Mosaic

Jessica had a cool mosaic on her blog, so I made one of my own. The following:



1name: Zac
2favorite food: Pizza
3favorite color: blue & orange
4nickname: Zacko
5favorite drink: fruit smoothie
6celebrity crush: Rosie O'Donnell
7dream vacation: Philippines
8one word to describe you: Creative
9what you love most in life: My wife, but since there wasn't a pic on the website, my second love is Midas
10favorite song of all time: Super Massive Black Hole, Muse
11current location: University of Lethbridge
12what you want to be when you grow up:Scientist

Seminary Shoebox Video: My Love For Making Movies

Over the past two weeks or so, Lethbridge Seminary has been doing the classic Operation: Christmas Child shoebox drive. This, for those of you who don't know what that is, is where you fill a shoebox full of fun stuff that is then sent to 3rd-world-countries around the world in time for Christmas to be awesome for them.

However, so far things have been...sluggish at best. So, last night I sat down at my laptop, poured over mission pictures & videos, and put together a five minute video/slideshow. I threw in a number from the Primary Choir from October's conference, as well as a quote I found from President Monson in a Oct 2003 General Conference. Hopefully the video loads (the University internet has horrible upload speeds).

I showed it to my class this morning and they loved it. It will be shown to the rest of the students if their teachers choose to use it as well. I'm really glad that I've been able to use my love and talent for creating movies in this way. Its really fun and its nice to be able to go back and really see that you've made something good in the end.

As for my regular movie making love, we've made Saving Kenya and Saving Kenya II (secret agent spoofs), both of which can be found on my Facebook profile. Next movie you ask? Well, after Saving Kenya and Saving Kenya II, I want to try out something else we've joked around with for a while: Free-Style Walking, a trailer for a mockumentary of extreme walking. I don't really feel like making the whole thing at this point, but if it turns out super well, who knows what will happen? After that, another Saving Kenya type movie would be good. :)

If You Own a Wii, Go Steal $23!

So, its been a while since I blogged about some geek stuff that I oh so enjoy. So, I read on IGN about two great games that became available for download on Wii: World of Goo, a construction puzzle game, and Secret of Mana, an RPG that was originally released on SNES.

World of Goo is a great puzzle game where you use little goo balls to build jelly structures to carry other goo balls to a pipe. Sound simple? It is! The style, challenge, and humor in the game is incredible though, and there are levels that can really challenge you. Its awesome. For only $15 on WiiWare, its one of the most "bang for you buck" packages that I've seen available. Absolutely incredible.



Secret of Mana, one of the greatest roleplaying games on Super Nintendo, also was available for download on Virtual Console (Wii's service for downloading games from past systems). I havn't gotten too far, but I've played the other games in the Mana series (Final Fantasy Adventure/Sword of Mana). So far it feels alot like the other games in the series. Aparently you can play up to three people in the game, but unless I can convince Hilary to play a game where she swings a sword around and casts spells, I think I'll be playing by myself! :) Not that I mind.

So, if you own a Wii, go out and steal $23 bucks from someone! You would get two incredible games for Wii, and hours and hours of gameplay!

I wanna be a loser!

First off, I wanna make a plug to my wifey's blog. She seems to have better insight on our lives, and if you're really feeling religious on following our lives, you might to well to stalk her blog as well as mine. :)

Well, midterms have come and gone, and so I'm finally able to blog again. Over the past two weeks, I have had five exams, a huge bio report due, as well as various assorted assignments. Oh yeah, and work. :) So, its been crazy.

So, back at Thanksgiving the fam got together and had dinner. After we all were ridiculously full of poultry delight, we collaborated and decided to start the Biggest Dudley Loser, i.e. everyone pitches in $20 and at Christmas, the one who loses the most weight (in percentage of body weight) gets the pot. So what have I done? So, Zac's game plan?

#1 Put it a little time on Wii Fit every day - I've been trying to convince Wii Fit that I'm not obese, but to no avail...it appears that I have some work to do to prove myself otherwise. However, the mere fact of weighing myself and doing a few simple exercises 3ish times a week is going to help.

#2. Cut the crap. Basically, I have decided to stop making excuses for not losing weight, such as "I'm too tired to take the stairs" or "its hard" or "I think being fat is cool." So far, its going alright, although weight loss is really is mind set and a life style, and the healthier your mindset, the more you'll lose.

