Day Five- Favorite Quote(s)

I have many quotes. There are many that I like that I do not ever remember. So, when This days task came up. I went searching for good quotes. Some of which I have heard, and some I just found and thought were great.


Work like you don’t need money, love like you’ve never been hurt, and dance like no one’s watching

—Unknown Author

 

Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.

—Kurt Vonnegut

 

I’d rather live with a good question than a bad answer.

—Aryeh Frimer

 

A word to the wise ain't necessary -- it's the stupid ones that need the advice -Bill Cosby

 

 

Another that is great is from many movies such as Coach Carter and Freedom Writers:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." (A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles", Harper Collins, 1992. From Chapter 7, Section 3])

 

 

Day Four: Favorite TV Show

Well, if we are going for currently aired shows, I would have to say that my favorite show is How I Met Your Mother. It currently has completed 5 seasons and 6 is due to start in the fall. I love the way they tell the stories. It's a show that is based on (you guessed it) a narrative of how Ted- the main character- met his wife, telling his children. There are 5 friends who are in their 30s and tells of their lives and experiences. To tell the truth, at times, this show can bit a bit inappropriate with lots of sexual references (especially from Barney) but it is a sad fact that you pretty much can't find a show on prime time nowadays that does not have that sort of stuff.

















If we are going for shows of all-time. I would have to say, I have many more. To name a few: Boy Meets World, Home Improvement, The Cosby Show, Frasier, Veronica Mars, Scrubs, and Monk.

Day Three: A Favorite Book

Well, I get made fun of a lot because of the book choices, but I am an elementary teacher and so I find myself reading (when I read) children's books. Some of my favorite authors are:
Beverly Cleary, Louis Sachar, Andrew Clements, Roald Dahl, Judy Bloome, and Megan Mcdonald.
I would have to say though that my absolute favorite book would have to be There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. This story is an amazing story about a 5th grade boy who has trouble in school. He never does his work and is just a pain in the butt (Do I relate to him?) and he starts to visit the new school councilor and she helps him to adjust his life. It is just a great story and if you haven't read it- YOU NEED TO!
Also, Holes by Sachar and School Story by Clements are very high on my list of Favorites.





But, if we are going Adult books (Not adult content, but you know what I mean) then I would have to say that Crazy Love is my favorite. It is a book by Francis Chan that speaks of how we need to be thinking of our relationship with God. He is very challenging in his thoughts.

Day Two- A Favorite Movie- UP

My Favorite Movie has to be UP from Pixar. It is amazing. I am just so in awe of the power of music in portraying emotion in the opening scene. There is NO words, just visuals and music and it makes you cry. AMAZING.
You can click on the link on the side to go to amazon to buy the movie. Good deal too.

Awesome UP Quotes:
Carl Fredricksen: This is crazy. I finally meet my childhood hero and he's trying to kill us. What a joke.
Dug: Hey, I know a joke! A squirrel walks up to a tree and says, "I forgot to store acorns for the winter and now I am dead." Ha! It is funny because the squirrel gets dead.

Dug: I was hiding under your porch because I love you. 


Charles Muntz: Adventure is out there!

Ellie: [her last message to Carl] Thanks for the adventure. Now go have one of your own.
 

I Was Bummed

So, last night my camera started acting up... must have been after I took that picture of myself- musta broke it... anyways, I was trying to figure out why the card would not work. I have a 2GB SD card that I have had forever and it would not recognize the card and when put into my computer to check it out, it would not find it. That tells me that the card is just too old. So, I figured that it is time to get a new card and why not go big so I can always add this card to my future camcorder so itd be smart to get a High Capacity card with around 8GB and a fast transfer rate. I checked around all the areas for inexpensive cards and found that Best Buy was having a sale on an 8GB card for $25. Pretty good deal, so I planned to go get it sometime this week.
That did not help for me this morning because I am planning to hike today. So, I went rummaging through my dads office to find an SD card from his camera. Did not find the camera but found the camcorder (that they were supposed to take on their trip BWT) with two 8GB cards available to use. I stick one in to find it doesnt recognize that card either. I dump the stuff on the card (because we already have the footage) and make sure it looks new (inside the card) then put it back in the camera and it still does it. This tells me that its my camera NOT the cards. So, Now I am REALLY bummed. I decide to use an old camera for my trip- 5MP and old wow. I put the 8GB HCSD card in and get the same problems. I finally realized that these devices are so old that they don't like High Capacity cards. So, I found an old 256MB card in my old camera that I put into my current camera and it works great.
Problem solved. Wahoo.

