Beginning And The End

So the big news of the day is that Dustin has gotten himself a job. Exciting stuff, huh? He'll be doing air emissions testing down in the Gainesville, FL area. Essentially just testing the emissions from different companies and entities to ensure that they're within environmental guidelines. He's excited about it, and we're excited that he's gotten himself this job. It'll be interesting to see how things go. He starts training on Monday up in Cleveland, OH which will last for a month before heading back down to Florida to stay there for good. Did I mention that he just got back from Japan?

I've spent the last two weeks running back and forth between my place and the parent's house as they both, along with Dustin, took a two week vacation to Japan to tour as well as see my Grandmother who lives over there in Tokyo. From what I've gathered in the past couple days (they got back Thursday evening) they had a great time, and got to experience a lot of fun things. My dad finally saw Mt. Fuji (it took 6 trips before they could see it), and Dustin thought that they saw the next Amazing Race filming going on at one of the locations they were at. He and my dad couldn't think of anything else that required teams of two to be followed everywhere by a camera-man while they frantically ran around a park and rowed in canoes out to a little island in the middle of a large pond. I never watch it, so I wouldn't have any idea if it shows up in the future...but if they have an episode based out of Japan in the future, my family saw it happening for real.


All the while, it has been busy elsewhere. A couple weekend's ago I went to the youth retreat for our church just to hang out with the kids and help in whatever way was needed. They have it at a little camp that is specifically set up for youth retreats just outside of pigeon forge/Gatlinburg in the Smokies. It was an intense weekend for everyone involved, and I really hadn't seen so much outpouring of emotion at one of these things before. Our youth minister really is doing a fantastic job with the kids. And it wasn't a "everyone get baptized" weekend or anything like that, but just really a weekend to push them spiritually from wherever they were, and encourage them to grow. Probably the most intense part came for the high schooler's where they had a feet washing ceremony where they were all allowed to choose people's feet to wash as a showing of their love for them and their desire to serve. It was really neat seeing how they all responded to that invitation. I hadn't seen anything like that done before, and it was really quite moving. All in all, a great weekend.

I also went with Mandi up to Nashville for a weekend while she was in class. I had told her I would go with her and drive her to give her a break from the practically constant driving to and from that she has to do, as well as just to allow her time to rest since she's pretty much been going non-stop since the start of October. It was a good weekend, as I had time to work on some church things that I had been asked to do (speaking of which...I need to get that to them...) as well as a few other things over the course of two days, all while allowing Mandi time to rest instead of driving. Something on Lipscomb campus that I found amusing (as it was incredibly similar to Harding) came on Friday when I was just wandering around the campus to see what it looked like since I'd not really had the time to do that before. I sat down in a kind of square with a clock to relax, and saw some students coming out of a building. I looked at the clock and saw that it was about 35 after and just assumed that classes all got out around that time. There were quite a few students coming out of this building and going on to the student center or dorms or whatever, so I didn't think anything of it. About 15 minutes later, the campus seemed to explode as all sorts of students began pouring out of the other buildings. I turned to the first building that had emptied, and laughed to myself as I saw that it was the business building that had gotten out early. I guess some things just don't change.

While Mandi wasn't in class, we were able to spend some quality time with the Boren's, who we stayed with, and who I grew up with and practically serve as my 2nd parents. I hadn't seem them in almost a year, so it was really great catching up with them. Mandi and I also went to the ICE! exhibit which is on display each year at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention center. They hire a whole bunch of sculpters, bring them to Nashville a month before-hand, and they carve an entire exhibit out of ice. It's absolutely incredible the detail that you can see when you get in there. I had never been before, but had heard about it, and figured that this was the perfect opportunity. If you're in the area, you should really check it out. This year's theme is the Grinch and Who-vill, along with a spectacular Nativity Scene on your last stop before the door. Be warned, though, that they keep the building at a balmy 9 degrees, so take gloves (and your camera). I think that I'm ready for the holidays now.

Balloons?

The other day, they were having a hot-air balloon festival, I guess you could say, so Mandi and I decided to go on over there and check it out. It wasn't really anything more than a bunch of local artists setting up their shops to sell some of their home-made items, and having about 20 balloons or so set up and lit-up once it got dark. It was a fun time, and we actually got in at quite a discount since we ran in to a church friend who was one of the people taking payments as people were coming in. How great is that? Here's a couple pics, including the Energizer Bunny hot-air balloon, which they said is currently the largest one in the world.

Soccer has been ongoing, and our team is doing alright so far. We didn't play all that well yesterday, but still managed to pull out a 2-2 draw. Mandi has been playing quite well recently, and even completely schooled a guy on the other team a couple weeks ago. I don't think he really did much else the rest of the game after that. I have to say that I was quite impressed. It's still been fun, which is really the main thing, although there seems to be more and more teams that are really complete jerks. And not just the guys either, but even the girls on the teams are jerks. I'm really not liking the fact that everything was combined in to one league like it was, but what can I do about it? At least our team is pretty cool.

Other than that, not a whole lot else going on. Dustin is still looking for a job, so keep him in your prayers as that goes on. Work is going without too much trouble. We're busy, but not overwhelmingly so which is really about where we want to be at. We're having an open house this week in honor of the company being around for 10 years, so I spent a lot of the past month taking pictures of people and all the instruments at work that I'm allowed to for displays that were set up and such. I guess it really is a big deal to have been around for that long, especially with the start that they got. It should be interesting. Just have to see how many people actually show, considering that they sent invitations out to probably around 1000 people. Should be a good time, nonetheless. One thing is for sure though...we won't be working hardly at all that day.

The Feeling

Dustin's graduated. It's pretty crazy to think that my brother has finished up his undergraduate college education. I spent this past weekend in Gainesville, Florida in order to attend his graduation ceremony. They split up the college of liberal arts, since it would have been about 2000 people total going in one ceremony, so we had the early session. Now, I don't know exactly how many people graduated at Harding during my walk, but I figured this had to be just about comparable, and I felt like my graduation took about 3 hours. Well, they defied my expectations...and managed to do everything they needed to do in 2 hours. I was impressed. I hadn't heard names read that quickly as students walked across the stage at any graduation I've been to before. The students all had a card with their name on it, getting rid of the need to have a specific list and order to go by, and they simply handed the card to the reader who would spout it off as quickly as possible and move on to the next one. The ceremony started at 2, and we were out the door by 4. I think more graduations should subscribe to the auctioneer style of reading off the names.

Today we drove back down to Atlanta to drop Dustin off for his final national frisbee tournament. He was flying out to Boulder for the week before college nationals kicks off next Friday. He won with Florida in 2006, but they lost last year at some point around the quaterfinals I believe. He's fairly certain that they've got a good shot again this year, but of course they'll have to play well as always. We'll see what happens when next weekend rolls around. Speaking of frisbee...I need to go and vote about captains for the team for the upcoming club sectionals...in September...since when did we do stuff early?

Since we were in the area, we went to the Georgia Aquarium, located in downtown Atlanta. This is the only aquarium in the world to hold whale sharks, and it has 4 of them. They are housed, along with a number of other fish and small sharks, in a tank that contains about 6.2 million gallons of water. The wall of glass holding this in is 2 feet thick, and consists of 6 panels about 50 feet high that were molded together by heat once they were brought on site. It really is a pretty spectacular place to go see. It was even featured on the Today show a number of months back, so if you're ever in the area, I would certainly recommend it. Plus, just across the street, you can go to the World of Coca-Cola if you so desire.

