Nostalgia for Fun

Well, I have to say, I had some fun this morning.

I got on my Online Class stuff and came to one of my couses that was talking about education games and their prevailence.

It game some links to games from the 80's and so I proceeded to this site talked about all the great games that I grew up on.

Most of the games, I knew and had played, or at least seen.

The number one educational game- The Oregon Trail Game.

On this site- I was very delighted to see that they had links to web versions of the games and so of course I had to go and play the Oregon Trail game for nostalgia.

It was great, and I almost made it all the way, but alas:

So, if you want to go try your luck at the Online Version of the Oregon Trail game, go to virtualapple.org then click on the O section and you will find it under there.

They also had Number Munchers too, and many others.

The Design I just completed for SWITCH MS at New Hope (and mostly just for a class I had to do)

Remember a Day!

Don't worry, I did not take the time to transcribe all this, I just copied and pasted from another website, but I wanted to display the amazing rhetoric of Martin Luther King JR. on his day of Remembrance. May we all be forward thinkers like him.

Excerpt of the I Have a Dream Speech:

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

                Free at last! Free at last!

                Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!




^{Do I have a Dream? Do YOU? Let's keep these dreams that MLK had in mind as we talk with others around us.}

I Felt BAD!

So, the problem with having one class at the start of the week and the rest of the week being cooped up in my room, is that I loose track of the days. I went the whole day today thinking it was Tuesday, and all because of my day yesterday.
I should explain more. I have one class on Mondays. That is the day that I go into Monmouth, to WOU. Every monday, I am on my way to that class. THEN, yesterday, Tuesday (I know that NOW), I traveled AGAIN to WOU to do some Research for my class. That got me in the mindset that it was Tuesday today. I went the whole day thinking it was Tuesday.

Now, you might think that because I only have one class, it wouldn't really matter if I thought a Wednesday was a Tuesday right>?? WRONG. I have Worship practice on Wednesday nights, and now I have joined the choir, which is directly after.

So, there I am in my room at around 5:15 just hanging out, not doing much and I get a text from my Worship Pastor asking if I was on my way??? This puzzled me. Now, in just a daze, you might get a whirl of info coming at you saying, "ITS NOT TUESDAY, ITS WEDNESDAY" but that shows how much of a mindset I was in that it was Tuesday, I did not get that whirlwind of info. I of course, CALLED Nate back (because everyone knows that I am not a texter) and said Nate, I thought we were having practice on Wednesday. And he said, Yeah. Now, at least you would think by now, that I would have gotten the clue right?? NO, I still had NO clue that it was Wednesday.

So, finally, Nate set me straight and I learned that it was WEDNESDAY, not tuesday, and I rushed out and arrived at practice late. I HATE BEING LATE. I pride myself on being on time, and usually I give myself TOO much time and arrive at things incredibly early. But better early than late is my mantra.

Needless to say, I will not be doing that again anytime soon. I am going to be meticulously looking at my days to make sure I am on track!

Redbox and Redface

I was a bit impatient tonight. I went to RedBox after my Veritas group to get a free movie. Of course, a couple were there and searching through movies. Now, as a courtesty, if you do not know what you are going to get at the Redbox, you might take a look online to see what they have and have a few choices lined out so when you get there, it is in and out, but NO, These two took their sweet time and looked at each movie that was in the redbox and opened alot of them the see if they wanted them. Now, I was not there the whole time that they were picking out their movies (Thank Goodness) but there were 7 pages of movie titles, and they got all the way to the end. That was alot of waiting, and I try to be patient myself, but there comes a point... So, finally they make their one choice and are waiting for the Redbox to stick its DVD out like a huge red tongue, and the girl has the audacity to say "Hurry up Machine!"..
I was shocked. Had she really just said that?? Because she had to wait 10 seconds for a machine to spit out a dvd, she felt she needed to say Hurry Up Machine?? Well, needless to say, I wanted to say something to her, but decided not too.

And who knows, maybe she was saying it for my sake, and wanting to get the movie and get out of the way for me to start my choosing, but at least if you are going to take a long time in the redbox selections, you can at least acknowledge the person who is waiting in the line behind you, and maybe say, sorry it took us so long.

Well, I have said my peace and counted to 10 (O Brother, Where Art Thou, in case you were wondering)

And just FYI- I got Terminator Salvation. We shall see how good it is.

Frightful Events at the Shilo Inn

Many of my thousands upon thousands of Blog Readers may not know this, but I used to be a Houseman at certain respectable hotel in Bend. For those of you that do not know (or call it something else) a houseman is a job that in the day goes around and takes the dirty towels and dishes and linens from hotel rooms and collects them for the laundry and all that. (Pretty much helping the housekeepers out so they don't have to carry all that junk back, they just focus on the new stuff and cleaning.) But that was not my job, for the most part. My job was the night houseman. I was the one who restocked the maids closets. I was the guy who took all of the washed linens that were hopefully, but not usually, folded and put them in a convenient location so the housekeepers would not have to lug all the new linens from the laundry room to their floor, they were already there, thanks to me. I was also the guy that tested the pool chemicals, and I was the guy that had the nifty walkie talkies (of which always seemed to be out of battery, BTW) and got calls from the Front Desk asking for me to take things to guests' rooms. I took all sorts of things, pillows, new linens, new towels if forgotten, extra creamer, fixed tvs (which weren't broken, people just didn't read the directions), fixed AC, all that stuff.
Anyways, so here is my story. So, I get a call asking if I would show a lady some vacant rooms so she can see which kind she might like for her friend that is going to be staying there. So, I get some room numbers, and I have the all-powerful key that works on pretty much any door, so I take her to a few rooms and I am walking her around and we come to one of the "Vacant" rooms and I open it and start to go in, and I notice that I am hearing things, and see some movement in the bed under the sheets and there are things on the floor. I start backing out quickly because, You guessed it, it was NOT Vacant. But hey, I am being quiet so maybe they won't hear me. Then the lady blurts out, is it not empty, and I say no, it is being used, and a guy yells from the room, Yeah, it is!
I was pretty upset I had to be in that situation, and what was worse was they were there doing the nasty business. Luckily, I was not far enough in to see anything but under sheets, but it was still VERY VERY embarrassing. I called the room number in again, and they got me another room to check, bit need-less to say, that couple that was intruded upon got their room free for the night.

Another "great" moment (Sarcastic BTW) of being a houseman, I was doing my duties, getting thing from the Laundry room to the Housekeepers closets one day, and I trudge past a room that has the windows open and guess who is standing in the middle of the room flipping through channels- a naked person. Now, I don't know why this person was flipping through the tv channels naked, and I don't know why this person thought it was a good idea to have the windows open all the way, especially since their room window was right in front of a major walkway, but they were. Something that I would rather not have seen.