#3. Be patient. It takes time to lose weight, so I can't expect to see results overnight. It will take time, but I'm convinced that if I ramp up the exercise a bit and watch what I eat, six months or a year from now, Mr. Wii Fit will be telling me that I'm merely overweight, and not actually an obese lard.

Well, I've got class, and then I'm gonna go swimming. Ah, sweet swimming...

Election 2008

Well, it was a great election that we saw come and go here in Canada. Although I am not a heated, passionate contributor to politics, I try to do my part to stay informed about, as the Flight of the Conchords would say, "the issues." It seems to me like this election was all about the leaders more so than the platforms of the given parties. Personally, I believe that Stephen Harper is very trustworthy and has never really given Canadians reason to doubt him. He is a very wise, humble leader who stands firm in that which he believes. To me, it seemed like there were too many flaws in the other campaigns. Carbon Tax? Uh...yeah, no. Seems to me like forcing a tax to have people be green is ridiculous. Slam the economy so that Canada has a greener thumb. And NDP? Well, the big thing for me was "we're going to get more doctors and nurses!" Have you heard the ads that are on the radio that say "if you have ever been a nurse, you are needed now more than ever." Its not like doctors and nurses don't want to work, or that they can't find work, and its the government's fault. Its the fact that there aren't any! What are you going to do, import them from 3rd world countries so that Jimbo James in Welling can have his own family doctor? Yeah, no. Dear NDP: research the areas of your campaign before using it as a cornerstone. Personally, I'm pleased with the results. It would have been nicer if the Bloc Quebeqois decided to be Canadians and stop insisting on seperating so we could have a majority government, but whatever. Anyways, politics! My rant for the day. Til next time...SMARF!

NEW BLOG!

Blogger - an Internet journal that crosses the busy streets while attempting not to be run over by oncoming traffic.

Well, since it's been forever since I've entered a blow into the vault, I think I'll do it. So, quick recap of my life. It consists of four things: school, seminary, work, and home.

1. School - After a month of classes now passed, I am once again drowning in wonderful midterms and the like. Apparently, if you want to be a scientist, you have to be molded into one through an intensive, highly stressful process including piling on an impossible amount of work from a number of different classes. Yeah...not a fan. With classes on genetics, organic chemistry, neuroscience, academic writing, and the history of European civilization from the years Umpteeen Fiddy BCE to the present day, I'm more the swamped at any given time. Over all, however, I enjoy what I'm learning, which is nice, considering the generous donation I've made to the school so far this year.

2. Seminary - Yeah, that's right. Zac Erickson is a bonafide seminary teacher. Like...for real. It been great so far actually. I teach 15 Grade 9 kids at LCI the early morning seminary class. They have presented several challenges, the least of which has not been inspiring them to muster up enough enthusiasm to sing the opening song above a high volume whisper, or to actually answer questions and spark discussion. Most of them ate there every morning though, so it great. Getting up at 6:30 am has proven an interating curveball into my life, but it definately helps me to be to my classes on time. :)

3. Work - I'm still chuggin away working at Home Depot. I'm averaging around 13 hours a week there, which is nice. I work in the Hardware/Tools department, and over the past few days have been able to help out the boss by fiddling around with their new computer system. In attempt to optimize sale potential and operation efficiency, they've adopted a new program, which so far has proven nothing but slower and more of a headache. Most are clinging to the hope that "one day it will work," but I am simply sitting back, thanking the Occupation Gods that I don't have to spend 40 hours a week there luke I did in the summer. Blegh.

4. Home - Ah, whoever said "home is where the heart is" sure was on to something. I mean, really, every day I come home to my beautiful wife and life is good again. We are currently living in Lethbridge in a little green threeplex and couldn't be happier. Hilary is also in school (in her third year of nursing) and the two if us love going to school together at the University of Lethbridge. We were considering on bringing a puppy into our home a while back, but after careful consideration, we decided a two bedroom apartment isn't quite big enough for a puppy. I mean, come on, we had goldfish and all three died! In my defense, however, I think the lady at Petcetera never gave us filter.

So, anyways, life is good. I'll attempt to write more on here. Blog power!!