Buckeye

Well I did it, I got into OHIO STATE!! Now the only school I'm waiting to hear from is Vanderbilt. If Vandy doesn't end up happening I will be moving to Columbus Ohio where Cassie and I will have the chance to live in a new city all by ourselves. I'm excited for the experience and for my partner in the move. I'm also glad it is only going to be a year so we can quickly return and continue building our life and family in our home town. I'm glad that my two top options (Ohio and Tennessee) both have a temple and a lot of LDS people. I kind of feel like being a member of the church is a bit like a secret club with members all over. So no matter how big or different a city is, you can find people with the same beliefs and it is almost like knowing you'll have instant friends when you move to a new place. I'm also excited to attend a big school and see if I can keep up with the students from other places. I think it was cool that Ohio State accepted my via youtube. Here is the link to my acceptance video!

Though I had a minor set-back during the holidays on my workout and eating plans, I am now back on track and I'm actually starting to enjoy Crossfit, something I thought I never thought would happen. It just feels good to be getting in shape after the last few years since my mission when I've let myself get so unfit.

Life is good, I can finally stop having panic attacks over GMAT studying and my wife will be glad I can stop taking xanax and going to bed at 9 o'clock every night. I'm glad to see that everything is working out, and the things that aren't working aren't that important.

We started planning for our SPRING BREAK trip already and it is looking like it will be the best yet! We have a solid group going this year and the Jazz are going to be in Phoenix while we are there too and that is the recipe for a solid trip.
We finally got the pictures back from our New York/Philly trip. Here are a few to end this post on:

It is now 2012

I haven't posted in a seriously long time. I'm writing this as I wait for my lunch in a restaurant that I eat the same lunch in almost every day. I don't feel like I'm 25. I don't feel like I'm applying to grad school and got my undergrad degree almost a year ago. It seems like life changes in too small of increments to notice but time goes by way too fast. I have so many nieces and nephews. There are currently 14 with one on the way. I Don't feel old enough to have a kid yet.
But life is good. I've developed a hobby (for I was seriously in need of one) in which I've been buying/selling/raising animals. Last summer we 14 cows in total and currently have about ten goats but that number goes up and down almost weekly.
Cassie is coaching high school girls basketball and I've been watching most of their games. I can't figure out why it makes me so mad to watch the games but it seems like I shout a lot more than necessary. My sister-in-law is on the team and I want them to win I guess but I can't understand how I could care enough to get so into the games. Maybe it is good to release steam at sporting events... Or maybe it just means I need to see a psychiatrist or something.
I joined a crossfit gym and started eating better. I lost over twenty pounds in the first couple of months but now it seems that I'm not consistent enough with my diet or my workouts to make any more of a dent in my body's shape or weight. I went from 218lbs down to 195lbs but since Christmas I've been stuck between 197-200. I attribute some of this to cold weather since I don't feel as excited to work out when it is cold but mostly I've just struggled with getting up at 6 am ever since Christmas.
I've really taken a liking to the tv series Breaking Bad. I'm half way into season two and I think it is among my favorite television series of all time.
I didn't do great on my GMAT the first time so I'm retaking it next week and submitting the rest of my applications soon after.
I hope I get into Vanderbilt or Ohio state.
Well this has been an update into my 2012 self

Jace Burgess Charity Fund

*none of this money will actually be used to benefit anyone but jace burgess

Been a Long Time

I think it is weird that throughout the school year you imagine this summer break will give you loads of time to do the things you want to get on top of. Decorating your house, planting your garden, organizing your pictures and attacking your media library with all the labels and tags necessary. Then, before you know it, it is the end of July, you've been married a year and still haven't hung all of your wedding photos in your house. This has been a crazy summer for me, and not just because it was my first as a married man.
The stuff with my dad was a big deal. I think the reason this summer has felt so heavy is because of the worry that he'll be ok. Even now, when things are looking very positive, there is still a lot of concern.
The running for the marathon is a bit slow, but it is happening. I may not get a great time on the marathon, but I'll finish if it kills me. I've got some mad shin splints right now but between icing my legs during work and taping them every time I run I hope the pain will subside soon.
Our anniversary was yesterday. We both had to speak in church, then I had to teach a class afterwards. It perhaps wasn't the most amazing set-up for a 1 year anniversary but after church we hung out at my parents house and then watched an old movie. I'm glad Cassie has been around more this summer. Basketball was fun to watch and I was happy for her when she was playing, but since she decided to quit it has been more fun being able to spend all day together.
Summer is almost over and I need to squeeze the most out of the rest of it.

WHY DOES THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT NOT CARE ABOUT THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR DECISIONS?

After taking a number of courses in economics, finance, accounting and even management, I am often dumbfounded by the actions of our elected officials. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the decisions they make. They have the mentality that I had when I was 10 years old, which caused me to ask my mother, "why don't we just print more money to buy the things we want?" She responded by explaining (very simply) that the more money we print, the less every dollar is worth. I walked away with the knowledge that inflating the dollar isn't a viable option to pay for things I couldn't afford. Why doesn't the government practice the basic truths we teach our children? How can you justify asking for more money than is available in the entire planet's financial markets, just to pay for things you want? The more I learn about what we are doing as a nation, the more sick I become. Why is an elementary knowledge of economics absent in congress?

