We're trying something new this week. No more Lucky. After nearly three seasons, I think it's the right time to finally retire him. Let's just say, after the TCU game, the luck ran out. It's fitting the first game without him comes against the Aztecs, because back in 2007, Lucky made his first appearance against San Diego State. 

It's been fun, Luck. 

Now let's get back on the right track and win the ninth game of the season. 

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Let's hear what you think. Register for a free account here and leave your comments, predictions and other game day chatter below in the comment section. GO UTES! BEAT THE AZTECS!

yes, it’s true.  the votes are in + tallied.  youth education {more specifically club u} has been voted by the people to be the best day camp in salt lake city, utah!  thank you, thank you, thank you to all those who helped make this happen.  especially the little people, for without you we would not even have a day camp to be the best at.    and a huge thanks to the big people:  the staff, the parents, the nice people at the university of utah. . .  you are the heart + soul of this operation; without you our program would not be full of the high-quality fun that it is today.   you all seriously rock.  club u for life!!

Kim and Navy Lieutenant Mike are two of the funniest people I know. And they’re both fellow MBAers.

Kim sits in the front row. That pic is Kim with her husband. Kim says things only she can say cuz she’s a cutie. And the things she says are many times a bit snarky. But she says them in such a way that really, all you can do is laugh. Cuz she’s Kim. And she’s rad. She’s the first person I’ve met that I feel could actually get away with murder. The police burst in. She’s standing there with a bloody knife over a corpse and growing pool of red. She looks at the cops and says, “Wow, I killed the hell out of that guy,” and everyone has a good laugh and sends her on her way.

Navy Lieutenant Mike sits the back row. I’m not sure whether he or Kim has sent the class into hysterics more. Mike speaks up when he disagrees with the professor. His responses are effortless, spontaneous, and painfully funny. And the professor usually doesn’t come out looking all that good. He has a way of using the prof’s own argument against them. Almost Socratic. He can do it cuz he’s super bright. My buddy Joe pointed this out to me. Joe sits next to him. Joe used to always tell me how Mike would whisper to him a couple of times in every class and just crack him up. So I tried sitting by him once last year. In Business Communications. It’s true. Within 5 minutes I’d wet my pants I was laughing so hard. Wet pants were just as uncomfortable as I’d remembered them being when I was 3. I don’t have a picture of Navy Lieutenant Mike so here’s Charlie Sheen and some dude in Navy Seals.

This is frustrating. I simply cannot express how funny these two are. I tried to think of examples but I just have vague recollections of my eyes tearing up while trying to keep composure in class. Maybe this one…last Wednesday…

Professor: I don’t want to just give you the answers.
Kim (deadpan): But it’s just so much easier that way.

Kim is about to have a baby. Pretty much any day now. And I’m secretly disappointed that Navy Lieutenant Mike isn’t the father. You know how we’re all pretty sure that Andre Agassi’s and Steffi Graf’s kids are basically going to just be tennis robots? Same thing. I think Kim and Mike would raise Jerry Seinfeld or Dave Chappelle.

Anyway, Sam had pointed out in the comments that I didn’t include Kim as a Hot Accountant Girl. I didn’t know she accounted. But she certainly meets the criteria. And thinking about Kim made me think about funny MBAers which made me think about Navy Lieutenant Mike. I figured that a blog detailing their exploits would be hilarious. But reading back on it, it really didn’t come together. Unfortunately, it’s already that time of year when I really can’t give any assignment/paper/blog post more than one shot. So this will have to do.

Incidentally, I would like to thank Jared (our University of Utah GBSA co-chair and fan of hated rival BYU (where he got his undergrad)) personally for his Brigham Young University (BYU) Cougars drawing attention to themselves only to humiliate the Mountain West Conference (MWC) in front of the entire nation. See, Utah plays sports in the MWC. In football in particular, the MWC is institutionally disadvantaged. I’ll spare you the details but basically we are given less money and respect than other conferences, which if you don’t know, are groups of schools.

For the last few years, Utah has been carrying the banner for the entire MWC. We’re the only team in the BCS era with two undefeated seasons in football. The only non-BCS team to go to two BCS games. That’s as many as every other non-BCS school combined. We won them both. That’s as many BCS wins as the Atlantic Coast Conference who gets to send a team every year. We’re also the only school ever to have a #1 NFL and NBA draft pick in the same year. If none of this makes sense to you, I’m intentionally being vague. Explaining this would take an entire blog. But if you want me to explain I will. In fact, I’m a freak for this and would wet my pants again if someone actually wanted me to tell them about it.

Anyway, Utah struggles alone. The other schools in the conference are not all that competitive with the rest of the country. BYU especially. BYU is in our conference. While Utah digs in its heels and strains in a futile tug-of-war with the powers that be, BYU holds loosely on the rope with one hand and picks its belly button with the other. To illustrate, BYU had zero wins in its last 12 football games against top 25 non-conference opponents.

Until a couple of weeks ago. They beat Oklahoma. On the road. #3 in the nation Oklahoma. Holy crap. They picked up the rope! They’re going to pull! The entire country is watching them now! So what do they do?

