Birthday Wish

Hello Everyone.

Thank you for the wonderful birthday wishes.

Here is what we should do...

Every year, starting on my birthday, we will read the Book of Mormon cover to cover. That is 4 months of time, or about 4 pages a day.

This can be a tradition that will allow each of us to share spiritual experiences and insights, as well as allow the children (and the adults) to start in the habit of reading the Book of Mormon each year.

What say ye? Since no one cares about these blogs anymore, just use facebook I guess.

It's that time of year...

Okay family.

Time for another Maxwell Family challenge. Last year we read the Book of mormon before Christmas. Congratulations to all those (Dad) who finished. If you actually did and I don't know about it I apologize.

What shall we do this year?

Perhaps we can all read "The Infinite Atonement" by Tad R. Callister or something like that? Maybe we all should save 100 bucks to give to the poor at Christmastime. That's 20 dollars a month until then. What sounds good?

Comment this up!!

Music and its concerts are the BEST.

This is in response to a former equivocation of mine.

Music is sublime. Heaven-sent. Supremely magnificent and wonderful. I apologize for ever thinking that music concerts in any way, shape, or form are terribly boring and at times strange. Please forgive me.

Music is the ultimate form of communication, and evokes sentiments in a way that no other medium can. I applaud all musicians in the world, and praise them for the unparalleled talent and expertise that they possess. I hope to attend many music concerts in my lifetime. I especially hope to enjoy harp concerts forever. Harp concerts are superior in every way, shape and form to any artistic venue.

Again, please forgive me for ever being negative towards music and/or the settings in which it is produced.

Sincerely,

Clifford Maxwell

Without further adieu...

Okay okay. Everyone is buzzing about my relationship right now, so I figured I could post some pictures and give everyone an update.

Here is the scoop: I am dating Tess, a harp performance major from Gilbert, Arizona. We started dating over a month ago, and it has been perfect ever since! Yes, we are getting more and more serious, but we are waiting to see how Boise goes to determine next steps. Yes we will be dating while I am gone. If you want more details, you will have to give me a call! Callie, she will meet you on the 4th of July, and we are trying to figure out a way to get her to California the last week of August to meet the rest of the gang. Anyway, hope you enjoy!



This is Tess and I at the Scottish highland games. We figured we would talke a picture with a Salt Lake Scots band member.



We decided to take a picture on a Sunday afternoon... so there you have it!

I have more of her... but I won't put them up lest she find out and get angry!

I love you all. Hope all is well!

Fun Mission Story

My wallpaper on my computer flashes through mission pictures... this one made me laugh.

One time I went to see an investigator, and there was a large dead cat sitting on their driveway all mangled. The kids were circling the "gato" on their scooters laughing, so I went to the woman of the home (Maria) and said "Quiere que saque el gato?" "Do you want me to get rid of the cat?"

She said "Si" So I proceeded to ask for a pala (shovel) and scooped it up. The question then came to mind "Okay, where do I put this nasty thing?" There were no trash cans around, so I decided to go chuck it in the neighbors yard by the fence where he wouldn't see it. Unfortunately, right as I tossed the cat into his property, he came outside and said "Don't put that cat in my yard!!! Es grosero!!"

I then had to resort to Plan B: Dig a grave, and bury the cat in the backyard.

Here is a good picture of the moment. (Click to enlarge and witness the mangled creature. Karina, look away).

Six Flags is tempting me...

Okay, so I mentioned earlier that the family needs to go to Six Flags this summer. Well, I am upgrading my suggestion to the level of requirement.


You can now ride the Superman BACKWARDS. They haul you up to the top, FACE FIRST, and then SHOOT YOU DOWN!! Life couldn't get any better!

Oh.... and not to mention an entirely new zipper-like ride called "The Green Lantern".

Random.

Sometimes I play Justin Bieber radio on Pandora. No big deal.

I have the best job EVER.

I got a new job!

I am the Vice President of Engineering and Technology Startup over Venture Factory.

Venture Factory is where innovators can present new ideas, and if they are good enough, they can receive funding in the form of student teams who will help them build their product and develop a business plan.

I organize the weekly presentations by working with the innovators on their ideas, and hosting each event.

I also get to sit in on the leadership meetings where we decide whether or not we are going to fund the ideas.

I feel like a venture capitalist! It is awesome.

Just wanted you all to know....

It will be sad to leave the MTC, but this will help me in my future career for a long time coming.

I am done!

Finals are over. All of my grades now hang in the balance... seriously this semester has been tough but I hope some A's will shine through!

Now it is time to prepare for a super fun 4 day weekend!

StayFocusd

Hey all you facebookers....

I just installed an app on my web browser (Google Chrome. If you don't use it, use it). It is called StayFocusd. Here is how it works

1) Set a time limit for the sites you probably should limit yourself on. For me, that is facebook,espn, and youtube.
---I am at 5 minutes

2) Stayfocusd runs in the background on your browser, and when you have viewed any of those sites for longer than five minutes... they get blocked! No more access until the next day.

3) You can enable an optional NUKE mode. This blocks the sites you don't want to go to during a certain time. For me, that is 9pm-12am. I literally cannot access any of the aforementioned sites after 9pm.

