A white Christmas

It looks as though the snow managed to stay on the ground in Virginia long enough to have a white Christmas. I thought I would take a brief break from working with lisp, and poof, blogging came to mind.... except there still isn't much about which to blog. I'm heading home for the New Years, because all the brothers and sisters will be home at that time. I may be going out with some friends on the first. If enough people are coming, it looks like we'll be taking my mom's van so everyone can be in the same vehicle.

Today sometime, my mom and I will be going outside again and we're going to clean off Jesse's car because Mom my be driving it home. The new car Jesse and Charlessa bought passed the inspection test and the emissions test, so we'll be taking the older car to PA to sell or fix or something. I don't actually know what the plans are.

One of the job possibilities for Florida is working at rtsco again. While I think I would enjoy working there again, I'm going to try for another job first that with a bigger corporation, because it would be far too easy for me to work in a familiar, mostly unchanging situation. At least with a larger company, there are more people and it would be easier to get involved with the wider world.

Hanging out at the house

My brother and wife are out visiting their family for Christmas, so it is just me at the house this year... almost. My mom came down to enjoy some of the famous warm Virginian weather. So far, we've gotten a foot and a half of snow, below freezing temperatures, and a lot of slippery ice when walking. It didn't quite work out, but we're staying warm inside the house.

We're listening to some Andrew Wommack audio teachings. He is covering the power of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling that exists and is available for all of us. It is quite encouraging and just makes a person feel like reading the Bible more and getting to know God better.

I may be moving soon. A few thinks have opened up in Florida, and I think I may be heading that direction. I don't quite know how I feel about it. I would like to go to Florida, but it is so far away from family, it is going to cut down on the time I see them.

Thanksgiving

Woo! I just had a blast being home for Thanksgiving. I was home almost two weeks, and during Thanksgiving week, all my siblings, nieces, and nephews were together. I think we all overlapped for two days. Keeping track and entertaining young children was a full time projects, but between the seven of us, we managed to keep the four kids entertained.

I'm ready to go to bed though, but my mom was supposed to call. I think I'll just keep the phone by my bed and hopefully I'll hear it when she calls from California - she's visiting her family out West.

And somewhere I have pictures, I'll try to remember to post them next time I sort through them.

D-ology

My brother filled out one of those "1 bajillion questions you need to answer and forward to everyone" questionaires, and since I enjoyed it I thought I would fill it and pass it along. So here is my own D-ology.

Apparently, I got to a second level of review with one of my job posts, so I'm hopeful. I'm looking at another one I'll be applying for, but I got distracted with my e-mail and comics and blogs... so I think I'll get back to it now.

Although I want to say something first about some music I listen to. I've been listen to a lot of Basshunter - or at least the same song over and over again, but I was watching some of his music videos and I was kind of laughing at these "relationships" that the videos portray - all of the music videos feature the same people. In one video, a girlfriend breaks up with her boyfriend by text message! And then that night, she sees him at a dance club, and tells him that she misses her and they start dancing together. In another video, at another dance club, she sees him talking to another girl, and immediately storms out. And my favorite video is where she texts him again from work saying she's braking up for good this time - less than 30 seconds later, she finds another boyfriend.

I just think it sad and a bit hilarious that this is how relationships are viewed - insecure, mercurial, and shallow - and that somehow the passions in-between are "real". :-P

Back at My Appartment and Job Hunting

It is nice to be back at my room and.... a fast internet connection.... seeing Tabitha.... going to church... and... Eh. I really enjoy going home and seeing and visiting with Mom and Dad. There is something I find very relaxing and wonderful about being home. It's nice, here, but my heart is with my parents.

At least the fast internet connection allows me to browse a lot of webpages looking for jobs. I have around 40 jobs I might apply for, probably around 20 once I weed them down a bit more. I'll have to add Colorado onto my list of places to search since my cousin suggested it! And it seems like some big things with the Church are happening in Colorado. All of the new major movements I hear about these days come from Colorado or have their base in Colorado.

Right now, I have almost everything moved into my room. Now I just need to sort through all the boxes. I have a goal to get rid of 1/2 of the stuff in my room.

Two Weeks of YP Finished

Yesterday was a productive day for getting Dad's ironwork bent up and ready for Tom. While Dad cut, Mom and I would bend items. We spent a few hours out there and three people, working on independent projects can get quite a bit done.

Yesterday was also the first time this fall/winter that I ran one of the huskies. Apparently I put on the wrong harness, but next time I'm sure I'll get it right! It was rather an odd run, because half way through, I ran into a homeschooling mom that was teaching her son to drive. Good luck T!

