Countdown to Devotional

We get a lot of really good speakers here at BYU. For those of you who don't know, BYU literally shuts down every Tuesday at 11(which really sucks 80% of the time). The food places, all the computer labs, and anything else you can think of; they all close from 11-12. During this time, BYU holds a forum and and everyone is supposed to attend or watch on it on close circuit TV. Anyway, as I said we've had some really really cool speakers over the past 3 years that I've been here: Senator Reid(probably an attempt at saving face after having Cheney for graduation the year before), Chief Justice Roberts(disappointing actually, kind of a boring talk), President Hinckley, President Monson, a large smattering of members of the Quorum of the Twelve and Seventy, Greg Mortenson(3 Cups of Tea), Neil deGrasse Tyson, the man Hotel Rwanda was based on, the highest ranking Catholic Cardinal in the USA, and many other people. Additionally, we get a lot of other cool speakers during the week, P listened to the James R. Schlesinger who was the Secretary of Defense under Nixon and the first ever Secretary of Energy(Carter) a month ago and yesterday I went to a lecture by the judge who heard the first Guantanamo Bay case(Osama bin Laden's driver). All of these individuals have given me an interesting point of view on religion, politics, and humanity. However none of this compares to the speaker that we're having next Tuesday, like in a week. We're having...
...
...
...
CAPTAIN JAMES LOVELL!!!!! OK so for most people this isn't as exciting as hearing from the people listed above. Let's rephrase that, no one is as excited as I am. Jim Lovell is most famous for being the commander of Apollo 13 for those of you who don't know. To give you some perspective on my excitement, I got Apollo 13 in my Easter basket when I was 6. I watched and watched and watched it and can quote it. We have PBS specials on Apollo 13 taped at home and at the cabin that I would watch and I've probably spent more time reading the Wikipedia articles on NASA and the various current and past astronauts' pages(I've edited them). Obsessed? Yes, but hey you have to admit, it's dang cool.

Anyway, so next Tuesday, I haven't told P yet, but I'm planning on him going down to the Marriott Center early to save us good seats(P, when you read this, please!) I'm skipping part of my class right before it to make sure and get there early It will all be worth it though because I get to see and hopefully meet(!) Jim Lovell and get his autograph!