4)If you try to add more alotted time, you have to type in a 300 character paragraph WITHOUT TYPOS. One typo, and it shuts down again, and you have to start retyping. The paragraph reads something quite funny.... like "The procrastinator is often remarkably optimistic about his ability to complete a task on a tight deadline.... Lulled by a false sense of security, time passes. Suddenly, he realizes "Oh know! I am not in control. There isn't enough time"...

5)If you try to bypass your settings once you set them, it says "Woah there cowboy. You have to pass your challenge before you can increase your time. We will shut down now as you admit humiliating defeat".

I am more productive than ever. I don't waste time on the computer. In fact, the only reason I am blogging right now is because I can't access any of the sites I normally would, so blogging was the next best alternative. I don't waste time in class, I don't pull up basketball games during music concerts or other boring events, and I can focus!

StayFocusd! I support it! Cherish it!

Two days in a row???

That's right. I blogged two days in a row.

Dad has the best taste in music. Because of him, I can rock out to Celine Dion, Warrant, AC/DC, Wilson Philips, and my all time favorite, Mariah Carey. This is how I remember her:



We all know she is a bit different now, but the 90's was a long time ago.

I have a funny video of me singing to "Emotions", which if i have time to edit, will post. About 5 days ago on campus there was a karaoke challenge, and "Always be my baby" came on. I know every word to that song. Nay, I know every intonation, pause and breath. I almost couldn't contain myself, but I proceeded faithfully to the math lab. Part of me wants to rewind and make a fool of myself by belting that song for all the cougars to hear. I would have NAILED it.

Thanks, Dad, for teaching me what quality music sounds like.

I am addicted.

This is my bracket... I am ranked third in my ward. It has been the year of the upset, so I am nowhere near perfect. Out of over 7 million submitted brackets, there are 0 perfect. Crazy.

I cannot stop watching college basketball. I follow it more closely than I should these days, but hey, it's March. My Florida Gators are going to take it home, though. They play BYU Thursday morning at 12pm eastern. Be sure to check it out!

The Influence of Righteous Sisters

I often wonder what affect my childhood had on me, being raised with 4 older sisters and no brothers. I remember the first day of 1st grade I ordered Nike Shoes online, got them, and Callie had to see me with them on to make a judgment.

I remember in the 8th grade, school clothes shopping, Karina and Cindel helped me buy some sweet Pumas. I even wore them in the 8th grade basketball championship where I was made fun of because of my non-basketball shoe footwear. I knew better, though, because my totally awesome sisters told me they looked good.

Today I received my weekly newsletter from Nordstrom. If that doesn't scream "He grew up in a house of girls" I don't know what does. It was advertising a HUGE shoe sale. like 40-60 percent off all shoes. SO, I bought the vans you see above for 30 bucks. Who can pass up a deal like that?!

I am thankful for having sisters.

Oh btw, if you are reading this, check out nordstrom.com for some sweet shoe deals!

Pandora.

Pandora may be the best thing ever created. All I listen to all day is a combo station of the Gypsy Kings and Louis Armstrong. That's right....Spanish Guitar and Ragtime Jazz. As a result there are two items very high up on the bucket list...

1.Spend a week in New Orleans and get VIP Passes to some jazz shows

2. Spend a week in Spain sight seeing and learning to play the Spanish Guitar with the Gypsy Kings.

One day.

In other news, I am out of shape. I lost in my racquetball tournament primarily due to the fact that I ran out of gas. I need to start running or something, but then I remember how much I hate running. Ohh vhat to do... vhat to do... (movie?).

PS If you want some easy listening while around the house, try out my station. You should at least familiarize yourself with the Gypsy Kings. It's like all I listen to.

MTC Food update.

Remember that idea I posted about a month or so ago about letting missionaries give food to needy families? Here is an update

After a ton of research, the idea "pitch" is sitting on the desk of the CFO of BYU. He is also the President of BYU's sustainability program. I have yet to hear back from him.

I tutored a high-school kid here in Provo whose Dad happens to be the President of United Way here in Utah County. He gave me a bunch of data and overall concerns about the idea. That has been included in my report.

Here is what I am getting: "Great idea, wrong location. Provo is so full of volunteers, Bishop's storehouses, and food banks that this might not be the best solution". If it was in downtown Jacksonville, it would work, but not perhaps not here in Provo.

The main reason for its lack of potential is that the United Way is all about helping families become established and independent. Handing out food won't fix the problem. Ay!

Any ideas?

Oh that I were a superhero...

El mundo real.

The real world is slowly coming upon me. This week and next week I will be talking with employers and looking for research/internship opportunities this summer. Biggest recruit so far, HP. I talked with their director of business operations who was very impressed with my resume. Everyone before me wasn't asked for their resume, but he wanted mine! He said "Here is my card. I will be glad to talk to our staff and help you out. Please apply". Hot dang! I applied for 5 positions and shot this man an e-mail thanking him. We will see what happens!

Six Flags

My first e-mail address ever was sixflags333@hotmail.com. I was obsessed with that place. Can we plan a family trip there sometime this summer? It would be fun!