I'm fairly pumped about the next few months of music, as there will be a number of releases which I am looking forward to (in case you hadn't seen the ever-growing listing on the right). Right near the top of that list is the new Kutless cd which releases in about a month on June 24. They released a single for download for free on their website yesterday, so off I went to get it so I could get a little sneak-peak at the album. I'm a fan of it, so check it out if you've liked any of their stuff before. It'll take about 2.5 minutes of your time...or probably about as long as it took to read through what I've written today.

The European soccer season is quickly drawing to a close, with many of the final round games being played either this weekend or next weekend. In Spain, Real Madrid has already clinched the title, and they were applauded on to the field by the arch-rivals Barcelona. As if that were not humiliating enough, they were trounced 4-1, allowing Real to sweep them for the first time in about 20 years. Ouch. The English Premiership also has a day of tense games tomorrow, with the title and relegation teams being decided over the course of hours. Manchester United and Chelsea are tied on points, with United having the lead based on goal difference. Should United win, they will retain the title they won last year. Any other result would require Chelsea to not win in their final game. At the other end of the table, 3 teams are battling to keep from being relegated, or sent down a division. There are 2 more relegation spots left, with each team needing a win to keep from going down.

I would like to see something similar to this in American sports. There really isn't any drama at the end of a season, except for who will/will not make the post-season. Sure, it's disappointing if your team doesn't make the cut for the playoffs or whatever, but there's always next year. There's no threat of being sent down a league and having to play your way back up, you just are humiliated for a season at not advancing out of the regular season, and come back again next year on level terms with everyone. I know nothing like that would ever happen...but I think it does make for a better over-all season, knowing that every result counts, and that not getting the results can see you demoted.

At any rate, it's nice to be back home, as it's been an incredibly long week. It was non-stop at work from Monday at 7 through about Friday at 3:30 or so...and I'm just worn out. It's time to just kick back and relax for the night, which is quite an inviting proposition.

Never Going Back To OK

It's strange, how stuff really can get in the way. Some of it is important, and some of it really doesn't matter at all. Things have been going well for the past few weeks since I last posted a quick update. Work is good, if slightly on the stressful side due to the volume of work expected of us recently. There are just projects that continue to come up, with little or no time to take a breather. It's good, as a whole, since that is what makes the company money. It's bad, from a personal standpoint, because there is never any time to further train me on things that they are wanting me to do. All 3 of us are essentially running around like crazy all day, with me doing the surprisingly large number of things that I can do on my own, and my two bosses more or less trying to keep their heads above water as people keep coming to them with rush work needing to be done in a day (or even less). Hopefully there will be something of a break in the near future, as one of my bosses will again be out of town, and there are a number of things that I'm needing to learn how to do to be able to help out more. With how things are going right now, though, I don't really see that happening.

Soccer is actually going surprisingly well. We are 4 games in to the season, and have won all of them, with scores of 6-3, 6-3, 4-0, and 5-2. They seem more like a set of tennis box scores for the end of a match. We're (the coaches) are not entirely sure whether our team is a lot better than we would have thought, or if dropping down 1 division from where we were last year put us with a bunch of teams that are not anywhere near as good as they were last year. It's a strange predicament. I think we have a better team this year, but not to the point where we're scoring 4 or more goals per game. It's a good place to be though, as the kids are having fun, and we're able to play everyone, whereas should things have been like they were last year, there would maybe be 2 subs out of 5 that we would play, with the other three never getting in. So I guess for all involved, we're doing alright. The soccer that I am playing (along with Mandi) has also finally gotten under way after all the weekends rained out. Unfortunately, they've scheduled many of our games at 5, so we only play a half, but it's been fun nonetheless.

Probably the biggest news to have occurred in the past few weeks is that I will be going with our church on a mission trip to Escobedo, Mexico. I'll be having to work extra before and after since I don't officially have any time off, but we'll be down there for a week working with a church that our congregation sponsors, and putting on a VBS. I've heard that I'll even see Whit while I'm down there, although I wasn't sure if he would still be there come the end of July. It just kind of came up as an opportunity, and I thought it would be one that would be worth taking advantage of. Now, for next year, to have some vacation time and squeeze in camp as well as this would be fantastic.

It has certainly been an interesting couple of months. Although it's been somewhat sporadic due to scheduling conflicts and events, I have been teaching our small group on Sunday evenings. All of you that know me know that I am of the quiet variety and often do not speak. It was difficult at first, but has gradually been getting easier. It's a lot like it was for teaching labs at UT while I was there, in that you're pretty nervous your first few outings, but it gets better as time goes on. I've been teaching on prayer, and it's been a good study for our group, I believe (certainly not based on anything that I have done personally). Some people have been turned off by it I think, since our numbers aren't as big as they are on Sunday morning, but a lot of it, in my opinion, is that a number of people in our group don't want to get in to anything except the superficial. Mandi and I both get that impression a lot, just based on how things go in class Sunday morning, and discussions that have ensued. We've also discussed it a lot between ourselves on how it seems that few people wants to be pushed, but simply show up and have a good time, and throw in a little "spiritual" discussion on the side.

I don't know, but it seems like that is such an easy place for everyone to slip in to. It's like those "highs" you get when you go on a mission trip, or to a retreat or something that is a little out of the ordinary that makes you feel so different for a while...and then it's back to your usual self. The fire that you had is gone, and everything just degenerates back to where you feel comfortable, which is an area where you aren't pushing yourself to grow or to think, but just to go through the motions for another day. I'm not saying that I'm always on a spiritual high, since I know that is not how things go, but it does seem hard for people, in general, to want to get back up to those peaks without some extraordinary event. I don't know if it's even a general trend for people to not want to be pushed while at church or devos or whatever...

I have to say, that doing these lessons, and needing to take time to study and prepare and everything has been a good experience for me. I'm even to the point now that I'm enjoying teaching and stuff, and hopefully I'll be able to do more of it in the future. I just hope that the feeling that I have while I'm doing it doesn't wear off the second my time to teach is done. I know it's impossible to never go back to OK, but I hope that, at some point, I'll be able to find a way that I can keep it from happening so easily. And maybe that will encourage others to strive for more as well.

Move Me

Once again, it's been a while. However, as I type this I am sitting in my new apartment that I have been moving in to over the past couple weeks. Slowly, but surely, things are starting to get settled in. There's still a lot of boxes laying around, and I'm finding random things that I had forgotten I even had, but it's starting to get cleaned up. So that's essentially the thing that's been going on. Couple that with the usual work, as well as soccer coaching and stuff, and well...the weeks just fly right on by.

Work is still going quite well. It's been busy this week, although not quite to the point that I thought it would be since my boss has been out of town all week visiting his family. We've gotten some new instruments to play around with at work which has been exciting. It's an updated system to what we've had before, but it makes everything easier, so now things that needed to be done with polaroids and a ruler can now be done all on the computer screen while you're working with a sample. It's good stuff. I've also been running the project that was assigned to me a couple weeks ago to do on my own, so it's enough to keep one going through the day without realizing where the hours are going.

Soccer has improved since the incidents of earlier in the month. The team still isn't as good as you would think a group of middle schoolers would be, but we've come to realize that and are just trying to make it fun, while hopefully getting the ones that really are far behind in terms of skills a little bit better. We'll see how it goes. There are possibilities for it to be a good year, but just as many for it to turn out pretty horribly. We're just really hurting at a number of positions that are key, such as not having a true forward, and a goalie situation that really is not all that great. But what can you do?

At any rate, just wanted to throw something up here. I've got the weekend to get things cleaned up some more with Mandi at a girls retreat for the weekend, so I'll be cleaning and relaxing for the most part I believe. Hopefully I'll get back to putting up some things of substance in the near future.

Dizzy...

