I suppose I should write something to end all this nonsense. I had my interview for the UPC Technology Chair about an hour and a half ago. I didn’t know who the interview was with until I walked in the room to find half the UPC board in there: Mondi (the current UPC Board Chair), Anne (next year’s UPC Board Chair), Jim and Frank (Union staff members), and Dave (the current UPC Technology Chair).

They each took turns asking questions like “What is your best quality and how will you apply it to this position?”, “What do you hope to accomplish as Technology Chair?”, and “What is your favorite place in the Union, and why?”. My favorite one was “What is your definition of ‘accountability’ and how will you keep that in mind as you provide leadership for your commitee?”.

Earlier today I learned that there was one other person who (sortof) applied for Technology Chair. The application for board positions just had all six board chair positions at the top, with instructions to “check all positions you wish to be considered for”. This particular applicant actually checked all six boxes! :o He has not served on the council before, so it will be interesting to see if he gets one of the positions.

I feel like I answered the questions well, or at least truthfully. I told them (in answer to the ‘accountability’ question) that I don’t feel as though I am a good leader, and that I will have to learn how to keep my commitee accountable. They told me they appreciated my honesty, and they sounded sincere.

I really hope I get this job. I think I can really do a good job. I’m really glad that today is over and I get to go home now! Thank you everyone for supporting me in seeking this position. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers. 

Today is going to be interesting. I’ve got an appointment with a computer science department counselor this morning around 9am, followed by a meeting with the UPC Technology Committee around 10:30. Then I have a little bit of time to eat lunch before my 12:25 Symphonic Band class. That class gets out around 1:45, and at 2:20 I have my interview for UPC Technology Chair.

I’ll let you all know how the day turns out, but if anyone is reading this between 2:20 and 2:40 this afternoon, throw a little prayer my way, would ya please? Thanks! 

Just when I was starting to really like Hockey. I’ve been telling Janene for the last few months that we ought to go see a Ute Hockey game. Unfortunately, the University of Utah Skatin’ Utes team has been suspended from the league by University Officials. They cited several past violations of University policy, including driving a rented van after midnight while on a roadtrip, allowing a high school student to play and travel with the team, and allowing two students to fly home from an away game in a private airplane (BYU Newsnet also claims that it’s because of some things that our team did at games against BYU).

I heard about all this in a couple articles in the Utah Chronicle yesterday, and the BYU Newsnet article came out today.

Utah Chrony: Officials Cut Ties With Hockey Club The Chronicle’s View: U Hockey Club’s Untimely End

BYU Newsnet: University of Utah drops hockey team

I’m really bummed about this. I wish I would’ve gone and seen them kick BYU’s butts at least once. 😟 

I signed up to see a Computer Science counselor next Tuesday. Applications for full major status are due toward the end of the semester, and I want to make sure I have all my hens in a row.

Speaking of Tuesday, that’s the same day I’m scheduled to be interviewed for the position of UPC Technology Chair. I’m rather confident I’ll get the job, but I’m still nervous any time I get interviewed. I’m always scared that I’ll say something really stupid.

Janene’s family is having a sort of crisis this week. One of their dogs, a rather large husky/malamute named Salter, has contracted a nasty gastro-intestinal disease. He’s stopped eating and everyone is very worried that he may die soon. Janene’s sister, Christene, is a veteranary technician, and is doing all she can to make him feel comfortable and give him the care he needs. The whole situation is causing some emotional tension in the home, and it may effect them financially as well, depending on how much it could cost to perform some of the procedures Salter may need. I would like to ask everyone to pray for Janene’s family that they can make it through this. 

I just got out of a lecture on campus by Dr. Nasser Hadian, who is a visiting professor at Columbia University. This lecture was part four of a series of guest lectures about the Iraqi-American conflict. You can get more information about the series on the University website. Dr Hadian is an expert on Iranian foreign policy, and gave a brief, yet thorough, overview of Iranian government and Iranian opinions about war in Iraq.

Because the Iranion government has over 30 political parties, the lecture seemed very scattered to me. Dr. Hadian attempted to split the different parties into two main categories, but even with this categorical distinction I still felt slightly overwhelmed by the number of things he was trying to explain one after the other. Because of this comprehensive explanation of how the Iranian government is organized, the lecture was not very captivating, and I noticed several people around me who were sleeping. I didn’t fall asleep, but I did yawn several times. 😊

I think the main point he was trying to make is that most of the people in Iran believe that the best thing to do in this situation is to remain completely neutral. They feel if they show any support for the U.S. that Saddam, in a last ditch attempt at getting revenge, will fire missiles at Tehran. These missiles could contain any number of biological weapons which would create a complete catastrophy, since the city of Tehran is home to over 10 million people.

Another concern of the people in Iran is that after the war the U.S. may attack them. Dr. Hadian dismissed this idea, claiming that after the U.S. takes out Iraq, President Bush will become too concerned about his re-election, and will turn to U.S. domestic issues such as the economy. It is not until Bush is re-elected that Iran really has to start worrying about a U.S. attack. Now, I know that the U.S. has declared North Korea and Syria as part of the “Axis of Evil”, so I would imagine we would go after one of those two next. If anybody can explain to me why in the heck we would attack Iran, please do so in a comment.

All in all the lecture gave me a good understanding of what countries (not just Iran) near Iraq think about the whole conflict. Most of them want Saddam out, but they are afraid of how war will affect them.