New blog

So. I am discontinuing this blog... in some days I will be adding a regdirect to it, but for now, please visit chrisapeck.blogspot.com for further updates.

Summer Semester

Well, we all knew that it was inevitable. I did, anyway. But I have just signed up for 1st and 2nd block for the Summer Semester. Yup. How exciting. This means a lot of changes for me. For one, these classes are during the day. That means that I will be working, (starting in May) during the evening/night. I'm a little excited to start classes during the day. Seems more... real? Anyway, here is the plan, so far:

1st Block:
Biotech 1010
College Chem I 1610
Chem Lab 1615

2nd Block
Principles of Statistics (this may change if I can get my counselor to wave the prereq requirement of Chem II, so I can take Chemistry the second block. We'll see).

So there you have it. A 12 credit summer. There is really no rest for the wicked I guess, because I am going to only get a week or two of a break before summer starts up. Ugh. But I know it'll be worth it. Now I just need to get through this semester. (Microbio is enjoyable. I really like it but the tests are something else... I've never seen tests like these).

My Biking Stats

So, I was looking at my biking stats, (that I keep track on dailymile.com), and noticed something cool. I've gone around the planet .1 times, or 10% around the planet. That is kinda cool. So, it will only take me, biking at the same rate, nine more years to go around the globe. Haha... well, still, I think it is pretty cool and thought I would share that along will all of my other fun stats they give you. These stats are from sometime in the beginning of July to now.

In other news, I have not even started my March goal, and it is unlikely that I am going to finish it. Hmmm. It seems that I am a lot better at goals that deal with health, while reading goals, and such are better for long term goals. So I'm going to rethink my goal and come up with ones dealing with health or something. We'll see.

Also, Lesa and I are trying to go more organic in what we eat. We've been shopping at Good Earth when we can and are getting into drinking green smoothies, eating a lot more produce and working out 2-3 times a week. Feels good.

Everyone watch this!!!

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

Science: What's it up to?

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

March Goal Starting, February Goal Ending

Well, it is the last day of my eating no candy or chips (junk food). Seemed to go pretty well. I was craving it pretty badly at the start, but am doing better now. I am planning on keeping it up afterwards and only having snack food occasionally, but I will be glad to have a little here and there. I don't want to go on a chocolate rampage right after, so . . .

My goal for March is to read the New Testament. I haven't read it since my mission so I'm kind of excited to be doing this. I need to find out how many chapters there are and then read a certain amount each day or something. This one is going to be different, so we'll see if I'm up to it.

Science Fiction Book List

I want to immerse myself in Science fiction this year. So, here are the sci-fi books I am planning on reading this year. I hope I am able to get to all of them.

Science Fiction
01. The City and the City by China Mieville
02. Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut
03. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
04. Hyperion by Dan Simmons
05. The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
06. Endymion by Dan Simmons
07. The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons
08. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
09. Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
10. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
11. To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
12. Dune by Frank Herbert
13. Anathem by Neal Stephenson
14. The God's Themselves by Issac Asimov
15. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
16. Gateway by Fredrick Pohl
17. Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

And there will be more, but for now, that's all the ones I've been wanting to read.


I also think I am going to be reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Hobbit.

Biking thus-far

So, since about July I have been biking almost every day to work and school and back home. Or some variation of that. So today, I wanted to see how far I've biked, or rather what that looked like on a map. I keep track of all of this on a site dailymile.com, and so I'll put all of those stats up.

So, I was was biking, starting at San Francisco, I would have biked along I-80 2,353 miles, which is roughly the distance to Cleveland.

This would have taken me (had I not slept at all) 6.16 days, or 148 hours. (So I've biked fr 148 hours sense July)

While biking I have lost 34 lbs of fat while gaining 10 lbs of muscle. (So, I lost about 1-2 pounds of fat a week).

I've saved about 124 gallons of gas, which equals about  $400 in gas.

I have biked 174 out of 202 days (I excluded Sundays).

I averaged between 18 and 23 miles a day.

Books

I really like books. And so I thought I'd share my book cases with everyone. I'm pretty proud of all of my books and having read most of them. So here you go. A little bit into the books that I enjoy and that define who I am.

This first one is the bookshelf with most of my sci-fi books. Or at least many of my favorites. There are also a few fantasy books scattered in there.

 These are a few that don't fit anywhere else. All hardbacks... (except LOTR).