So here is your tips from the former houseman-
#1- if you are planning to do the dirty deed in a hotel room, even if it is a door that locks right away and you have to have a key to open it, still take the extra precautions to double lock and deadbolt the door. You never know what hotel worker might be asked to open the door for someone because of a mistake at the front desk.
#2- even if you have a room that has a window that is more secluded, still take the extra time to close the window blinds if you are going to be prancing around in the nude, whether it is flipping through tv channels or just a quick exit of the bathroom to get your clothes after a shower. Just keep it in mind.

Those are the two lessons for the night. Who knows how these frightful events popped into my head currently, but it is never too late to warn friends, right?
PS- if you are any of those people I mentioned, that would be quite a coincidence that you read my blog. And I am sorry to the first couple, (the second person, it was your own fault)

My first design for my Design Class at WOU

Flashbacks and Friends

I had a crazy flashback this morning. I was at church, of course, and I was waiting for College Sunday School class to start and a girl walks in who looks very familiar to me. She reminded me of someone I knew in LaGrande at Eastern. So, I keep looking at her, and she at me trying to see if it really is Josey, this girl that I knew from EOU, and I found out that she was. She remembered me, and so we got to talking a bit and one of the other girls from WOU was talking about how funny it was that we knew each other.
Then Josey says to Jessica that she recognizes her too. Turns out, that I knew Jessica before I came to Salem as well, because I was a part of Campus Crusade at EOU (so was Josey, thats pretty much how we knew eachother, and church) and we had a leadership meeting thing in Bend one year, and I guess Jessica was a part of that too because many CC branches got together and did the leadership stuff as one.
Anyways, I am going to have to take a look at the Campus Crusade picture that was taken again (if I can find it on my computer) and see if I can recognize Jessica and anyone else too.

True Story.

Happy 20-10

Happy New Year to One and All!


And of course, I need to change my Blog colors again, Now it is time for Valentine's Colors!!

100th on Christmas and Traditions.

It is just perfect that my 100th post is on Christmas. What a great time to be alive right? Who would have known that over 2000 years ago, a Baby was born that would change the world as we know it.
As our family tradition, we always read the christmas story (from the bible) before we open presents. We get up leisurly, open stockings, although this year, and from years on I believe, they will be just decorations, then we have a wonderful breakfast.
A funny story about the breakfast tradition at our home. We used to have a Sweedish Tea Ring every year. Then a few years back mom found out that my sister and I did not like the tea ring but just thought it tradition and we should not break tradition. Mom decided to find something new for christmas Breakfast and she came up with Sticky Buns. They are really wonderful.
Anyways, back to more memories... after breakfast we read the christmas story and then open presents. When we were younger, this seemed to take FORRRRRREEEEEEVVVVVEEEERRRRR. But as we have grown, we have learned to be patient and really cherish  those times. I love getting together and reading the christmas story as a family. It is a tradition that I will hopefully take to my future family as well.

Here is wishing you well on this Wonderful Christmas Morning that is full of mystery and wonder, and beauty, that God himself would come down to Us sinners and live among us.

Judy Moody, AKA Tim, was in a mood, not a good mood, a Bad Mood.

It's amazing how one sentence to someone else can change attitudes isn't it?? I just discovered this first-hand this afternoon.
I was having a great day. My parents are home and it has been fun seeing them and spending time with them. I went to Costco and a smattering of other places with dad this morning and that was great. Nothing was really happening, and we were just spending a nice afternoon with the family. Then my sister comes into town and drops some things off that she borrowed from the house and I ask her if she will put these things away, rather than leave them on the floor waiting for someone else (most likely mom) will have to do something with. Right away she SNAPS at me and yells that she is tired and she will get to it later.
This really upset me and knew that I had to get away from her. It threw my whole day off and I have been in a bad mood ever since.  I have cooped myself up in my room to get some space, but has not seemed to help.
Now, I know the old saying that your attitude is yours to do what you want with. We can choose to change it or we can choose to be in a bad mood, but I just can't seem to get out of this funk.
I just feel that I have had my Kelli fill for the month. And the bad (good) part is that the Christmas togetherness has just begun. I still have Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and whatever else we plan to do as a family. I am going to do my best to get out of this bad mood, but it is tough when I have to be around my sister right now.

Time after Time

At times like these, I like to look back, as many do, and see what has happened. Coming upon the end of a decade and the start of a new one, I want to take the time to see what has happened in the previous decade.

What has happened to myself, my family, and around me? 

What has happened in our country? 

What can I praise God for? 

What hasn't gone just right? 

What technologies have been created?

It's also a time to look forward to the new decade. 

What would I like to see happen to myself, my family, and around me? 

What could happen in our country? 

What WILL I praise God for?

As the decade of the 00's come to a close, I urge you to take a look at your life and see what happened in it, good or bad, and examine why those things have happened. Take a look at what might have changed that, and look forward to the new decade and be the change that needs to happen. Make it Happen. Its all up to us to see our future change. Keep God number One up in your life.

Nice Conclusion to a Fall Term

It was an amazing term for me obviously. Maybe it was because I did not have much else to do! Maybe it was because they wer courses that were not so new to me (at least two of them)! Maybe it was because most were in an area that enjoyed! Maybe I am just good!
Well, I am reffering to my Grades for this fall term in my Masters Program at WOU.
I was able to score 3 A's and a B+. That is quite an accomplishment for me. I am very proud of myself.
My first class that I took was  Web 2.0- this was a class that was only online and it discussed and had us try out different applications that are on the Internet. Web 2.0 is considered the Read/Write Web. It covers things like Blogs, Wikis, RSS, and other applications that are offered on the internet.
My next class that I took was my Internet for Educators class. This class covered some things that I have known before just from being in contact with the internet in my daily walk. I certainly learned some new things though and had a great time putting my digital portfolio together.
My last fully online class was my Communications Theory class. This was not quite as fun for me. There was a lot of reading involved and different theories. I also did not get as much feedback from the professor as I would have liked. We had no grades until the final paper that we did. We had a midterm and given a partial grade and some feedback there, but not put on our grades. So for a lot of the class, I did not know where I was in the class, grade-wise.
The last class I took was on only on-site class. It was Philosophy of Education. This class was only once a week and was an extended period so I was in class, sitting in a desk from 4:30- 7:15 pm each monday. Long time for me to be sitting still and listening to the professor Philosophize- which is to say I wonder why....
This class was a bit boring at first, but I got used to it, and by the end, we were having good conversations.