Wow...I hardly realized that it had been a full month since I've updated this thing. Times around here have been busy, for both good and bad reasons I guess. To start, middle school soccer is going...but not well. We had to cut the JV team after having them practice for a month due to a number of kids just quitting, and mostly down to people not turning in paperwork to commit to the team when we've got to have all the info and money turned in by this Friday. And, of course, we've now got the angry JV kids parent's emailing us about why we don't have a team and how come we can't keep both. It's really not that hard, when you're required to have 15 players to make a team, 8th graders must be on varsity, and you have a total of 29 people signed up with 13 of them being 8th graders. There just isn't a way to make it work. Last year, we didn't have any problems with the parents, they were all nice, they were supportive, they worked with us. This year, I guess they figure since we did it for a year we're pros with nothing else to do, and they complain non-stop about every decision and how we're not in constant communication with them 24-7 about why their kid isn't on the roster. I don't know. I realize that parents want their kids to be amazing at everything...but we're not going to put 6th graders on a varsity team with 8th graders that are 2 feet taller, especially when the 6th graders, quite frankly, really don't know how to play soccer for the most part. There were a number of 7th graders that we were sorry to cut, but when you have to cap your number at 18...there's only so many you can take. The head coach just about quit last week because of the constant complaining for all the parents...it's just ridiculous. If they want it done better, they should do it themselves. Sorry, just venting there I guess.

The other thing that has taken up my time has been the whole being sick thing. I'm pretty sure that most everyone in the country was sick this past month, and I was one of them. I'm still coughing a little bit, but it's substantially better. I'm guessing that it's not good to cough for a week straight, but I hate going to the doctor, and then there's that whole insurance thing. On the bright side, I've made it through most of the past few days without really coughing any, so that's been a definite bonus. Boo on being sick.

Tomorrow is a big day, as far as work is concerned. I get to go out and be a project lead on something, which coincidentally enough is for SRS in Aiken, SC. So, perhaps in a couple years, if we continue doing work for them, then I might have a couple contacts down there if we decide to head that way. It's doing micro-hardness testing...which I won't go in to detail about, since I really don't know anything about it. The idea is basically that you're looking at tiny areas (microns), and seeing how surfaces and substances react to having a load (weight) place on to them. It'd be like taking a slab of concrete, setting it up, and then dropping a 500 lb mass on it, and seeing how it deforms. Just on a micron scale instead of something you would see out in public. It should be interesting, and I'll get to play with some expensive equipment.

In church news, I'm leading our Sunday night small group study, which is focusing on prayer. It's been good, I hope, and we've gone through about 2 weeks thus far. (On a side note, I just got interrupted by another irate parent. I don't even know how he had my phone number.) It's been good stuff in the group, and I've managed to steal a few ideas from things that went on at Harding. So it's been good stuff, and certainly something for our group that I don't think many of them have experienced before. Hopefully things will continue to go well. At any rate, just wanted to give an idea of what's been going on.

What Could Be Better

Man, I sure am doing horribly on keeping this thing updated recently. It's been busy, but then again, who hasn't been busy. The job is still interesting, even after a month, and I've been doing a little bit of new stuff every day, which has been good. This past week was especially hectic as one of the 3 guys on the team (including me) was out of the office for 4 days (that was not me). He was on an interview up near where his family lives, so hopefully he can get that job and like it and move up there to be with them. That meant, however, that I got to do a lot, and basically was more busy than I have been at any other point in my time there.

Soccer with Cedar Bluff has been going for about the past 3 weeks now as well. It's looking shaky at the moment as far as getting two teams goes. We've got 27 names of people that have showed up at some point, but only about 21 are regularly making it to practice. We need to have 30 consistently in order to have 2 teams, so hopefully we'll make it. Otherwise we'll have to cut a number of people, and that will not be any fun. Good thing I'm not the head coach that has to make the final decision though. Haha!

The thing that has been taking a lot of time up recently has been the planning of this 55+ dinner that our young professionals group is hosting. It's going to be a lot of fun, but Mandi and I are having to spend a lot of time getting things organized and finished up in order to get it moving. We're slowly getting there though, as we'll have invitations and stuff ready by tomorrow, and I'm working on the slideshow as we speak . I haven't ever used Windows Movie Maker, but it's a pretty handy little gadget, as far as basic video editing is concerned. Hopefully it'll turn out well in the end. The main thing will be getting pictures from all the couples attending to include in it, since the theme of the dinner is "Remember When...". So we're wanting pictures from their wedding and recent pictures as well at this Valentine's dinner. It should be good stuff.

And on a completely random note, how about them Giants? I caught the last 2 minutes of the game, but that was enough for me. I'm just glad they beat the Patriots. Then again, who, outside of Patriots fans, isn't? Note this day, as it'll probably be the only day that I talk about football.

Island

As many people who write these things probably do, I had grand schemes of posting more consistently, and further even having compelling things to blog about. And here we are 3 weeks in to the year, and I've failed miserably in both aspects. Even tonight, I really don't have anything of interest to talk about. I just felt compelled to put a little bit up here since it's been right on a week since I last updated. How lame.

The past week has been busy as well. The job is continuing nicely, although today was quite slow. I put together a long string of left-over paperclips from all the paperwork that I go through while I'm there, I read the news (a lot), I went to a training meeting which lasted for about 30 minutes, and then I started playing around with new computers and equipment trying to get it working. I also saw how you etch a surface of a metal (you get cool chemicals like HF, HCl, and HNO3) and place it on top of the metal, and let it eat it away. It's used to see the grain boundaries (the way the material is fitted together I believe) in a failure analysis, since they're investigating a piece of something that broke during use. Pretty intriguing stuff. Tomorrow morning we're bringing the heavy-duty stuff. I've also been sick with some sinus/head cold symptoms, although it has finally passed I believe.

On a pretty exciting front, our small group is putting on a dinner (for Valentine's day, but not until the 24th) for the 55+ group at church. We're cooking for them (there's a professional chef in our group), and having some games, a slideshow, and pictures of each of the couples that comes that night. I think that it will turn out to be pretty cool stuff. Mandi and a couple of the other people in the group are planning, and I'll be helping out with some of the slideshows and game things. Speaking of games, we're putting on a Newlywed Game type thing with a few of the couples, and a couple from our own group and seeing how they do. So if you can think of any good questions to ask either the husbands or the wives, let me know.

It's been bitterly cold here the past few days. Really since about last Thursday. I know, it's really nothing compared to those northern states, but for getting down to 12 and 13 degrees around here, it's getting pretty cold. I envied the Murphy's in AmSam when they posted the other day about the temperatures. Those were days that I wished I lived on an island as well...Hopefully, in the next few days, I'll have a post of substance. But until then...

Say All I Need

It's been hectic. I've felt as if I should put something on here many times the past few weeks, but just haven't had the time/energy to do so. Work has been going exceptionally well. In the past 2 weeks I have learned how to use a plasma etcher, coat samples in carbon, prepare samples for viewing in a TEM (transmission electron microscope), prepare bulk samples of asbestos (which comes in a variety of sizes), get some basic introductory walk-throughs on using the TEM and the SEM (scanning em), basic training in working with hot (in the nuclear sense) materials, as well as some of the entry-level stuff of logging samples, and handling the paper-work. It has been action-packed almost every day...except on those days when they're working on the classified work they are contracted on...in which case there are some interesting articles on Google news, and some not-so-interesting articles that hold some special kind of appeal on those days. All in all though, it's been a lot of fun.