The rest of the books. Many different genre's and stuff. I really enjoy all of these and hopefully will have more soon. :)

February -- No junkfood

So. I went a whole month without eating any meat! I'm pretty proud that I did it. I think that I could go another month or even longer, but to be honest, there is nothing preventing me from eating meat. I can still eat it sparingly (esp. red meats) and be very healthy. Eating meat is not unhealthy, (as many a vegetarian would tell you) and I understand this. Also, while I feel that there should be some animal rights, my feelings are not strong enough to stop eating meat.

I have changed what I will be doing in February, also. I am going to be trying to eat no junk food. While eating no meat I realized that a bigger problem, when it comes to eating patterns is the amount of junk food I eat. Therefore, I am not going to be eating any junk food except on my wife's B-day (because of cake and stuff) and also on valentines day. I think this will help my health much more than cutting out meat would have.

Still No Meat

I am still not eating meat. It is getting better. It was actually not to bad until a friend of mine (Kevin) offered me J Dawgs and then I went for a week straight of cravings. But I'm doing better now. I am starting to want meat that I normally never ate. But I am holding strong. I can tell a difference in my body and I can tell I've lost weight and I feel better. I would like to continue this, but I just like meat. I think I am going to try and cut back severely, though. Have almost no red meat. (Eat it very rarely). And limit other meats to only once or twice a week. I want to hold on to the habits as best I can and I think I may make a rule not to eat meat at work or school. That will help limit myself and will help me to eat better and plan better meals.

My book reading hasn't really worked out. I haven't been able to get into the books I got at the beginning of the year and so I am going back to two of my favorite books to get me going. Hyperion and Slaughterhouse-Five. I think this will help me quite a bit.

Ramadan Is Over Before It Began

So, in considering the implications of not eating during the day, I had to remind myself of what my life would be like in February. I would wake up at 4am, bike to work and eat and eat and eat until Sunup. I would then not eat, bike to school, go to classes, eat what little I could bring with me on my bike after the sun goes down, bike home, and then eat. That is if I didn't pass out. I think that until I am out of school, Ramadan is a bust. And so here are the new and improved goals:


January: Eat no meat. I'm going to try and become a vegetarian for an entire month. This one will be one of the hardest, I think.
February: Be in bed by 9:30 pm every night. This will be harder than I think.
March: Read the New Testament.
April: Do all shopping at small businesses.
May: Recycle everything that can be recycled. Hopefully, this one will continue on.
June: No surfing the web and no T.V. (I would say no computer, but I'll be in school and will need it for that, however, the important thing is no entertainment from those sources).
July: Listen to only classical music.
August: Bike: 1. From Orem to Kamas. I'd start at about 4am and bike up Provo Canyon to Heber. There I will be picking up McKay and we will proceed to Kamas. 2. Summit three peaks: Squaw Peak, South Fork, Sundance. 
September: Consume no sugar. This one will be difficult, and I'll probably need to set some parameters because so much stuff has sugar, It'll probably be no candy, drinks junk food, etc.
October: Meditate 20-30 minutes a day. This may not seem so bad, but true meditation is really hard. Just can't clear my head.
November: Write a 50,000 word novel for NaNoWriMo. Also, say a pray of thanksgiving everyday.
December: Read Jesus the Christ and the Christmas story. I need to focus on the meaning and cause of Christmas, and so, I am hoping this will help.

New Title and Cover for my Robot Book

Science Fiction vs. Fantasy

I think these two genre's get mixed too often. From the outside viewer they are the same. Focusing on what we would see as fantastic or not accurate according to our view of the current world. However, I feel that there are major differences between the genre's and in fact they should rarely (if ever) be mixed or confused as the same thing.

Some time ago while determining the major differences between these two genre's I thought of the story telling techniques. Or rather, what authors of either genre focus on. This seems to be the major difference, despite catalysts of the story. Fantasy focuses on creating worlds. Science Fiction focuses on creating ideas.

Let me explain.

But first, I will admit that I am solely a science fiction fan. There is some fantasy that I enjoy and love, LOTR, Harry Potter, Neal Gaiman stuff, but for the most part I don't touch it. And so, while I may have a somewhat biased opinion, and may not be as familiar with fantasy as many others I feel that with what I have read (and I've read more than the above list, but didn't enjoy them much) this is an accurate view and I will try my best not to bring biases into it.