I've started looking around for other jobs. I like my current job with Nothing Is Impossible Studio just fine, but after 2 and 1/2 weeks of being on a hiatus, I'm need to find a job - maybe part time so I can still program with NIIS - and start regaining programming skills and money. I've decided to restart an old programming project of mine - an advanced tic-tac-toe game. If I ever get it finished, I'll post a link here.

I am enjoying being home. I don't miss being away from the computer much. I do miss all the Taco Bell burritos that were available in Virginia, but compared to visiting home, I'd make that trade off any day. :-)

Housesitting

I'm sitting at my Uncle Dale's spare bedroom, checking out Facebook, looking at comics, reading blogs, and doing my morning wake up routine. Housesitting is going pretty well. I've been here almost a month at this point, and when my mom comes down to see Tabitha, I'll be moving into Jesse's house. It will be nice to have more than a suitcase and a computer around to keep me company in the evening.

For my work, I'm finally learning to use the Gamebryo Lightspeed engine (which is the program we're using to develop our game) It's has taken a while, but I think I'm starting to be able to complete requests given to me by my boss.

Quick Announcements + Reunion

There are three quick announcements I wanted to make: Hi Isa! One successful week without an alarm clock! I'm working at a craftshow near Indiana this coming week!

In other exciting, though not so quickly said, announcements - the west coast family reunion is a little more than three weeks away! I'm flying out a bit early so I can visit Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jerry, and also get my teeth checked and cleaned and possibly whitened in Mexico. I'm not really sure of the schedule after I travel down. I'll spend two or three days in Yuma and then the three of us will drive straight to the timeshares in California where we're having the reunion.

I'm really looking forward to seeing all the cousins!

My nephew is nearby for the weekend and I'm going to see if he wants to wash the car this afternoon. It's a do-it-yourself spraying and I think he'll enjoy that.

Game Guru

I'm trying to figure out what a good job title would be. Gamemaster has too much history behind it. Software Developer is too plain. Game Guru is a bit on the recreational side. "L33t Gamecoder"? "Universe Manipulator"? "Instancer of Reality"?

I'm working with a start-up company "Nothing is Impossible Studio". I'm the main programmer for the game engine that we're working with. Just trying to figure out how to use the features available take about 95% of the work day. One other programmer is working, and he is developing some of the logic of the creation system. Two writers and John are the only other employees.

The company seems to be very dynamic and has a definite goal in mind. I have high hopes for a booming business!

In other news, perhaps the more important news, is the tapes I've been listening to and the encouragement I get from them. Andrew Wommack seems to have a definite blessing on him and I find encouragement and new insight on every sermon/teaching I listen to. What Andrew Wommack presents is not that earth shattering - it is all the basics of Christianity, but he covers topics that pastors don't preach on (at least in the churches I've gone to), and the conclusions he draws and how they should be affecting our walk in life are earthshaking.

One of the points that Andrew Wommack pushes a lot is that studying and searching out the Bible is not just a nice thing to do, but a necessity. It's encouraged me to read the Bible a lot more. A lot of my Bible reading is going over chapters and books that are mentioned in sermons, because I've read the same passages that are used to 'prove' a point, but I completely missed the conclusions that Andrew Wommack draws. I can't wait until I start seeing new insights on my own. It's exciting!

Living in Virginia

I have moved to Virginia, near where my brother bought his new townhouse. I am currently looking for a job - a few interviews so far. Family is visiting periodically. My mom is currently here for another week or so. My room is comfortable and larger than my Florida bedroom so I can put up shelves, an entertainment stand, computer, bed and still have room for my moms bags and projects when she comes down.

Well, that's enough with where I live. Mom is going to be helping me with taxes today. She encouraged me to apply at some local stores yesterday. Tomorrow will probably involve a few more applications, although I keep thinking that the best path available to me would be to start my own business. The only problem is that my business-starting-creativity is a little lacking so I'm a bit short on ideas. Oh well. That never stopped me before. :-)

On a completely different topic, I was reading some basic literature on mass, weight, and the speed of light and had a question for anyone who might read this post. As an object's speed reaches the speed of light relative to another observer, the object's mass (let us say the object is a space ship) increases. A big problem with acceleration at near-light speeds is that the acceleration provided by rocket fuels is not related to mass. Nuclear powered acceleration IS related to mass though. My question on e=mc^2, does the mass in that equation equal the intrinsic 'prime mass' of an object at rest relative to another object, or does the mass equal the updated mass at the near-light speeds?

If we were to chain a nuclear reactor to an stationary object accelerate a nuclear reactor to near light speeds as it circled... let us say the new mass is 1000 times what it would be at rest. If we manage to pipe the output energy from the nuclear reactor into our power grids, do we have a 1000 times more energy than the NR produces at rest? As a thought experiment - what do you think the result would be?