I had another company calling today wanting to talk with me about possibly working with them, and I've been trying to interface with them, but with being at MCL from 8-5, it's hard to find a time to contact them. We're working on setting up a phone interview I think, but given the relatively short amount of time before my trial period is over...I don't know what will happen exactly. But I guess it doesn't hurt to keep the options coming until I've got something firm. I feel like we're just about there though...

I'm signed on to once again coach the Cedar Bluff Middle School Giants Soccer Team. Man, that's a long school name. But if it's anything like last year, it should be a blast. The only difference being that this year I'm working at a real job, which I don't know if they'll allow me to take off at 3:30 on practice days...hopefully I can find some kind of schedule that will allow me to leave early on those 2 days of the week and let it work. If not...I guess I won't be able to coach. It would be a shame as well, since I really did have a lot of fun last year, and there will be a number of the same kids coming back to play since I think that we only had 3 8th graders. And we've apparently got some incoming 6th graders that are pretty good and have played competitive for a number of years...so we should hopefully have a very good pair of teams. I'll just need to find a way to bargain for my working hours.

Last night was fairly interesting. As I think I've mentioned before, I've been playing basketball fairly regularly (at least once a week) with some people from church and elsewhere that play in a 3-on-3 league. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am absolutely awful at basketball. I have managed, however, to see some signs of improvement. Yesterday was a fairly significant step forward, as I managed to score about 10-15 points per game (we played 4 on 4 full court to 50), and was fairly consistent at hitting my lay-ups off of steals and quick breaks. You may laugh, but those lay-ups were pretty dang hard to hit...when I was all by myself...standing still beneath the basket...and had about 3 attempts before someone caught up to me...yeah... But last night I was actually making them on the dribble, and I even got my 3-pointers to go in. Now, I have a terrible shooting technique, since I shoot from my shoulder. I think Mandi told me that I shoot like a girl...and I probably do. But I make it work, and nobody outside of brother has blocked me yet, which is strange since he's the shortest person that I've played against. At any rate, my "signature shot" is dribbling across the top of the arc from left to right and putting up my shoulder-level shot which banks in off the backboard. I guess it's pretty unconventional, but I get it to work about half the time. That's about what MJ shot from behind the arc, right? I actually have no idea on that one... At any rate, it is turning out to be a lot of fun, now that I can actually contribute in some way besides turning the ball over after missing easy shots.

I'll try and update the rest of the stuff on the page over the next couple days as it is fairly dated, but for now, I've said all that I need to say. Enjoy the new song by OneRepublic.

Here It Goes

Usually, when there is a long break in posts by someone on a blog, it means that they have been exceptionally busy. For me...that usually just isn't the case. However, in this one particular instance, it really can be attributed to that. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

About 3 weeks ago, I sent in an applications on the recommendation of a friend. While I was doing that, I happened to see another position that I thought I might be semi-qualified for. So I sent one off for that as well. I wasn't expecting to hear much, with the Christmas holiday coming up, and figured they would end up like many of the other things that I've sent off. I'd picked up dog-sitting for a family from church for the Christmas break as they were going to be in Europe, so we (my brother and I) head off to go to the house and see the dog and let them explain to me everything that they're going to want me to do while they're gone. While there, I get a phone call, and it happens to be from one of the employers that I had just sent a resume to. They wanted me to come in the next day and meet with them to discuss possibly working with them. Of course, I'm thrilled, so I go in the next day, and after about 3 hours of talking with a number of different people, they say that they want to bring me on. It's a small company, and so they want to have a trial period to allow both of us to feel out the position and see if it would work. They ask me to come in on January 3rd to get started, and I agree, going away happy.

The next morning, I wake up and get a phone call from the other company wanting me to come in for an interview with them as well. This position is with a large coke-producing (the burned coal variety, not the beveridge) company called SunCoke. I went in for my interview with them on the 2nd of January, which worked out nicely. I would be working with them as an enviornmental engineer, doing some management work, and travelling to their sites in Indiana, Virginia, Ohio and Brazil to see that everything is being done correctly and that everything is being done in an enviornmentally safe way. They said they'd get back with me in a couple weeks time either way. At this point, I don't really know what I would do if they offer me a position as well...it's kind of a good position to be in I guess.

The small business is called Materials and Chemistry Laboratories (MCL), and they are a small forensic research company. Basically what that means is that they find out what things are that people don't know. Or maybe people do know what it is, but they want to know the exact composition of the materials. Really, it's just a bunch of work to tell people that they have certain metals, radioactive elements, asbestos, or whatever else they can manage to fit into things these days, inside of their buildings, samples, or any other thing that they send us. It's a bunch of chemistry (I know, I'm a physics major...), but it's been enjoyable for the past couple days. I've already prepared samples for a TEM (transmission electron microscope), which is a multi-step day-long process, I've atomized carbon to coat samples, and of course I've done the grunt-work of logging in samples and updating the computer files. But it's been fun, and I think that I would enjoy working there for the next couple years.

The reason for going to the second interview is that the position at MCL that I'm in currently is classified as a temporary full-time position. As I said, it's about a month-long trial period, although I really feel as if I've fit in over the past two days. The people are also training me on just about everything, and not just having me log data, which I would have thought would have been the majority of the work if it was more trial than just a safe-guard for their overall business and everything. I guess you can't really hire on full-time with a substantial salary if they're not sure the person will stick with it or work well for them. So it does open up the option of taking the other position if they decide to hire me...it's really a tough call. Mandi and I had a good discussion about it the other night for a couple hours just weighing everything, and didn't even really get to a conclusion. It's just a lot to think about, and will be even more to consider if it does end up that I get an offer for the other one. I guess that it's a lot better position to be in than I have been for the past 6 months though.

Throw in New Years Eve celebrations (I'm going to have to get pictures off Mandi's camera of our "Ugly Christmas Sweater Competition" sweaters and put them on here), time with the family, hanging out with Dustin, playing some volleyball, Mandi's upcoming birthday, and just all around general holiday craziness, and it's not all that hard for me to see where the past week has gone. It's been a good Christmas/New Years, and it's been a good week, albeit a very busy one. A belated Happy New Year to all who read this. I, for one, am looking forward to what 2008 has in store. So, here it goes.

Music Year In Review Pt. 1

And now for your reading pleasure, the first in a two part series. Being that I am certainly someone who loves music, and loves listening to music, I'm once again giving some of my top album purchases from over the past year, as well as a few that I found on the side or through other people. I figured I'd do a top 10, with a little review of each individual album, along with some honorable mentions. I'll also list a couple of the tracks I would recommend for downloading if the artist appeals to you. If you like anything that I've had in the player the past year, then most of these songs will be coming off of those albums. Of course, I know that not everyone has the same musical taste as me, so this is probably more for my own personal benefit than yours...but I'll do it anyway. So here we go. My personal top 10 albums of 2007 (with a few bonus cuts).

Honorable Mentions (Part 1):
The Bourne Supremacy/Ultimatum Soundtracks - John Powell
Composer John Powell did some excellent work in these two films, providing an exciting musical score to go along with the frenetic action shown on the screen. The Bourne theme (instantly recognizable in 'The Drop' on the Bourne Supremacy) is followed throughout on both discs in many different variations. When I watched the Bourne Ultimatum, I was as stoked about the music accompanying the scenes as I was about the non-stop action. That's saying something.
Download: Supremacy - The Drop; Berlin Foot Chase
Ultimatum - Tangiers; Waterloo

Barenaked Ladies Are Men - Barenaked Ladies
In disc 2 of a two part presentation (Are Me and Are Men), we find the Ladies back to some of their wittiest, most fun pop/rock. In my opinion, this is the stronger disc of the two, with their lyrical goofiness and touch for a melody supremely evident. After their mis-step (in my opinion) on their album before these 2, this shows them back to their best. For me, any band that can put out 30 quality tracks in 5 months has more going for them than simply the ability to craft a catchy tune or two.
Download: Angry People; Maybe Not; Why Say Anything Nice?

Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long
This one is almost like a guilty pleasure. After their smash debut, they took 5 years to record their sophomore album. It's the same approach, with Adam Levine's smooth voice going over groovy beats, mixed in with some songs that up the ante. Granted, most of the lyrics are throw-aways, and some of the songs just really don't do much for the album (Kiwi, anyone?), but it's hard not to get caught up in the beat and groove of the other songs. When the lyrics don't take away from the song, there is a good, easy melody to ease you through the day, and I would challenge you not to be tapping along by the end of the disc.
Download: Nothing Lasts Forever; Goodnight Goodnight; Back At Your Door; Makes Me Wonder (Clean)

Alter Bridge - Blackbird
You would think that a band composed of 3/4 of Creed wouldn't really be anything worth talking about. But Alter Bridge, with the addition of Myles Kennedy as the lead singer, is anything besides Creed 2.0. Their sophomore album follows in the vein of their debut, with melodic rock that's nothing more, and nothing less. With some slick guitar solos and great melodies, as well as some fairly insightful lyrics, you get a new band that has gone and made everyone forget what band they used to be in.
Download: Brand New Start; Before Tomorrow Comes; Blackbird; Watch Over You

10) Thousand Foot Krutch - The Flame In All Of Us
This is one of those bands that I didn't really think I would like all that much the first time I heard them. They were too much of a rap-rock, almost screamo type band, of which I have a hard time appreciating. However, with each release, they have transformed from the rap-rock they used to pursue to more of a simply hard rock vein. And while I am not huge on ultra-heavy rock, these guys manage to make it fun, and even have good melodies to go along with their lyrics describing their spiritual journeys and thoughts. And even though they are known as a hard rock band, I am always a fan of their ballads that are, to me, incredibly insightful and sincere. An excellent way to keep you awake if you're making a late-night drive, and almost impossible not to sing along with.
Download: Falls Apart; What Do We Know?; My Home; Wish You Well

9) OneRepublic - Dreaming Out Loud
For a debut CD, these guys have been around for a while. They are one of the most popular bands on MySpace, and they had a hit single when Timbaland remixed their song 'Apologize' early on in 2007, except that they didn't have an album out to take advantage of their new-found popularity. Dreaming Out Loud remedies that problem, giving 12 tracks of melodic, piano-driven pop/rock. It's a testament to them that 'Apologize' in it's original form fares far better than the remix version, although if you pick up the disc you will get both and be able to decide for yourself. While very reminiscent of The Fray and Coldplay, they do just enough to be their own band, while crafting a number of memorable songs. Look for this group of Christian guys to do big things over the next few years.
Download: Apologize; All We Are; Say (All I Need); Goodbye, Apathy

8) Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light
This band has been around for a while, yet they didn't make it big until 2001 when 'The Middle' hit airwaves. After the last album's mostly dark approach, things are brightened up again for this 11 song journey. Described as emo (does anyone really know what that means?), the majority of the songs focus on relationships. Then again, what songs don't focus on relationships? Jimmy Eat World still knows how write a hook, and on practically every song you get drawn in immediately from the get-go. Ranging from the fun of Electable (Give It Up), to the huge album closer Dizzy, there is a little something for everyone in this one.
Download: Carry You; Here It Goes; Chase This Light; Dizzy

7) 33Miles - 33Miles
It's not often that you get a band that has more than a taste of country in the Christian Music scene. 33Miles, hailing from Nashville, changes that with a record that is more or less country, right down to the fact that the majority of the songs are ballads. The lead singer does not possess any type of twang or drawl (which I appreciate), but the musical arrangements will definitely remind you of some of the more contemporary country artists out there. For a debut CD, this is a solid effort, and there is certainly potential, as their musicianship really shows throughout in outstanding melodies and excellent harmonization. Throw in strong lyrics, and you've got a great disc. Look for more from these guys in the future.
Download: What Could Be Better; Stand Amazed; I Can't Deny; When I Get Where I'm Going

6) Lifehouse - Who We Are
They've gone through quite a few changes since they first came on the scene with that song that you couldn't get away from back in 2000. It was called "Hanging By A Moment" if you've forgotten. However, the past 7 years have seen numerous changes in the make-up of the band, with lead singer/songwriter Jason Wade remaining as just about the only focal point of the band since then. The past 2 releases have seen Lifehouse moving from the more grunge inspired rock of No Name Face to a more piano-driven sound. In my opinion, it's an improvement as this has allowed the song-writing of Wade to shine through. The melodies are clearer, the hooks are better, and the lack of all the guitars has given a cleaner sound to everything. With Who We Are, I think they've found a balanced mix of guitar-driven songs with the more laid back ballads. This album also contains one of my favorite songs of the year in Storm.
Download: Disarray; Whatever It Takes; Broken; Storm

Part 2 will follow in the next few days. There has been a development on the job hunt front...so hopefully there will be good news to talk about soon.

A Guide To Marine Life

The weekend at Searcy turned out to be quite a bit better than I had thought it would be. I had an enjoyable time, even though I didn't really play all that much frisbee. I got to see Doc, which hadn't happened for a while, and also see his two daughters (he didn't have any when I left). He was doing well, and he's going to be moving soon. Crazy stuff. I spent Saturday playing on and off with a team from Little Rock that Jordan and Brett play on, and in between watched Mandi play with the girls team, and got myself a haircut so that I can look professional when I (hopefully) go in for an interview or two in the coming days. Sunday was spent watching and talking with people for the most part...at least until one of the torrential downpours that Arkansas is known for decided to hit Searcy. Now, on it's own that wouldn't have been all that bad, but once we started on our way home, it decided to follow us. So for 9 hours, we drove through pouring rain. I think it had to be one of my worst weather condition drives home from Searcy in all of the times that I've made that trip. In the future, when attempting long trips, check the weather, and if it's possible to not be driving in a hurricane by leaving a little earlier...make sure you do that. But we made it home, even with all the rain, and were certainly glad that we had made the trip out there.

On the job front, I've talked today with the guy from AGT in one of those initial phone-screenings, so hopefully once he's talked with a few other people they'll decide to bring me in for an interview at their company. I'm cautiously optimistic on at least getting that far. I'm still waiting to hear back from Aerotek regarding the position that they've submitted me for. Given the lady's stringent policy on what she's looking for, I'm not as hopeful for that one...but you never know what will happen. At some point, everyone has to hire for the positions that they need. I'm just hoping one of those will end up being me.

Today it kind of clicked in to being Christmas. My dad and I put the lights up on our tree, which I always enjoy looking at when it's dark outside and seeing the lights on in the living room. It's cool, just going through that each year, and having this massive temporary decoration in the middle of the house. I'm sure if I googled or wikipedied the origins of putting up trees at Christmas I'd learn something new. It's neat though, to look back through the trees that we have put up. There have been smaller ones, bigger ones, some bizarre shaped ones, but they've all looked nice by the time they're all decorated. And of course, there are always the favorite ornaments that you always look for once you've got them all put up. At my grandparents house, it was always a game when they first put the tree up to go and look for the ornaments that played music. They had 3 specific ones that all played songs when you pulled the strings, and we'd come in and immediately go and look for them, and not do anything else until we found them. In fact...I still do that. At our house, there was a bizarre light on one of the strands that we'd hunt for. It really looked like an ice cream cone covered in sprinkles almost. And then there was a musical one hidden away somewhere.