OK. Fantasy focuses on creating worlds. Right now I am reading a fantasy book called Orcs. (I think it's three books in one, so lets call it Orcs trilogy). The Orcs trilogy  is different than my typical reading. The language is different, and the focus of the story is much more straight forward than what I typically see in sci-fi. Or rather, it is presented early one with little or no guess work having to be done by the reader. (I don't say this negatively, but factually). I feel that many fantasy books are eager to get the ball rolling and to get on with the exciting parts, because with that comes the world. You introduce strange characters and new worlds filled with horrors and beauty, both. Great detail is often incorporated into what things, objects, and people look like. Often times dress is describes as much as a distant landscape of bustling city-town. Authors have gone to great lengths to insure that there world is complete and coherent. Many times maps are included at the front of the book to give the reader an idea of the world in which the characters live.

I think we can safely say just from those examples that fantasy, for a large part of the majority, is meant to suck you into a mystical world and take you through an adventure that could never happen in this current world we have. I recently read Neverwhere by Neal Gaiman. A modern day fantasy book in where the main character, Richard, is brought into a world underneath London. It has all of the typical fantasy elements and is full of adventure. Little explanation is given or needed as the reader is meant to accept that something strange is going on.

Fantasy builds worlds. It gives characters and readers a medium in which to explore and experience.

Science Fiction, however, does not focus greatly on creating worlds, or universes, if the case may imply. While locations, people, etc. are described, rarely in great detail, it is never the focus of the writing. Rather, the reader is meant to understand generals about the characters surroundings, or looks, and from that imagine the rest. Rather, because of situations the author is able to bring about specific ideas or philosophical reasoning's to underline the events of the story. The stories are driven by really issues that seem far more important and more of a major theme than issues and ideas proposed in fantasy reading. I feel that a major reason for this is that sci-fi, through the science involved in the writing, focuses greatly on the human condition and how science and technology play against it or are incorporated with life.

And so, we see ideas spawn through story lines in a way to show the reader where we can go in the future, or show them different possibilities because of science and technology. Ideas in cloning morality, or consciousness, time, and many more are common and found in most (good) science fiction writing. And it is a major focus of the writing. Action sequences, and adventure often take a lower precedence to the importance of underlining the human condition through futuristic ideas. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, by Philip K. Dick, is a great example of what it means to be human, or rather, what it means to be alive as the protagonist must question if he is human or an android, and if one or the other make him an less conscious.

While both genres have important qualities, I think it is important to understand the differences that each brings and how they are each different from each other. Personally, I am drawn more towards science fiction as I enjoy the philosophical and moral issues that are brought up and written about. The stories, because of the style of writing seem more original to me with less overlap in a story line. The language is clear and concise and does not fall into over stretching dialogue because of a need to describe and show a persons character right off the bat.

However, I am sure someone who likes fantasy more than I do could argue against me.

The First Month

So, as it is the first month of the year, I am starting my first goal. Going Vegetarian. There is a reason I am going this. For the last . . . two years, I've wanted to be a vegetarian. It wasn't a strong desire, rather something I just wanted to try with little expectations in keeping up with it. (Mostly because I could not part from sea food). I have never been able to fully do this because I don't want to force it on anybody else. I'm not a big fan of waiving my own dietary choices, or lifestyle choices in peoples faces. And, I don't want to force my kids (or wife) to do something as drastic as not eating meat, just because I am doing it. And so, it is a one month goal, and after that I will stop.

I am excited about it. I've wanted to try this for a while, and now I get the chance. But I am a bit nervous about some aspects. I work a lot, and eat what I can while I am there and one thing I try to focus on is eating the right things to help me have energy and help me in my biking. Protein is a big one. And now, with no meat I have to find it other places. My wife was very concerned about me eating the right amount and getting the nutrients I need and calories I need (I burn about 1000 calories a day, and if I don't eat right I will be hurting my body). And so last night we worked together to make a bunch of batches of smoothie. Basically enough for about 6 days, and froze it. This should help with protein and energy stuffs, and now I just need to find things to help me through the day and meal substitutions.

I'll probably be having a lot of fruit and vege's and pb&j's. I think the really hard part will be every Saturday when I work at Gandolfo's. I'll be resigned to eating their vege sandwiches. Not great, but I've had them before and their not too bad . . . I guess.

Anyways, I am really excited about this and am hoping that I am able to keep it up. I have my family supporting me and that should be enough. I'd like to say that this is all easy for me and I'm happy to give it all up but I'm not. I bike by burger joints that smell amazing, daily. I love anything seafood and constantly want it. And my family (my wife and kids, parents, wife's parents, etc.) are all still going to be eating meat. And I am someone who still likes meat. And so it will be difficult, but I am determined to do it.