Well, again, this was a good term for me, and I am glad it is over as well. I look forward to my new classes starting on the 4th:

Research and Writing- my On-Site class- again on Mondays from 4:30-7:15pm
Emerging Technology- Online
Mobile Technology in Education- Online/On-Site- working with iPod Touches and such
Theories of Teaching and Learning- Online-
Designing Information- Online-

God has blessed me with my current situation and I look forward to what He has for me in the future.

Complicated Christmas

So, christmas this year has been complicated. So, I decided to get my mother a christmas present- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I was pretty proud of myself. I got a great product- the DVD/BluRay combo. I even got a great price-from Amazon. I made sure and told my family (sans my mother) that I was planning on getting this and that they should stay away from my idea.

Well, then my mom gets excited that Harry Potter is coming out on Dec. 7th and decides she wants to get it on the day  it comes out. I hint that I want to get it also but want to wait until christmas in case I get it. She knew what I was talking about, but just could not wait. She got the same movie for herself and talked about it at dinner one night. I mentioned to her that I had gotten her that and what was I supposed to do for her christmas present now??

She just figured that I could still give it to her because I wanted it myself and so she would just give me the opened-used one and I would give her the brand new unopened one.
I was pretty upset by this. I was not going to do that. I had decided that I would just find something else for her.

SO, I started looking for another present idea.  I also opened the one I got for her and downloaded the digital copy of the movie so I could put it on my iTunes. Then, I found out that mom decided to wait until christmas and to give me the unopened Harry Potter. So, now, because I already opened the present, I bought a second copy from amazon and will find a way to return the one given. Is there another way?
Complicated, I know.

The Wonders of the Internet

It's amazing what can be found on the internet right? Have you found that to be true. I find myself looking and looking for things more and more on the one resource of the billion-page internet. I never used to buy items on the internet, but this christmas season, I bought all but one present over the internet- the prices are just amazing. I never used to download cd albums over the internet, and now it is pretty much all I do when i want to get a new album (legally of course- iTunes) because the same album that is at the store for 15.99 is 9.99 or less online. I never ever thought about finding recipes over the internet, and now when I want to make something, I just hop online and take a gander at the many recipe sites. The great thing is that you can search for just one recipe and print it out. You can read all about the recipe and read reviews of it and what people think might make it better and what not. When I wanted to make Gingerbread before, I just got in the kitchen and pulled out one of a few options of cookbooks and found the recipe I wanted and made the stuff, now, I figure I can find a great recipe online, so I jump on there and find just the recipe I want and print, and voa-lah (how do you spell that, I dunno) I have a great recipe that makes better Gingerbread than I have ever made.

Tim's 25 Days of Christmas

Hey, here is Tim's 25 Days of Christmas Movies if anyone is interested in following along or ragging on me because I still watch lots of kiddy movies. Either way, here it is.
(And Yes, I know that there are not 25 days here, it is just to go off of the ABC Family's one)

Elf Yourself- its fun

The Blind Side

Last night, I had the opportunity to watch The Blind Side in theatres. Right when I saw the trailers for this movie I knew it would be good. It was one of the best movies I have seen in a while. It is based on a true story about Michael Oher- a Pro football player. This student has been passed around and has had a hard life being in an all-white christian school. A person who does not live in a house and has one change of clothes in a plastic bag. He is then greeted by a young man named SJ (Sean Jr.) and then his mother finds "Big Mike" (Which he does not like being called that) just walking by himself in the cold and she takes him home to stay at their house on the couch. It turns into a few days and eventually they give him his own room. He was so surprised to have his own bed.  A year passes and he gets his grades up and starts playing football for the school. This gets the attention of the recruiters who come to offer Mike a scholarship to their college. He has many decisions.
I don't want to give it all away because I want you to go out and watch this amazing story. It will be worth your price of a movie ticket, I promise you.
This movie choked me up quite a bit and made me realize how much I have compared to those who do not. It is a great movie for reminding us of what is important.

Wireless and Work

I was happy to be back from Thanksgiving. It was a great time in Bremerton Washington visiting the home of my Sister, Bro in Law, and Niece. The rest of the fam joined in as well. I got a chance to make my Cinnamon Apple Crumble Pie and a Pumpkin and some great Crescent Rolls for the day. I had a great time on the vacation, but was happy to be back in Salem in my room upstairs all by myself. Being with people for that extended period of time really takes it out of me. It is nice to be in my own bed, in my own room, in my own town, with my very own computer. I had to leave Toby (my Mac) at the apple store to get repaired because my Wireless was inconsistent. I also had them take a look at the display which was also coming apart a bit and they fixed it all. Brand new display, and a working wireless card. And what did it cost me?? Well I had to take it in there twice for them to take it seriously, but monitarily, Nothing. It was still under the 1 year warenty so that was nice to get a brand new display and a card that works all the time (at least so far, knock on wood).
This week has been a work-on-schoolwork-week. I have finals coming up. One is a presentation, which I completed yesterday and expect an A, and the rest are papers or projects. No tests, its nice not to have testing for finals. I would much rather write a paper or do a project. One paper I have though is my Communication Tech Paper and it is supposed to be 10 pages, so I have to get to work on that. That is alot of what I am doing today. Trying to get it ALL done (meaning all my projects and work) done by this saturday so I don't have anything left and can leave for home for Christmas Break on Tuesday. That would/will be nice.

Church Anniversary

I have had the pleasure of participating in some great events this weekend, and its not even over yet.
My Church, First Baptist of Salem, is Celebrating 150 Years of being "A Faithful Witness". On December 29, 1859 eight people joined together on the corner of Marion and Liberty streets and started the First Baptist Church. One Hundred Fifty Years Later, we are still alive and kickin' at the same place.

We celebrate this weekend the birthday of FBC Salem with many great events, some of which have already happened. On Friday night there was a service that had the opening of the Time Capsule that was created and placed in 1952. I had the opportunity on Thursday to help with some video creation for that Friday night service. I was at the church at around 1:15pm to help with the video capture of getting to the Time Capsule which was on the corner of the church building. I was stupidly expecting the job to be about an hour or less. NO WAY! This job was a multihour job. We were there from 1ish to about 7ish just doing the video taping. Then I came back on Friday morning to do the editing for the time capsule to shrink the Over-4-Hours-of-footage down to 4 Minutes. It took some doing. I had some use of speeding up the footage, and not using other parts, ect, but thats not the story.
On Friday night, they had a service with a History of the Church and surrounding area, some songs of the past, and of course, the Time Capsule opening. In the capsule was a bible, the church constitution, a letter from the pastor, the Statesmen newspaper from that year (1952), a list of the Church Directory, and a few other items.
Then, Today, there were many things going on. There were exibits in many rooms, Old Fashioned Craft making, a Butter Churning demo, Flax Spinning, a Barbershop Quartet, and Dance team, and lots of talks from members of the church from way back. There was one gentleman that is still at the church who was in the church in 1925. WOW. That is amazing.
Tomorrow, there will be a celebration service with the Churches first Youth Pastor. Throughout the weekend, they are ringing the Church Bell that used to be atop the steeple. Now it is in an enclosure. that can be moved around. The original bell. Amazing huh!?