They lose. They lose 54-28 to Florida State. At home. Sigh.

Most headlines used variations on the words “exposed” and “humiliated”.

Thanks Cougars. Go back to your belly buttons.

Kim and Navy Lieutenant Mike are two of the funniest people I know. And they’re both fellow MBAers.

Kim sits in the front row. That pic is Kim with her husband. Kim says things only she can say cuz she’s a cutie. And the things she says are many times a bit snarky. But she says them in such a way that really, all you can do is laugh. Cuz she’s Kim. And she’s rad. She’s the first person I’ve met that I feel could actually get away with murder. The police burst in. She’s standing there with a bloody knife over a corpse and growing pool of red. She looks at the cops and says, “Wow, I killed the hell out of that guy,” and everyone has a good laugh and sends her on her way.

Navy Lieutenant Mike sits the back row. I’m not sure whether he or Kim has sent the class into hysterics more. Mike speaks up when he disagrees with the professor. His responses are effortless, spontaneous, and painfully funny. And the professor usually doesn’t come out looking all that good. He has a way of using the prof’s own argument against them. Almost Socratic. He can do it cuz he’s super bright. My buddy Joe pointed this out to me. Joe sits next to him. Joe used to always tell me how Mike would whisper to him a couple of times in every class and just crack him up. So I tried sitting by him once last year. In Business Communications. It’s true. Within 5 minutes I’d wet my pants I was laughing so hard. Wet pants were just as uncomfortable as I’d remembered them being when I was 3. I don’t have a picture of Navy Lieutenant Mike so here’s Charlie Sheen and some dude in Navy Seals.

This is frustrating. I simply cannot express how funny these two are. I tried to think of examples but I just have vague recollections of my eyes tearing up while trying to keep composure in class. Maybe this one…last Wednesday…

Professor: I don’t want to just give you the answers.
Kim (deadpan): But it’s just so much easier that way.

Kim is about to have a baby. Pretty much any day now. And I’m secretly disappointed that Navy Lieutenant Mike isn’t the father. You know how we’re all pretty sure that Andre Agassi’s and Steffi Graf’s kids are basically going to just be tennis robots? Same thing. I think Kim and Mike would raise Jerry Seinfeld or Dave Chappelle.

Anyway, Sam had pointed out in the comments that I didn’t include Kim as a Hot Accountant Girl. I didn’t know she accounted. But she certainly meets the criteria. And thinking about Kim made me think about funny MBAers which made me think about Navy Lieutenant Mike. I figured that a blog detailing their exploits would be hilarious. But reading back on it, it really didn’t come together. Unfortunately, it’s already that time of year when I really can’t give any assignment/paper/blog post more than one shot. So this will have to do.

Incidentally, I would like to thank Jared (our University of Utah GBSA co-chair and fan of hated rival BYU (where he got his undergrad)) personally for his Brigham Young University (BYU) Cougars drawing attention to themselves only to humiliate the Mountain West Conference (MWC) in front of the entire nation. See, Utah plays sports in the MWC. In football in particular, the MWC is institutionally disadvantaged. I’ll spare you the details but basically we are given less money and respect than other conferences, which if you don’t know, are groups of schools.

For the last few years, Utah has been carrying the banner for the entire MWC. We’re the only team in the BCS era with two undefeated seasons in football. The only non-BCS team to go to two BCS games. That’s as many as every other non-BCS school combined. We won them both. That’s as many BCS wins as the Atlantic Coast Conference who gets to send a team every year. We’re also the only school ever to have a #1 NFL and NBA draft pick in the same year. If none of this makes sense to you, I’m intentionally being vague. Explaining this would take an entire blog. But if you want me to explain I will. In fact, I’m a freak for this and would wet my pants again if someone actually wanted me to tell them about it.

Anyway, Utah struggles alone. The other schools in the conference are not all that competitive with the rest of the country. BYU especially. BYU is in our conference. While Utah digs in its heels and strains in a futile tug-of-war with the powers that be, BYU holds loosely on the rope with one hand and picks its belly button with the other. To illustrate, BYU had zero wins in its last 12 football games against top 25 non-conference opponents.

Until a couple of weeks ago. They beat Oklahoma. On the road. #3 in the nation Oklahoma. Holy crap. They picked up the rope! They’re going to pull! The entire country is watching them now! So what do they do?

They lose. They lose 54-28 to Florida State. At home. Sigh.

Most headlines used variations on the words “exposed” and “humiliated”.

Thanks Cougars. Go back to your belly buttons.

A

Giant Club Cactus (Cereus repandus)

 

VERY EXCITING NEWS!!! Our Giant Club Cactus is blooming in the Visitor Center.  The flower will be open today, and today only.

Come see it before it closes. You'll be impressed with how large and beautiful it is.

Im thinking about doing a language fair in oklahoma in the shoshone language. im gonna enter doing that song bryan taught me but im not sure cause most shoshones here dont know songs but im willing to teach them if they want to know. thats whats new with me but if your intrested to know more write back ok thanks miss you guys its been a while but would like to hear from ya


marjle

What an exciting time for local fans! Our very own Real Salt Lake fought their way up from having a seemingly average season and entering the playoffs as a low seed to advancing to the finals. The LA Galaxy is a dominant team in the league, having reached the finals now 6 times and are also the champions for two years running. However, Real is not to be discounted...during the teams' two meetings in the regular season, one game ended in a draw and the other was won by Real. Here are the details of the game....be sure to watch and support our very own team! A special good luck from all of us here at Utah Women's Soccer!