My Christmas Present from Lesa!!

This was a great Christmas! Lesa all December has been very excited about the gift she got for me and was extra secretive about it. And so naturally, on Christmas day I was pretty excited to see what I got. Well, I have to say, I am thrilled with it. She got me a tea pot and eight different loose leaf teas. I was so excited that as soon as I could (once we were done opening presents I went and made myself a cup of Rooibus (Roy bus) tea, which is one of my favorites. Rooibus is made from the needle-like leaves of a caffeine-free bush native to South Africa.

(The tea pot Lesa got me).

(Rooibus tea).

I think that day I made about 4 or 5 batches and shared them with Mckay, (the only one that wanted to have any). They were all so good and I was loving brewing each different kind. Thank you so much, Lesa!! It was the perfect gift.

Global Warming

It seems that, regardless of how you feel about the subject, the issue of global warming is very strongly tied to religion. Why is that? It is because religion is a source of moral growth, it is something that can bring about change in massive levels and can help people to grow morally. These morals affect us in our daily aspects and in what we constantly deal with. When it comes to daily issues we are able to make better decisions according to our moral character. Global warming has become a major concern and topic, thus calls on us to act as we see morally fit.

I wish to briefly describe how it is that science can show that global warming is indeed happening at an exponential rate, and how we can see that it is human caused rather than by the Earths natural cycles.

There is a simple method to see what CO2 levels were throughout Earths history. In glaciers we can take samples of air which has been trapped in the ice, (air bubbles). With these we can measure the amount of CO2 in the air at the time the bubble was formed. We can see rises and falls from roughly 150-280 ppmv (parts per million by volume) CO2.  This greatly depends on Earths orbit. The orbit of our planet fluctuates, as well as pivots on its axis much like a top, causing the earths temperature to rise and fall, thus giving us ice-ages and warm periods: low amounts of CO2 create a cooling, and give us an ice-age. The opposite happens with high measurements of CO2. However, since the industrial revolution the level of CO2 has gone from the average of 280 up to 360-380 ppmv. An unprecedented amount. The more CO2 the more heat.

However, there is still doubt that this increase is caused by human interaction. How do we know it is human caused? We can record the types of CO2 in the atmosphere. There are three major CO2 bases we record:  CO2 4, CO2 13, CO2 14. CO2 base 4 comes from very old and dead plants. CO2 base 13 comes from volcanoes, etc. CO2 base 14 comes from newer plants. We can see that in our atmosphere ther eis mostly and high concentrations of CO2 4. CO2 4 comes from fossil fuels, or very old plants. 

This shows not only is there much, much more CO2  in the atmosphere, but that it is human caused.

There needs to be a change. A change that our government can hardly take on. It requires a sense of moral obligation at large levels for any effects to be seen. Moral obligations that should be strongly held and encouraged by our LDS faith as well as many other or all faiths. We are taught that we are stewards of the Earth and it is under our charge. 

My Favorite Books of the Year

I read 33 books this year. So I thought I could pick 5 of them dub them as my favorite of the year. There were a lot of good ones and I've been changed by most, but I need to decide what the best are, and so, in no particular order (because that would be too hard), here are the top 5 books I read this year:

1. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

What a great story. A virus in a futuristic cyber world (Snow Crash) infects the brains of those that view it or download it. The book follows Hiro who, through this demolished and dark world and advances cyber world tries to stop the virus from infecting millions. Cool imagery, and very original.

2. A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck

I have read this book 8 or 9 times and if never fails to chill me to to bone and open my eyes in regards to what eternity really is. A deeply moving philosophical story of a man who goes to Hell and must find the book describing his life to leave and dwell in heaven. Chilling, terrifying, moving, wonderful and real. 

3. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

I put Harry Potter so I can count them all as one book. These are truly some of the best books I have ever read. This year I read them for the 2nd or 3rd time (depending on which book) and loved every second of it. The third stood out because of the amazing Quiddich final where, while biking and listening to it I began cheering wanting Griffindor to win. (I couldn't remember who one and was getting really into it). What a tribute to the writing skills of the author.

4.  The Scholar of Moab by Steven L. Peck

I just finished this one. I can't begin to describe the imagery in this book. The characters are very real and it is easy to care about them and want to keep reading. It is witty and clever and very moving. After reading it I sat for some time trying to come to grips that it was over and better understand all that I had read. 

5. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

This had the same feel as Harry Potter, so naturally I liked it. It was darker, though. An adventure had by an unsuspecting man who finds a world underneath London full of adventure and danger. Also, has some of the scariest and worst villains of all time. Mr. Croup & Mr. Vandemar. 

There were so many good books that I read this year. So many, but I think I feel good about these being the best and my favorite of the year. 

A few I'm planning on reading next year:

The City and the City, The Hobbit (again), The Lord of the Rings (again), The New Testament (again), Jesus the Christ, Dune, A Short Stay in Hell (again), Starship Troopers, Hyperion (again), Anathem (again) and a lot lot more, I am sure. I usually like to reread really good books every few years which is why there are some that I will be rereading. The rest, (not listed because I don't really know what they are) will probably all be new books. Should be a good year.

School Update

So . . . I passed all of my classes, with pretty decent grades, too. I was getting pretty stressed about my Math class and I just barely (and I mean barely) passed, but I passed so I am happy. I have to say that my biology class (with Dr. Heath Ogden) was one of the best classes I've taken since I started school 3 years ago. I loved it and learned a lot! Also, he will be helping me with a paper on evolution and the Mormon version of the creation, so that's good. I'm going to be honest and say that my Aesthetics class was a joke. Not because of the teacher, or assignments, I just think the whole subject is not for me. I cannot begin to care what different philosophers think in regards to art and beauty. I mostly disagree'd with most of the essays and just felt as though the whole subject was heavy handed and over bearing. I did good in the class, but boy I did not enjoy it. The only other thing I had was a bio-lab which was fine. I enjoyed it.

This coming semester I am taking Microbiology, Phil 205G (Which is a joke as I've already taken 2050, but this is required for some other random requirement that I need), Quantitative Reasoning (Which is just Math 1050, but sounds more advanced, Haha), and a Yoga class, Power Yoga to be more precise. Oh, and as apart of Microbiology I am taking a lab with it.

In the summer I will be taking Chem 1 and Organic Chem. Ugh. I am really terrified of these classes, but I am taking them during the summer so the classes are over with faster and I can only focus on the one subject in stead of several at a time. If I took one in the fall I think I'd be pushing too hard. Because in the fall I plan on taking College Bio II, Biotech, Genetics, and something else, and adding Chem on top of that sounds like a version of Hell I don't think I would ever want to encounter.

Oh, good ol' school.

Oh, and a shout out to Jaron who passed his Chemistry class!! I hope you remember it by the summer so you can help me.

New Years Resolutions

This year I did really good with my goals. I read more than 25 books throughout the year, I biked most of the year and stopped drinking soda. I am going to carry these goals over to the next year. I want to keep working on my biking and being healthy. These goals are:

Ride my bike to work and/or school every dry day.
Drink no soda.
Read 25 books.

However, I am going to set some new goals for the coming year. They are going to be hard. In fact after thinking about this for a month or two, I've decided to make twelve monthly goals. One major goal a month. A lot of them are just to see if I can do it and to see if I can better myself from them. Many are meant to grow spiritually, but also to just grow as a better person. Some are easy and some are hard. So, here they are, my twelve goals for 2012:

January: Eat no meat. I'm going to try and become a vegetarian for an entire month. This one will be one of the hardest, I think.
February: Ramadan. OK, this will probably be the hardest. That is why I picked the shortest month. Ramadan is a month in where I will fast every day while the sun is up and eat when it is down... Should be interesting.
March: Be in bed by 9:30 pm every night. This will be harder than I think.
April: Do all shopping at small businesses.
May: Recycle everything that can be recycled. Hopefully, this one will continue on.
June: No surfing the web and no T.V. (I would say no computer, but I'll be in school and will need it for that, however, the important thing is no entertainment from those sources).
July: Listen to only classical music.
August: Read the New Testament.
September: Consume no sugar. This one will be difficult, and I'll probably need to set some parameters because so much stuff has sugar, It'll probably be no candy, drinks junk food, etc.
October: Meditate 20-30 minutes a day. This may not seem so bad, but true meditation is really hard. Just can't clear my head.
November: Write a 50,000 word novel for NaNoWriMo. Also, say a pray of thanksgiving everyday.
December: Read Jesus the Christ and the Christmas story. I need to focus on the meaning and cause of Christmas, and so, I am hoping this will help.

Hopefully I can do them all. Should be interesting and hard, but I think worth it.