I would hope to be a part of an Anniversary Celebration from my previous church. I don't know if anything is planned yet, but I did some digging, and the 100th Celebration for First Baptist Church of Redmond (now named Redmond Community Church) is coming up fairly soon. (1912). This was the church that I grew up in and I have some great memories of that church, as a boy.

Oh, BTW, if you would like to take a look at some pictures from this event today that I took, you can head on over to my Picasa site.
http://picasaweb.google.com/timothykirkman/SalemFBC150thAnny?feat=directlink

Could it be...?

It has been a long time since I was looking So forward to Thanksgiving. Usually, I am happy for Thanksgiving, and enjoy that wonderful food and the opportunity to see family and whatnot- but I am usually in Christmas mode by that time and so Thanksgiving not that big of a deal for me. But this year that is mostly different. I say MOSTLY because I do not relent the status of being in Christmas mode, I am, but I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving in a little bit more than a week.

Could some of it be that I am away from all family this year? That I have not seen them since MidOctober? Could it be that I just wanna get away from everything? Could it be because of the fact that I have never been to my Sister and Bro in Laws place in Bremerton and want to see it? Could it be the fact that I miss seeing the way my Niece is growing? Could it be that my whole family will be together for a few days? Could it be that I have been looking into Black Friday ads early? Could it be that I want to have a good Thanks dinner? Could it be that I am looking forward to those Amazing Dinner Rolls? the Pumpkin Pie? the Turkey? the Green Bean Casserole? The Homemade Apple Crumble Pie? Could it be that I get to go a few days early to spend with my sister and Bro in Law? (and stay a few days late) Could it be that I am also heading up to the Apple Store on the way up to get my Mac Fixed? (hopefully!) Could it be that I am hoping to stop by my Grandparents' house on the way up there also?
It certainly is ALL of those things. I am looking forward to all those things, but mostly the chance to catch up with family.

New Facade for the Blog

New Facade for the Blog. Gotta get rid of those Halloween/Harvest Colors and input the Christmas Colors.

It's nice to be wanted!

It is nice to be wanted. I had been yearning to be on the worship team at my new church ever since I got there in September. I took a few weeks to make sure that this was the Church I wanted to plant at for my year here in Salem area, but after that I contacted Pastor Nate, the worship pastor, to see what steps I needed to take to be involved in the Worship at FBC Salem. I got together with him and sang (auditioned) and shortly after he got me involved. I started off just singing in a service, but then was asked a while later if I would want to play bass guitar. I was okay with this but really wanted to sing. I figured it would only be a week of Bass and then get back to singing. Well, it seems that he has liked me playing bass because I have an open invitation until I leave for home for Christmas Break. This week I get to Sing AND play Bass. That will be fun. It takes some work to be able to play and play bass at the same time, kinda difficult. I find that I play less difficult bass lines so I can focus on the singing part. I don't know how the Bass Player/Singer of Skillet does it ALL THE TIME.

But, like I said, it is nice to know that I am wanted in the worship ministry. When he offered the playing bass from now until I leave for break, I said "Did you loose all your Bass players?" He said No, but I like your spirit and you play well. Nice compliment.

I am looking forward to playing Bass again.

Pixar is AMAZING!

UP comes out today. If you have not watched this- it is a must-watch. It is amazing the way the story is put together; the opening scenes with hardly any dialogue and still telling a rich story that makes you laugh and cry at the same time. It is to put it mildly, UP to the Pixar Standards.

Pixar, for their entire Feature Film life, has for me had a High Standard of Excellence. Every film that is created by Pixar is a 5 star show. They have all-star casts, and even nobody's that live up the the same standards. They have some actors who are not even actors but just fill-ins (Such as Roz from Monster Inc.) that you would not even know they are not professional actors, but just someone on the crew who filled-in.
The storylines from all pixar movies are great. They appeal to all ages from tiny children all the way to adults and beyond. There is humor for all ages in these productions. The stories are original and very entertaining.

One day, I would love to visit their Headquarters in Emeryville, CA (near San Fran) to see where the magic happens and hopefully take a tour (if they even offer them?) It would be amazing to see the studios, the hardware, the artists, everything.

Once again, If you have not seen UP, you need to. And all the other Pixar movies for that matter, they are all good.

What I learned this Weekend!

This weekend was good. If you read my previous blog about my Prayer to God that I shared, I did have some great quality time with God.
The weekend's message was by Pastor Jeff, our Associate Pastor at Salem FBC. He taught on Silence and Solitude and the practice of that. Starting with the Theories and Theology of it, and then moving on to how to do it and some great steps to help out with it.
We talked about the Greatest Commandment, to Love the Lord Your God with all you Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength. We talked about the dangers of using just one of those ideas and neglecting the others. For example if you just love God with your Mind, you know everything about the bible but do not use the Heart/Soul or Strength, they you could get arrogant or legalistic. So we were taught to Love God wholly, with all our Heart/Body/Mind.
We also talked about the practice of being in Solitude and Silence. This was great. We actually had an hour and a half after a discussion to go be by ourselves, find a quiet place away from everyone else, and just spend that 1 1/2 with God. I was kinda worried about that because, although I like being alone, I was thinking I would do the stuff I was to do and then still have a hour left, but I did it and was surprised to find that it went very quickly. I was not worried to find things to pray/talk with God about and it came naturally to me. I loved being by myself on the Beach and just talking with God and thinking about things.

On a personal side, the weekend was good for me, but I did not get to know everyone as much as I would have liked. I didn't really connect with anyone that much. Sure, I had fun talking deeper with many, but I still did not feel that connected. There was a group of guys there that i was not really accepted into, (they were kinda young, first year of College, ect) and I got to talk with some, but it was the people I already knew from Sunday morning College SS, and other things like that.
(And I know that some of you are thinking that I did not feel as connected to one person specifically, but actually I found that that person is not who I am attracted to, you know what I mean, this is code, I know)
I could not sleep the first night, I was up playing a great game of Phase 10, good stuff, but then I got tired and retired to the sleeping quarters, but even with earplugs in and whatnot, I still could not sleep. Got very little sleep Friday night. Then Saturday night, I actually moved to a more comfy bed to try to sleep, but even after that I was still up at 11, so I just decided to drive back to Salem way late at night. (I was planning to leave early anyways so I could get back for Church and then head to PTown for Bethany's Bon Voyage Party, which I did)
So, I just got into Salem at around 1AM and hit the sack.