MLS CUP 2009
LOS ANGELES GALAXY vs REAL SALT LAKE
QWEST FIELD, Seattle, Wash.
November 22, 2009, 5:30 p.m. PT (ESPN; Galavision) / KICKOFF 5:55 p.m. PT

Click here for more info about the game and the teams!

2009 Nobel Laureate Venki Ramakrishnan, Ph.D., whose prize-winning work began at the University of Utah, is returning to campus to present a Benning Society Special Lecture in Medicine. His remarks will explain the structure and function of the ribosome, how the ribosome structure helps us to understand the mechanisms of existing antibiotics and develop new ones, and the role the U of U played in his research.

Randal Quarles gave the Spencer Fox Eccles Convocation at the DESB a couple of weeks ago. Quarles is a really accomplished and interesting guy (Undersecretary of the Treasury in the Bush administration), and he was kind enough to meet with a small group of students and faculty prior to the Convocation speech. It was great to get an insider's view of the US Treasury Department.

If you missed the big speech, it's here....

Quarles dropped a book recommendation that I've added to my reading list. It's Robert Rubin's In An Uncertain World. (Link below, and all "affiliate" proceeds to the Utah Food Bank, as usual). Quarles described it as the best book ever written by a Treasury Secretary --- Rubin served under President Clinton --- and this seems like pretty high praise. I'll try to report back after I get through it.



I told Quarles to go read Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West, which might be the best book ever written by anyone (Treasury Secretary or not).

With cross country season over indoor track practice will now take center stage. Today I filmed a short snipet from our the throws and jumps facility here on campus. It is a very functionable facility for all of those events and it's just down the hall from our locker room. Enjoy!

With cross country season over indoor track practice will now take center stage. Today I filmed a short snipet from our the throws and jumps facility here on campus. It is a very functionable facility for all of those events and it's just down the hall from our locker room. Enjoy!

Charlee Dyroff (L, 5-6, Boulder, Colo., Boulder HS)

Launiere on Dyroff: "Charlee is a tremendous athlete who comes from a club program that trains well. She will bring tremendous defensive skills into the gym and will add to our team’s ability to stop opponents."

Served as team captain at Boulder High School … set high school record with 401 digs during senior season … posted career-high with 41 digs in five-set match against Horizon H.S. … three-year letterwinner … played club for Juggernaut Volleyball … served as team captain for four years … was named MVP during 15’s year … honor roll student during all four years of high school … carries a 4.2 GPA … started club for environment and community called ClassAction that spread to three other high schools ... mother, Wendi Hill, was an NCAA Women’s Skiing champion at Colorado University … father, Matt Dyroff, played semi-pro hockey for the Dayton Bombers.

Erin Redd (MB, 6-2, Spanish Fork, Utah, Spanish Fork HS)

Launiere on Redd: "Erin is one of the best athletes coming out of high school we have had join our program. She is a physical player and that will allow her to play at the Division I level and have success high above the net. She joins a long list of great players from the state of Utah who have helped our program become a perennial top-25 team."

4A State All-Tournament, Academic All-State, and First-Team All-Region team in 2009 … 2008 second-team all-region … hit .388 during her career at Spanish Fork … hit .410 with 54 service aces and 1.5 digs per set during senior season … Four-time Academic All-Region selection … voted Varsity Rookie of the Year during freshman season … Female Athlete of the Year during sophomore and junior years … three-time volleyball MVP … four-year letterwinner … played club volleyball for the Utah Thunder … four-year honor roll student … member of Lettermen’s Club and Spirit Club … also was a two-time honorable mention all-state and 2008 all-region first-team selection as a four-year letterwinner in basketball … finished fourth in the state in 2008 in the javelin and was a 2008 regional champion as a two-year letterwinner in track & field.

Yiting Cao (OH/OPP, 6-0, Shanghai, China, Shanghai Institute, Illinois Central College)

Launiere on Cao: "Yiting joins us from one of the top junior college programs in the country (Illinois Central College) and plays for highly respected coach Sue Sinclair. [Yiting] is a polished player and her experience with the Chinese Junior National team and ICC will allow her to be ready to play at the Division I level immediately."

Member of the Chinese Junior National team … team won the 2007 World Junior Championship … helped Chinese Junior National team to a third-place at the 2007 Asia Junior Championship … 2008 NJCAA First-Team All-American and National All-Tournament Team selection … was an AVCA Second Team All-American in 2008 … two-time First-Team All-Region … hitting .370 with 3.7 kills and 2.7 digs per set at Illinois Central College … has 12 double-doubles, 23-double-figure-kill matches, and 14 double-digit-dig performances this season at ICC … member of third-place team at the 2007-2008 Chinese National Championship … recognized on the Dean’s List at Illinois Central College and a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.