There is also the requisite Christmas music. I've always liked the Little Drummer Boy, Do You Hear What I Hear, and of course, the 12 Days of Christmas. I'll put up the Relient K version in a while when we get closer to actual Christmas time. Christmas also signaled the year-end Christmas Recital for piano, where we'd play some songs for our parents and any other students parents. There was usually some standard classical fare, and then some fun Christmas stuff mixed in with some sing-along material. I generally liked this recital the best out of the yearly ones, I guess just because it was more laid back and mostly about having fun rather than putting on a good performance. And besides, how can you be nervous when you're thinking about having a holiday, and presents, and food? I think pretty soon I'm going to have to go find our Christmas music books and bust out some songs.

But here it begins, the countdown to yet another year. The theme for the rest of my posts this year will probably be recollections from the past year. And Mandi, no comments about my inability to remember things.

Strangeness...

I'm sitting here in Stone and Whitey's apartment dining room, and it's really just kind of strange. Brett and G-Dub are here as well...and while it's not like when I was big on the frisbee team, but it's almost the same. We've just been sitting around chatting and laughing and everything, and now they've got the TV on, so I figured I'd do a little typing and check all my emails and such. I think there will be more people coming back, like Jake Beveridge and Luke Dockery, so it should be good times. I don't really even know if I'll be playing tomorrow, as I don't want to play on the Harding team since they have their own thing going on and I don't really want to interfere with that. There might even be enough to sort of form an alumni team...but we'll just have to see at some point.

There's been a number of things that have changed in the past year since I got here. The construction that was going on as soon as you got off Interstate 55 was finished, with a 4 lane road going on for about 4 or 5 miles once you first get off the interstate. There's a new Burger King across the street from the McDonald's on Beebe Caps and there's an IHOP next to the Wal-mart. That's about all the changes that I can remember right off the top of my head. I've been here for about 6 hours or so, and the first bit of it was spent just lounging around. I went with Brett to a concert in the Benson with a singer that I've never heard of before. She was pretty good, and it was mostly just mellow, bluesy, piano-driven ballads. We only stayed for about 4 or 5 songs, and then went for Sonic.

The drive down was really enjoyable, as I finally got to spend some time with Mandi and talk with her for more than a few minutes at a time or on the phone. It was good times, and probably one of the quickest drives down here to Searcy from Knoxville in a long time. It's really been a long time since Mandi and I were able to spend some time together like that, so it was really a good thing. After this weekend, back home for a couple, and then off to Charleston.

There has been some movement on the job front. I've been called by a company in Knoxville called AGT (Atmospheric Glow Technologies), and they were wanting to talk with me about a position that I applied to on Sept. 3. I haven't actually gotten a hold of anyone to talk with them yet, but I should on Monday, so maybe something good will come out of that. Just have to wait and see. I think it would be pretty cool, although I don't know if I really qualify as a Senior Technician...but maybe they'll have something that I can jump in with.

Last night was excellent. I didn't really know what to expect from the concert, but Keith Urban puts on quite the good show. He's one of those people that knows how to engage an entire arena. I had a good time there, and I'm pretty sure that Mandi did as well. As that was only my second concert, I'd have to say that I've been to 2 excellent, if rather different, concerts. Maybe I'll be able to go to a few more in the coming years if I can get myself a job and make some money.

I just realized that it's already 1:00 AM. And we got up way to early this morning after our late night...and all that driving...I'm out.

Excitement All Around

It's been a crazy week, and it's looking to be another one coming up. Of course, with Thanksgiving, we had family in town, and we all went to my grandparents house for a Thanksgiving dinner with my aunt and uncle and 3 cousins from Nashville. Speaking of the 3 cousins, they are all just about taller than me. The first is 6-3, the second is 5-10 or so, and the third is about 5-3 (and he's just 10 years old). I don't know what they're feeding them up there, but they're giants. My aunt and uncle on my mom's side from Missouri also came in for the weekend, so we got to spend some good time with them, and played lots of cards with my uncle as that is something we always do. Dustin was in for the weekend as well, so there was some good volleyball action going on as well. It was an excellent (tiring) weekend.

I don't know if it was out of stupidity or being tired or what, but I thought it would be fun to get up ridiculously early on Friday and go and see what specials we could pick up. There were a number of good deals that I saw in all the ads that I thought would be steals, so I suggested it to mom, and after talking for a bit, she got excited about the idea, so off we went at 4:30 in the morning to Knoxville to the shopping area that every guy would probably like to live in the middle of. You've got Dick's Sporting Goods, Best Buy, Lowe's, Circuit City, and 4 or 5 restaurants all in about a 300 yard circle. We just went and parked and then went to wherever we wanted to go. We waited outside Best Buy for about 45 minutes, which wasn't anywhere near as long as I thought that it would be, and managed to get some steals on electronic stuff and DVD's and such. Circuit City proved to be the longest wait of all, mostly because the store is small and so they couldn't have a lot of people in there at a time. I think I've gotten my share of this early morning shopping for a while...but who knows. Maybe next year it'll be the same. I don't think I'll ever get to the point where I'm camping out on Thursday afternoon to get in though...

This weekend will be my first trip back to Harding since Mandi graduated. We've decided that we'll be heading back to Armageddon II, mostly just to see friends and such, although I'm sure we'll end up playing some as well. I think I'm staying at Whitey's place with Stone and about 7 or 8 other guys that are going to be there for the weekend. It's going to be crazy. We're also going to a Keith Urban concert tomorrow night here in Knoxville, which should be good times. And a couple weeks from now I'll hopefully be in Charleston, SC if it works out with a place to stay and such. I'll need to get with Josh on that one...

The job hunt is going...slowly. I've had a little response from a recruiting company called Aerotek who has a few places that they are looking to place people that thought I would be a good fit for. They're currently compiling info on me to send to these companies and then reviewing it with them, and hopefully I'll be able to get an interview with one of them and maybe get myself a job here in a month or so. In the meantime, I've been looking for some type of temporary or part-time stuff, but nobody really is looking for any as far as I've found yet. Who knows. Hopefully something will come up soon in some fashion or other. I'd take rejection letters now just to know that it's actually being looked at. But oh well...I think this is probably the hardest part, just getting that first job. Once you've got some experience it surely can't be this hard. Oh well...it's back to the hunt for now.

Selling It

I've been looking through a few Consumer Reports issues over the past few days seeing if Dad had saved any regarding cars (no luck on anything relevant for what I needed), and this back-page section caught my attention. You usually see things like this on Leno or Conan or something when they highlight humorous ads that seem pretty ridiculous. I guess sometimes you just have to do everything you can to get ahead in the world of advertisement.

Outside of that, things have been fairly low key. I was in Nashville on Friday/Saturday to watch some of the guys from Harding play at Itchfest, where they eventually got 3rd place. Not a bad weekend, and especially more-so after going undefeated on Saturday while playing against Vandy and UTK. There was even a sighting of Rufio somewhere in there, but it was hard to tell because he was wearing a black shirt...

I really hate this job hunting thing. It's been about 2 weeks since I've heard anything regarding the position that I interviewed for, and over the past couple days have tried calling and sending an email to get some more information on where the process stands and everything, but nobody answers the phone or responds to the email. Frustrating. On the bright side, I guess they would have called and said no thanks if they had moved on (you would think, anyway), so it's not all lost. I was just hoping that it would move along faster than this. Oh well. On the agenda? Guy's night tonight, which means wings at Wild Wings Cafe. Excellent. Helping out for a day at the church youth retreat this weekend. And then finding ways to help Mandi relax and enjoy her first weekend where she won't be traveling in probably about 2 months. Good times.