One other thing that I learned at this Retreat is that I am a Hurried person. In a Grocery Store checkout if there are two lines open I will chose one and then watch someone who got in the other line about the same time as me and see if I made the right choice. And Driving of course. When i was on my way there, I rush rush rushed, but I learned at the retreat that I need to be aware of that. So I decided to drive the speed limit and just settle to be patient while driving there, and it has made all the difference. I was amazed at my calmness while driving to and in Portland. I was not tense or waiting for anyone or anything. It was a good thing, and so I am going to be mindful of that and try to drive more patiently.

A Written Prayer from This Weekend Retreat

"The Heavens declare Your Greatness, 

The Oceans cry out to You, 

The Mountains they bow down before You, 

so I'll join with they earth and I'll give You my Priase."

Lord, I cannot even fathom the greatness of You. The smartest person in the whole universe could not even comprehend all of who you are, or even a portion of who you are. It makes me feel like these little grains of sand. I cannot even pick up one becaus eit is so tiny. Listening to the mighty, powerful roar of the Ocean and watching the waves crash majestically against the Rock reminds me of your glory and also of how you are like that Rock that never changes. The waves may crash relentlessly against you, but you always were, always are, and you will always be that Rock that is firm.
Sitting alone reminds me of the vastness of the work that you created. The birds that are chirping, the surrounding trees, the complexity of the human body, all created by You and You Alone. How AWESOME!
Help me to be like You, a rock that never budges. An unwhithering disciple for You, Proclaiming Your Word and Works so all may hear.
Thinking about the talk last night, help me to be wholistic in my Content, Character, and Conduct. I don't want to be only a servant, or only a know-it-all in terms of the bible, or only a spirit-led person. I want to be ALL. I want to be a biblically-knowledged-spirit-filled-servant for you. Help me to grow in those areas that are lacking.
Help me to feel you as I did this morning on Sweetly Broken. Those words are so powerful, describing what you went through on the cross and our ability to look toward Your suffering and reflect on that. Thank You that You bring me gently to my knees to the cross so I can cling to Your act of Mercy. I want to be SWEETLY BROKEN, WHOLLY SURRENDER.

Singing to the Chrismas Child

I am beginning to get involved in my new church here in Salem. I am working on getting on regular rotation for the worship team and I am def. wanted there. They keep on saying, oh wow, a TRUE Tenor. Not like I haven't heard that before. It really is fun being a True Tenor though because there are not that many of us.
When someone says that I am a TRUE Tenor though, what they are saying and what they mean is that I do not have much of a low range. None, really. When they hear me sing my lowest note, a Bb, they get a smile on their face cuz they know that there are not many that cannot sing that.
Anyways, this last Sunday, I was able to sing a backup vocal for the song Forever and that was a lot of fun. I got to meet some new people who were very nice and they had all heard of me ("The guy who is a True Tenor") from Pastor Nate. I was also invited to sing again this week and I gladly accepted, but this weekend I am heading to the Coast for the Veritas (College Group) Retreat and so I could not make it to the practice. I think I will be used more and more though. I hope.
This weekend will be lots of fun. I get to go to SeaKrest yet again and I am looking forward to it. It will be a good chance for me to get to know more people from the group rather than just knowing their stats (their name, what school they go to, and what year they are, ect). I still am a bit fuzzy on even the stats. Hopefully I will be able to have some great conversations with everyone there. It seems to take spending lots of time at things like these for me to open up and get others to open up to me. (except for the Antioch group- I don't know why, but when I went to SeaKrest with the Antioch group, before it was a church, when it was just a college group, I did not draw close to anyone there, Sad, I know.
Anyways, I am looking forward to this weekend just for that, to get to know people more.

On another note, I had some fun yesterday. I decided to do some Operation Christmas Child Boxes, so I went shopping for those. I headed first to the New Dollar Tree near my house and got the majority of the stuff there, then I headed to Target to get stuff that I could not get at the Dollar Tree- like Matchbox Cars and Legos and junk. I got them home, wrapped the boxes and loaded them. They are sitting here in my room and I am so excited to give them away soon.
If you have not ever done an Operation Christmas Child box, you should start. Just start with one, it is not that much money, and it is lots of fun. I started with one a few years ago, and then it gradually grew. SO much fun, you won't be sorry.
(BTW- if you do not know what Operation Christmas Child is, you can search online to find out exactly what it is. A division of Samaritan's Purse)

THE BEST PIZZA RECIPE EVER

Parties are great, aren't they? The whole Family is in town this weekend  (minus a Bro in Law who had to get back to WA) and we had a party for the little one last night. It was a great time. She loved the attention. We had an early one year old birthday party for my niece, she turns one on November 11th. Exciting times. She got some great new clothes, and a Video Camera (granted the video camera was mainly for the rest of the family, so we can see Arianna while she is growing up.Also, we had some good cake and a few other presents too.
We also are having somewhat of a party tonight as we are planning Pizzas for all. At first, mom was saying she was just going to get some Papa Murphy's Pizzas, but I suggested my Famous Pizzas from my Recipe book. At first she said no, because it is a lot of work to get the dough and all the ingredients and the make the sauce and all that, until she found out that I was offering to make the pizzas myself. So, yahoo, we are having ind. pizzas for the family and I get to make the BEST PIZZA DOUGH AND SAUCE EVER. If you taste these recipes you will understand and agree with me.

Here it is in case you ever feel like making the best pizza ever.
http://www.archive.org/download/BestPizzaRecipe/Pizza.pdf

Fall Beauty in Salem, Oregon

I went out this morning for a walk/drive/photoshoot in Salem area. I started at a park that I thought would have some great trees to take some pictures at and it has some walking paths too, and I did take some photos but, I found the trees to be somewhat boring. I was looking for fall trees and there were not that many there of the beautiful changing leaves. So after my walk, I took a drive down to Market street.

"To Market, to Market, to buy a fat hog..." ( I know at least my family was thinking of that)

I went to Market street to take some photos because I knew that there were some amazing trees along the road. I was right. The majority of the photos that have made it only my Picasa site are from Market and the surrounding areas, side streets and junk. I also tried to take some on Commercial but there are not that many places to stop and take pictures on Commercial street.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the photos of Fall in Salem, Oregon.

Tim's Fall Salem Photos

Snow is Better!

Ya know how everyone can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Snow is BETTER than rain??
Well, I know there might be some out there that are delusional enough to believe that Rain is fun. But, I say take a look at the songs.
Sure, there is Singin in the Rain, and Its Raining Men (But really, thats not about Rain, thats more about Men), but most songs are portraying Rain in a Bad way, like- Raindrops Keep Fallin on my Head... Thats not about the wonderful sensation that it is to have rain fall on your head, its saying - Its not good to have rain and you feel bad and whatnot.

