Almost done

Whew! I've been busy the last few days. My boss leaves tomorrow, so I should be able to slow down just a little. Unfortunately, all the steam I've built up will die Wednesday as I spend most of the day in Butler. I have two appointments, maybe three. I'll be debating with Olivia and I need to get together with her to figure out the case, who's doing what speech, evidence... there is a lot to cover.

Today in 30 seconds

Work is moving well again - I'm working more hours. Goofing off is taking priority too often. School work is going well. I was accused of being a stacker by someone I haven't seen in almost 6 months. My contacts hurt. Toe is healing well. My Jackie Chan impression isn't going so well - but I'm getting better. Had a VERY nice conversation tonight... more like relaxation with some serious subjects of conversation. I broke down and bought a veggie wrap for dinner. Worked out tonight. Haven't watched "Raising Helen" yet. The band Aqua is great. I have "Forces of Corruption."

Ah. My life in 30 seconds.

Fridays are wonderful

I'm on my way home today. Weekends are the best part of the week. It's where I get to go home, do chores, mow the lawn, weed-eat, help my dad, do hebrew, go over finances.... ah. Heaven.

I can't believe the amount of time since I last blogged. Time has flown! I was guessing early last week, but no! Almost three weeks ago! I'll try to make up for lost time now that I know how poorly I'm keeping my blog updated. At least I'll try to blog more often. :-)

Dan, one of my apartment-mates is moving out today or tomorrow. He's moving to a cheaper place and a college student is moving in through December. Plans after that will depend on whether the college student (Ben) get's a full time job or not. Brandon, my other apartment-mate is moving out at the end of October here, and in December, I start to be the renter for the house. So... I start renting the house in December, I'm subletting the workspace for part of the rent, and hopefully I'll be able to find two others to help offset the rent. The likelyhood is good I would say. Ben *might* stay on, Lauren and Stew could be staying, Someone else I haven't met may be looking for an apartment, and Mark is looking for a place. Ah, the joy of planning.

Brief update

I just wanted to post a quick blog. My mom left today for YP craft show. I decided against attending the Grove City speech team at the tournament this weekend and instead decided to help my parents at the craft show.

I know my parents can't actually check this blog until they get home Monday, so I'm going to let the rest of the readers in on a small surprise I have for them! It's not a big present, but the car I'm driving (It's the one my parents usually drive for business) has part of the felt on the roof loose (227000 miles. The car has served us well!) We've tried all sorts of products to re-attach the felt, but nothing has worked. Today, I bought some pins and pined up the felt. Hopefully the pins will hold. All it took was time to figure out what positions would keep the pins from falling out. It's not anything big, just a bit of felt and time, but I am inordinately pleased and looking forward to showing Mom and Dad!

Best songs heard today (both have been favorites for the last two months):
When the Broken Hearted Love Again
Be a Man

Back in Action

It's been two weeks and quite a bit has happened, so it's a bit hard to know where to start. I'll go in chronological order, which means the big events are not the first events

I came back to GC and am slowly catching up to what I should be doing. In essence, after getting back from Florida I took a week and a half off of work. I am just now starting to get into the habit of working full time again.

My parents have a big craft-show for three weekends this month and I've been pretty busy helping them. Mom and dad could get it all done themselves, but if I'm in town then I'll help because just one more person can make things go a lot smoother. There isn't so much rushing around or worry. After a month and a half hiatus, going to craft shows and spending time with family again is a lot of fun.

I'm also attending classes at gcc again.

But the biggest news is that KATIE had her baby! Christina entered the world healthy and well. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to put up, but that is on the to-do list for today. When I get a picture or two and actually see the niece for myself, I'll give a more complete update.

Final tidbit about myself for today - I did my first hard workout yesterday and I had a small moment of panic when I tried to get into my car to go home. I couldn't get my backpack off! I know it's not quite the most glamorous fear to have. Fear of heights or fear of flying is so much more popular, but some of my biggest fears is not being able to get my backpack off, wearing a shirt far too small, or getting stuck in a snowtunnel. None of them are very dangerous. :-) The problem yesterday was, that after a workout, my muscles are swollen and the muscles are tighter than normal and can't stretch as far, so I can't touch my shoulders and I couldn't reach the strap on my shoulder. I also couldn't bend enough to push my left strap off my shoulder with my right hand. Quite a predicament.

Airporting

This is a hobby, created just for airport aficionados. If you wish to start enjoying this hobby, there are a few rules which must be followed in order to get the maximum effect from "airporting".

1st: Arrive at the airport earlier than any person in their right mind would.
2nd: Check your bags. But wait! You're too early to check bags. You should have arrived early enough to wait at least an hour before bags can be checked.
3rd: You must plan your trip around high terror alerts. Anything less than level orange doesn't let the X-ray line pile up enough to be a proper airporting line.
4th: Go to your gate to wait at least four hours until your plane takes off. Notice I said "wait." Wait does not include sitting in the cushioned chairs provided... because the previous flight using the gate hasn't left yet and all the seats should be filled.
5th: If you can find a power outlet within 50 feet of the gate, you can still be an airporting hobbyist, but only if the first two outlets you found were unavailable for productive use... i.e. they don't work.

If you carefully follow these steps, you too can be an airporting hobbyist.


Three friars opened up a flower shop. The local florists were outraged because their customers were buying flowers from the friars. Complaint after complaint failed to change the friar's minds, so the florists hired "Hugh's Friendly Removal Service" to take care of their problem. That evening, amid broken pots and a sea of flowers, Hugh convinced the friars that the town could not support an extra florist shop - proving, yet again, that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.

It's Monday! I don't have time to put out a full post on my trip to SeaWorld, but here are two pictures I thought you might enjoy




















I didn't zoom in for this picture so I had to do a lot of trimming. For some reason the picture came out almost perfect and the guy doesn't look blurry at all. I think he's doing a flifus. (I think that is how it is spelled). This was the end of the day at the pearl diving exhibit. You could buy your own oyster with a pearl for just $14.95! (But small. I saw a few and they were very small )
















The one and only picture of me at SeaWorld. There were four divers at the pearl diving exhibit and I asked someone to take my picture. This diver (Celeste from Texas I think) was by far the most entertaining. Kids would go up to the glass and put their hands on the glass and she would come down and put her hands matching, or play patty-cake with them. Quite the showman... but what do you expect - she is smiling in chlorine water... that must taste terrible! eww. :-)

A Busy and Fun Sunday

Two more days until home sweet home!

All of Sunday will be spent at Seaworld. It was my last chance this summer to do something fun and I didn't want to miss anything.I've already gone to Seaworld but I have season tickets so it's hard to pass up a second time especially when I didn't see everything the first time.

I'm heading home Monday evening and then classes will be starting the following day. I still haven't officially signed up for classes. I'm having a little trouble getting ahold of the admissions office. I could call and e-mail more, but since I'll be nearby in three days time, I decided it would be easier for me to just walk into the office and see what I can do.

One of the classes I wanted to take conflicts with another class, so it looks like Hebrew III will be my main class this semester.

Since I've been here in Florida, I've had the opportunity to go swing dancing a few time and I am hoping to keep it up once college starts, because there is a swing group on campus. I guess fencing is going to be too much, escpecially since I am planning to continue helping the speech clubs around this side of the state.

I need my sleep. I'm looking forward to seeing family soon. For those of you with a high speed internet connection, I found this video of breakdancing very fun and impressive to watch. A lot of the enjoyment comes from the music. I wish I could find out what the accompanying musing is. Oh well! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAMTEJfmLyY

I had already taken off my contact by the time I started blogging, so I have NO idea how many words are misspelled. Good night!

A Normal Day

I managed to sleep a lot this morning. The pace of life picked up as I reach the middle of the day. I rebelled from work for an hour and a half and ate a bean burrito. Started back to work until I was too old and tired to see the screen at which point I went to my computer and did whatever struck my fancy. Now it's off to sleep.

If the schedule for today is accurate for my life span... then in a few years I should start globe hopping trying various restaurants selling Mexican food. Cool.

A bit better today

After last week, I was more determined than ever to get a few more hours work per day than I did last week. And how did I start... I managed to sleep in a bit this morning. So it wasn't a great start, but I managed to work pretty steadily throughout the day and at this point, I'm doing pretty well.

I'm going to attempt an early morning tomorrow, so it's off to sleep again.

UPS finally came for my camera and video card... and although it was sent to me in two boxes, the UPS delivery man only had one pickup ticket for the two of them. I was upstairs when the man came so my boss unpacked the boxes and put them into one box and sent it off. It makes me slightly nervous to have Amazon pick up one return box... does that mean I should put both in the same box or did I goof and is another pickup going to happen tomorrow? I don't know.

I did get about a dozen pictures with the camera while I was here.

Here is one of my coworker D with his red fedora - red fedora's rule!. Just in case you're interested in pure coolness embodied in a hat - go see RedHat Linux or http://www.trickswithhats.org/tricks

Time flies when having fun but...