Day One- A Favorite Song- City on Our Knees- tMac

City On Our Knees is an amazing song by tobyMac.
If you just listen to the lyrics, it is very empowering.

Challeging Book of ELI

The Book of ELI... What do I say, other than... It challenged me.
Here's the overview- The book of ELI is about a man in the future in a world devastated and deprived by war and global conditions. There was a huge war, and something broke the sky barrier and the sun is now burning down and blinding eyes (without the proper sunglasses). There are few people left and they have very little. They are traders of goods, and water is a commodity. Cue, ELI- he is a man traveling West and he is walking that way because a voice in his head was telling him to. His only major possession is a book.
ELI comes in contact with a man in charge of a little city that was searching for this very book that ELI owned. ELI would do anything to protect this book. We find out later (Spoiler Alert) that this book was a Bible- The very last one. ELI would read from it every night and he would do anything to stay in contact with this book.
This movie challenged me for a few reasons... One- in the movie they talk about before the war (current day) where "people would throw things away that people would kill for". It just shows our current consumerism and how "I need" we get.
Two- I got to thinking about how many bibles we have in our house. How we take our availability of the Bible for Granted. Some countries are smuggling bibles in so those who thirst for the Knowledge of God can find it, but here I am with probably around 6-8 bibles in my household and I can't seem to find enough time in my "Busy" schedule (Sarcastic) to pick it up and read it. Very challenging.
I would def. recommend The Book of ELI, but be warned, there is quite a bit of "Blow Em Up" too. It's worth it. Thanks to Brice Wolford for the recommendation. Oh, and You will all LOVE The Ending of this movie- it's great.

How'd she do that?

So, my sister finally started a blog and followed me, which is fun, but I was confused when I saw some options on her blog postings that I had not seen on mine before. Why does she get that extra buttons to share on Facebook and blogger and Buzz and what-all-else.
It could not have been a setting I missed. It def. could not have been her technical expertise. How'd she do that?
Well, I was baffled. I looked all throughout my settings and did not find anything. I figured maybe it would be a new feature that if I created a new blog then it would show up. So, I go through the process of making a new blog to post on the internet, and try out my post, and sure enough... There were those buttons for sharing. Well, I figure that since it is on a new blog posting of mine with pretty much the same settings I had before, it should be on my normal blog posting. This post right here is to check that cuz... I WANT THOSE BUTTONS.
Well, if they are down there beyond this post, that is great and I will probably leave this up, but if not, I will be very upset and most likely delete this posting.

On another note. I went downtown Redmond today to view the carshow. I had fun. There were lots of great cars, but I found myself like the 1920's, 30's, and 40's cars the best- specially with the Rumble Seat ( the ones on the back of the car that pop out. But, I did not see any as cool as this car that we took pics of in the WOU parking lot a few weeks ago. WOW.

Late Night in Salem and Disappointment

Last night, I was restless at around 8 O Clock at night and so I drove down Mission street in Salem. I came upon a City Transit Bus that had people on it, but no driver, so I decided that I would take charge and figure out how to drive this bus.


Well, I continue on the route that the bus was on and figured it out. At one stop, someone got off, but still had other people on it. I found it interesting that the accelerator was on one side where I use my right foot (as normal cars), but then the brake was on the other side of this huge barrier and I had to use my Left foot which was a bit different.


After driving the bus a while, I wanted to take the bus to Costco to get some food and let the people on the bus have a break. Well, we get to Costco and I park the bus and we all go inside to get some food, but Costco was already closed and there was a huge line outside the building all wanting food.


The line was for a vending machine and we we all got in line to buy something to eat through the vending machine. After a while, we head back to the bus, to find out that it would not start back up. I was panicked, because I had the responsibility to get all these people where they needed to go.










