Goodbye Old Friend

Utah State University debuted their new logo Saturday afternoon to mixed reviews. Many people took to Facebook to complain about the simplistic design, some claiming they could have easily designed it themselves with Microsoft WordArt. While this may be true, the fact of the matter is the most famous, easily recognized logos in the world are also the most simple ones. Take this logo for example. 

The logo is so beautifully simple that any combination of orange and purple make people think of FedEx. The arrow formed by the negative space is just icing on the cake.

I fully understand that we as a university aren't trying to sell shipping supplies and services, but the same principles of simplicity apply to sports logos. If you don't believe me, take a look at the picture below and see which logos stick out as the most recognizable.

Nebraska? Simple as can be. Kentucky? Pretty basic. Virginia Tech? The list goes on and on. I personally like the new U-State logo. That's not to say that I don't love the old logo (see, that's the reason for the blog title) If you need more proof, just look at what I did in Minecraft.

Perhaps I am more willing than most to allow a new identity for USU to be established. If Athletic Director Scott Barnes is to be believed, Utah State will soon be saying a bittersweet (but mostly sweet) goodbye to the Western Athletic Conference for what should be slightly greener pastures in the Mountain West Conference, or as I like to call it WAC 2.0.

If you still need more reason to like the new logos, just take a gander at the new bull logo. Personally, it is everything I expected of a big blue revamp and more. The varying color schemes are brilliant, and will finally give some variety to garnish the beloved blue and white. Some might think this is a slap in the face of tradition. These are probably the same people that replied to the new logo saying "I really liked the 'A'". Well, I've got some good news for you. The A is not going anywhere. The A belongs to the school and represents pretty much everything besides athletics. As was clearly stated in the original press release, the new logo is the new identity of USU Athletics. 

Speaking of the bull logo...

I saved the best for last, but I am going to make you work for it. My favorite part of the new-look unveiling today was the uniforms. They are spectacular in their beautiful simplicity. I highly encourage you to read the article by our departing Statesman Sports Editor Tyler Huskinson and check out the new apparel for yourself via Tavin Stucki's photographs. http://www.usustatesman.com/usu-athletics-unveils-new-logo-1.2737084#.T5zjC6tYu3E

So, to all you new-logo-haters out there, take solace in the fact that it will grow on you. My first three gameday shirts will remain good reminders of the old identity of Aggie Athletics, and my next and final gameday shirt will be the beginning of a bright future. Oh yeah, three former Aggies were drafted into the NFL over the weekend. Bobby Wagner and Robert Turbin to the Seattle Seahawks and Michael Smith to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. How many were drafted from that school down south? ZERO! Go Aggies!

What More Do Women Want?

Spring has sprung...at least to an extent. It is still prone to snow in Logan and elsewhere in Utah, but generally the weather is getting warmer. The wedding season is just around the corner and all around one can see happy couples strolling about in their state of relative bliss. Meanwhile, like every spring of my life save a couple choice years in high school, I wander the springtime wonderland alone, growing less surprised every year at my own failure to find anybody willing to give me a chance.
Let's take a few steps back to see my motivations. As a good old-fashioned Mormon boy, essentially everything I did from the age of 3 when I sang "I hope they call me on a mission" at my oldest brothers farewell to when I hugged my parents for the last time before walking out the "other door" at the MTC, I was essentially motivated to one end, that of going on a mission. Yeah, I wanted to succeed in High School, get good grades and eventually a scholarship, but in the grand scheme of things, the ultimate end goal was to give my two years of missionary service. Fast forward two years and that was done. Now I could focus my life on the real goal behind it all...having a family.
Fresh off General Conference weekend, we all got to hear a fresh round of talks from inspired men of God on how to live our lives and the needed perspective to survive in this world of ours. Every year they talk about how the family as the base unit of society is being degraded. Every talk seems to have direct mention or at the very least allude to the need for the young people to get married, the married people to have children, and the parents to do better at it. There is always a talk directed to the single adult men encouraging them to just find a girl and get married. Oh if it were that simple. There is usually a casual reference at the end directed toward the young women to give the guys a chance, but it is usually received by a chuckle from the audience as this church is CLEARLY full of willing women sitting in waiting for any man to come along and marry them. Why oh why, then, am I unable to get past a third date? What exactly do these women want?
I am just about to finish my junior year at Utah State in Computer Engineering, and in a very serious way, time is running out for me. I don't mean that there will be no hope for me to find a girl outside of college, but it just gets harder. A lot of my friends are applying for graduate school to continue their studies. I find it hard to be motivated for more school after a four year degree. My goal from the outset was to get my bachelors degree, hopefully find a wife, and start a career and family at the same time, if not sooner. That's essentially where my motivations end. My career aspirations consist of providing for a family and following the example of the best man I know, my father. He got his Engineering degree and provided a very comfortable living for his family, while never putting his work ahead of family. They say it's a horrible thing to be motivated by money when going into a career. I'm not motivated by money as much as I'm motivated by family. Sure if money didn't matter, I would rather be a high school history teacher. However, my second passion after history is computers, so I have devoted the past three years of my life to an engineering degree.
Call me old fashioned, but my main career goal is to make enough money so that my future wife doesn't HAVE to work. I'm not saying she can't, but rather hoping that she would forego a career to focus on raising a family. I am the product of exactly that kind of family. My mom didn't have to work when I was growing up. She chose to work midway through my schooling as I was the youngest and could surely fend for myself until 5 in the afternoon, but she was always just a phone call away, and dad got home at 3 anyways. It was wonderful, and that's what I want for my children.
So, let's tally it up. I am going to school right now for the sole purpose of providing for a comfortable life for a wife and family later on. I am active in the LDS church because I know it's the right thing to do, and the only way to have an eternal family. I am ready and willing to dedicate my life and all that I am to a woman who will do the same for me; one that will simply take me as I am. What more do women want?
Perhaps they want somebody a little more successful. An athlete perhaps? A business major whose going to start his own business and rule the world someday? A natural born leader who will spend most of his life at work because he is needed? I am none of those things. All I have to offer is hopeless devotion and a comfortable life. I will surely never be all that rich, but I don't think I will be poor either. I was raised wanting nothing and having oftentimes more than reasonable luxuries beyond that. I have lived a blessed life, and that's what I aim to provide for a family. That's all I want. What more does a woman want? Where do I fall short?
I expect nothing more from a woman than I am willing to give. Devotion to me, family, and the church. That's about it. She doesn't have to be some beauty queen, she just has to be beautiful. Beauty is more attitude than outward appearance. Most girls I meet are beautiful. This world is full of them. The rest are usually man-haters or just mean-spirited people.
So, this is an open question to the world. What am I missing? Should I change my priorities? Should I become more career minded? Should I just order a bride through the mail? I understand that being hopeless will not solve my problems, but my hope is ever waning along with my hair line. I already know that I should eat better and exercise more to become more attractive, but what else do I need to do? I'm not perfect, that's for sure, but I don't seek perfection in a companion either. My parents have been perfecting each other for over 40 years. They didn't start out as they are now. Has the age of marriage truly died for the honest-and-trying and is solely reserved for the already-perfected? Seriously...