I survived the first year teaching at BYUH. There were a number of interesting challenges beyond just teaching my classes. I was elected to the faculty housing committee and invited to help approve student research assistantships. Currently I am serving as chairman of a search committee to find a replacement for a retiring faculty member. And I have tried to solve some of the problems that students have mentioned and that I have noticed.
I completed my project of watching (and video taping) the “Babylon Five” science fiction television series. I sometimes have wished I had watched more of “Dr. Who” and maybe even taped “Max Headroom” when it was on. I enjoy my science fiction. This year I read “Ender’s Game,” “Speaker for the Dead,” “Xenocide,” and “Children of the Mind,” by Orson Scott Card. I enjoy his science fiction.
I went with a team of students to participate in the annual ACM computer programming contest. It was interesting for me to talk to other faculty members about their computer science programs. I think I got some good ideas for improving my own areas.
I finished reading a translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was an interesting snapshot of the writings used by those people at that time. I did not find it to be the exciting and mysterious writings that some had lead me to believe. I think it is overplayed, which is too bad. I did find some interesting parts, though.
At church, I continue to serve as the Cubmaster for Pack 382, and also as financial clerk for the Laie 8th Ward.
My current reading is “Educating Zion,” a collection of talks by general authorities and educational leaders in the church. This has given me greater understanding of the forces at work at BYU Hawaii and in the church educational system in general. Too many of the perspectives came as a surprise, mostly because they were much more strongly stated than I had expected. I think I am starting to understand better the issues involved in teaching here.
Lois and I did get a new computer and new software, updating our previous system. We are now at Windows95 running PageMaker 6.5 and Photoshop 5.0 LE, and rapidly filling up our 2-gig hard drive. (At school I use Unix about 99% of the time.) Lois has done amazing things with her web pages. She calls it “scrapbooking on the web.” It promises to be an interesting, multi-media way to preserve some of our family history. During our trip to Alaska I took some time to make digital copies of many old (and newer) photographs. I was hoping to make a CD-Rom about the life of Lois’s father. I did get a preliminary version done, but there is much work remaining. And perhaps there is much work that will need to be done over again as I gain more knowledge, skill, and experience with the process. Scrapbooking on CD or on the web could become a valuable hobby.  - Merry Christmas!