score - so it wasn't reviewed).

There's a bit of controversy brewing over the game as well. Utah tried an onsides kick in the third quarter when they were up 43-0. While I don't condone his (Whittingham's) actions, I do think it was a good time to practice an onsides kick, but not a very sportsmanlike thing to do. Utah failed at the attempt (because they retrieved the ball at the 9.5 yard line and a guy was offsides). This gave Wyoming their best field position of the day (on the 34.5 yard line) and they still couldn't convert. This same attempt prompted Wyoming's Coach Joe Glenn to give the Utah bench the one-fingered salute. I've got to agree that the call was inappropriate and I think that Whittingham agrees, stating after the game that he regrets his decision.

The meat of this controversy is actually being fueled more by BYU fans than it is by Wyoming fans (I'm not saying that they aren't mad, but from visiting everybody's fan boards, that's the feeling I get). This is often the case and is something that drives me nuts. It goes both ways, Utah fans are angered more by things BYU does than the teams they are playing against and vice versa. The good news is that this (mainly the one-fingered salute) is giving the conference more attention than they've had all year and it's the first time that I've seen a MWC team featured on ESPN's homepage. Thanks Wyoming.

As for running up the score, I think that Utah's attempt on fourth and 2 in the fourth quarter should be viewed as more an attempt of running up the score than their failed onsides kick (you can't score on an onsides kick). Either way, Utah only scored 10 points in the second half, compared with Boise State's 21 points in the second half against Utah State (where BSU won 52-0) or John [from the comments I learned that I accused the wrong Beck. It should be Jason Beck here] Beck's TD pass to Harline in the latter-half of the fourth quarter against the Aggies last year (where BYU won 38-0 or something). In this game, Utah had pulled their offensive starters for the fourth quarter (although Mack only needed 3 yards to set a Utah record at consecutive 100-yard games). I really don't think that Utah was intentionally running up the score in the second half though (you better believe that they were in the first). I know that there are a lot of people out there who probably disagree, and that's ok. I'm certainly not condoning Utah's actions because I think that there are things that both teams regret.

Utah is easily the best team in the conference right now. They are running the ball, passing the ball and playing defense like its nobody's business. They haven't allowed a team into the end zone in 10 quarters. Wyoming had the 6th ranked defense in the country going into the game with Utah and Utah put up over 500 yards (while limiting the Cowboys to 122 - and 1/3 of those came in the fourth quarter).

You're not going to find me garaunteeing any wins though. As good as Utah is playing right now, they seem to have a knack for having big letdowns under Coach Whit. If they can keep the same intensity that they've had the last few weeks then everybody better watch out!

Yes, I've categorized this post under "rant" because that's exactly what I've done.

The Break-In

Alison and I were rudely awakened by our neighbor Saturday morning letting us know that our car (my beloved Prizm, i.e. Lurp) had been broken into. Not the best way to start your weekend. During the night, the robber busted the rear passenger vent window (the little triangle-shaped one, on the rear door) and used it to unlock the doors. Once inside, the thief busted open the dash and ripped out our stereo. We were "lucky" because the thief made clean work of the job, not breaking any clips or tearing any wires out (which makes the damage a whole lot more difficult to repair).
The thief in the night also broke into 2 of our neighbors' cars. They broke the passenger side windows in both of them. Alison and I feel that we were "luckier" than our neighbors. One of them sold the car Thursday, removed the insurance from it on Friday and the buyer was going to pick the car up from them Saturday morning. Our other neighbors' stereo wasn't stolen but the girl's purse was, which had her wallet, passport, SS card, etc. Let this be a lesson to you all, don't leave your valuables in your car - although I'm not entirely sure what to do with our stereo when we're not using it.
The other lucky break that Alison and I caught was that we had comprehensive auto insurance with only a $50 deductible on the car. If I had realized that we had such good coverage on the car, then I would have taken it off months ago; now... I'm glad it was there.

The stereo that was stolen was a nice one. I spent between $300-$350 when I bought it 5 years ago. It was one of the first to play mp3s, wma and other digital audio. It was 5 years old though...

This is the third after-market stereo that I've had stolen. The first was from the original Lurp Truck while the car sat in the school parking lot one morning in high school. The second was from Al's dear little friend Sedric (when the whole car was actually stolen as well) and now this is the third in an epic. Looks like we'll be getting a new car stereo for Christmas!

Thieves are slimeballs.

Saddle Sore

While at my parents over the weekend, I borrowed my dad's bike. My plan was to use it to ride to school and possibly work in order to conserve gas for our "spend-free April". While it was nice to ride the bike today, I haven't ridden one in probably around seven years and there were a few complications...

First off, I had only gone a few hundred feet when I needed to go up over a curb. I had a very, very heavy backpack (not so bad when you drive a car) and I tried to pull up to jump up onto the curb and... I didn't quite make it. Down I went. It wasn't a hard crash and I landed on the dirt, but I did dirty myself, tear my pants and the contents of my backpack made themselves comfortable all over the dirt (For some reason my backpack doesn't stay closed when it's that full, so I even had to stop a few times after this to retrieve my sandwich and books from the ground). What kind of an idiot can't ride a bike? At least nobody saw, but it wasn't a good start.

It was cold today. Colder than usual and the heavy breathing in the cold air gave me a headache. It was also very windy with a north wind so I was riding into the wind. It doesn't help that I am probably about 40 pounds heavier than when I last rode a bike, needless to say, it was a bit of a struggle to propel myself to school. It's not like it's a long ride to school either, it's only a couple of miles max, but I was pretty tuckered out by the time I got there.

Coming home wasn't too bad except for one little thing (which turned out to be the most miserable of them all). The wind was at my back, I had eaten my lunch so my backpack was lighter, but my crotchal area was as sore as it gets. I tried standing while I pedaled but that felt odd with such a heavy backpack, I tried sitting on one cheek or the other, but I could only ride side-saddle for so long. Now tonight, anytime I sit or move I am reminded of today's little jaunt on the bike.

I haven't given up yet, I just need to work up to it I guess.

Stop the Bleeding!

It looks like tuition and fees are going to increase another 7% next year, easily outpacing inflation yet once again (Although, I have always paid quite a bit more than the above 'conservative' estimates due to lab fees, class fees, and what the heck fees). This isn't a post complaining about how expensive tuition is because I know that there are a lot of people out there who pay a lot more than me. This is a post complaining about how quickly costs are skyrocketing and how little people seem to care.

It is almost as if once education became attainable for the lower and middle classes, society saw a need to price them out of it - in order to keep education for the bourgeosie, of course. At least I've only got one more year of this nonsense but if rates continue to climb like they have for the last 6 years (8.11%), when Ada is in school she will be paying:

It's a runaway train with no signs of stopping. Ada will have to get a job when she's 10 to even have a chance at paying for school.