Play It Safe

I have good news on the job hunt front. The other day, a church friend that works at UT sent me an email about a research group that works on things related to soil erosion with world-wide implementation of ideas that they have formulated. They're currently looking for someone, and so he gave them my name. I talked with a member of the group briefly today, and they are wanting to interview me on Monday. So...if everything goes well, I might have myself a job in the next few days. It looks like fairly interesting work, I'd be in a research group, and be doing something that's being used everywhere in the world. We'll just have to see how it goes, but it's looking promising at the moment. No sense getting ahead of ourselves though...

I feel I have been remiss, being an avid soccer fan, to have not made any mention of the FIFA Women's World Cup that is currently going on in China. The best women's teams from around the world are competing in their soccer championships. Action picks up again tomorrow morning. While we're on the soccer theme, this past week saw the return to action of the national teams as Euro 2008 qualifying began again in earnest. England impressed, posting back-to-back 3-0 wins to revive their chances for qualifying, while France was stunned by Scotland at home. Most of the other results went according to plan. In addition, the US played Brazil in a friendly, with the final score being 4-2 to Brazil, and starting next week, the UEFA Champions League picks back up for the 07/08 edition. All sorts of exciting stuff.

Seeing as how I've not really got anything else to say, I'll call it quits.

We're So Far Away

First off, my apologies to Paul for his hard work in looking for jobs for me. I did look in to them, this development with Mandi doing a Master's was quite a recent development. I think that from her thinking of it to being in the program, it was all of a week for the entire process. Probably the fastest application/acceptance/start of program sequence I can possibly think of.

Secondly, and speaking of Mandi's Master's program, if you could all pray for her, it would be much appreciated. I don't know how she's doing it, but she's working 10 hour days, driving back and forth from Nashville on weekends that she has class, reading about 300 pages in a book, writing a paper, and engaging in 2 hour debates online, all between yesterday and Thursday. So if you could keep her in prayer to just give her the energy and safety for travel and everything else, I'm sure it would be much appreciated.

Tomorrow, I get to go and pick up my diploma from UT that says I graduated from the program. Fairly exciting. In addition, I go back on Thursday to meet with some people that work there to discuss the possibilities of working with them. It's basically a meet and greet to be introduced to some people that have seen my resume, and to see if they might be interested in working with me, as well as whether I find what they do interesting myself. It's nice to have the help from a man at church that's getting me in contact with everyone. We'll have to see how it goes.

Something that we're discussing in church over the month of August has to do with outreach, and what ways one can go about reaching out to people in the community and those that we come in contact with. One thing that I've not really ever thought was that effective is the technique of door knocking. I don't know if that's just because I don't believe that would work for me to have random people coming to my door to talk to me without me wanting them to, or because I've heard that it's not that effective, but that was part of the talk this past Sunday. However, what they were door knocking for was presented as a survey for a school project, which then asked questions regarding religious beliefs. Some of the questions intrigued me, such as "What do you think the church needs to do better to meet the needs of the community?" and, "What would be a main reason to attend a church in your area?". The presenter didn't really have the time to give some of the responses to the questions that he asked (there was a total of about 18 questions), but I bet that there would be a number of answers that would be interesting to read in to. In general, it's just designed to highlight some of the reasons that people want to distance themselves from being part of a church, and what might be done on our part to help bridge that gap.

They are also going to be doing a spiritual gift assessment, which I think will be fairly cool. I've heard lots of talk about these kinds of things before, but I've never been able to do one myself. I'm looking forward to doing this, just to see what kinds of things it tells you. I hope that it's not simply one where it's comparing yourself to other possible likenesses, but that it's really a question-response based test that can be fairly streamlined based on the individual. I'll find out in a couple weeks, but I for one am looking forward to it.

Our preacher on Sunday mornings is also going to start talking about something that I find to be interesting, which is defining what is tradition in church versus what is actually biblically defined truth. There is some irony to me that a 60-70 year old man in a CoC is preaching about what is/isn't tradition, but I've always enjoyed listening to his lessons, and look forward to what things he brings forth in this debate. While I'm kind of hoping he might talk about things like instrumental music and women in the church, I doubt those will be the subject of our Sunday sermons. I guess I can always hope though. Who knows, maybe I'll be surprised.

Getting in shape update: Went swimming with Mandi on Sunday for about 30-40 minutes or so. I'm not the best of swimmers, but I was completely wore out over the course of that. And I won't lie, it wasn't continuous swimming either. But man, I bet that will get you in shape. I did manage running this morning as well, doing a 1 mile run, and then some sprints. Sadly, at the end of this, I was completely spent. Good thing I have a month to improve.

To Know My Self, Pt. 1

Well, as the old adage goes, there is never a time when you stop revising a paper. Or is that even an adage? I don't know, but it's true. Exactly 2 weeks ago, I defended my thesis. For the past 2 hours tonight, I have been analyzing more data to add to it. It kinda seems like that's a little backwards. It's almost like a director going back, and after the movie has been released in theaters, shooting more footage and adding it to his own personal copy. Or an author writing a book, having it published, and then adding a whole extra chapter just for himself. Oh well. At some point, my supervisors say that this stuff will be published in some journal. Should be pretty cool once we get to that point. So, to take a break from the monotonous clicking that I've been going through, I will work on my Q & A that Luke asked me to do. Sorry if it seems disjointed, but I'll just be jumping back and forth as questions form in my head and my tolerance for my data analysis lessens.

Question One: What is your favorite verse from the bible, and why?

While at church tonight, our speaker was talking about tasting the word of God, or in other words, having a personal, intimate relationship with him that is not dependent on others spoon-feeding us, or with us expectantly waiting to be told everything we need to know about the bible. A question that he had on his handout was to discuss your favorite/most meaningful verse for us. For me, Jeremiah 29:11 has always been one of my personal favorites:

'11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD...'

If that verse is not one that can give someone confidence in times of dire need, then I don't know what else I could say. Of course, it's not simply God that is doing something here, but it is also his people. God is saying that he will be there for us when we earnestly and whole-heartedly seek him. He won't be in hiding, He won't be holding back on us, He will be there. All we need to do is look to Him, and declare to Him that we are looking for Him with all of our hearts. What a promise.

Question Two: What possessed you to pursue a major in physics?

Sometimes, I found myself asking the exact same question. I would say, "Self, why are you doing this?" And from there, the answers would vary. My initial reasoning was my interest in astronomy (not astrology, there's a big difference). I'd always enjoyed learning about the universe, and I still do in fact. It's sad in some respects that my degree really has absolutely nothing to do with that, but at the same time, I'm thrilled to have what I do. At other times, however, I was not so thrilled. In fact, were it not for Dr. Murray at Harding, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere near this far in terms of pursuing physics. My first semester of physics was really quite awful, and I had failed the first couple exams. He stepped in, tutored me, and got me back on the right track.

I guess my main reasoning for doing physics was that it was something that I was interested in, and when placed against all the other options those early years in college, seemed like the one that would offer the most challenge, and be the most rewarding in terms of learning. I'd considered chemistry, as I had enjoyed every chemistry class I'd ever taken, but didn't feel right doing it for a major. I could have slept through a music major with the piano, would have been bored out of my mind, and probably hated the piano by the time it was said and done. In the end, I wanted something that I would have to work for. After all, it's never any fun when something is just handed to you, is it?

Question Three: You seem to really enjoy music. Why is that, and what types particularly appeal to you?