Well to get to my original question- The way you know everyone can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Snow is Better than rain is by the songs. Think of all the great Snow Songs...

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
Snow, Snow Snow (The song from White Christmas)
Winter Wonderland
And many more.


Now, don't let people tell you that the only reason the songs of snow are better than the Rain songs because it is during Christmas that we sing these songs. Yes, I give you that it does have something to do with it, but it still stands that SNOW is WAY Better than rain (especially when you don't have to drive in it)

And, Hey, You can NOT do this with Water/Rain

 

The Inspiration for Blogs!

Doogie Howser, the very first blogger. Well, not quite, he just had a journal on his computer where we put them online for people to view and comment, but hey its pretty close.

Gotta Love Doogie!

Chirstmas Music Reviews

Today was another Christmas Music day for me for some reason. I decided to get the music ready for listening to and so I made some playlists in my iTunes and looked through my Christmas collection to see what I have.
I also took a look at new christmas music coming out or just recently release.
I found some new stuff:

Family Force 5 has a new Christmas Album out.

After previewing, I have found that this is not the Christmas music that I enjoy. I have really liked their past two albums, the sound has changed and I liked the new stuff, but this time, the sound for me is WAY too electronic. I don't mind occasional hints at electronic sounds and voices and such, but this whole album sounds the same and it does not have any variety to it. It all sounds made up and I don't like that much. So my review of this new album that came out the 6th, as a 2 out of 5.

My next review was of How Many Kings By Downhere:

This one I was not expecting to like that much. I do like downhere and their vocals and music, but I was expecting it to be too soft for my likings. I was wrong. Yes, they have a softer side than Fam Force 5, or the X Christmas, but it is a good sound and they have lots of variation. Their songs are catchy and very fun to listen to. They usually put a twist to the old standards and have a few of their own, new ones (included the title track- How Many Kings) that are done very well.

My next review is of the X Christmas Album:

This album was released last christmas and is all of the more rockier bands of Christian music. The bands included are everything from Thousand Foot Krutch (and their counterpart- FM Static) to Hawk Nelson, to David Crowder, to Anberlin, to the Almost, to Project 86, and KJ-52, and even more.
I did have some fun listening to this album last year on the way back from a concert, and trying to guess what bands they were, but I did not want to buy it just then because there were some songs that were kinda scary for me and didn't sound like christmas songs ( I think you will understand once you hear these few songs). But after a year and listening to samples again, there are still some that I would not buy on their own, but for the most part, the songs are good and very rock-y. I would recommend this album for the 10 or so good songs, rather than the 2 or 3 not as fun songs.

The next one I took a look at was Shane and Shane. Their new album last year as well, Glory in the Highest, is very well done.

It is a quieter album that seems to me to have some jazz/blues sounds to it and I am not all that into Jazz, but it still struck me. They have great vocals on this album and the ways of recreating some of those classic songs that everyone knows, is awesome. I am planning on getting this one sometime before christmas.


The next is one that I have had for two years now- MercyMe and their album- The Christmas Sessions.

This one is amazing. It is my favorite christmas album and has nothing even comparable to it since Amy Grant's Home For Christmas Album way back in the early '90s.

Their songs are great. They have wonderful vocals. Again, the old classics are put together in an interesting way that makes them brand new again. They have some new songs such as Jacob's Lulaby which is about Jesus' earthly father singing him to sleep and thinking about all he will do. And of course you gotta love an album with Christmastime is Here and O Holy Night.
The sounds are legendary and I would Recommend this to anyone who likes christmas music. I give it a 6 out of 5.

KROC

Today was a day with the fam. I has the opportunity this morning to attend a Men's Breakfast with Dad at his Church here in Spokane. Then we put up the Tent for tomorrows after-service time (But I really don't know if there will be that many people who'll want to stand outside and talk. It's gettin kinda cold over here) And then we met up with Mom and Kelli and headed towards the Davenport Hotel in Downtown. This is a pretty impressive hotel from the early 1900s and it has been remodeled and has lots of great pictures from 1919 and 1914 and such. Then we headed out towards Cour DAlene. We got some food in a little shopping-type mall at an Italian place and it had a Good Strumboli (kinda like a Calzone but different) then I had to kill an hour because the sister wanted to shop in this place that had only Girly stores, so I was incredibly bored for that hour. Then we headed to the KROC center- A Salvation Army Community Center where we saw all the things it had to offer. Lots and lots of stuff including a Leisure Pool, a Competition pool, athletic center, and theatre/Church.
Then we headed back to the basement and took a rest. Now it is off to a Dinner at the home of a couple in Dad's church. Should be fun, they are great people.

Oh, and there is a Brand New KROC Center in Salem now too, so I might have to check it out and see if I need to join.

Yesterday and Today

Another Great reason that I enjoy Jack in the Box so much- The workers there are AWESOME. I stopped on my way to Spokane for a Big Cheeseburger for $1.00 and asked if they had any dollar small soda drinks as well. He said that the cheapest size they had for  soda was $1.50. I was not planning on spending more than $2 so I said, no thanks. Then as I was paying, he gave me a cup and said "Don't worry about it" A FREE DRINK FOR ME! That was awesome. You sure would not find someone just giving away a drink at McDonald's (of course, at least McDonald's has Dollar drinks though too).

Anyways,
I am in Spokane right now spending time with family. Dad is up here doing an Interim job at Trinity Baptist in Spokane. And every week practically, he is driving down to Redmond to see mom and family, and so this week we (mom, Kelli, and I decided to travel up here to see him instead) so I drove from Salem to Biggs and met mom there. I left my car, and we drove up the rest of the way together. Kelli is on her way tomorrow via a plane trip. We had a good safe drive up to Spokane last night. Mom drove from Biggs to Kennewick, and we had dinner at Olive Garden, (In which we both didn't feel all that great afterwards) and then I drove her car the rest of the way.

This morning we went to a State park in Spokane and then headed to the church to say hi to the other secondary secretary, then it was off to a great lunch at Tomato Street Italian Restaurant.  I was a bit weary about this restaurant because I did not want to have tomatoes. (hehe) But it was a great lunch. Dad and I had what they call the Lazonni which is pretty much Lasagna with Pizza Dough Wrapped around it like a Calzone. We still have extra for dinner too.
Now it is time for a relaxing afternoon. Mom is sleeping and I am doing some homework stuff and a post of course.  We are also planning a trip to the Mall in northern Spokane sometime this afternoon.

A few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to have a comforter for my bed. Not just any comforter, but one that was fleece and homemade. Well I asked some friends to do this project for me if I got them the material. So that is what I did. I get to see my finished project tomorrow morning and I can't wait to use my new fleece comforter tomorrow night. Thank You Pillsbury's.

