I've been thinkin about my doorbell, when you gonna ring it?

2010 is no more.

So now I've been thinking about my doorbell.  I've been thinking about who or what is going to ring it this year.

I had a lot of things and people ring my doorbell last year.  (One could say I had my bell rung several times) 
Everything that happened last year ~ it is what it is. 
The good and the bad, the sweet and the sour, all of it is in the past.  But when I take a long enough look at it all, a lot of fantastic things have happened to me and I am extremely grateful for each and every one of them.

But on to the new, the inevitable, the exciting, the unexplored frontier.  That is why I like the future.  It is ready for me to uncover, discover, or create.  No one has explored it before me.  Leif Erickson didn't see it before I did.  Watson and Crick didn't discover it before me.  I get to discover it all on my own.

And I've got a good feeling about 2011...
I've got some decent resolutions that I can keep.
I'm lacing up the old skates for a new season of hockey (this time in South Bend).
I've got a renewed sense of purpose.

But most of all...


I feel like something beautiful is just around the corner.

Graceful rooms of Alabaster stone

Yep, I'm home.

I'm incredibly excited to be here with my family, friends, and dog again.

I've traded in below freezing weather for 70 degrees.  I'm seeing family and friends everyday.  I'm not thinking about classes at all.  I'm dancing, singing, joking, and chilling with no worries.

I've been home for just over 2 days and have done so much already.  Swing dancing, partying, visiting friends, visiting family, watching Tangled, late night Taco Bell runs...

There isn't any reason to be worried cause I'm home.

I'm just incredibly ready for all the partying that takes place during this awesome holiday season.  This Christmas and New Years are shaping up to be the best ones ever.

I'll just have to save my "look back at 2010" for my new year's post.

But, for now, it is good to be back at a place where everyone knows my name.

Everything's goin my way

You know everything's going your way when you walk into your room and it naturally smells like root beer.

You know everything's going your way when your rector texts you during Biology to see if you can play floor hockey with him tonight.

You know everything's going your way when you are consistently 2 problems ahead of your calculus class.

You know everything's going your way when it is snowing so much that you can't see what is across the quad and you are awe struck by the beauty of the snow.

You know everything's going your way when you share laughs, sing songs, and smile at friends while walking around campus.

You know everything's going your way when everywhere you go there are Christmas decorations or Christmas music being played.

You know everything's going your way when your old buddies are happy for you.

You know everything's going your way when you realize that Oklahoma isn't good for nothing because of this song.

You know everything's going your way when you say a funny joke to Brandon and he likes it immediately (and you know he will laugh out loud every time he thinks about it).

You know everything's going your way when you can't wait to read your friend's philosophy paper because it is going to be the best paper in the world.

You know everything's going your way when your school's football team is put in a bowl in your home state.

You know everything's going your way when you have plans to swing dance as soon as you get home for winter break.

You know everything's going your way when you catch multiple snowflakes on your tongue.

You know everything's going your way when you carpe diem.

You know everything's going your way when your grandfather friends you on facebook.

You know everything's going your way when you listen to an 82 yr old poet's interview about how great life is and you just can't stop agreeing with him.

You know everything's going your way when you are living the dream at Notre Dame.

You know everything's going your way when it is cold outside but you are so warm on the inside.

You know everything's going your way when some random person says I enjoy your singing after Bio class.

You know everything's going your way when you eat fresh (subway).

You know everything's going your way when you haven't forgotten a lyric to any of the songs you have been singing all day.

You know everything's going your way when you are so excited and you don't know why.



Thank you wolverine for the song.

My Blog Rates: Restrooms

One of the stories my Aunt and my mother used to tell me went a little something like this:

On long road trips when we would stop at places to use the restroom, your mother and I would rate the restrooms.  We would get little sheets of paper and rate the restrooms on presentability, cleanliness, functionality, and general atmosphere.  After we finished critiquing the restrooms, we left the graded sheet of paper on the counter of the restroom in order to let the people of the restaurant or convenience store know how their restroom did on our rating sheet.

