Weekend Trip to Pittsburgh

After graduation, we flew out to Pittsburgh for a weekend to scope it out and find and apartment! We took the red-eye out on Saturday. Pretty much the summary of this trip is that people in Pittsburgh are SO friendly.  We got invited to dinner by 2 couples at church! We were taken on a tour of Pittsburgh by my parent's old landlord's son Randy. For 2 hours we got driven around all over the city with a narration and helpful tips (on Mother's day no less!). Super nice for a guy we'd never even met! We also explored the city and found where my parents used to live.

 (Bad picture of my parents' old house in Pittsburgh, but the people were moving in and I had already passed my quota of number of times you can drive by without being creepy)

The next few days we met with our advisors and on the last day finally found an apartment! Yeah, we were really sweating it, wondering if we would ever find a place. Apartments in Pittsburgh are competative! Case in point: we looked at and loved this one apt and were about to head down to the office to sign for it, but as we were walking out with the agent, the person who'd seen it 5 minutes before us snagged it! Talk about disappointment, but everything worked out in the end!

Get this- we're living in a church! It's an old church from the 1920's that they've converted into 6 apartments, high church ceilings, windows, and a big church basement for laundry too! I love that everything in Pittsburgh is unique and old with character! We'll be living by the Pittsburgh zoo in Morningside so I guess when I get frustrated I really can run off to the zoo, hehe!

Enjoy some Pittsburgh pictures:

 (okay, so maybe this isn't my school, but it's across the street!)

Cathedral of Learning on campus. That's how much my school thinks of education,plus it's like Hogwarts inside, no joke

The trip back home was a little less exciting...our connecting plane in Minneapolis(it's nearly impossible to get a direct flight to Pittsburgh, lame) broke down and we had to spent 3+ hours chilling in the airport, but now we have Delta vouchers so I guess I can't complain too much!.

Moving=we have a lot of crap

After 2 years we left Wymount! A major thank you to my parents for sticking around to help us pack!

 It's amazing how much junk (treasure?) you accumulate in that amount of time...this is only the stuff that came to CA, we have a full storage unit back in UT!

Graduation!

 Yes! We did it! 

On Good Friday, we both graduated from BYU! I got my BS in Physiology and Developmental Biology with a minor in Molecular Biology and Pieter got his BA in Political Science with a minor in Editing.

On Thursday was the big commencement with everyone and Elder Scott spoke (I love him!) Pieter and I walked in with my college that night and then Thursday, we actually walked and got our diplomas with Pieter's college! We were really blessed to have so much of our family come and support us. My parents, Laura, Aly(and all of her family) and Amy (and Sean) came to see us walk and then Pieter's parents flew in and his brother, Frank(and his family) came so we felt really loved and supported by everyone!
We couldn't have done it without these people.

 And these people... :)

  We threw a luncheon our families before convocation as a thank you to all of them for everything. I had a lot of fun planning it (may or may not have been during classes when I got burnt out, but I still got an A!). We had Turkey Harvest Croissants, Strawberry and Spinach Salad with a poppyseed dressing, pita chips and Mint Brownies. My Aunt Ella and Uncle Kent came and ate with us too

Thanks BYU! Now on to bigger and better challenges!

It's almost over

Tomorrow's the last day of my undergraduate classes...scary. It's not real yet; it really isn't. Then again, I'll be starting classes again the the fall...just somewhere new..different culture...way different (what I'm going to do with beards, miniskirts, and no more editorials about the sinfulness of showing collarbone or voting for Obama). As much as I complain about the "unique" culture here at BYU at times, it really is that, unique. At no other time will I live among so many people with the same religious beliefs. Yes, we make fun of it, but we can, because it's us (ever been to Divine Comedy anyone?). I'm going to miss it. I really am, but we can't stay in the "bubble" forever, and two weeks from now, it's going to pop, probably permenantly, but it's ok, I like being peculiar.

Snarky

Sometimes scrolling down my newsfeed on Facebook makes me feel like a mean person. I find myself making snarky comments silently as I skim the latest updates: the statuses, photos, and don't get me started on your latest version of Farmville. Sometimes I just can't believe the things people put up there...just saying.

Anyway...apparently I'm not the only one. Here's a part of the list from a CNN article.

The Let-Me-Tell-You-Every-Detail-of-My-Day Bore. "I'm waking up." "I had Wheaties for breakfast." "I'm bored at work." "I'm stuck in traffic." You're kidding! How fascinating! No moment is too mundane for some people to broadcast unsolicited to the world. Just because you have 432 Facebook friends doesn't mean we all want to know when you're waiting for the bus.
The Self-Promoter. OK, so we've probably all posted at least once about some achievement. And sure, maybe your friends really do want to read the fascinating article you wrote about beet farming. But when almost EVERY update is a link to your blog, your poetry reading, your 10k results or your art show, you sound like a bragger or a self-centered careerist.
The TMIer. "Brad is heading to Walgreens to buy something for these pesky hemorrhoids." Boundaries of privacy and decorum don't seem to exist for these too-much-information updaters, who unabashedly offer up details about their sex lives, marital troubles and bodily functions. Thanks for sharing.
The Bad Grammarian. "So sad about Fara Fauset but Im so gladd its friday yippe". Yes, I know the punctuation rules are different in the digital world. And, no, no one likes a spelling-Nazi schoolmarm. But you sound like a moron.
The Sympathy-Baiter. "Barbara is feeling sad today." "Man, am I glad that's over." "Jim could really use some good news about now." Like anglers hunting for fish, these sad sacks cast out their hooks -- baited with vague tales of woe -- in the hopes of landing concerned responses. Genuine bad news is one thing, but these manipulative posts are just pleas for attention..
The Crank. These curmudgeons, like the trolls who spew hate in blog comments, never met something they couldn't complain about. "Carl isn't really that impressed with idiots who don't realize how idiotic they are." [Actual status update.] Keep spreading the love.
The Obscurist. "If not now then when?" "You'll see..." "Grist for the mill." "John is, small world." "Dave thought he was immune, but no. No, he is not." [Actual status updates, all.] Sorry, but you're not being mysterious -- just nonsensical.


Oh well...then again..what else would entertain me during my breaks? :)