I've always been annoyed at those who claim to "hate the government" but now I am simply mad because of the reasons they always cite. I'd rather live in an imperialist nation than a nation governed by complete disregard for the future. As long as we were an imperialist nation who looked ahead further than 60 days.

I can't stand the health care debate. This new "Cadillac Tax" is a perfect example of how the government crowds out the private sector when they become involved. We have all sorts of anti-trust law to prevent businesses from gaining monopoly power, but the government won't even attempt to compete without using the bureaucracy to make the playing field a bit more uneven. President Obama claims taxing high-end health insurance plans will hopefully get people to come to ONE source for ALL of their health care needs. They already get to pass through all of the business hurdles with their "government" status, the playing field is already uneven when you compare business with the all powerful government. This is obvious in looking at interest rates. When interest rates go up, businesses and households stop borrowing. When interest levels go up, the government keeps borrowing like nothing has changed.

They've given us all a share of the national debt over $100,000 a person, which amazes me when I think of how little we got in return at that price. As a college student and recently married 23 year old, I'm a little more than concerned about what happens next.
I have always been one to stand up for the USA when people start to mock us, but I can no longer stomach doing so until we make great changes in our policy. I'm tired of being physically ill in class while we learn about inflation and the fiscal policy of the USA. It is a terrifying time to be alive, but I suppose it has always been terrifying to be alive.. And while we're all going to end up taking it in the shorts, There is very little we can do about it right now. First step is to START APPLYING THE KNOWLEDGE WE LEARNED AS CHILDREN! Stop buying things we don't need at prices we can't afford. Don't ask for a handout at the cost of everyone else. Don't vote for people because of the promises to "help" you out in return.
Study economics and understand supply and demand. While you are at it, study the great depression and pre-WWII Germany. The only way out of our current situation is serious inflation..

A Recurring Rant...

Bryce Murray 1200 limos, 140 private jets.... expected CO2 emissions: about the same as the country of morocco in 2006. let the copenhaagen hypocrisy begin.

3 hours ago · Comment ·

You like this.

Jace Jonathan Burgess

no no no, you have it all wrong m8. They become carbon neutral when they tell us what to cut back on. So, rather than cut back themselves, they avoid hypocrisy by not practicing what they preach while forcing it on the general public by way of taxation and law. Al Gore cares for the environment, even though his own footprint isn't a good indication of such. Al Gore cares enough about the environment to travel all around the world on jets (leaving the heat on in his two mansions), receive the fame that he "deserves" and even pocket a few coins along the way. Now, if I have to sacrifice a few bucks in order to buy a prius and devote tax money to fund city recycling initiatives that are marginally(if any) better for the environment than regular trash disposal then so be it. Because I care enough about the environment, and I'm enough of an egomaniacal spinster to promote the idea that 200 years of industrial pollution is really going to cause the Earth (which has been doing fine for billions of years of natural highs and lows) to become uninhabitable. I'm also completely opposed to the idea that in the next 100 years science will have thought of an efficient way to employ renewable energy. How could we make such a leap without serious government intervention? Free markets may have been what produced the combustion engine and the automobile, but it is obvious that only collectivism and the limiting of personal freedom could provide the incentives necessary to produce a green society. Also, while capitalism is designed to find what the buying public wants and produce it at its lowest possible cost, only having a ruling bureaucracy affords us the luxury of telling the future and adjusting the public to what it could be like (for a small fee of our taxes and share of the debt)

wow, it feels good to get that rant out of my system. That was a good break from studying. Thanks for the outlet, and sorry for the amount of space I consumed with my response. Have a good day.
PS, sorry I ripped your pants 2 and a half years ago with my incredible wrestling moves.. I don't seem to know my own strength when that adrenaline kicks in.

What I hate about college?

I decided something about myself today, and about college. One of the strangest things I hate about college is that there are people as smart as me.. Maybe they aren't as smart as me, maybe they are smarter, but the thing that bugs me about this is that I absolutely HATE it when I'm not the first one done with a test. Now I know that how quickly you take a test is not a determining factor of the grade you will receive on said test, but throughout my life I have almost ALWAYS been the first person in every class to be done with any standardized test.

In high school, unless I was in Charles or Kurt's class, I knew I would most likely get the highest grade on the test as well, no matter what the subject. But NOW, I found this semester that I can't even get in the top 10% of the class scores unless I actually STUDY(at least for some classes). And this bothers me because I spent the majority(by far) of my academic life coasting by and getting rewarded for it with high test results and personal pride/arrogance.

On my business law tests, I didn't study at all for the first two, and got awful scores.. There were probably many people who did worse than me, but there were LOADS who did better than me and that really made me mad. So on the 3rd test I crammed like MAD the day before the test and still only got an 85%. So for the past two days I've been cramming for the test I had to take this morning, and it was really nice to know the answers and be the 2nd person in class to turn it in. I am excited to see what my score was, and I'm fairly certain it was far better than my previous 3.

At first I thought it was pretty foolish to care so much about being the first one done with a test. But then I decided that the good feeling I got from cramming and doing well is as close as I'll ever be to the feeling of studying hard and earning a good grade, so I've decided to ignore this weird obsession of mine in hopes it will inspire me to cram more often..

Maybe one day it will even force me to really study and pay attention in class...