This is for you, Spencer.

For those of you who know my family well, you know that we are quite obsessed with BYU. It's quite ridiculous. We have a BYU bathroom in our house, for heaven's sake. In my family, if you do not have the Cougar Fight Song memorized from an early age, you basically get disowned. We had this game called BYUopoloy (like Monopoly, but the properties were all places associated with BYU's campus), and there was a point where you could sing the BYU fight song or lose a turn, and if you could not sing the song, the rest of us expressed bitter disappointment. Well, take my family's obsession with BYU, and multiply it by ten, and you have my brother Spencer's obsession with BYU. I have been woken up many times on a fall morning (or winter, during basketball season), to Spencer bellowing the Cougar Fight Song. There were several times this past basketball season when I would get a text from him reminding me how much time there was, in hours and minutes, until "Jimmer Time." He sent me this blog poster via email today, and requested that I put it on my blog. So, Spence, this one's for you.

Top Ten Reasons I Belong in Phoenix!

Here I am. It's a Friday night in Tempe, AZ. I am sitting in a dorm room on the campus of ASU. Remember how I never even lived in dorms when I was a freshman in college? Anyway. This place is pretty empty. Where there used to be 180 of us, there are now very few. Bars and clubs are calling to the rest of the people here, so here I am. Since I was feeling a little lame for sitting here, and perhaps a little lonely because all of the new friends I have made are out partying, I decided to make a list of the top ten reasons I belong in Phoenix... in case there was any doubt in anyone's mind... including my own…

10. It's warm here! Although I hear it's unseasonably cool these days--only around 100 degrees...

9. There is an Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering at ASU, and there is one of those at BYU, too. Coincidence? I think not! (P.S. That one's for you, Peter.)

8. There is a road called Alma School Road here. I mean, how cool is that? My favorite book in the Book of Mormon is Alma, and I'm here to teach school... Hello? Match made in heaven?

7. I get a lot more sleep than most people because I don't go out and drink every night.

6. I have this amazing roommate named Linda who is an inspiration to me. She went back to school at age 45 or so, graduated, gave up a career, packed up her life, and moved to Phoenix to help close the achievement gap and help students in Phoenix obtain an excellent education.

5. It doesn't snow here.

4. There is a town here called Youngtown. For those of you who don't know where I served my mission, I served in the YoungStown, Ohio Ward. Yet another sign.

3. Yesterday my friend Juliet and I went to the temple, and it was the fastest temple trip I have ever experienced. We left Tempe at 4:20, drove to Mesa, went to the temple, and were back in Tempe by 5:30. Eat that, Provo!

2. I love teaching, and I feel passionately about the work I am doing.

1. I have missionary experiences multiple times, EVERY DAY!

So, you see, everything really has aligned quite nicely. Clearly, this is where I belong.