Critical Thinking

I am taking an organizational behavior class right now from a professor who has a PhD in the subject and I really am enjoying the class and her perspectives. In class yesterday she said something I think we could all apply. She said "Critical thinking is key to all learning," and went on to define Critical thinking as "the questioning of everything." This was something that I thought was neat and wanted to remember it and share it with you all. How many of us apply this in our learning/educations? How many times do Church members question that which is presented to them as "fact" from less than reliable sources? Now obviously, you have to have some foundation, hence the scripture in 1 Corinthians 3:11 "for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ," or Ephesians 2:20 "and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." Or the Book of Mormon being the keystone of our religion, et al. One things I have learned from brothers-in-law TJ and Chris is this "question everything" attitude, while I don't do it as often as they do I'm trying to open my mind more and more. And you know what? as I do so, my testimony grows stronger! Imagine that! "You mean to say that flexing your brain will help you learn and grow?" Yes! In a Church where "The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth" (D&C 93:36) and where agency is one of the principles upon which is built the entire cosmic multi-verse (see D&C 93:30-31) you would think the ability to practice critical thinking would be commonplace. Anyways, i just read TJ's post on his Mormon culture sins and was a little fired up.
How good are you at questioning new things presented to you? or, how good are you at critical thinking?
How do you react to cognitive dissonance? (where cognitive dissonance = the disparities between what you thought you knew as fact, and what the truth really is when presented to you).

COMIC CON!! (i.e. Nerd Alert)

This is going to be a long one...
Well it has come and past, the main event of the year...ok, maybe not the main event of the year, but definitely awesome. As you saw in the previous post, I bought a few things (At the end of the post I'll put what I bought down). I got to drive down to San Diego with my sister Nicole and talk to her. TJ and Chris had been going since Wed. night so they hung out till about 12:40 and then peaced out. And of course, my loving wife -not wanting me to be alone (we knew TJ and Chris weren't going to stay)-Amanda came with us as well!! So to best tell the story, I must use pictures:

My brothers and me browsing comics

Best Star Wars Character Ever

Kinda Blurry, but it's me!

The Punisher

Cool Superman banner at the DC "booth"

Statuette of a Tautaun being attacked by a Snow Monster

Boba Fett Figurine

General Grievous bust

Life size C-3PO and R2-D2

Apocalypse (from X-Men) bust

Sabretooth bust (also X-Men)

I believe this was supposed to be War Machine (from Iron Man)

Iron Man bust

Full-size Iron Man

Giant Lego Batman & Robin

and, the monster from Cloverfield statuette.

Well, what an awesome time I had at COMIC CON. Here's a breakdown of my treasures:
-New X-Men, vol. 1
-Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 (signed by author)
-R.A. Salvatore's Exile and Sojourn
-X-Men: Deadly Genesis
-Ultimate Iron Man (by Orson Scott Card)
-The Hedge Knight (from George R.R. Martin's Fire & Ice book series
-Orson Scott Card's Red Prophet (Tales of Alvin Maker, vol. 1)
-Star Wars 30th Anniversary Vols. 2 & 3 (Jedi vs. Sith and Darth Maul respectively)
-Marvel 1602
-100 Bullets: Once Upon A Crime
-Frankenstein Poster, which follows as the last pic
If you made it this far than thanks for taking the time to view and read. I hope you enjoyed!

Coming Soon...

Comic-con was this Sunday (well, it was longer, but I couldn't get off work so Amanda & I just got to go Sunday) and here's a preview. I have more pics I will be posting within the next couple of days.

Drooling over Todd Lockwood art, by then I was out of money,
so I didn't get any. Why was I out of money...

And this is why I was out of money, also part of my b-day present. And don't worry, most of it was 60% off... more to come...

Happy Birthday to Me

Well, Friday the 25th was my birthday and here is a little photo journal of the events:

My newest Nephew: Caleb Derek ShelbyMy awesome present from Jodi, a print of a watercolor of
Boba Fett, best Star Wars Character everPresents, presents, presents...

The Cake!!!...

Getting ready....

Got 'em all...