Then, I woke up and realized




that it was all






just a WEIRD dream.


Don't ask me why I dreamed this or even remembered it (because most of the time I do not remember my dreams) but I did and thought it was humorous and wanted to share on my Random Thoughts Blog... What could be more Random of Thoughts.

Summer Classes, Toddler Teaching, and Mess Ups!

Well, the first day of class yesterday was IN-TER-EST-ING.
For starters, I was expecting the Summer term to be a smaller flow of students because its not the traditional academic year. Most students take the summer off and start again in the Fall, but I did not take into account the amount of students that are teachers who only have summers to do their coursework. WOU has quite a large population of teachers and those wanting to be teachers, and so that has a factor.
So, I drove up to the school expecting to get a prime parking spot only to find none. I had to park where I usually park, way over by the city park. That is a problem because those are only 2 hour limit and my classes were from 8:30-3:30.
I got into my class and found it alright. It was a beautiful site to see all those large iMacs to use. But, what I was not too happy about was the fact that my teacher for this first class was a regular Elementary teacher and treated us as her 5th graders. It was very degrading. She counted down from 5 for our attention and she had us get up and make a continum of where we were in the technological sense from 1-6, 1 being lowest, and 6 being highest. It was actually kinda funny because we ALL put ourselves in the 6 category and so there was not much moving around. She must not have realized that we all felt confident in all things technology.

I had the chance to meet my parents for lunch because they were on their way to the Oregon Coast for a few days in celebration of their 31st Anniversary. What an accomplishment. I do not know many couples who are happily married after 31 years. Congrats to my parents as of TOMORROW (unless it was yesterday, I always get mixed up if its the 21st of 23) After having lunch and showing the parents around the campus, I had to get to my next class- Digital Music.
We were all there, waiting for the instructor to find out that he was way-late. The staff of WOU was scrambling to find a solution and eventually brought in Bill Hamlin to teach. He did a good job after gaining his composure from switching tasks. It was kind of a crazy time to have that sort of mess up.
Let's hope today goes a bit better.

The State of Bashing and Comparing- How Sad!

Its really sad to think of the way the church is acting in some aspects.

One major thing I found in Chapter one of Philippians is Paul's yearning to see the Philippians and his prayer:
"(9) And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ."

What came to my mind is the competition that churches nowadays have. Churches now compare numbers and staff and everything. Denominations bash each other. The Charismatics call the Presbyterians and Baptists rigid and uptight and old, and the Baptists call the Charismatics crazy vision seeing weirdos and all seem to be in a race to get the largest numbers to prove that their denomination is better.

But, it doesn't just stop at denominations, it goes even deeper.
Like-believing churches also have competition.

I can remember a church I was a part of and a similar situation. I was a part of a Mexico mission trip where two churches joined together for the trip (of the same denomination, in fact one even was birthed from the other as a church plant) and a comment was said by a student and one of the leaders made the comment that if you go to their youth group, you can learn about the bible- implying that the other church was not doing a good job of teaching during youth group. I was just so upset by that comment.


Churches are always comparing. I have even been known to do it. When I was in charge of the podcasting at a previous church, I was happy when we had more podcasts of sermons than another church. I would actually look at this churches podcast site to see if we were still #1 in the podcast number. That is the stupidest thing ever if you ask me.

We should be happy to see growth in other churches, even if its not in our denomination. As long as these other churches believe in the big picture of the fact that Jesus Christ was Fully God and Fully Man and Died for sins for all, it shouldn't matter if a different church is growing faster than mine.

We need to be praying for other churches just as we pray for ours that their love would abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that they may be able to discern what is bet and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.

What a Day!

What a day it's been! I have had quite a bit of car trouble today. I decided to head over to Silverton to watch a matinee movie for $4. Pretty good price, so I figured, it'd be fun to watch The Karate Kid.
I start making my way over to Silverton and right at a huge intersection, my car starts to stall out on me. I am freaking out because I am in the middle of this intersection and my car is not cooperating. I flip my hazards on quickly and try turning over the engine. it is not helping.