Work has been going pretty well this week. There has been no major delays, no sleeping past the normal start hour. I can't quite figure it out though. I'm still averaging just under 9 hours a day. I'm POSITIVE that I'm doing more than that, but I've been pretty careful to keep track of hours this week... and under 9 hours a day is what the hours show. I just can't figure it out. It makes work less satisfying when you put in what I thought to be a long day for every day during the week, pushing yourself every day, and finding it to be only a little over what was already being done... I just can't figure it out. The only conclusion that I can come up with is that I'm not trying as hard as I think I am. :-)

I'm also going to return my camera I bought. I did want a nice camera I can use, but that is the sticking point - "camera I can use." The camera is just too large and heavy to carry around everywhere I go. There is also a problem with shots without the flash - they usually blur slightly (no anti-shake option in the camera). The battery life is great ( part of what makes it too heavy ) but the video the camera takes is not very good. I suppose the original video it takes is fine, but the video encoding into a format I can watch on my computer is terrible. I can plainly see the color squares that make up the image. The final straw that broke the camel's back was the camera is very unreliable about reading the memory card. I've lost several pictures and two videos because of errors writing data. One of those videos was over an hour and a half long. And it is not something that can be redone.

The camera is very good with a tripod and it isn't designed to be a video taking masterpiece, so I knew to expect some design issues that wasn't what I was hoping for, but I don't want a tripod. I was hoping that the camera could take pictures just fine without a tripod and I was expecting much better quality from the video....

Whine, whine, whine... That is what it sounds like I'm doing! As I heard recently, "Whining is a poorly understood form of prayer." Maybe by other people, but I know that God understand perfectly... and says no. :-)

Count up is at day 2.

As one more side note, after I wrote this, I put it through a spell checker... and there were no spelling errors! That doesn't happen very oftn with bihg postts.

Movie Hour

For work today and tomorrow, were making up a mock project and video-taping, but not quite. Because we need to see the computer screen and the text being entered, the computer is making a video of the screen as we do the presentation/walkthough, and then we're using my camera to record the audio to interlace later. I may add the camera's video into a smaller window in the corner with us working at the computer at the same time - two videos at once. It will be cool! :-) The camera did come in useful for something other than pictures... and if I have a tripod, it looks professional. Still, the camera is a bit on the larger size, but how can you compete with an 8 gig picture card!

I had some late night conversation recently that were a lot of fun. Catching up with friends and family is ALWAYS good. It's not always fun, because heartache can be involved, but it is always good to learn about each other and be there to support each other. And though it be good, it is not something I do naturally, but I'm working on it.

Camera Mayhem

Lunch hour!

My camera came at 4:50 yesterday and I started working with it and seeing what the camera's capabilities are.

Pro: Good zoom, nice images, video with some poor sound, highly customizable, lot of options, very fast pictures, and good picture card (8 gigs), and I can hook it up to the TV and use that instead of the camera screen.

Con: It is BIG - 9 1/2 inches when fully zoomed out, the manual is thicker than most car manuals I see. The combinations available with all the options is a little too much to grasp, and I still can't turn off the flash.

Commies - a great word for those of us who haven't given in to peer pressure at a slightly homogenous college.

In other news/musing (Don't worry, my musings will come to an end today - at least for a while), I've been talking to some friends online in the recent evenings and I've been wondering what they are up to. D has written some nice articles, C is doing well but the conversation ended before much news was shared, I keep trying to talk with A, but after 5 minutes, one or the other of us needs to go do something and not much gets said. I even saw Mr. Miller Time himself (inside joke for bowling commies). I guess I'm just repeating what I said three posts ago, but still, I'm looking forward to seeing friends again - especially commies - I guess that includes the honorary commies too. :-D

Recent Musings

My summer has been going great. The people I work with are a blast. Funny, intelligent, and laid back. I enjoy my work and there isn't much I can't do here if I put some effort into it. Weekends at the beach, swing dancing, volleyball, playing piano, free arcade games, or hours and hours free to just read ( of which I've taken advantage ), and I'm feeling great physically (a bit overweight, but I'm rather pleased anyway). There are some definite downsides to Florida: I am not near my family and able to visit or help, I don't have my family nearby, I can only talk to most of my friends online by typing, and work is consuming as the time here draws to an end... I think those are the only 3 disadvantages, but they are huge.

When I go back to Pennsylvania, I'm going to be taking classes I'm looking forward to, and almost all the downsides to the summer will go away. I've never believed that happiness comes from comfort, money, or friends, and this summer really seems to show it, because with all of it's benefits, I am not looking forward to returning to Grove City - or to staying here. Both ways look a bit bland to me. Staying here, going home, or doing something else doesn't appeal much to me. Certainly, whatever I do will lead to something new and I do look forward to that, but there doesn't seem to be much puprose to it if I start weighing things like how much free time will I have, will I be able to visit friends and family, will I make enough to be able to spend?

There is a path that leads to peace and joy - it is only when I turn to my Savior that things start to look up. The more I focus on Christ, the less important my current circumstances are to my outlook on life. I know that Christ does a reforming work in us if we allow him, but I really can't discern what the difference is in my outlook, just that there is a difference. I suppose it's because I can rest in Christ and he gives the peace that passes understanding. Part of what Christ seems to be doing is reminding me of the good times, in the past, present, and time to come. He reminds me of the endless awe and rejoicing that fellowship with him will bring... and I'm happy. It's not that my circumstances improve or I sin less - I'm happy because He reminds me that this is not my final home, and even it's greatest happinesses are pale next to being in Him. How I look forward to the day I see my savior face to face. Wow.

Topic Three.

Three: I'm getting a camera! I am sooooo excited! It is going to arrive here late tomorrow and then I can take pictures of this place in Florida. Who knows! I may even be able to post a video or two so people can see what life is like near Orlando. The camera is a Samsung Pro 815. It is fairly expensive for cameras for people who don't know how to properly use a camera, but if I keep it for 6 or 7 years, I think the price is pretty good. Oooo. Almost midnight. Blogging, talking with friends, researching extemp... it all takes up time.

28 More Days Until Home Sweet Home

Let's hear it for the title "Days Until Home Sweet Home"!

I've used that title for so long, I just couldn't quite give it up quite yet. :-) There really isn't much new information to share, so I'll just start going through the 3 or 4 things that have happened since the last blog.

One: I went home last weekend (surprise!). While in Tonawanda, I had a good visit with Ryan and Katie for a few days. Since I live almost 2 hours away from them, seeing them was a blessing and something I hope is repeated. If you could pray for Katie and Ryan, I would appreciate it. Things seem to be going well for them, but they are coming up to a busy tie in their life: they are newly married, expecting a baby in a month, and Ryan is looking for a new job. Since we were within 5 minutes of Niagara Falls, Ryan and Katie when and saw the Falls both evenings up there. They took several pictures and came back with quite a few stories of Canada, the falls, and Canadians. I think my favorite story is their coming back into the US, after the light show on the falls. *.... I'll tell everyone about it later as soon as I remember the details better. I got half way through and couldn't remember the questions the US agent asked .... *

Two: I went swing dancing at OSU last Friday. It was a blast. When I visited Jesse's swing dance lessons a while back, there was a advanced swing dancing demonstration, and it was really cool. The leading couple at OSU blew it away. It wasn't that it was so much better, but the couple made it look smooth and refined while doing a lot of different combinations fast. They looked like they would be just as comfortable on a ballroom floor. I was impressed. Almost 3/4 of the group was new and everyone leaned new steps each week. I'm planning on going back this Friday and dancing. The dance floor composition was a little odd: guys outnumbered girls!

Four and beyond: Saved for later. I need to get back to work.

Random information/feelings: I'm really looking forward to going back to PA. Not only do I have great college classes lined up, but it looks like the local speech and debate teams are really working hard on extemp. I'm also looking forward to seeing friends. One big downside of being in Florida is not seeing friends at home. I'm looking forward to seeing what's going on with G, how BF is doing, if A and J bloomed over the summer, and just talking to C and the commies. (No, I do not expect anyone to actually know who I'm talking about. If you want to know who the initials are, you'll have to talk to me. :-D )

2 More Days Until Home Sweet Home

Only two more days left to go and I can start to put up a different title again. :-)

Sunday, I decided to go to the church that Dan has been going to these last few weeks. It does mean that I lose most of the day with driving and staying for other activities, but I think it is worth the cost. I don't have anything against the church I was attending before, but I think it is too big. I couldn't meet the same people every week. Every time I attended, it was like walking into a new church where I didn't know anyone and no-one remembered me.

Perhaps this is just a reaction to the last sermon I heard at the larger church: it was a "support your Emergency Service People day".... or something like that. At the church service, God was hardly mention. It was all about the strength of some emergency workers, and how this emergency worker had opportunities to share Christ, and emergency workers had a high calling.
Other than the singing, prayer requests, and the occasional mention of the opportunity it was to share Christ to other worker.... the service felt like a community event celebrating emergency service personnel.

Ah, I'm probably ranting too much, but that one service did offend me. I just think that they could have still celebrated a noble activity, but done it in a way that didn't leave Christ out of most of it. So it was that I decided to see what the church Dan is attending is like.

Your thoughts? Did I go overboard?

6 More Days Until Home Sweet Home

Ah, six more day. I am looking forward to the trip home. I was thinking while working, "Uhg, I could be driving with mom or dad, talking, relaxing, and catching up with family news." Not everything can go the way I was hoping, but in this case it will be only delayed a week. Whoo hoo! Less than a week and I' on my way home!

Enough chitchat, down to serious work. I'm getting ready to watch Stargate, Stargate Atlantis, and any of the funny commercials that comes on. Half the fun of TV is watching it in a group and making fun of everything and anything that comes onscreen. A few nights ago, we all sat down and watch "Aquamarine". I don't think we've had as much fun since watching Mystery Theatre 3000! Stargate is almost as fun to make fun of, but the story is a little too well told. Mostly we make fun of the contradictions and ignorance of the "advanced" races. Phhht. If you're so advanced, why are humans the only ones that are capable of handling the problems of the galaxy?