It is true that I do enjoy music. I've attempted to add a little music to this actual page with the player at the side, although I don't exactly know how much of a success that has been (or whether it works on any other computer besides mine). I would not consider myself to be anywhere near the level of a musical expert. I have a fairly extensive catalogue, although in terms of recent stuff, it only reaches back to about 1998. And even then, it's limited to what I like. But I guess that's the case for everyone's music collection. My first album that I bought with my own money was Mad Season by Matchbox Twenty, and ever since they've been one of my favorite bands. (They have new stuff coming out in October after 5 years, amazingly enough). I also enjoy classical music, both from having played it, and the fact that it can be incredibly relaxing to have on. One of the first cd's that I would play on repeat was Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony. If you want to hear something that is truly spectacular, find a recording of that. It is indeed true art.

Why is it that I like music so much? I'm not entirely sure. It's just something that I grew up with. For as long as I can remember, I've listened to music or been playing music. There's something about it that can take you out of time and space, and just let you kind of be. That's especially true when I play the piano, as it just transports you out of where you are. I'm thinking that those particular sentiments are true of anyone that is engrossed in something creatively and actively.

Perhaps the main reason I enjoy music is that I just love a good melody. Mandi criticizes me sometimes for song selections because of what they are singing about within a song, or a message that may be taken from it. I guess, in my mind at least, I don't particularly pay attention to those lyrics. I'm engrossed in the melodies and the harmonies. I'm listening for how the voice goes with the music, or how the soloist interacts with the accompaniment. I love hearing how a composer can move idea throughout a piece, recalling themes at different points, and blending them all together. I'm partial to acoustic arrangements of popular songs. Not because I don't like hearing something heavier or anything, but because it generally breaks the song down to it's basics. All you have is a melody, harmony and some accompaniment. To me, that's what music is. It's not all about loud drumming, excessive electric guitar, and especially not simply screaming over some random chords. There's an art for creating a memorable melody and being artistically able to transport it from the page to the instrument.

Question Four: Here's the usual question for guys about sports. What sports do you enjoy, which of those do you actually play, and what is your favorite memory from them?

Boy, self. Did you have to ask a sports question? Yes, I did. The list of sports that I enjoy is really quite small. First and foremost, I like soccer. I also like ultimate frisbee. I like rugby for the simple reason that it makes every player in the NFL look like a pansy with all their pads and helmets when the rugby players are getting hit just as hard with no protection. I don't really follow it though. Now, since ultimate is obviously not televised, the only sport that I will watch of my own accord with consistency is soccer. While I can respect the ability to hit a golf ball 350 yards down the fairway, or to hit a fastball with a wooden bat, or to repeatedly run in to 400 pound men, it doesn't mean that I won't be bored out of my mind watching them. And I am, so I don't.

I play both soccer and ultimate. In high school, I would have considered myself a good soccer player. Maybe good enough to play on a small college team. Certainly good enough to have played at Harding. Obviously, after 4 years of not playing soccer, my skills are seriously lacking, although having played in the Knoxville Adult League the past 2 years has shown me that I didn't lose everything. I'm by no means anywhere near my skill level as a senior in high school, but I'm not at at a complete loss out there either. As for ultimate, that was taken up once I got to college, and one Paul Murphy said that I should go play. I was horrible as I couldn't throw a frisbee, but I made up for it initially with an ability to read the disc and see where people were looking to throw. Hence, the 'Beast From The East' nickname was born. Or so I like to think it happened. Others might have a different story. At any rate, skill level increased, and I eventually came to think myself a fairly decent frisbee player. I think that skill level probably would have doubled if I could have ever learned how to dive correctly.

My favorite memory from each of these? Let's see. For frisbee, at least on the field, it was at College Regionals in 2005 when all the graduating seniors played once it got to game point in the final game for the other team. I think we ended up scoring about 3 times before they finally beat us. Playing with those guys for one last time, though, was amazing. In my years at UT, I've missed nothing more from Harding than Ultimate with all the guys. So that's why I kept going to wherever Harding was playing and playing with them anyway. So I guess I never really quit. Yet. As for soccer, it would either have to be making my first competitive team (when I still wasn't all that good, honestly), or when I got to play my senior year with my brother on the high school team. I ended up being injured fairly frequently that year, so I didn't play as much as I would have liked, but we did play our last game of the season together, and it was fun being on the same team as him for that year.

Alright, I've now given up on my data for the night. And given how long this post is, I'll continue with part 2, and the final 4 questions tomorrow.

Disarray

Well, it has been quite a while since I had any meaningful post on here, so I figured I'd drop in and update. It's been a hectic couple of weeks. I'm in the process of going through the red tape to finalize everything on the Masters. There's the final final draft of the paper to be read for the UT Thesis Consultant to ensure that it follows the guidelines of UT for acceptance. There are the forms and papers to be filled in with all of the necessary signatures, and there are the usual trifles that need to be taken care of in terms of tying up all the loose ends with the physics department concerning official UT stuff (like keys to the buildings and such) that I'll have to probably let them have back. Unfortunate, at least in the sense that I won't have access to the telescopes should I have a need or desire to go up and use them again. But it's almost there.

Everything else is in a complete lack of order. I've been working today on job hunting, cleaning, and packing. Job hunting was not all that successful today, as there were problems at my apartment with the power supply (apparently someone doing construction nearby managed to cut right through the power lines) so everything was screwy most of the day. That reminds of the times when I would be going to Searcy and would be staying at the house of Justin Bland and I think that the for at least the first 2 times (maybe 3) I came out there on random weekends, some guy close by would cut through their water line and they would have no running water at the house. I thought I had gotten past that curse...apparently not. I guess in the future I'll just need to go and tell whoever it is that thinks that they can operate heavy machinery that they should re-think their strategy. There was also a water heater that broke right above me, leading to some weird colored liquid to drip through my ceiling, and subsequently having the water turned off throughout the building so they could get in there and get it fixed. So after a promising start this morning with a few applications sent in and mucho help from Mandi in terms of my resume and cover letter, it didn't end up going as well through the rest of the day.

I did, however, get a good deal done in the packing department, clearing off the bookshelves that I have and putting everything in to boxes. Now, I might have over-packed the boxes since they turned out to be extremely heavy, but I figure if there's 2 people carrying them, it shouldn't be that bad. As long as the box doesn't break...It was nice getting those things packed up and all. Tomorrow will be exclusively spent hunting more jobs.

It's really quite strange, how things kind of feel right now. It's hard for me to imagine that it's been 2 years since I started this graduate program here. It went by quite quickly in all honesty. There's been a lot that's gone on though, with numerous trips out to Harding through the first 1 and 1/2 years; frisbee tournaments at random times, new friends from church, trials, frustration, joy, excitement, and at the end of it all a graduate degree that will hopefully help me in some form or other. I guess it really is the end of an era of sorts. I'll be heading back home for, hopefully, not too long a time until I get myself a job and a source of income. Then it's on to the post-school time of life. It's hard to see what's coming, but I'm sure it'll be exciting, and probably move even quicker than the past 2 years. For now, though, a constant state of disarray is not all that bad. I'll just hope that it gets sorted out sooner rather than later.

IT'S OVER!!!!!!!

So I noticed that it's been a while since I updated on here. Lots has been going on. My brother's home for a couple weeks until the fall semester starts up. He actually leaves for the Dominican Republic with my church's mission team for a week next Wednesday. The only problem is that he broke 2 fingers in his right hand. So hopefully tomorrow when he goes to the doctor, they'll say that everything has healed nicely and that it should be alright down there for a week without another appointment.

In other news, I'm FINISHED with my Master's. I defended this morning, through a 1 hour and 15 minute talk/Q&A, and came out with a sheet of paper saying that I had passed with all of the professors signing on it. In other words, besides a few extraneous pieces of paperwork, I'm for all intents and purposes and Master of Science. I think I'm going to go to sleep now. Rock on.