Graduation!

Yep, it's true:  I'm all gradumicated, even if auto-correct indicates that is not a word.  I have promptly stifled it's pleas with the "add to dictionary" button, forever and officially adding it to it's repertoire of useful, and more importantly fun, words.

But more important still, I am now a college graduate.

And yet more important than that, I have a job.  Yes, a real 9-5 job down in San Antonio!  Super excited. Because it means food, shelter, and better furniture!

But really, Stepheni and I are so grateful for the opportunity for work, especially in these economic times (cliche but true), and at such a wonderful company as USAA.  We will have the means to invite baby Etienne into our family with food, shelter and insurance!

Graduation was a little late in coming, but I am glad that I took the path that I did.  I managed to get a bunch of other random credits and fill out my education nicely.  Could I go back, I would take more computer science classes and less entry-level science classes.  But, as it is I am rather happy with my degree and the embellishments I accrued along the way.

I encourage everyone to get an education.

The parents and I in the gorgeous BYU-I Center!

There is my little head!

Smile!

Bumping elbows with the big guy (recent kidney transplant)
and Elder Ballard behind us.

Woot!  Mom in the background!

I put this up because Jolene and Mom were in this one.

And we got Julie out from behind the camera for this one ;-)

Family is awesome!

Being away from home

Being away from Stepheni for days at a time, is one of my least favorite things; I think it's even more keenly felt by her.  It's lonely for starters, and awkward when I reach out and take a perfect stranger's hand forgetting she's not right there.  For anyone else out there, we do some things to make the time apart more bearable.  

1.  We text.  A lot.  If it's busy, this isn't possible, but if it isn't then we are chatting it up some.  Keeping involved with each other at a distance is more possible each day:  texting, phone calls, FaceTime-type things, etc.  Speaking of which:

2.  Video Chat!  This is kind of fun, I remember before we were married and while I was at home loading up Skype and just leaving it on as we went to bed.  It was kind of nice to look over and see her and it made for some chaste pillow-talk while we were still engaged.  ;-)

3.  Read scriptures and nightly prayers over the phone.  Actually I've gotten some comments about this, but all of them positive.  We try to make it a point to read scriptures together and pray as often as we can when we are together, and continuing this as we are apart reinforces that.  

4.  Find something to bring home.  One time it was a rock I found while on a field trip to Yellowstone (I picked it up outside of the park).  Last time it was chocolate from Trader Joe's (Yum!).  Next time, who knows?  

5.  Take pictures just for them.  Sometimes I take a picture thinking about Stepheni and send it to her via MMS texting, or email.  It's easy and quick and a way to share a sunset, a pretty scene or a flower together.  

Seattle, with my friend Justin at a Sushi place.

I will be leaving tomorrow to go to my interview for USAA in San Antonio, and I will be doing exactly these things while I am gone.  The bottom line is to keep in contact while you are apart!  Good luck!  

Any other advice from the readership would be appreciated!

Back in her arms again

It's great to be back from Seattle.  The expedition was great but it is nice to be back with Stepheni and not waking up alone again.  I would really like to go back there someday to spend some time with Stepheni there touring the city and eating at the restaurants there.  Justin and I walked by the famous Ruth's Chris steakhouse and had enough time to look at the menu.  It wasn't too expensive:  We would have just had to cut everything in half and share the plate of food they brought us to afford it.  I'll go back one day ;-)

Stepheni and I had some time to go shopping today, and we ended up buying Lady and the Tramp and Puss in Boots, both of which we love!  It ended up costing us a pretty penny, but we feel like it is a good investment for our kids one day as they are good, clean Disney movies and Blu-Ray.  We had a chance to talk about what we want for our children in terms of entertainment and came up with some ideas:

1.  No cable:  We don't watch it as it is, and we don't feel that cable TV has anything to offer to our kids.  If we want some educational material then we can go out and buy it.  Stepheni brought up as well that keeping the TV off for the first two years of Etienne's life will be fairly easy and what she would like to do, but we will have to decide what to do with our second child as Etienne will want to watch TV and the other may not be two already; something to think about.