At the moment, I'm watching a "documentary" on the search for Atlantis, which are all theorized to be Neanderthals, aliens, Germans.... without a shred of physical proof. Over and over, the searchers were all trying to be the FIRST one to ever find physical evidence of Atlantis. Spending a lifetime chasing a dream just for a place in the history books. They need a new hobby.

7 More Days Until Home Sweet Home

Oh, I was so close. As I approached ZERO day I was getting some things ready, looking forward to going home (even if it was a working vacation), and just pleased at the prospect of seeing my family again. And then wham! The trip was mis-scheduled. I had made the airline reservations one week earlier than was needed, and I managed to get the shuttle service and airline reservations rescheduled for only $16. :-) Not bad for last minute change - I think I like Southwest Airlines.

1 More Day Until Home Sweet Home

I finished the book I was reading, "Starship Troopers" by Robert Heinlein. It was a compelling book. The book is not so much an adventure (as the movie made it out to be) but a social commentary on what is wrong with the current world and he puts forth his idea of a good system - not ideal but good.In fact, that is where Heinlein fall down in his vision.

He has no idea of a final truth or the right way; merely that which has worked. He declares man to be a amoral species. His argument is that if we were a moral species then the appeals to a higher standard we use today would work. That the higher moral standard would be followed. The fact that we don't seem to follow a higher standard leads him to conclude that there is no such standard and that humans are amoral, neither good nor bad.

I assume that Heinlein is not a Christian, because there is another option that explains the failures of the appeal to the Higher Standard. That option is that humans are immoral. Not amoral or moral, but actively opposed to good, and because Heinlein rejects our moral nature, he reaches a conclusion which he explains about a third of the way through the book: We respond to punishment and reward, exactly like any Pavlovlovian experiment. He does say that it doesn't always work, because not everyone's brains are wired correctly, but in general, use the proper stick and carrot and mankind can go to maximum long term survivability, which he holds up as the only standard in the universe. It is Darwin's survival of the fittest applied.

Yes, he believes we are machines, but the next 2/3rd of the book is explaining how wonderful that is once we find the proper carrot and stick and that everything will be wonderful. Heinlein puts a lot of philosophical questions put into his conversations in which he develops a high standard of correct action based on amorality. But though the book kept my attention, at the end all I could think is, "For what? The main character found his position in life, being a solder dedicated to the group." What a terrible final hope. That is nothing. In a few years, life is done and no one remembers. How much better it is to have a hope beyond being a 'good' machine - to go into a life where the joy is unimaginable and everlasting. Where we will not be tired, have physical pains, be grumpy in the morning, or have any of the problems that we live with right now.

I thought it was a great book. It made me think hard as I read; though I ended up rejecting almost every premise and conclusion Heinlein came up with, it still made me think and become more settled in my own Christian beliefs.

2 More Days Until Home Sweet Home

Oh no! I can't believe I missed a day in the countdown! Last night I was SURE I had made a post in the morning, but I must have been quite... wrong.

I was drinking some Gatorade yesterday morning and looking at the bottle while I sipped it. I was looking at the various vitamins and chemicals they put in it and I noticed that it had an extremely low calorie count. All the other sports drinks (at least they are advertised as such) and 'energy booster' are so packed with sugar (and caffeine sometimes) that they only reason you feel good afterward is the high you are on. Thus it is that Gatorade was a happy surprise to be an exception to the rest of the world's sugar boosts. Not having a lot of sugar would explain why it tastes so watery today.

I watched the tail end of "30 First Dates". I'm not sure that is the name of the movie, but it is close. It's about a lady who is in an accident and can only remember one day at a time. Adam Sandler plays the man who falls in love with her. (he meets her after the accident) Every day he works hard to help her through the day and makes her fall in love with him day after day, only to not remember who Adam is in the morning. I won't spoil the ending, but it didn't quite end like I was expecting and that it was a very nice but sad ending. Whenever I get the chance, I'm planning on renting it and seeing it from beginning to end. Warning - the TV channel I watched it on is a clean channel, and anything over a PG13 would probably have been removed. I would suggest you check the rating before renting - Adam Sandler movies aren't my favorites usually and they are often not clean.

Ah, my time to start work has come. The countUP continues with no ill effects. If anything, I feel great. I'm also farther along "Starship Troopers" but have not finished yet.

4 More Days Until Home Sweet Home

The thing that most shocks me about going to the beach on Tuesday is the sticking power of the sea shell fragments that the beach was made of. Even now, I found two more near my right ankle and one near my right Achilles tendon. I guess it is sticking on by suction, but wow, how does it to manage to stay on through socks, pant legs and showers where I know I rubbed my ankles. Maybe, when I get to heaven, I'll make that my first question, "How did those shell pieces stay on so long?", because I've been finding a few every day for the last week, and I'm guessing I'll still find a few for the next week. What could possible make them stay on so long?

But as fascinating as the shells are, I can't imagine anyone else being interested though. As far as Sunday's go, this one was pretty nice. I organized some of my clothes so I know what to take back Thursday and what to leave here. I've decided that over half my books won't be getting read and will come home with me. Part of the reason I'm not reading the books I brought is that there are good books here I'm reading. I've reread part of Perilandra by CS Lewis and I'm in the middle of reading Starship Troopers. I had seen the movie based off the book and didn't think too much of it. The book is much better. It's mostly describing a system where responsibility and duty is the highest ideal - where they will "make a solder of you or kill you trying". It's an interesting book. I'll let you know my final thoughts when I finish it.

5 More Days Until Home Sweet Home

The countdown to home continues! I just learned today that Dan will also be making a weekend trip back to his home, but for him, it will be near the beginning of August. But me!... I get to go back within the week! In other fascinating, but useless news: it took four days after my beach adventure, but I am finally starting to peel from the sunburn I got at the beach. Yeah, yeah, it is a bit ‘unrefined’ to talk about peeling skin, but hey! Jesse would agree with me that it’s cool. Next time I'll save one spot without sunscreen and see what a real burn look like. :-) Or maybe not.

I’ll stop grossing people out with the details of my personal hygiene, but since I’m finished talking about that, I'm afraid there isn't much more to report.... How about some details of things around the house?!! We usually have one meal a day out at Taco Johns or perhaps Checkers. I usually go for two SUPER BURITTOS. In case you're wondering, they are burritos - but super. My boss makes great meals. Usually he's too busy, but he makes a great spaghetti sauce, wonderful chicken, and good beans. That's only once or twice a week, but it's nice to sit down and have a quite meal, because no one talks during lunch, breakfast, or dinner. Somehow, it's an unspoken agreement that meals are off limits for conversations. One little piece of information – apparently last week was the first time they’ve made cookies since they both got married and move into the house…. we’re such a bad influence!

And my other count-up is at day 3. Beat that Mom!

Stay tuned for the next installment where I reveal more shocking details of the day to day life of the recently made beardless redhead!

6 More Days Until Home Sweet Home

The weekend is coming up. I don't think I'll do anything as exciting (or painful) as going to the beach again. In fact, I'll probably end up working Saturday since I took most of the 4th off. Going to the beach was nice to do once, but going to the beach on the 4th of July is not the brightest idea I had. It took almost 45 minutes to find a good spot to park along a 7 mile beach. The beach was a lot of fun when we (again, my programmers in crime were along) finally found a spot on the beach and spread out our towels. I put sun-lotion on, but I definitely missed sections. Along my left should is a spot of sunburn and in the middle of the spot is a streak of white where the sunblock got put on by one finger.

The beach was different than the others I saw. Most beaches I see are sand and waves. On this beach, the sand was broken up sea-shells. It looked like sand, but far more colorful. I dug down about a foot, but all I found were more pieces of finely broken shells. I spent at least 15 minutes just playing with the sea-shell sand. Most sand I play with is... sand. The sea shells changed the whole feel of the sand, and when I played with it, it moved a lot like water when pushing it around. Pushing my index finger into the sand and then moving it was like pushing a finger through water - the shell pieces would flow right around my finger and the trail the finger left was barely visible.

My other favorite part were the waves. After seeing the waves, I was slightly disappointed that I hadn't brought a body board, but the waves were large enough that if I timed one right, I could ride one for 5-10 seconds by just letting it push me along. The key was to push away from the wave, just before the wall of water hit you; that way, the inertia the water imparted gave me enough speed to stay abreast of the wave. Until it finally crashed down around me. :-)

I plan on going to the beach at least one more time this summer and it will be on a easy going, non-holiday date. Don't worry Mom, now that I know what spots I tend to miss, I can make sure to cover them with sunscreen!

To Infinity and Beyond!

Well, maybe not infinity, but the shuttle launch here in Florida was quite an impressive site. After sunning at the beach, my programming associates (ooooo. Sounds impressive!) and I, started driving toward the launch site to see how close we could come before the launch.

We had considered stopping near the beach to watch the launch, because there was a HUGE bridge - at least... 50 feet off the ground. Although it sounds low, I'm guessing it was the highest point around for 40 miles around. We decided to bypass that and go for a closer launch site. We're driving on I-95 (at least I think we were), and there were trees as far as we could see to our left and right with no breaks and high spots. We went for 20 miles without a break in the trees or a hill in sight. Finally, we take a small right turn and see a small, arched bridge about a mile ahead of us. The bridge was 20 feet high or so at the highest point, but it was enough for that area. So we start driving towards the bridge and an announcer comes on the radio saying the launch will be in 31 seconds, and that it had already been delayed a minute. Well... we made it to the bridge in time. :-D

Just as the we heard NASA finish the countdown and say launch, we finished parking... about 3 seconds later we saw the rocket climb above the tree. We were still 20 miles away from the launch site, but the rocket was bright enough that you couldn't look at it with your bare eyes. It was like stepping out into the snow on a sunny day... It's not so bright you need to close you're eyes, but still bright enough that you need to look away until you eyes adjust.... but then there are people like me - with sunglasses! Without them, I would have missed a lot of the details.