I keep working on it and after about a minute of turning over the car, it starts up again for me. I find the closest place to stop the car and turn it off. I try it again, and the car is working fine. It took a bit to start, but that is normal. I turn the car off and check the oil, put in a quart and check it. It seems to work fine. So, I keep making my way to Silverton. Once I make it all the way to Silverton, I come to a stop sign, and there it goes again. It cuts out and won't turn back over. I keep trying until it works again, I pull over again and decide since I am there, I will worry about it when I get out of the movie.

At this point, I am very frustrated with my 195,000 mile car. I try the car when I get out of the movie, and it turns over just fine. I leave it running and call dad (what I always do when I have a car problem) and he gives me some suggestions for the problem. I baby the car as I drive back home and I had no problems.

One thing that I thought was curious was that I had not used my Air Conditioning before today and the car stalled out just a few minutes after turning the AC on. THEN, I let the car run a while before turning on the AC again and it stalled again, with the AC on. On the way home, I did not use the AC in fear of a correlation.



On a happier note, I did have a good time with The Karate Kid. Jadon Smith did an awesome job, and of course so did Jackie Chan. I did not find that many similarities from the Original to the new version, but I think I liked that about it.

My Graduate Status at WOU!

It is SO, SO good to be done with my Spring Term Classes. I am hoping to be looking at A's and a B, or two for my term. I am not expecting any C's. I am pretty proud of the work I have done all this year at Western.

There were a few classes this term that I kind of dreaded. Quite a few were fun and I had a great time with, but two that I just felt lost the whole time, but even in spite of that, I am happy to say that I still expect A's or B's in these classes.
You may be wondering how many classes I took this term because I talk about quite a few being good but two being not so fun. Well, FYI, I took 4 classes- equaling to 12 Credits. Now, that does not seem like such a large amount of credits to take for me because I was known to take 18 and even 21 Credits in my Undergrad(per term), but in Masters programs that is not permitted. And if you take a look at the per credit price for Graduate studies programs, you would cringe. WOW, how can Graduate studies credits be worth that much more than undergrad credit?


Oh well, I just have 2-1Cr. classes for three days this summer of June 21-23rd and then I just have to finish my Final Exit project and I will have successfully graduated from a Graduate Program at Western Oregon University. That's a nice feeling.

But, after that, I am not encouraged to continue my education to get a PhD/Doctorate because my father jokingly says, that would make us (his children) smarter than him and that's not acceptable.

Shrek Forever After

I went to see Shrek Forever After, the Final Chapter tonight at Regal. That was a great flick. If you were all about the previous Shreks, you will def. enjoy this one. The graphics just keep getting better and better and the storyline was perfect. Some of these lines and actors did such an amazing job.
A few parts I thought were funny:


Shrek is asked by a chubby little boy with his dad to give them an Ogre roar. Just the way the boy asks for the roar is hilarious because hes got this muted low hick-type of voice. And he keeps on asking Shrek to roar.


Another great part that I just couldn't stop from laughing at was when Shrek and the crew meet the Gingerbread man and he tells them of this diabolical plan (Don't worry, I won't ruin it for ya) and Donkey looks at the Gingerbread man and says "What are you talking about Cracker" Yes, a bit racist, but so incredibly funny.


There were many other parts to this movie that got me laughing, but it would take all night to type them out.
I will just say, you MUST go see it if you liked even just ONE of the Shreks. I would put the quality of the Shreks in order from:
Shrek Forever After,
Shrek 2
Shrek
Shrek 3
Yes, it was THAT good. When a friend said that it was the best yet, I had my doubts, but found them to go away after I watched this movie.

Revolution of the Heart

I have been hearing alot about a book by Dan Merchant. My Veritas leader has talked about it numerous times and it sounded funny to start, but very interesting. I saw it in a bookstore today and picked it up. It's called

"Lord, Save Us From Your Followers"  It's a book that looks at the culture today and how Christians are viewed.