2.  One family computer:  While Stepheni and I will have our tablets and phones, we feel like it is important to have one family computer (probably an iMac due to the family settings it has) and have that be available but supervised.  We've talked about the importance of using the tools that are available in the world but knowing how to leave inappropriate content is an important skill to develop and something we want to teach our children.  YouTube is full of great information but it is also full of garbage as well, the same goes for Facebook, LinkedIn, and the internet at large!

3.  Look at the ratings and reviews.  Looking at websites like Common Sense Media, imdb Parents Guide, Kids in Mind, and Parent Previews are great resources to find out why movies are rated the way they are, and teaching our children to look at ratings and gauge whether it sounds like something good to go to  even with G and PG-rated movies will teach them to make good moral decisions early on.  Thinking back to the counsel given to us to "be in the world but not of the world" is something not only wise but necessary in this day and age.  There is a lot of great content out there, but knowing how to filter through it and find what is good and wholesome therein is a necessary skill for everyone that wants to lead a wholesome and uplifting life.

Thanks for reading.

Great and Difficult Things: My Mission

In preparation for the interviewing that I will be doing over the next few weeks and for my own records I wanted to write a little about my experiences that I will be talking about from my life.  My mission was one of those primary experiences that is more true to life as it is a time of great growth, difficulty, and joy; a myriad of experiences mostly hinging upon the people that one teaches.

The good:  During my mission I found that my pickiness for food died quickly and effectively.  I decided early on that I wanted to eat anything that they put in front of me, out of concern for offending them partly, but it was something that I felt I lacked growing up and something that I wanted to overcome; and so I did.  There were only two occasions that I found it difficult to eat the food, and only one of those did I turn it down only having eaten part of it.  But everything else I ate: every part of cow or pig, every vegetable or hot food, anything.

A weakness:  Looking for the good in those closest to me.  I could sometimes be unloving towards others that would criticize me or be hateful towards me.  I wish even now to improve upon this in my ability to be patient and tolerant towards all.

Inteview Practice: So, tell me a little about yourself

I'm about to graduate in Applied Mathematics with an emphasis in computer science.  I have worked most recently as a mathematics tutor, and just finished an internship at a local software company as a QA tester working with enterprise software.  During that internship I learned Ruby and built a program to interface with the database and test for bugs being reported by the clients.  I work on the side as a photographer doing weddings, events, and portraits sessions and thoroughly enjoy the time it gives me to interact with and serve people in a unique way.  I enjoy difficult problems and developing new ways to solve them. 

Consistency in Marriage

One of my classmates brought up a good question today in class, asking about in what things should we be consistent in marriage and family life.  I thought about it and responded with those things that I have seen my own dad do during my whole life, and realized I had never told him those things I most respected him for and looked up to him for.

My response was that he was always consistent in the spiritual things that really mattered:  Going to church every Sunday, he was always a full tithe payer, we always read scriptures and said family prayers at night, and he was always respectful of my mother and then my step-mother later, never raising his voice at either and never making the divorce a subject.

I am grateful for a father who has always been and will always be an example in my life of righteous fatherhood and Priesthood.

Life recently

Just to catch everyone up on the recent goings-on in the Beckman Household, we have been fairly busy:  Stepheni has been working hard as ever, and keeping us going financially by working at Jefferson Elementary as a preschool teacher!  She does such a good job, which is evidenced by her great love and patience for the little devils.  I've made token efforts at bringing home a paycheck, but $8 an hour doesn't compare to a salary =P  I'll make up for it when I have a real job.  Speaking of which:

The other stuff going on is my job search right now.  (For tips and tricks on such ventures look at my most recent posts on my other blog, here.)  Really I've been applying just about everywhere it feels like; I'll go in little spurts making and entering 3-4 applications a few times a week.  It's working out pretty well though so far, as I've had two interviews and both of them went very well.  I'm in the middle of interviewing with USAA and Epic right now, and both have been super great about communicating and talking with me about the process and any questions I have.  Both also happen to be involved in Healthcare, interestingly enough.

Big recommendation:  Keep you LinkedIn up-to-date and active!

Also:  Stepheni is pregnant!  Yeah, we all already know this, but I haven't announced it on here.  It has become much more real, now that we know that it's a little baby boy growing in there.  We are both very excited though, and have been looking at baby clothes much more often now =)

So, all in all, things are pretty awesome!  Thanks for reading.