I got to see the booster rockets get released and fall off and fall towards the earth, and I saw the secondary power boost appear, and I even got to see the shuttle turn that off and start it's thrusting rockets to oriented it towards it's destination... I'm estimating I lost sight of it about 50 miles up.... After I lost sight of it, I finally looked back at where it came out of the trees and the smoke from the fuel was firm enough and large enough that it looked like a small cumulonimbous cloud that hadn't yet developed it's anvil. :-) It was quite a trail of smoke.

It lasted under 5 minutes, but it was a cool five minutes.

High Bid, Low Bid.

I know, I know. It may be shocking to see two posts go up within one day of each other. Try not to get too worried; it won't happen too often. :-)

I went to an auction yesterday. The auction lasted about 4 hours, though I didn't stay the whole time. It is a weekly event, but there isn't much I'm interested in at the moment. It's mostly glassware, furniture, pictures, silverware, tables, and anything else that could be seen as an ornament for a house. 45 seconds per auction, $30 average price, lasting four hours.... = ((60 * 4) * 30)/ (3/4) = $9266.66 dollars spent that evening. It is just an estimate. We were only there during the early hours, where they spent a lot of time getting rid of the small bookends, glassware.... The final number could be a lot higher.

Hmmm. Redoing the math again in my head... $9600. Which is right? Are either right? I'll leave it up to someone else to do the double check.

Last night I stumbled across gidol, where videos people put online compete against each other to be "The Best". I've seen it before, but I've never really looked through the videos much. Of what I saw, nothing was outstanding. My favorite section was the webcam competition, where people mouth the words to popular songs. The expressions on people's faces are extreme. The people who make the best videos are the people with the best and most variety of facial expressions. The high bandwidth required does mean I can't watch (aka skip) through them as fast as I might like, but I still enjoy browsing it. If you do look at the webcam section, vote for Lynne & Tessa!

Same Old, Same Old

One definite improvement over last week is the heavy rain. About every other day, we get a strong show, and there are two big windows by my workstation. Every time I look up or to someone else, my eyes pass over and out the windows. At the moment, I'm looking out the window to my left, looking at the at the garage roof. All along the top of the roof it's like a blurry whiteness from the rain hitting it. The window ahead of me is right in front where water tends to drain off the roof, so I have a heavy sheet of drops. The only downside is that there isn't much lightning... but that really should be a plus, since lightning isn't safe for human contact. :-)

Dan and I will try to go play racquetball again today. We've found a place that has 2 courts, and we'll go and see how full they are. As it turns out, neither one of us called the YMCA, so it is possible there will be courts there when we call, if this place doesn't work out.

I spent most of last week learning about threads and implementing them. Although this exact implementation of threads may not be useful when I get another job, it will definitely help me on any big projects with which I'll work. Ah, my time has run out. I had to clean and rebuild the project... and it took as long to compile as it did to type this. It's no small program at this point

Doing some work in Florida

The sun is shining, the humidity isn't too bad, and the temperature isn't as hot as it could be. I couldn't ask for a much better climate.

The plane arrived at Orlando's airport around 10:00. Everything went smoothly. We got our bags... except one of mine. Apparently one of my suitcases was left in Pittsburgh and I had to fill out a form. The traveling bag was sent to me the next day and I received it around 3:00.

Things have started settling into a rhythm. I aim to start working around 8:30 and try to end around 5:00. Some mornings I sleep past my wake up time and don't get down until 9:15. Allan and Judy have been pretty understanding so far, but I don't think I'll try for a 10:00 arrival. :-)

Two days ago, Judy walked us around the neighborhood for 2-3 miles, showing us the local fauna and where to see the alligators if we feel like getting up at 6:00. Yesterday, they took us to their aerobic workout gym and it's challenging enough that I will be becoming a member for the next 2 1/2 months.

There is not much else to say. I and my workmates are still settling in and haven't done or planned any major activities. I'll try to keep updates coming though. We're not too far out of Orlando, so there should be lots of activities to do in the evening... hopefully a shuttle launch in July - assuming it doesn't get delayed again.

Everying is Going (almost) Great

As I sit here, my mom and dad are sleeping. My nephew is sleeping. Even the Victoria is sleeping. But yet I sit here and blog - I need a life.

The weekend has gone well. I just came home from the family reunion (future blog - I promise) and a day and a half later, I'm off to help my parents at a craft show. All and all it is a wonderful way to spend the weekend - except for one little problem. I have a bad cold. The headaches aren't too bad (except at this moment) and the sore throat isn't too dreadfully painfull, and I'm not increadibly tired, and I'm not too low on energy, and the sunburn doesn't hurt too badly... :-) Add it all together, and it makes for a hard way to spend the days, even with family and friends.

Check out Victorias blog in the link on the left. She is due to have a baby girl or boy any day now! Go Vic!

Here is one picture from the reunion. We'll call this one a picture of "Cousin It".

Loverly Weekend

I wake up this morning, and all I hear outside is the heavy wind pushing the branches and leaves on trees agains each other. I smelled like it was about to rain, the temperature outside my covers was cool, underneath the covers it was warm, and the air was fresh. THAT is the way to wake up.

My parents are at a craft show for the weekend, and I'm driving down to help them tear down. My younger sister and brother-in-law will be there, so they don't need my help too much; but since my dad isn't going to be there to help, it will be nice to have one more person who is familiar with how the truck and trailer gets packed. I haven't seen much of Ryan or my sister since she got married, and I'm looking forward to this afternoon.

My boss and his wife has been here for the last five days, and I've been busy. Not as busy perhaps, as other times they have come down, but busy nonetheless. I can still hear the trees rustling. It's a good start to the morning.

For those that haven't heard - my brother is now engaged to Charlessa!!!

Sadness and a hope everlasting

First, a addendum to the last blog: the tiny Malcomb hasn't actually arrived yet, I was just excited to get the pictures up. So instead, say hello to the soon to be newcomer!

Last Friday I found out that one of my friends at college passed away in a car accident. He was a professor ( I have had one class from him ) that I have known for almost 5 years now. The last two years I spent at college, I would go on weekend trips with the college debate team, and I was usually the one to stay up with him at night or early in the morning so he could stay awake. During those times we would talk a lot. Shakespeare mostly, but also about what was going on in each other's lives. I was privileged to be trusted enough for his confidences, and I pray that when I get to heaven, I'll have stood for Christ the way Dr. Price did through his actions and words.

None of us are secure from accidents, and I pray for God's blessing on all those that read this, that He would protect you in your travels.

Oddly enough, I don't feel sad at his passing... except that I'll no longer be able to see him on the road jogging, watch him with his coffee, or talk Shakespeare with him. Dr. Price was a Christian and he is spending his days in a far, far, far, far better, greater place than we can ever imagine. What I DO feel sad about is the family he left behind. To have a husband, the one closest to your heart, soulmate, to have him pass away is a blow that no one should need to handle. Any feelings I've had of loneliness can only pale in comparison. So I pray for the wife and son still here, I pray for strength, and mercy, and a revelation of God's overwhelming love and peace. I pray for healing of the ache in the soul and the shock of such the loss... and for the impossible joy of God's peace to come upon Dr. Price's family.

Future family

'Tis a happy day.

Say hello to the newcomer! Boy or Girl.... Boy or Girl.... Maybe I'll tell you in my next post. :-P

Finals, work, busy

The title sums up this week pretty well. I had a test Monday which I did fairly well. This Friday is a final and next Monday I will be done when I finish my Hebrew final. My boss will be coming two days later and then the work really starts. Because other people will be working with me, I'm going to have a more consistent work schedule. Since I don't know what this 'consistent' work schedule is like, I haven't signed up for any classes yet. While Allan is here, I'm going to see what it is like working together with 3 other people and then decide if it's going to be feasable to take two classes. If it doesn't seem feasable, I'm only going to take Readings in Biblical Hebrew and drop Excersice Science Anatomy and Physiology.

Right now, I'm going to finish work up and do a little more studying before I go to bed. I'm looking forward to a long, relaxing weekend at home. There are a few things that need to be done such as getting the weedeater out and using it on some hard to reach areas, putting some new screen on the back porch, and Dad will probably have some things to do at the shop. It's going to be a good weekend.

I'mmmmm Baaaaack!

Finally! I've been trying to blog since.... a long time ago, but whenever I long in, I could no longer access my blog. It's been a sad two months. I search for the answer in the forums, but they never seemed to be addressing my exact problem, thus I turned to the brute force approach. I found the answer in Blogger's answers forum: Answer 656. Yes. I do have a life. I never got that high in the list. I tried searching the user forum again, and one of the forum posts had a link to answer 656. I followed the directions and now have access to Blogger!

This was only a break and so I can't type long.... I have a test in a few hours. Hebrew is a great language to learn. Compared to other classes, it's an easy class to study for. If you've been doing your homework and keeping up on the vocab and verb stems then the tests are a breeze. If you haven't.... can't help it. Hebrew resists all attempts at cramming. I'm just going to spend a few hours translating and doing some extra Hebrew homework and review stems... and then we'll see. The kids who keep up on Hebrew do NO study for the tests. That would be nice to be able to do that!

Ah............................ It's good to be back!