The first chapter talks about how Dan, the author, went to Downtown NYC in Times Square and wore a jumpsuit with many different christian bumper stickers and asked people five questions. Some of their answers were very interesting. I think this was a great way to engage the culture around and draw people in. Anyone can go downtown and ask questions of people, but it takes something a little bit special to wear a jumpsuit of bumper stickers that are very controvercial and ask those questions.
One passage that I found very compelling is as follows:

"When Jesus waked the earth, He lived in an extremely political time; the Romans occupied the land, the local Jewish politicians and religious leaders aggressively jockeyed the position and favor, and Jesus stayed out of it. Many of those sandal-wearing folks who followed Jesus around wondered why He wasn't leading a revolution, as the expected the Messiah to do. They trick was that Jesus did start a revolution, but not in the way many expected. He led a revolution of the heart- a revolution that called for self-sacrifice, kindness, patience, forgiveness, and grace."

I am very interested to see where this book goes. Check it out.
http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Save-Us-Your-Followers/dp/0849919932/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275782726&sr=8-2

Memories and UnCondon

Well, as it turns out, I was not chosen as the candidate for Condon Grade School. Its kinda funny cuz I must have put my home phone number (as in Redmond) on my application process somewhere (Who knows, maybe its a default in EdZapp and I haven't changed it) and so they keep calling my father. Dad took the message this morning that I did not get it and then sent me an email. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a tiny bit disappointed, but God has given me a Peace about this job opportunity, even before I went there and interviewed. 

I knew that it would be quite a change for me to be living in a small community like that, and was wondering how it would go. I was starting to like the idea of living in a small place though, but I  knew that I would miss some huge things, such as my home church, and family, and Best Buy, Fred Meyer, Walmart, Target, Fast food, choices, friends, the big-city life, and many other things that I would not get in Condon. (not in that order BTW)

Now, unless I find a different job, I am Central Oregon bound and if nothing else, I will be substituting in Central Oregon again next year.


Now, I just have to convince the parents to let me live in the house if they move so I can find some roommates and keep the family dwelling in the family. I love that house. We had it built for our family and it has such great sentimental value for me. I still think about the images in my mind of when we were building the house. 

I remember as a kid, going to the property with dad and Kelli and Kris and getting to drive the "vette" (Chevette)  all over the property. That was a great time. And just seeing the changes in the house from month to month and year to year. Dad has put so much work into that house and it would be sad to see it go. I would also miss the Hot Tub.

Condon Peace

Well, my interview went fairly well. As many know, I have a job opportunity in Condon, Oregon. At first, I did not know what to think of this. I was interested only because they called me. I had not been to Condon (that I remember) and when looking up data from the city, it was a very small town with very few choices (goods).

After thinking about it, and praying about it, God gave me a peace about the whole situation. I went into this interview saying if its God's Will, then I am happy to be in it. I liked the prospect of teaching full-time in a small school atmosphere. I have really enjoyed the interactions from Perrydale SD and wouldn't mind being in a small school such as that.

Well, the drive was uneventful, but CURVY. I knew the road had some curves to it, but did not know it was this much. It took quite a while to get there. Luckily, I did not get behind anyone really slow for very long. Once I got there, I took a quick look at the school and where it was, then I drove to one end of the town and parked my car. Then, I proceeded to walk to the other side of town. This took all of about 5 minutes. I couldn't do that in Salem, or even Redmond for that matter. There were a few people out. I took a tour through the one and only market. I was pleasantly surprised that the prices weren't all that different from the big city. Then, I took a look at the Pool that dad was saying he remembered. It was not full yet, of course, but looked like a nice one. I walked through most of the stores that were open. Most of these stores have general items of all sorts. One store- the Country Flowers store, had gifts, flowers, bridal registries, books (from Powells?- it had a sign and looked similar), a deli, a coffee shop, candles, kids toys, games,... all sorts of stuff. There was another like it, but was not as scattered, it had a pharmacy and other items as well.
I was happy have people say hi to me and smile. Nice people over there.
After bumming around town, I headed over to the school.
I was there half an hour early- as usual, and so after waiting for a while, I was finally in the interview. It was the Superintendant and the 1/2 teacher, and another lady that teaches spanish at HS and was an aide of some sort as well. Dr. Robinson- superintendant, was the one asking all the interview questions. I felt fairly well about the way the interveiw went. There were a few questions that I did not know answers to. One was what are the HS graduation standards for Oregon and how does that affect a 2/3 teacher (what I am applying for)?  Well, I had no clue. I tried my best to answer the affecting 2/3 question, but told him outright that I did not know and would have to look that up to be certain.
After the interview, the two teachers took me around the school and showed me the facilities. Its an older school but seems to be kept up well.
I was told at the end of my interview that there were 64 applicants to this one job, and that I am one of 8 who were called for an interview. I should know by next week (im assuming, later on in the week) whether or not if I got the job.
I am so thankful for the opportunity and for the ability to want the job, but in the same way, be okay if I do not get it, because I will be back in my hometown (or somewhere else if I get another interview opportunity)