Well... sadly, I have never done this.  But, I feel the need to alert everyone to the fact that the most interesting (and arguably, greatest) restrooms that I know of are located in the Museum of Science and Industry in downtown Chicago.

First let me grade the restroom on the scales that my aunt and mother used:

Presentability: B
                         The only reason that the presentability grade is a B is that the restroom was a little too futuristic for me.  There was a little too much chrome everywhere and just black and white paint.  If there was a little more thought put into the decorations, the grade would go way up.  But I see that the main focus of this bathroom is functionality so I don't give it a C.

Cleanliness: A+++
                        With the solo waterless urinals (that bring me back to my high-school days), and the coolest hand-washing station I have ever seen the possibility of this bathroom becoming dirty is significantly less than a traditional bathroom.  With hardly any liquid on the ground (courtesy of the crazy hand-washing station), the restroom looks spick and span.  Now let me try to describe these "hand-washing stations."  They are these large trough-like sinks that span about 3 feet long and are connected to each other to form a large row of "troughs."  These metallic "troughs" are lined by a faux granite counter-top to mask the extra chrome of the sink.  Now above the sinks are mirrors that act like medicine cabinets which holds the faucet and the soap dispenser AND the HAND DRYER!  This contained allllll the liquid from the sink, IN THE SINK!  The motion detected faucet, soap, and hand-dryer create this "hands free" hand-washing experience that defies all laws of nature.  Did I mention that these were the kind of hand dryers that push the skin on your hand so hard that it creates a ripple like wave pattern of skin on your hand?

Functionality: A+
                             The way the walls are placed and how the sink is made, one can go into, use, wash their hands, and leave the restroom without touching anything in the restroom.  WHAT A CONCEPT!

General atmosphere: A
                                     I left this futuristic restroom with a satisfied feeling.
No... it was not like the normal satisfied feeling that I have when I leave any particular restroom.
I used the restroom in an environmentally friendly manner.  I cleaned my hands using only a certain amount of water that the motion of my hands dictated.  I used only my single allotted squirt of foamy soap to clean my hands (which was plenty).  I had my hands blown dry by a super charged dryer that took less than 10 seconds (which is amazing if you have been dealing with poor hand-dryers in your dorm bathrooms).  This was a great place for doing business.  It was a quick, easy, clean process and that is why they get an A.

Thank you, Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  You have shown me one of the coolest restrooms I will ever experience.

p.s. The toilet seats in the guglielmino athletics complex are the best at ND.

This has been the first, of many, "My Blog Rates."

Ideas for other things I can rate can be submitted through comments.

Happy Thanksgiving! (I now welcome Christmas music.)

What is Love?

"Though I have all faith
so that I could remove mountains...
... and have not love, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor...
... and though I give my body
to be burned...
... and have not love,
it profiteth me nothing.
Love suffereth long and is kind.
Love envieth not.
Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.
When I was a child, I spake as a child; I understood as a child; I thought as a child.
But when I became a man, I put away childish things.
But now abideth faith, hope, love... these three.
But the greatest of these is love."


As much as I love that quote from the movie, he leaves out a few things from 1 Corinthians that are just so beautiful so I have included the text (from the New American Bible) here:

1 If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3  If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, 5 it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, 6 it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  
8 Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. 9 For we know partially and we prophesy partially, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.  At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. 12 At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. 13 So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Now time to site the greatest of all informational websites, Wikipedia:
According to Wikipedia, when discussing 1 Corinthians 13...

Agape (is)...

• (verse 4)
  • is long suffering (i.e. tolerant, patient)
  • is kind
  • is free of jealousy, envy and pride
• (verse 5)
  • does not display unseemly behavior
  • is unselfish
  • is not touchy, fretful or resentful
  • takes no account of the evil done to it [outwardly ignores a suffered wrong]
• (verse 6)
  • hates evil
  • is associated with honesty
• (verse 7)
  • protects
  • trusts [implying faith in God and trusting in righteousness]
  • hopes
  • perseveres
• (verse 8)
  • triumphs
• (verse 13)
  • is greater than either faith or hope

Isn't the juxtaposition between verses 7 and 8 awesome?
Love protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres... yet TRIUMPHS.
It is really great to know that "love never fails."


"Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love."
1 John 4:8

Well, there's the answer.
We don't need to seek out love.  
It is right here.

It is God.

I am Chris' Heart

As I was sitting perfectly still during my Calculus class, I noticed something that I don't normally detect.  I saw that my desk was vibrating.  In a regular interval and without a sign of wavering, the desk seemed to shake every second.  I realized that I was making my desk shake even though I was sitting still.

My heart was shaking the desk.  To be specific: the closure of my aortic and pulmonary valves at the end of my ventricular systole made a strong enough beat to shake my desk.

It was one of those desks that is connected to your seat so even though I wasn't touching the desktop, my heart beat was shaking the support that held the desktop and made it shake.

It wasn't like I had just finished a morning run.  I hadn't finished exercising.  I was just sitting and thinking about optimization and Calculus related problems.  My heart was beating at a resting heart rate.

And that is what I found to be so amazing.  I knew the heart is a strong muscle but I didn't know how strong it was at it resting pulse.

The average heart beats 72 times per minute.  It takes almost a minute to circulate a red blood cell through out the entire body.  Everyday the heart creates enough energy to drive a truck 20 miles.  The human heart provides enough energy in an hour to lift a one-ton, medium-size car one yard off the ground.

This extremely powerful muscle is responsible for keeping us alive.  If one loses more than 3 and a half pints of blood they have a very slim chance of surviving and, according to Dexter, if a major artery is severed, one can bleed out in minutes.

It isn't surprising that we associate the heart with love and emotion because the heart is needed to keep us alive which is just what love and emotion does.  It keeps us living.

I think we need to take a moment to stop and think about how hard our hearts are working.

ok... moment over...

back to studying and paper writing.

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart."
-Confucius

Breathing in the Winter

Sorry folks.  It has been quite a while since I have blogged because I have been rehearsing/performing a fantastic play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and partying with the cool cats from the cast.

But a lot has happened since I last typed to y'all so here it goes...

I am currently suffering from show withdrawal but at the same time I am excited to have time to do things like study, sleep, and play floor hockey again.
I have joined my dorm ice hockey team and we have our first practice this week.
I have watched the greatest movie ever made - Citizen Kane -
and the worst movie ever made - The Room -
(I STRONGLY SUGGEST WATCHING BOTH OF THEM IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY DONE SO)
I made some amazing theater friends.
I found my inner Hamlet and had incredibly insane and angsty moments on stage.
I walked around campus at 4:30 am (twice in one weekend)
I caught a snowflake on my tongue.
I shook off the snow on my jacket by dancing.
I made some snowballs.
I jumped off of random things and fell into the snow.
I was told to "Just wait for an actual snowfall..." by a Chicagoite ??
I danced like a fool.
I had a strawberry milkshake at Steak n' Shake.
I had a hot fudge sundae at IHOP.
I fought imaginary pirates with a plastic sword.
I gave orders to have the English King execute Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
I murdered Polonius.

I did lots of other things too but there is one thing in particular I would like to focus on.

Breathing

It is only in the winter when you can see your breath. 

Your breath has moisture in it. When you exhale into very cold outdoor air, the moisture-laden atmosphere from your lungs becomes chilled to the point where the water condenses into a fog. 

It looks like a a small cloud is formed from your mouth or nostrils.

It kind of reminds me of the "breath of life" God gave to Adam.

I associate certain emotions with seeing your breath like relaxation, happiness, love, comfort.

We all need to breathe, it gives our blood oxygen and is circulated to all parts of our body so our cells can make energy.  It is necessary for life.  Just like love, happiness, comfort, relaxation.

Look even David Blaine needs to breathe...