I'm being brainwashed

Yes. It is true. I'm being brainwashed. Not by the usual suspects such as the government or clandestine organizations... no. This is much more sinister. I'm being brainwashed, in public, with everyone's apparent acceptance.

It started like any other day. Getting up at 7:30 and starting work. Having some cold cereal for break, and using my computer for everything. Simple and routine. Like any other day... but I learned the truth. About the middle of the day, my boss and I were going to go play racquetball, but various problems kept occuring and the time for racquetball kept getting pushed later and later. Finally things clear up and I go to my room to get a better (worse) shirt in which to play racquetball. I start to change, but I wasn't paying attention and took my belt off. Just as the belt is coming out of the last loop I think (warning. Swearing ahead), "Shoot. Where's the undo button?" At that point, I found out who the master brainwashers were... Microsoft. Linux. IBM. CVS. Intel. GFQ. JiY. OOPLs. EDPLs. The Big 4.

"They" are all trying to steel a slice of my mind with this purpose: To take away my initiative, inventiveness, willingness to change and work outside the mold: to make me someone who will no longer think: "Bah, Who needs a belt anyway." :-D

The Day of the Dentist - or not

I finished with classes about 12:00 yesterday, and came home and managed to get around 8 hours of work done. That doesn't include lunch, dinner, goofing off, or talking with the boss. Having my boss here is really helpful. If I hit a problem with something, instead of hitting my head against a brick wall for a few hours, I can ask him a question, and with his experience and skill in programming he can usually send me in the right direction. Just being able to debate and discuss programming problems with other people makes programming so much more interesting. (Time for a Risk analogy Sean ) It's like Risk, you can play Risk by yourself, but the game is most fun when other people playing. In my case ( A computer addict ), I usually pit myself against computer players, but the analogy still holds.

Searching for a Church

Today was a nice, relaxing day. I went to church with my roommate Dan again. The church is very nice, but I didn't get the feeling of vibrant life. Having lunch after church is nice, especially when I know most of the people, but it's not a very good trade off if it means going to a church that isn't challenging me to reach higher. Granted, I've only heard two sermons. Both of the sermons were basically history lessons. We covered Timothy the first time I went and 2nd Chronicles this time; both times the sermon was explaining the why the particular passages were being written but there wasn't a lesson, warning, or message drawn out of the passages. It was just an explanation of the current time. Some of the college kids that go to the church are vocal, strong Christians, so I may go a few more times to see if the problem is me and a hard heart that's not willing to listen to what's being said.

In other news, my mom is on her way to Arizona tomorrow. She's going over to visit my grandma and spend some with her brothers and sisters. In another few months, most of the family will be going over for a big family reunion. We'll have the reunion in Grandma's new house. "New" is a relative term. It's a house that Grandpa and Grandma built together, and it's been 10 years or more since it's been finished. It's in a large valley, surrounded by woods. I can sit on the porch and watch the shadows of the clouds as they cast their reflection on the ground. I can't wait to see it again.

A profitable workday

I've been having trouble working lately. I'm working alone, and the work has all been very similar lately. Today, there was a part time worker so I had some incentive to work while he was there. I made a small breakthrough this morning, and I can start expanding my horizons into a new programming area. My boss is coming tomorrow, so I wanted to get one last detail working before he got here. I finished my programming test Wednesday and have a test Monday so I'm getting in some work because I know I'll need to save some time Saturday for study. I figured out that in the last three weeks, I've basically taken one week off. It was a bit shocking when I counted up my hours. My goal for the next 2 weeks is to make up the difference! An ambitious goal, but aiming low doesn't help and as Christians we should be good stewards of our responsibilities towards others and how we use our time for Christ.

I tried figuring out what used up so much time, and I can account for about a half of my off time. (and I think I'm quite accurate) All the rest of the time... no clue. Nothing profitable I'm sure. My mom mentioned something that hit me. All the time I spend goofing off and procrastinating is time I don't spend doing what I would do if I really had that time off.

Just a few thoughts I have at the end of the day.

Valentines Day Reflections

Valentines Day has come and gone. I only sent one chocolate bar. Sigh. I'm done being mushy now. The chocolate bar and the note was a hint to get an item of mine back. I don't need the item much at all, but it's fun to make fun of procrastinators (and yes, before you say anything, I am a procrastinator ). It took me almost a year to start getting that backpack repaired, and now it's getting repaired! It's not too fancy, but I've had it for the last 5 years and it's a bit hard to give up on it now. Just because it's has a tear 10 inches long doesn't mean it's time to get a new backpack!

I wish Eric and Victoria were back here at college. There was wayyyy too much PDA going on, and Victoria was the queen of stopping any unofficial PDA.

I don't have many reflections on Valentines day. It's a nice holidy if you're in a serious relationship, and a fun one if you're not. Half the fun of Valentines day is laughing at the commercials on TV. . . after all, what is so romantic about a four-door jeep driving through a waterfall? Or a battery powered razor? As our commie marketing major would say about the commercials, "Ugh. Turn it off. It's so bad I don't want to see it!". She then proceeds to cover her eyes and plug her ears until the commercial is done. Good for her!

On a side note: Hebrew is a great language to learn. I know it's not on most people's "Top 10 list of languages I want to learn", but Hebrew gives a new way to view the Bible. In Hebrew class we were practing out translation and... the verse evades me at the moment. Joseph had just told his brother's about his dream and his brothers said none too kindly, "Will you indeed rule over us?" In a very close translation, it would come out something like "Reigning, you will reign over us?" (This particular Hebrew construct has no English equivilent. We can only get close. ) In Hebrew to stress something, you repeat it. i.e. the emphasis on reigning.

When I read the verse in English, I thought the stress was on 'you'. The brother's didn't like Joseph, so it sounded to me like it was just emphasizing that fact. In Hebrew, the emphasis isn't on the 'you' part. It's on the 'reigning' part. When I read it in Hebrew (after tedious translation. I'm not a good translator. ) I get the impressing that the brother's weren't mad at Joseph. They were mad that Joseph would think he would ever rule over his older brothers.

Maybe it's not a big difference, but it made me look at the brothers in a kinder light. It made me think that the brother's didn't hate Joseph, Joseph might have been quite likable. What they hated was the fact that he might really rule over them - especially when looking at how their father treated him.

Repair service

As I take off my coat, I hear something jingle. Could it be my keys? No. They were in my hand. Any spare change? No. All the pockets were empty. But I'm positive I hear something gingle. I shake the coat again and hear the elusive clinking again. I slowly shake the coat, one section at a time, until I feel keys in my pocket. I reach into the pocket, feel a small whole at the bottom and reach a bit farther to find... the keys to my parent's car. Oops. :-)

Fortunately, Mom and Dad have a backup set so they weren't worried when they found out.

I made a trip home this weekend, even though I was woefully behind on work. To a certain extent, I don't mind not working 40 hours a week, but I told my boss I would be try to work 40 hours a week and those hours are what I use to pay my bills! This week and next week, while my boss is here, I'll be getting 55 to 60 hour weeks. That's how the schedule usually works out (more or usually less). I figure the next two weeks will make up for all my low hours for the last 3 weeks.

I also had my first microwaved lasagna today! I'm not a great cook, but I do find pre-prepared vegetable lasagnas very tasty. Not nearly as good as my mom makes, but tastier than anything I can prepare! I've cooked lasagnas before, but I've have always used the oven. Today, I took a leap into the bachelor lifestyle and decided to try to use the microwave for something other than hot chocolate and tea. The lasagna turned out pretty well if I do say so myself!.

End of the week post

There aren't too many new items of interest to report on, but I'll do my best to make all the uniteresting events sounds fascinating. :-)

This Tuesday and part of Wednesday I was ill. I'm guessing the stomach flu; by Tuesday evening I couldn't go to sleep it was so bad. Fortunately, I did end up going to sleep, but I woke up around 5:00, still ill. Around 8:30 I finally fell back to sleep and when I woke up, I felt mostly fine.

Another fascinating topics (As decided by me) - the NCFCA practice debate tournament this weekend! I don't know if I'll be judging, watching, or competing; but whatever I do, I'm looking forward to it! I missed the last tournament and I'm really looking forward to this one.

And my final topic of interest:

Middle of the week break

I'm back at work today. Because my mom and sister will be gone this weekend, I went home this Wednesday and Thursday. I did absolutely no work for my job, got some projects finished around the house ( like taxes ), read the newspaper, watched some Campion mysteries, and made sure Margaret didn't take it too easy. From what I see, my mom and dad don't give her enough chores - she seems to sleep all day! ;-)

One final note of interest ( at least it is interesting for me ) - I drove to the YMCA and went on a tour. I was shown on a brief tour of the facilities, and depending on how much I can use the weight room at the college, I may get a membership to the YMCA and do my workouts there. I do a bit of exercising at home to keep in shape, but it's not a full body workout. I think I may even lower the weights for my main barbell. Right now it is 37.4 lbs, but it's getting to be too much.

For the last few months my dad, Jesse, and I have been increasing the number of pushups we do. When I went home this week, we went ahead and did the traditional birthday pushups. Whenever my dad has a birthday ( or close to a birthday in this case ), Dad does pushups equal to how old he is. We sons can't be outdone, so we do them also. The plan didn't quite go according to my plan this year. My plan was to do pushups and finish with ease while dad huffed and wheezed. Instead, Dad and Jesse did extra pushups without appearing to strain to much, and I'm straining, arching, wheezing, shaking, and resting to finish my last 6 pushups to reach the minimum. Oh well. There's always next year. I figure that eventually, Dad's age will catch up to him and I'll be able to outdo him...... but enough of my wishful thinking. I'm having hard enough time trying to stay in the same ballgame as Dad. :-)

Better watch out Dad! Next year I'll do twice as many! If I really want to.