Castrato???

What gives it away? Is it my manly look? my Furry Physique? My Billowing Voice?My Gruff personality? Every time I am in an audition, people know I am a Tenor singer even before I sing??? How is that Possible>?? (I am just kidding, I know that its because of my HIGH voice that people know that I am a Tenor.)
I went in tonight for an audition for singing in the worship team at Salem First Baptist. Nate knew right away that I was a Tenor, even before I sang. WOW, How did he know.
It must be because of my voice. That same voice that people think that I have not gone through puberty yet. That same voice that when answering the phone at home, people think that I am my mother. That same voice that gets made fun of. But ALSO, that same voice that sings wonderfully. That same voice that has such a rich texture when singing, that makes people cry. That same voice that was given me by God. That same voice that I have been to Two All-State and one All-Northwest Choirs in.
I may have a high voice. I may not have much of a low range (None at all really). I may be teased about having a Castrato operation (an operation done a long time ago that "Fixed" young men so they would have high voices for the rest of their lives), But it is the voice that God has given me and I am not ashamed of it. I am proud of my high voice that cannot sing below a middle C. I am proud of what I was given and born with.
We should all be proud of our gifts that God has given us and not worry about what others think or what we would want to have as a gift ourselves.

It's Got Me Thinkin about It!

Guess who went down the Costco CHRISTMAS Aisle today?? Yup, you guessed it, ME. It was not even my idea, my mom's. And, of course it is starting to stir the feeling of Christmas in me. LOL. I know what you are thinking. I can hear practically all of you yelling at me "It is not Christmas yet, Tim. There are still 84 days until Christmas." (My sisters yelling the loudest of course, but I say Bah Humbug to them) But ya know what, I don't care.

It has started. 

I am even starting my christmas music- Hawk Nelson- The Bells on Christmas Day as I write this.

It really is quite an amazing time of the year. Sadly, this year I do not get to decorate a whole house as I did last Christmas. It really puts me in the mood. I have some great decorations for my house (AKA the non-existent one) and so I was thinking about doing some decorating of my room in Salem, but I think it would be smarter to just wait for home in Redmond to do that. It is so exciting though.

I can already smell the spiced Cider cooking in the crook pot- the aroma wafting throughout the whole house
I can see the ceramic houses dispersed all throughout the living room with no space for more (even though each year the collection gets bigger and bigger) (There are suburbs of this village all around the windows and coffeetables)
I can feel the chill of the snow on the ground in which I throw snowballs at my dog who tries to catch them in her mouth as if it were a ball.
I can taste the peppermint fudge that is a yearly tradition with my family. There is never enough.
I can hear the laughter of the family when all together and enjoying the company, talking about nothing in particular.
I can feel the emotion of Christmas morning when I cannot sleep and we have stockings, Special Cinnamon Rolls, the Christmas Story from the Bible (everyone reading a section and Justin reading about Maggie -Not the GPS), and Presents- In that Order.

Can you not see why this is the greatest time of the year; One I look forward to each year and want to start earlier and earlier each year??

The Only Home I Know

The Only Home I Know.... (good song that I have sung before but also a description of Redmond/Bend)

Well, I am back home again for a wedding that is happening this Saturday. I got up on Tuesday and decided that I would  drive home then instead of Thursday or Wednesday because it would give me more time at home with family and I did not have anything to do in Salem except homework that I can do wherever I am. (The nice thing about mostly online classes)
So, I waited for the mail to come (around noon) and checked it, nothing for me (I am still waiting for my Sub letter to come in the mail so I could be a sub in the Salem District.) and then headed out to HWY22. I made a quick stop at Costco for some gas and a pit stop then headed in the direction of Home. The first bit was very very rainy. It was the worst rain I had ever driven in, but then it stopped. There was quite a bit of traffic on Tuesday heading home, that was a bummer. After about Idanah though, the traffic subsided. I was also worried about the construction flaggers that I had checked on that said there were two, both a 20 min. wait or more. BUT, luckily, the flaggers were very quick and I did not have to wait more than 3 minutes. By the end, I was zoomin along at my pace and that was nice. I made fairly good time and got home around 2:45.
Well, I got home and had a nice dinner with mom at the Pub. Gotta love the Pulled Pork Sandwitch. Very good. Then yesterday, I got up and had a nice easy morning and decided to get our HD cam ready for the wedding. I wanted to get all the files off of the camera so it had a fresh start. So I transfered all the items (Mostly Arianna Clips) onto my computer and made them into an Archival Backup DVD. I tried it out on the big screen and the video files looked awesome. It was great to see the clips in HD and that big.
So, now the camera is ready and I am waiting to do the Video for the wedding.
I also did lots of reading for my Homework/Classes yesterday.

Website Down

Just my luck,
I get up this morning to get online and check out the class stuff that was supposed to be there for the start of the term and guess what, I get on and download a syllabus for one class and then the website closes. It is down right now, and so there is no way to use the online classes yet. I am bummed because I wanted to get things done for my online classes this morning, but I could not.
So, now, I cannot even go to the WOU website to check on my class schedule or anything. It makes me wonder how long the site will be down.

Great weekend.

One of the great weekends.
From my former church, I used to help out with Middle School and High School Youth Groups, and one tradition that FBC Bend has had for a long time is going to SeaKrest Resort in Newport, each fall. They have some fun there for the weekend and then on the way home, drive back through Salem to hit Up Olive Garden before the trip home (although, my guess would be that this is the last year for that because the Olive Garden in Bend will be in opperation by this time next year.) So, I was thinking about their trip. I have been to the SeaKrest trip two years in a row, and thought of the group going this year. Since I am living in Salem, I thought I would contact the leaders and ask them if I could join in on the Olive Garden get-together since I am right here. They said yeah, but why not come for the whole weekend. I thought about it and decided that would be a good idea.
So, this weekend I went to SeaKrest, to hang with some old friends. It was a good time. Because of the way that my family left the church because of Dad's job and whatnot, I was worried that it might be a bit awkward seeing some of these people, but thankfully, it was not one bit awkward. It felt like old times, and the students loved seeing me there, especially my former MS Students that kinda grew up with me as their Sunday School leader.