Thank You to all who were praying for me and my possibilities.

Memorial- 2007 (by Dean C. Broome)

Memorial - 2007

Here’s to those who paid the price
And stood atop the wall,
Who didn’t call it sacrifice,
But duty to a call.

Beyond our power to add, detract,
Or honor with parade,
Or praise with words all copper-plaqued,
In public squares displayed,

They held the line, they took the brunt
Directed at our flank.
From general to lowly grunt
Now “hero” is their rank.

For some – unknown – the laurel wreaths
Must rest on unnamed graves.
For others still, their God bequeaths
No slabs or architraves.

For other heroes, living hearts
Still speak aloud their name.
Their daughters, sons, and better-parts –
To memories lay claim.

Some met the foe with angry eye;
Some trembled at the fray;
Some grieved for wife and family;
Some paused to kneel and pray.

Yet, as their hour approached its mark
And minutes became rare,
All gazed into the dreaded dark,
And stood – where we weren’t – there.

We praise with words their bravery,
Their steadfast soldiers’ hands,
That shielded us from slavery
And wrack from foreign lands.

Now pause awhile, and think on them.
Let recollection stir
To memory, through this artless hymn,
Of those and who they were.

(image from SXC.hu)

Substitute Teaching in an environment with no plans.

WOW, today was a tough day. I had a class of 15 students in a third and fourth grade. No, that was not the problem. The class was an alright class. The problem was that I had very few directions to go off of. Yeah, I have had classrooms before where the sub notes were kinda sparse, but this was the ultimate worst notes.
Now, I realize that in many cases, a teacher is not at school because of not feeling well, and I get that. I know the last thing that you want to do when you are sick is to go to school or even get up and work on schoolwork, but it sure helps the substitute teacher when sub notes are taken seriously and detailed.
What I had today was times and names. Math Circle Game... ELD Game.   Does that help me that much?

I brought the class in and one of the first things I asked was What some of the things were. Some were helpful and we tried to keep a normal day as much as possible, but some I had to improvise and do my own thing. It sure helps to have some activities planned in case of that issue. I had my Fandex of the Presidents and the US States. We used those and many had fun with that. Then there was some other various things that I brought to the table that worked alright. But, as always, it is best for the students and for the substitute to stick with the normal schedule.

Problems with PSE8 and MAC

I just spent the longest time trying to figure out what was wrong with my Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 application on my Mac. After an hour or two working on it, and searching for a help online, I called Adobe Support. The tech guided me through in my Mac to the TWAIN drivers and just had me add a "~" in front of the name and it worked out fine. Crazy how a simple fix like adding a ~ will help an application work great or crash constantly. Geez.

So, if anyone else is having a problem with their Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 on Mac just go to your applications, click on PSE navigate to plugins- inport modules and then get info into the TWAIN.plugin and rename it to ~TWAIN.plugin.
WOW, thats all.

Where is that Again?

Condon? Where is that again? That's what I keep hearing when I tell others of my opportunity.

I got a call this morning while I was with the 2nd grade class in Perrydale from a number that I did not know. I almost let it go, but was unsure if it would be alright because I have no voicemail now. Anyways, I took the call because it was a somewhat convenient time in the school day. I come to find out that it was a representative from the Condon School District asking if I would like to interview for thier open 2nd/3rd grade position. Of course I would. So, next tuesday afternoon, I am off to Condon.