Closing in

For the last two weeks, I've been kept quite busy trying to get a module of the companies project out on time. And by on time, I mean soon enough to get a bonus. At this moment, I doubt that we'll meet the timetable, but that's fine with me. It's always nice to get a bonus, but it is quite satisfying that my estimates of time to finish the project were very accurate. This Monday was the earliest possible time set forward for finishing.

But enough about work. I spent the weekend at home! It was great being home, but since I still was working some on Saturday, I couldn't lounge about with Mom and Dad - not that they lounge... it would be more like I lounge while they do their work :-) Fortunately, before I went back to my appartment today, my mom had me finish all my tax forms, so I should be finished with that until the next quarter.

Other than that, not much is happening to me other than the routine, day to day activities. Before I go to sleep tonight, I still want to finish a Hebrew practice exam, and I would like to program in Squeak some, but I doubt I'll feel like staying up late enough to get more than Hebrew finished.

Once I finish work tomorrow, I can take a good, sleep in late, goof off and not feel like I should be working, day. When tomorrow evening arrives, I plan on watching "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek". Our whole family laughed during "Morgan's Creek" the first time we watched it, and I'm looking forward to watching the movie again. And on Tuesday morning, I plan on an activity that will be the highlight of the week: sleeping in until 9:00!! Unfortunately, the last time I got to sleep in, I woke up at 7:50! :-(

Late nights

Before I went to bed, I thought I would let the world ( mostly my family ) know what I have been doing. I thought that today would be a fairly representative sample... but anyone who has taken statistics would know that one sample is rarely enough for accuracy, so I'll make sure to post a few more samples over the next few days.

I got up at 8:00 this morning. My boss left the apartment two days ago and this was the first morning I could turn off the alarm clock and sleep in. I merrily went about my way until Jaren ( a co-worker ) came and started working. Programming at a fairly standard rate until 10:00 at which point I called my mom. A little later, I went to the bank to deposit a check, went to withdraw some money, found I had forgotten my PIN, drove to my apartment and discovered that I'm slightly dyslexic, drove back to the bank, extracted some money while at the same time managing to press far more buttons on the ATM than needed, bought some TocoBell burritos for lunch, and went home and started working again.

About 3, I started to get ready for my trip to the college to take care of some details. I wanted to get a parking permit since I believe I'll be driving in quite often. After 30 minutes, I'm in my car and cruising the 'burbs to find some alternate parking before I pay for a parking permit. No spots look likely, so I go down to the security office, which consumed another 30 minutes while the person on duty answered the phone multiple times, and had to walk to a back office to determine if they would give me a parking permit. There must have been something suspicious about a graduate asking for a permit.... but my natural charm overcame all the barriers and I am a proud owner of a parking permit!

I then park ( in commuter parking no less ) and look for some friends that would be willing to help me get some notes for an advanced programming class. The professor never takes his notes down, so he has all the powerpoints and homework assignments up... perfect for self-teaching if I had the motivation. After talking to some long-lost friends, I proceeded to the library to see if I could get the computer help desk to put me back on the college network.... it was a bit harder to work my charm because no one could find a record of me as a student at the college, :-) but they were kind enough to help me in my distress.

After researching multiple periodicals and finding ONE article on the subject I was looking for, I returned home and started work... after writing a summation of the article. I did about two hours of Hebrew exercises and started working again.

It's a late night for me, and tomorrow won't be much earlier... but there is one definite bright spot. Marie will repair my dilapidated backpack! One of the activities Marie does is repair ripped and torn backpacks. Tomorrow is looking like a great day!

busy, busy, busy!

My boss came back from Florida Thrusday, and Dan and I have had our nose to the grindstone while he's here. Hopefully, by the time school starts on.... tomorrow, We'll have made some decent progress. Just a quick post to let people know I'm still alive and kicking!

A Relaxing Day

Today was a relaxing day.

Because my boss is here for the week, I didn't go home to family this weekend. Instead, I worked Saturday and had the opportunity to attend a church near my apartment.

The church body was larger than I thought it was, and I thought the message was pretty good, but my favorite part was when a family invited me over for lunch after church. My mom has instilled in me an appreciation for churches who have members who practice hospitality. The family had made inviting college students (and even recent graduates apparently ) over to their house a type of ministry they had. I knew all of the college students that had come and it was a very relaxing atmosphere, I even knew the children of the couple. There was even another professor that came to lunch and I had met him briefly in my last semester of college.

We didn't talk too much. There was a steady stream of conversation, but it was only two people at a time. Everyone else relaxed in VERY comfortable chairs and couches and listened or read the Berstein Bears to the small children.

A very relaxing day.

And happy birthday S. Shmitty!

Magic show

This is an obligatory paragraph to celebrate the first day of the new year, because every year is better than the last! Long live Wolfe! Flummery. :-)

My dad had his annual magic show last night and several of the tricks stood up to the inspection of the crowd. That may not seem like a very successful show, but my dad has the toughest crowd of any performer I know or have known and any success is an effort that even Hercules couldn't have achieved.

Everyone, the adults in chairs farther back and the kids on the floor a foot away from my dad, gathers to watch the New Year's show. As long as NONE of the kids have ANY idea how a trick works, my dad is safe; but if one of the kids has the smallest guess about how it's done ( correct or not ), he'll yell it out, and then all the kids stand up, swarm my dad and the trick to see if the idea is right or not, yelling their own personal ideas of how the trick was done, and pulling and pushing all the items used.

In one of the tricks one of the kids had an idea that Dad had a card stuck to the bottom of his foot, so about 5 of the kids get their head on the floor, just over a foot away from my dad's feet, and keep yelling that he has a card on the bottom of his foot (They couldn't see a card, but they still yelled. :-) ). After about 10 seconds of dodging probing hands while he's walking around to do the next trick, my Dad finally lifted his foot too high and one of the kids saw it and started yelling, "I saw it! I saw it!".

Fending off 10 kids ( ages 8 to 14 ) and still managing to have several successful magic tricks must be the 8th wonder of the world.

Until next year Dad!!!

Visiting time is coming to an end

I have 2 days left to get all my visiting in with Jesse. We haven't done much at all. Wooo hooo! The whole family has stayed in the living room most of the time and we read the Wall Street Journal, and point out good articles to each other. We have about 3 weeks worth we've been saving for this, so we have quite a few papers to go through. As soon as we leave, my mom will get rid of them and start saving for the next visit.

All the mornings and evenings, everyone gets together and plays Uno Attack or Ultimate Scrabble. My mom likes to watch us play more than she likes playing, so she keeps us well supplied with celery and hot chocolate, and tea and snacks.... It's WONDERFUL.

Jesse, Dad, and I did cut wood Saturday morning. Near the end of the woodcutting, everyone got inventive and tried different ways of cutting wood. My favorite alternate method was to put the axe behind my back, arch waaaaay back, until the axe head would almost reach the heels of my feet, and then swing forward with as much force as my arms and stomach could handle... I thought it was very effective, but as I found out later, my stomach muscles couldn't quite handle the strain. I had trouble sitting to get out of bed Sunday morning. I'm sure Jesse felt the same way, but neither of us will admit to it. :-)

It's time!

Jesse is coming here today! Even as I type, he should be driving here. He's going to come directly up to my apartment and then we'll all go back home together. "All" includes my mom too. HP finally sent the pieces we need to send the computer back, and she's driving up here to bring the computer while I try to find all the booklets that came with the computer.

As a parting note: Mom remembers hearing the chorus to "Seasons in the sun".

Oldies forever

I was listening to oldies music today, and I loved this one song that had a beautiful chorus.

We had joy we had fun,
We had seasons in the sun

A great sentiment. A toast to fun in the sun! (Not that it is EVER sunny during winter in W. PA)

I'm home!

The family Christmas gathering is over, and everyone has gone back to their homes. It was a little sparse this year, as more of the children grow up, some of them move away and don't usually make it back until a few days before Christmas. Depending how the schedule works out, we usually have more family come, but this year the gathering needed to be held earlier than normal.

So for everyone who didn’t come… have a happy year, and I’ll see you when you do come down!

Unfortunately, my brother couldn’t attend today either. :-( But I don’t despair! :-) I just have to wait one more week before I embarrass him by doing more pushups and curls than he can! AND I’ll tell everyone the results… if I do more :-P On more serious matters, it seems as though the Lord is leading and helping Jesse along with a strong, clear hand.. He is out of a job now. The rest of his work time is just using up his vacation time (3-4 days), so he won't be going back into the office. One of the guys had over a month of vacation time coming, so a little after my boss announced the layoffs, he took a vacation of more than a month! Jesse had one job interview, and he expects to get the job hands down… but even if he doesn’t, Jesse seems to be happy to put in resumes and do job interviews and wait for the Lord to pick out a job. Kudos for Jesse!

My apartment’s first floor is looking more like an office now. We have a NICE printer, tables set up, office chairs assembled, floor mats placed, a internet hub in place, and everything arranged as we think it will be long term. Now, we’re waiting for our computers to arrive, our monitors to be set up, and finals to be over (Not me personally, but the other two hires are looking forward to it. :-) )

I know I’ve been using the smiley faces heavily. They make a blog look so much more laid back, and since I’m home I thought they would be fitting. :-D

"Moving" along - ironic isn't it.