Because I wanted to make the most of it, I left earlier than the others, to do some hangin' out at the coast on my own. I left on Friday, just after noon and went to Lincoln City. I did some shopping at the Goodwill where I looked for a Mo's shirt to buy among others, and found 5 Mo's shirts, all of which were too small for me. I was bummed. Anyways, I also went to the Outlet stores and had some fun there. I went to the Beach, and took some photos, and walked for a bit. I went for a dinner at the Lincoln City Mo's for Dinner of Clam Chowder. It was great. (If you want to know more about the Mo's dinner, go to my previous post that has more about that)
Then I left Lincoln City, and headed to Newport. I just tried to find stuff to do there, going the beach and some various stores. After quite a while, I just parked near SeaKrest to wait for the first van to roll on up. When they arrived, I parked and got out and waited to see how long it would take for people to see me. (Oh did I mention, that this was a surprise that I was coming). I just stood in the dark by the van as the students were getting out. The first looked over near me but just walked in, then another looked my way and said, wait, who is that, and then found out. It was a good reaction.
Anyways, we all got into the lodge and started to unpack, then watched some wonderful YouTube Vids.
The late van came and they were also very happy to see me. Saturday, I got up and had some breakfast, and just hung out for a bit, then I went with most of the Staff to plan out the rest of the day as some other staff was doing the teaching. We were getting ready for a Photo Scavenger Hunt in Newport's Bayfront. It was a pretty tough scavenger hunt and noone got all of the clues, but we all did well.
After the Scavenger Hunt, we went back to the lodge and rested. Some went around the lodge or walked down to the beach. Saturday night, I walked down to the Beach myself just to be by myself and take in God, and his Majestic creation. It makes you feel so small when you are by yourself on the beach that is dark and empty and you see the crashing of the Ocean and the Stars in the Sky. It was an amazing feeling, one that I had to just  sing out a song while I was there contemplating the AWE of God.
It was very neat to hear part of a reaction to the Creation trip this summer when one of the girls rededicated her live to Christ. Very powerful. Then afterwards during some free time I was noticing one of the leaders talking with one of the other girls, and they looked like they were having a serious convo. She ended up rededicating her life as well. Those two girls (and the many others) are reasons why we do events like Creation and SeaKrest. Powerful stuff.
Sunday, I got up nice and early so I could make it back home in time to shower and get ready for church in Salem. After Sunday School and Church, I met up with the group again in Salem at the Olive Garden and we had some good lunch. I had Soup, Salad, and Bread sticks and it was pretty much AMAZING. I am one who does not usually change my dishes when I find a good one at a restaurant. I just like having what I know is good. I usually get Pasta Fagiual (Spelling?). Well, not today. I decided to get one that is fairly new that I had not noticed before. It was Chicken and Gnocchi. IT WAS SUPERB. I would highly recommend this soup.

Now, I start school tomorrow. I have a class on Mondays from 4:30-7:15 on campus. I think it will be fun. The other classes I have are all online so I can do them whenever I feel like it. Perfect weekend for the start of a school year. Then, this Wednesday I am planning to head home to Central Oregon for a Wedding that is planned for Saturday. I need to be there by Friday night for the rehearsal, but would like to have extra time to see family and get ready for the wedding.

To the Girl at the Mo's in Lincoln City

To the girl at the Mo's in Lincoln City,

I understand that for some reason those types are comfortable (as I understand from some people who have worn them and talk about them), but please try to keep it covered. It is not something that I would like to see. Yes, you guessed it- your thong.
You see, things like that, some guys (not me) want to see, and if they see it, (not me) they will enjoy viewing it. BUT, there is a section of guys out there (ME) who would prefer NOT to see it (ME), and would not like those types of images in their head (ME). I know that it is odd to you that a type of guy (ME) would not want to see something that is meant to be a sexual type of thing, but we (ME) are out there.

So, next time you wear something of that nature, some of us (ME) would appreciate it if you would keep all parts of the underwear, under something, the pants, a long shirt that will not ride up (You already have enough riding up it would seem), something of that sort, that way we (ME) don't have to see that sort of thing.
Thank You For your consideration.

So, the story behind that letter of consideration is that I went to a Mo's in Lincoln City tonight for a marvelous dinner of Clam Chowder. So, the lady sat me facing a certain way at the table. Since it was just me at the table I was able to sit anywhere, which was a good thing, but she sat me down facing a larger view of the ocean/bay. I start to sit down and then I notice something that I would prefer I would not have seen, Yes you guessed it, the girl sitting at the table in front of me, with her back to me was wearing a certain (Very Tiny) article of clothing. Right away I knew I needed to switch sides. This was something that I was not willing to sit and watch the whole time I was eating my meal. So, I quickly switched sides and everything was much better. I did not have to view that and had a great meal, very quick because it was just chowder.
So, may that be a lesson to all those out there who wear these certain (Tiny) articles of clothing,

cover 'em up!

Rend the Veil

The portion of the Pursuit of God chapter that I read this morning was about Hearts. It spoke of the Temple of God, the Tabernacle. Talked about the different places within it, the part where the sinner could go, and then the holy place, and then the Most Holy of Holies, the place that was veiled off and only for the High Priest one day of the year when he would go in with a sacrifice to ask for forgiveness of sins for his life and the lives of the others. It mentioned how it was the very place that God dwelled.
Then when Jesus' work was done on the cross, the veil was torn and all were able to see inside the Holy of Holies.

Tozer talked about how God wants to draw near to us, but we are the ones who are stopping Him; We have a VEIL on our HEARTS! It could be many things, Selfcenteredness, Selfconfidence, selfpity, or many other sins as well. This really made me take a look into my heart and pray about what I might have up as a veil on my heart.


May we all find that thing, or those things, that are acting as a veil on our hearts that are keeping us from seeing the True holiness of God and ask God to take that (Those) veil away, painful, though it may be.

Crazy Tech Stats:

2008- Technorati.com listed 110 MILLION Blogs

Current- Technorati.com adds 120,000 New Blogs each day with 1.5 Million posts each day

WOW

YouTube- in early 2008- over 100,000 videos added each day.

The fastest growing age-group for using the internet is 2-5 year-olds. (Netday News 2005)

That's all just crazy right? 2-5 year olds. What the Heck?? I knew that computer users were getting younger and younger, but 2 year olds?? Man, in about a year or so, I am going to have to teach my Niece how to use the computer and internet.

Well, thats all for now, just wanted to share some crazy stats.

 

Cleaning and Old Times

This morning was a cleaning time. Every once in a while, I just need to take some time, turn on some music, go through and organize my room, or house, or whatever. And that time had come this morning. Honestly, if my mother was looking on she would probably not notice much difference, but it makes all the difference for me. Its just the way I am. I got my files in order and where I knew they were, and cleaned my workspace, my table tops ect.
I love organizing things. I just love taking the time to put things where they need to go.  Now, I am really ready for the school year to start next week. After that first week of school, then I am off to go home for a wedding of my good friends, Shawn and Megan. That will be a good week/end because I will get to see family, and then go to my old church on Sunday and the college group on Sunday night. That will be a good time of catching up with friends.