Seriously. This is Better

You work hard. You put in long hours at your desk, coming up with lesson plans, dealing with University policies and administration. You burn the midnight oil grading papers, and maybe even writing them. You earn your paycheck, that much is obvious. With that said, you don't want to go about spending your hard-earned money on something that won't sustain value. You want something you can look at, smile to yourself and say, "I'm glad I bought that."

Thus, I recommend to you a Cutco cutlery set.

Right away you must be thinking, "A knife? Why on earth would I want to by a knife?" But you won't regret your purchase when you feel the ease of use and the convenience of not having to work hard to prepare a meal. Cutco uses an edge on many of their knives that is entirely unique among all other knives.

I could bore you with the incomparable construction details, but instead why not try one and see what you think? After all, the company offers 15 days completely risk free so you can try it out and see what you think. If you don't, no problem, there's a complete refund waiting for you. But if you're like most people, you will love it and want to keep it. You'll use it everyday for years, and love it all the while. And pretend that 8 years down the road you're using a knife and something goes wrong with it. This doesn't happen often, but in the case that it does, there's no reason to worry. Send it back to the company, and they will replace it for you for free. This wonderful policy is called the Forever Guarantee, and unlike many companies' "Lifetime Guarantees," this guarantee really does last forever. Since the company has been around since 1949, they have the authority to say they really stand behind their claim. Cutco does not claim their product is completely without flaws, but they guarantee that you will never have to pay to replace or fix any problem that is their fault. The Forever Guarantee makes any Cutco product into something that can be handed down from generation to generation. Can you think of any other company that can say that?

Finally, there is a lot of talk today about foreign labor, how jobs are being taken from America and, more importantly, how children are being made to work in inhumane conditions to make products so huge multinational corporations can maximize profits. Cutco does none of that. Every knife Cutco makes is handcrafted in the United States. This implies two very important truths. First, in buying Cutco you are supporting American, non-child labor. Second, you know that the product you are buying is made with pride and care and extremely high-quality.

It may seem silly to some to invest in a knife set, but remember: you use knives every single day. No other everyday household item offers the value of Cutco, and no other cutlery company offers the quality. So give Cutco a try. If you're like millions of others across the nation, you'll love it right away, and for the rest of your life.

You Down with B-Town?

“Welcome to Bothell, for a day or a lifetime.” A friendly sign reading those exact words greets you as you drive in to the place I am proud to call home. Who wouldn’t want a warm welcome such as that?

And that’s just the beginning of why Bothell is such a wonderful place to live.

Bothell is a smallish city north of Seattle, Washington, which leads one to infer two things. First, that it rains pretty frequently, and second, that it is more beautiful on sunny days than almost anywhere else on earth. The greenery and the feeling that although you live in a city, you are surrounded by nature, is very calming. You gain a greater understanding of the fact that you are a part of this world and that nearly everything you do affects it in some way, whether positive or negative. You can’t get that in a concrete jungle, or a desert for that matter.

Besides the astounding beauty and the connection with nature, there is a great sense of community in Bothell, especially during high school football season. Thousands from the city will gather on Friday nights at Pop Keeney field to watch the Cougars play. Stores in downtown show their Cougar pride, in addition to the many houses throughout the community with specially made signs indicating that a player lives there, or maybe just that they support the program. It is a wonderful thing to see that the community is just as supportive of the team as the student body itself.

But here I am getting nostalgic. You can’t transfer memories, so I won’t try to, but Friday nights are something to experience.

Even if you aren’t a Cougar fan, and are just visiting for a long or short time, you will be welcomed with open arms. That’s great thing about Bothell: it’s large enough to be a city, but still retains the feeling of a town.

If you’re into living in beautiful places filled with friendly people and fun things to do, give Bothell a try. It worked for me for 15 years.

Probably the greatest thing in the world... at BYU

I think it would be impossible to not love a resource as useful as the BYU bookstore. You just cannot beat the convenience of only having to go to one place to get everything you need for college. Getting books there is a breeze. Everything is well-categorized, and if by some chance the Bookstore does not have what you need on the shelf, they can order it for you. That, to me, shows that they are really looking out for the students. It's not a "tough luck" situation, they've got your back the whole way.
Adding on to the incredible ease of buying at the Bookstore is the checkout. Everyone there is friendly, and even when the line is long, the cashiers work hard to make sure you get through as quickly as possible. They are also very willing to help with any issues you may have, and they thoroughly explain their wonderful buy-back policy and return policy, just so there isn't any confusion.
Finally, the Bookstore's prices are completely reasonable as well. After all, they are a business, and besides the price that the publisher charges the store there are lots of overhead costs and employee wages to pay, so books are going to be expensive. When you put it all into perspective, the prices of books at the bookstore make sense.
The Bookstore is a wonderful place for buying books, and so much more, at the right price, and with all the convenience and support one could ask for.

See you next time

BYU is great, except...

I do like BYU, don't get me wrong, I like it a lot. But even the Lord's university has some issues. I'll be picking at one in particular that really grinds my gears. The Bookstore. It's not the store itself. As an establishment, it provides everything students will need, has helpful staff, and is convenient to buy from. That is, if you happen to have several hundred dollars laying around.

Fact: books are expensive. Fact: the BYU Bookstore is a business. Fact: the goal of a business is to make money. So what does BYU do? They give you your book list late so that you have less time to look for books online and wait for them to ship. If you're short on time, you're stuck, and you'll have to buy from the bookstore. So what if they're charging a lot for the book? They have it, and you need it. Just basic supply and demand principles that perhaps they have fixed a bit to work in their favor.

And some people just buy from the bookstore by choice, not knowing that they are paying way more than they need to. To be fair, BYU is the cheapest 4 year university for tuition this side of.. anywhere, so I don't have much to complain about compared to many of my friends. But honestly, BYU's goal is to make education affordable to everyone, isn't it?

I don't like whining usually, and since this whole thing is one large glass of whine, I think I'll stop. Some things are just the way they are, but for every will, there's a way. I know I didn't pay full price for books.

See you next time