Tonight I head back home and spend the weekend with family. Our family's Christmas gathering is this Saturday, and there are always a lot of relatives attending. This weekend, we'll probably have another pool competition ( which I'll undoubtedly get eliminated in the first round again ), spread stories over the lunch and dinner tables, play in the snow, and swap some gifts and memento's back and forth. I am definitely looking forward to Saturday - I should also mention Saturday is my birthday!! I probably won't be getting any presents, but I know I'll be getting an extra helping, or two.... or three... of vanilla ice cream!

I've paid for and completed the sign up for classes next semester. I'm looking forward to both classes: Hebrew II and OOPLs (pronounced ooples). If you don't know what ooples is, then you can be classified as the sane part of the world. :-) I will give you a hint: it is a programming term.

I still need to see what the sign language club is doing next semester, but I think I won't have much time after work and school for extra-curricular activities, although fencing seems to be an intriguing option. I have to ask myself though, “When I move somewhere else, what good will fencing be?” I think the benefit of knowing some fencing is similar to the benefit of base-jumping. It doesn’t serve much practical purpose, but it is cool!

More Mania!

The apartment is two stories and a basement tall, with a pretty good heater. There is one flaw with the heating system... hot air rises! :-) While I was working in my bedroom, that was great. I just turned the heat all the way down and enjoyed the comfort of my bedroom. Now that the office equipment has arrived, I work on the first floor which is a little bit chilly for my taste. But don't worry Jesse! I have more layers of clothes on than usual.

There is also a decent internet connection in the house: 100 kB/s. While not roaring fast, it does save time when browsing the internet. What saves the most time is the fact that I don't need to drive into the college and use the library connection anymore.

For things other than the apartment I should mention that I now have a Grove City college library card! From what I can gather from the codes on the card, I am the 43rd Grove City resident to get a card, and according to their binary numbering system, they only have room for 64 community library cards.

And for a final tidbit of information: I have (or will soon, whenever I can fax the receipt) send my new computer back to get a refund. The day I got the computer back from the second repair, I turn it on... and it doesn't start up. It was the same old error, and it still wasn't fixed after two tries. I call HP to attempt to get a refund but I never managed to ask for it. As soon as I described my problem to the first person, she patched me through to a second. After I explained my problem to the second person, he patched me through to a case manager, who offered a new computer or a refund. I'm guessing they don't like a computer/customer who takes advantage of the repair policy and uses it a lot. :-D

Dan has moved into the apartment, I'm going home for this weekend for a Christmas party, and I'm going to add another year onto my age!

Apartment Mania

I have moved into my apartment! What made the move in final was getting an internet connection. Now, I don't have any practical reason for going home. :-( I guess I have to face up to the truth and just use the excuse, "I'm homesick!". :-)

But what about the apartment? It's smaller than my bedroom at home ( which wasn't large ), with almost no closet. It is only a 20 minute leisurely walk from the college, but in the winter, it's a shorter walk. All I need to do now is to sit in my room and to program. All the activities that I'm interested in joining won't start until next year, so things will be slow for a while.

And for you mom, "I'm homesick!".

'tis good to be back

After a two week break, blogging feels like a luxury. Oddly enough, even though I know I'll enjoy it when I sit down to blog, I don't look forward to blogging at all. It must be some twist of my nature to not look forward to something I'll enjoy, because blogging isn't the only area I procrastinate.

But enough about procrastination. I did have a somewhat valid excuse: I couldn't access the internet for a week. The phone lines had a lot of static, and it messed up the internet access. It is getting late and I'm rambling, so I'll limit my ramblings so I can get to bed soon. Thanksgiving week was wonderful.

My brother Jesse, his girlfriend Charlessa, and Nephew Jermemiah came to visit us for the weekend. It was a great Thanksgiving weekend. While Jesse was here, he caught me up on all the developments at work, and we chopped and loaded five or six loads of wood. We've had branches fall down, one onto our horse trailer (not a pretty sight) and one onto a shed and flatbed trailer. These braches weren't small either. I'm guessing a minimum of 7 feet around at their base, and they didn't get much smaller until close to the top. The main base of the tree is at least 10 feet around. I should mesure that! The small branches alone made an ash pile close to 2 feet tall when, and stayed hot enough to melt over an inch of snow 5 days later. Dad has spent several full days cutting the branches, and another two or three full days will be required to just chop and load and unload the rest of the tree. When Jesse and I were chopping wood, we worked for almost 2 hours (he had worked longer before I got out there), and I think we only split about half of one branch. The main base of the tree is too large for our chainsaw to cut, but the branches show an age over 130.

But the main fun was visiting with Jesse again. Jeremiah made his presence known the full time, and Margaret took advantage of his presense to play endlessly!!!! I don't think I could have lasted a quarter of the time she did. I think she likes being an Aunt. :-) We spent Thanksgiving day with family nearby and Charlessa met a little more of the clan.

As I said earlier - it was a great Thanksgiving week. Even bigger happenings have happened since then (I'm moving this week), but I'll leave that for another blog.

Working

Work seems to take up the whole day, and it is because I take so many breaks. When I am working by myself, the very presence of this computer is a distraction - I run error checks, virus checks, ad-aware checks ( I run a lot of checks ), I browse old pictures, play computer games (Not as many as my mom assumes :-), and stare out into my background and barely have brain activity. I thought I could move into another room and the very fact that things were different would help. They did! I no longer played around with my computer. Instead, everything else that was happening would distract me just as much.

I think there is only one solution, and it is a solution I am hesitant to take... wake up early. If I'm going to wake up early for something, I'm certainly not going to waste that time. Early hours always make me do more work. If I'm going to loose sleep, I would prefer it to be for something important, and NOT for me to do nothing by staring at my computer screen.

It's no fun to talk to people who talk in circles.

A day of disappointment

Sometimes there are days where nothing seems to go right. The day got started off badly with me waking up at 4:30, and being unable to go back to sleep for at least an hour. Second bad start, I slept in late, and didn't get up until 9:30, and didn't start work until 11. That means a minimum of finishing work at 7:00! That's pretty late especially since I haven't finished by 11. :-( Then, in the middle of the day, I find out that debate no longer needs my presence to survive! (Gasp! I bet that's a shocker to everyone! :-) ) To top it all off, I thought my brother was coming THIS week, and instead, he is coming next week. :-(

And to be honest... (And why not, this is MY blog!)... I'm fooling with you. This has actually been a very good day. (1) The early hours of the day were spent praying, so I consider it the best hours of today. (2) The late wakeup meant I got some much needed sleep ( A good nights sleep is invaluable), and I don't mind working late in the day. (3) I now have a lot more free time with less driving in to GCC. Although, I still have case briefs to drop off. And, I now have time to pursue other activities I've been looking forward to. (4) OK, well, having my brother delayed is a bad mark for the day, but at least it isn't permanent. That means that next week gets the big A+!

Actual bad things (not limited to today)
(1) My computer is acting up.
(2) My room is a mess.
(3) That's it!

More good things (not limited to today)
(1) There is a NCFCA debate tournament Saturday!
(2) Contra-dancing (one of the "other activities" )
(3) I don't have to send my computer in for repairs!
(4) I heard news about Rachel... Kudos! I like your job!

Repair Work

For the last few weeks, I've been having just a little pain on some of my teeth whenever I chew. I made an appointment 2 weeks ago to have them looked at and sure enough, there were some cavities. They were all concentrated on the side of one of my back teeth. The other teeth looked fine, so I guess the way I brush is the cause. However I brush, I must not hit that one tooth side. I also needed a worn out filling replaced, so I did that Tuesday. And it looks as though I may need my lower wisdom teeth pulled. If I keep them in, they will start to cause a lot of pain when I eat and massive headaches... I figured I should probably get them pulled before the migranes start to get too bad. :-)

In other news: MY MOM IS HOME!!! She's looking forward to tidying up the house. We do a decent job at keeping the house clean, but it needs a mom's touch to make it feel like home! My brother is coming back home for Thanksgiving weekend! He doesn't get home too often, and it is always GREAT when he does. I'm looking forward to rubbing in the fact that I.... hmmm.... I don't know of anything I can rub in. I'm sure I'll think of something. That's what brother's are for after all - to boast about our perceived advantages over each other :-D and to have a 'polite' ruckus until he admit's I'm right. :-P

A Good Laugh Now and Then

I've watched "Chicken Little" and I would have to say it is very cute and funny. I think what made it so funny was all the movie references it put in. Whoever watched it must have liked "Princess Diaries". I also watched "Shark Boy and Lava Girl", and while I'm sure most people would dislike the visual imagery used, I thought it was great. I actually cried through part of it. What does is say about me when I cry during a kids movie? Mentally unhinged? Sensitive? Loco?? I vote for being mentally unhinged.

Congrads on the debate team for putting in such a good showing this weekend! Everyone did wonderfully and made if a fun trip, and next time I'll bring my own camera. :-)

Longing to study

This insatiable urge to re-learn Hebrew has come over me again. At the moment, other than the alphabet, I only have Genesis 1:1 memorized in Hebrew, and I've forgotten most of what it means...

I never said I had learned Hebrew well! Just a bit to get me through what used to be
inconceivably different look of words in the word reference section. :-) Although, now, I wish I had taken one more class of Hebrew. Well... maybe I still could? It just takes a bit more dedication. Taking another class of Hebrew... something worth considering surely -- Learning the native language that God used to send a message of unconceivable glory to us!

And I've reconvinced myself to re-learn Hebrew... it looks like I could have stopped after the first sentence of the blog!