Amanda got me Mario Kart

Some Mario Kart enjoymentA new CD from Cameron (Amanda's brother, my brother-in-law).
Flight of the Conchords rocks!!
(i.e. "She's hot like a Curry;" "binary solo: 0000001, 0000011,..." "did Steve tell you that...Steve;" "My name is the hiphopopotamus, my rhymes are bottomless............" etc.)

Anyways, my Birthday was awesome, thanks everyone who came to party, and for the company and gifts, and thanks work for the balloons and stuff. The cake was great and the homemade pizza was amazing. And the fun isn't over yet! Tomorrow Amanda and I are joining TJ and Chris for the last day of Comic-con in San Diego, whoo-hoo!!!!

New Movie Previews

OK, so there are some amazing movies coming out this year, everyone loved Iron Man, it was great. And everyone knows about Batman and has seen the preview so there is no need to post those, but here are some interesting movies you may not have seen the previews for:
James Bond in Quantum of Solace, Nov 7, 2008



Do I really need to explain the meaning of James Bond? One of the best franchises of all time!! Oh, as a side note the movie take place one hour after where the last Bond flick (Casino Royale) ended and Daniel Craig is returning as James Bond.

Next, The Day the Earth Stood Still:


This movie may need a little more explaining. It is a remake of a 1950s sci-fi classic. I won't give too much plot away because it looks like it diverges a little from the original plot (but not too much). Anyways, without knowing anything about the plot, one can see from the preview that it looks really, really good.

As for other good news:
-- X-Men Origins: Wolverine comes out May 1, 2009 with Hugh Jackman returning as the Wolverine and directed by Gavin Hood (who won the Academy Award for best foreign film in 2005 for "Totsi"). The screenplay will be done by David Benioff (who wrote the screenplays for "Troy" and "25th Hour"). Joining the cast are Gambit (played by Taylor Kitsch from TVs "Friday Night Lights"), Deadpool (by Ryan Reynolds), John Wraith (by Black Eyed Peas Will.i.am), Col. William Stryker (by DannyHuston), Kayla Silver Fox (by Lynn Collins), and of course Sabretooth (by Liev Schreiber).

--Thor for this film only the director has been announced, and it is Matthew Vaughn, the director of "Stardust," and "Layer Cake."

Anywho, that's it for me. Hope you're as excited about these films as I am. Other tidbits, in the works after Thor are movies about Captain America, and then an Avengers film that will link up Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America. Woo Hoo!!

happy randomness...inspired by Nicole

>My love Amanda
>books, comics (lent by TJ and Nicole), books, books, etc.
>my family
>pearls before swine
>books
>dilbert
>milk
>music
>my new couch
>my Wii (even though Amanda generally plays more than me)
>douns-a-nuts (or dough nuts, as they used to be called by Adam)
>conversations (usually via e-mail) with by brothers
>quiet reading at night when the upstairs kids aren't pounding around
>dinner with either set of parents
>watching survivor with the fam (even on the really long episodes, that take forever to finish)
>accounting (isn't that sick??)
>my friends at work
>dad's artwork (he sold two pieces from his senior show)
>teaching Elder's quorum (keeps me sharp)
>the Office (it's hilarious!!)
>cuddling with my wife
>mucho smoochos
>chocolate covered pretzels
>shooting guns with my father and brother-in-law
>hanging with my brother-in-law Cameron as he runs circles around me (literally) in Call of Duty 4
>watching movies
>Netflix
>southpark (guilty pleasure)
>visiting Amanda at work
>half off Chili's
>fantasy & science fiction
>James Bond movies...

well that about wraps it up, I was trying to think of what to post and really liked Nicole's happy randomness idea so I utilized it. Hope you enjoyed!

Scholarship Night

Well just recently (as in June 6) we had a big night for me at school, but I'll start from the beginning. One day at work not too long ago I was sitting on my 15 min. break and the phone rang, so I answered and it was someone from CSUSB telling me I had won a scholarship! I had forgotten by this time that I had even applied for a scholarship. So anyways, they gave all the details and it was a great day (nothing like sitting watching People's Court, ugh, and getting a great pick me upper like that). Which brings us to Friday, the 6th, a few weeks later. We went to the dinner, and although it was three and a half hours long! I was awarded $950 for school!! Isn't that awesome? Plus we (meaning both Amanda and I) got a free dinner to boot. here is my picture with the scholarship letter that I was awarded at the ceremony.