Hurrah for moms!

Not quite an ode, but hip-hip-horray for moms!

It's almost the end of day 4, but from what I hear, my mom is missing us terribly already. :-) That California sun can't quite compare to the chilly, cold, overcast, and drizzly days that Western PA has!

Today started slowly, with a little bit of work and then going to see Zorro with my dad. As my dad drove, I was asking him what he did and that started me recalling the long hours he would put in during heavy work periods. Dad would stop work very late, start very early, and that was without us to help and none of the jigs he's developed to help him get things done faster. Knowing now how much my dad likes to get a full nights sleep (we have similar needs in that area), it must have been very hard. As I was listening to a country song, I remembered this afternoon's conversation, and I hope when I get weary and the work gets tiring that I'll be like my dad and that I'll will keep pushing through with patience and courage until I'm through the tough spots.

I went ahead and put the lyrics below, but they don't give a complete story of what I was thinking at the time; so I'll translate my own version right now. :-) Here goes! "I said I wouldn't seek out or make trouble, but sometimes hard times come. So I'll keep fighting through the hard times, because I do remember what you taught me.

The actual lyrics:
I promised you, papa,
I walk away from trouble when I can.
Now please don’t think I’m weak,
I didn’t turn the other cheek,
And papa, I sure hope you understand:
Sometimes you gotta fight when you’re a man.

I love reading the news!

As I read the news and listen to the news, it seems as though the world and it's governments no longer make sense... nothing new under the sun... I can't say that the news has ever made much sense, but war has tended to clarify things for the last few years. After all, if a nation is willing to openly declare war and proceeds to do so, things get clear really fast. In the case of the US, nations align themselves on one side of the issue or the other and walking a middle line becomes wishy-washy and a sign of weakness instead of a sign of temperance...

There were some bright spots in the news. Yesterday, in the Wall Street Journal, there were some very interesting articles on the attitudes blacks and whites have adopted. (It is the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks' refusal to leaver her bus seat.) My favorite article was one Mr.Steele laments the weakness that blacks and whites have chosen so that no one need feel ashamed.

The bottom line of the article: blacks know that the fault of poverty has been the widespread oppression of generations and it is up to the old oppressors to set things right or things can never be set right;Whites have taken the easy way out and have chosen to eradicate racism on their side and to take responsibility for black poverty as their payment for past sins. The problem with these stances is that blacks have become so integrated into the US system for so long with so comparatively little racism still left that we can no longer blame racism for keeping blacks in poverty - at this point, it is the failure of blacks as a whole to take responsibility that has left them in their current condition - and it is the fault of whites for helping prolonging that position and not holding themselves and others to a high standard of responsibility. As a white, to say blacks have not been responsible for the past one or two decades is to commit racism,and to say that poverty is no longer the fault of whites raises the same cry: "Racist!"

The article and my explanation of it is a little blunt, but I recalled when Bill Crosby was speaking to a group of parents... and kids (I'll have to look that up). He told the group he was speaking to that blacks had to take responsibility, and that they were failing to take responsibility at the moment for their children's education. Oh! For about a week, there was a small uproar, and Bill Crosby was blatantly called racist, insensitive, and ignorant of black's true plight. I kept seeing news blurbs on that topic for almost a month. On the flip side,try arguing that the government doesn't owe inner city students better education, more vouchers, more funding.... try arguing instead that it is up to the parents and students to get a good education. The same cry rings out: racist, insensitive, and ignorant of who are the most poorly educated. "It would hurt inner city schools", "City students don't have transportation" - with the sad assumption that "inner city" means blacks incapable of helping themselves, and that whites must lend money and other help.

Fortunately, It is true that I have some great friends who would argue for personal responsibility on everybody with little emphasis on what the government can do for "me me me", but outside a small circle - To argue that blacks and not the government should stop black poverty is to commit political hari-kari. Imagine that getting played over the TV networks and the outcry! By saying the government must take care of poverty (almost always intended to be 'black' poverty) is to degrade blacks into permanent second class dependent citizens, and to put on the pedestal all of the years of horrendous failings of the government( whether we intend to or not, viewed as the elite of the white culture). And all those failings accomplish us not feeling ashamed of our role toward the other race: blacks don't need to feel responsible for their own failings/poverty ("because it's not their fault" ), and whites don't have to feel responsible for their abysmal failings ("We're throwing money at the problem. We're doing all we can").

The problems that personal responsibility for everyone would bring to the surface are numerous, but America has chosen to live with far more problems when they choose the easy way out because it is comfortable and we are used to it.

Final thought on the article... there was a lot of rhetoric, without much proof of his point... I'm not sure I was convinced that black poverty can mostly be explained by a whole group of people abdicating responsibility. It doesn't seem to leave room for the "one person can make a difference" idea (which I agree with). The main point of the article is the part I already agreed with, that government can't lift people out of poverty (black or white) unless the people themselves make an effort. An effort is no guarantee of success, but it puts the odds more in your favor.

In other news, the Sunnis have decided to participate more in elections(apparently not participating hurt their political representation. :-) )
In other news, Saddam Hussein's lawyers have boycotted until the get better protection. They have 10 demands before they come back. Most of them seem reasonable - especially the better protection so they don't die - but 15 bodyguards per lawyer? It seems a little much.

Aches and pains

I guess this is what it means to be OLD. As soon as you turn 21, it's all downhill and I've got a headstart!

I think I need to make a chiropractor appointment. I think it's all my sitting time while programming that making my lumbar hurt so much. When I was helping my dad this summer, I would always be standing, bending, moving, and doing something active that was not sitting down. Now that I'm doing a lot of sitting, my poor posture is coming back to haunt me. The last 4 years or so of high school, I did a lot of ABeka video classes, and everytime the teacher would tell a student to sit up straight, I would smile to myself and be just a bit smug about the fact that I didn't have to sit up and was in a very comfortable chair or glider. A sore lower back takes away some of the smugness, but not much. :-)

I have the weekend free, and I'm trying to think of something special to do Sunday. I was thinking rapelling, but it's not too much fun by myself... I could stay at the house and clean up ALL day like last Sunday (Which was great)... or I coudl get out "In His Steps" and read it again. I'm leaning towards staying home and cleaning up. It was a lot of fun to help my mom putsy around the house and straighten everything up and rearrange rooms, but I'll probably be sent outside to have fun weedeating! "In His Steps" is a good option, but I read that one one... or two months ago and I may wait a little longer before re-reading it. Rapelling just isn't fun by mytself... hmmmm.... or I could make a few calls. See what I turn up? :-) I know Jacqueline would love to come if there isn't schoolwork still to do, and so would Courtney, Dan, Mark, Steve,... but everyone else is busy I think. It's worth a try! It's time to pull a Holly!

Parting note to brother Jesse: 1152x864 - nice screen resolution. You didn't tell me how nice it was when I was visiting! You also might want to put a little more security on what cookies can be put one your computer. ::evil grin::

Travelling Tale

I got online, checked mail, organized that mail, prepared to send some mail, and by the time I'm finished it's too late to post a lengthy blog. :-(

Not that there is too much to say. On the speech and debater front, GCC broke a few students at the recent tournament, so we know some more people will be going to nationals. I got to judge 4 rounds. I didn't feel too confident until the last round, finals of impromptu! That one was rather easy to judge because I've competed and watched so many others do it.

My new computer is up and working now. I finally managed to transfer a few of my E-mails and programs to my new computer so I hope to fully transfer everything by the end of this week.

Tomorrow morning, my mom leaves yet again for Michigan. She made one trip last week to breed one of my sister's dogs, and she's going tomorrow to pick up the dog. My sister has/will go along on both trips, but she has the added traveling of going to see my brother and nephew this weekend - a six hour drive one way. Both she, my mom, and my dad are ready to stay home for a while.

That's it for now. I can tell I've been programming to much when I start to end sentences with a ';'.

Another blog from a motel

Again, I sit in the dark, typing my blog, alone... while everyone else in my room sleeps. Although if I were to be completely honest, the light has been dimmed, and my mom and dad aren't quite asleep yet, but it sounds so much more... dramatic - if I'm left alone... in the dark... reaching out to connect to the world in the only method left to me - the World Wide Web. It's not accurate, but it adds a small flair to an otherwise unassuming blog.

How boring you ask?

Work is progressing slowly - it's just that I only had 2 days to get 40 hours of work done. Fortunately, my boss is fairly lenient and lets me do work on the weekends so I'm hoping to get the rest of the week's work done, but I am unsure how I should order my week. I know that I am ordering this week so that I am working on the Sabath, but should I? It's something to take to the Lord in prayer.

I must, before I go too far afield in my ramblings, give my regrets to the debate group. I didn't get the debate plans looked over and critiqued, but don't worry! Before I show up next week, I'll get the debate plans back to you.

Now for the rambling part:
I'm starting the process of looking for apartments. I'm trying to find possible housing starting December or January, so I'll be closer to work. My parents made a wonderful effort in raising me and managed to get me to all sorts of activities (gymnastics and piano being my favorite: I can still do a giant, but I don't have ANY music memorized), but now that I'm left to my own devices, without quick access to activities at college, I've floundered in the interesting hobbies category. At the moment, I wouldn't blame anyone who said my life was 'boring'! :-) Now that I'm moving to a slightly larger town, I hope to get involved in some more activities. (dance partner anyone?)

The move is still up in the air and of has a dubious probability, but I think the time has come. I just pray that God would give me the wisdom to listen to him through all of this, in good times, and in the hard time where it is hard to stay connected to friends and family.