Now, I knew of the general area of where Condon is, but had no other information. I knew it was a small place, but had no idea that this place was THAT small. Currently in Salem area, I am attending a church of about 800-1000 people. The WHOLE town of Condon is even smaller than that. WOW. It puts things into perspective for me. I got online after my call, and took a virtual tour of Condon:

In the middle of nowhere

Approximatly 750 people living there (as of 2000 Census)

most likely a school of 80 Students (thats K-12)

The classes are in doubles so that I why I would teach a 2/3.

The Grade school is K-8

There is one grocery store

There is only two places to eat out (one of em being the Cowboy Up Cafe)

It seems to be at least 2 hours drive away from EVERYTHING.

Quite interesting information right? Well, It started to make me wonder if I really would like a job in Condon... Now, I am someone who likes to wait on God. I feel that God can open doors and lead me where He wants me to go. One of my thoughts about this is,... Maybe God wants me to be there in Condon? Maybe I will really enjoy Condon!  Another thought that ran through my head (thanks Nate, hehe) was Maybe it isn't really in God's plan for me, but Condon just really doesn't get that many applicants... All questions are going through my head right now. One of the bigger thoughts though is; I've been praying for God's leading a job to me, and if I pray earnestly for a job and God brings Condon in front of me and I reject it because I want something better, is that right? Definitely NOT! It would make me feel like the person who was drowning in a flood and someone comes with a raft, a ship, and a cruise liner and he rejects all because he says "God Will Save Me!" I don't want to be that person. So, I am happy to be checking out Condon, and if God opens a door there and nowhere else, I believe that is where I will be.

Are you working to be in the ever-loving arms of God and His "Good and Perfect Plan" for your life? I'm working on it.

Songs from the Loft

I was reintroduced last night to Songs from the Loft. This is a CD from the early-mid 90s of many (at that time) well-known christian artists plus Amy Grant (not that she was an un-known artist, but she was one of the main people) Anyways, this CD is a worship CD that I remember listening to with my sisters. As I recall, the cd was actually Kelli and Kristin's, but I still remembering listening to it myself. Yes, the songs are a bit dated, but remind me of different times, even the reminiscence of our former home on 9th.

Yes, this was the cover art for that famous CD. It had songs like: Walk in the light as He is in the Light,,, Walkin, Walkin, I got the want to, I got the need to...

Where do I go, when I need some shelter, When I need a friend... Back on my knees again.

We can need a little soul, need a little light, in this darkened world, we can shine.

How do you know God is true, He is always there for you, every time, Tell me, tell me tell me

Anyways, take a look/listen and see what you think. Probably if you have not heard them and have an emotional connection to the past, they probably won't be a big deal, but hey, itsalllllgooood.

Ingenious Plan for Facebook!

Once I hit 200 Friends on Facebook, I was starting to worry that I was just adding friends that I would never talk to, so I have come up with an ingenious plan.

I don't want to be one of those people who have so many friends that they cannot keep track of. It reminds me of a movie that I watched in Theaters and TOTALLY regretted. Funny People, looked like a good and funny movie but I was concerned with the "R" Rating that it received. I decided to go, and that it would be alright for me. There were some very funny parts, and some parts that weren't as good. There was too much language for me, and the plot wasn't all that great, and I would NOT recommend this film to rent and watch, but there was a part in there that was funny. It is about a comedian and he was asked to show up at a MySpace convention and give some funny things. He sent his apprentice to open for him, and he talked about his theory that the more friends you have online, the less friends you have in real life. Now, I don't really agree with that, because the most outgoing people I know have the most friends, online or otherwise, but I still thought it was funny.


Anyways, long rabbit trail, my ingenious idea that I came up with just a bit ago, was to try to send a message to someone on Facebook each day I am on there. Now this plan is not to send messages to those whom I come in contact with all the time, or friends I keep track of easily, but the friends on Facebook that I would consider that I don't know as well, and/or lost contact with. I started it this week, and so far it has been a good plan and I am sticking with it. It has helped me to keep up with those I do not see regularly and it was fun to reminisce.

What's Your REAL Name?

What's Your REAL Name?
You would not believe how often I get this question. It's not like Kirkman isn't my real name, but the students always want to know my FIRST name, they just don't know how to ask it, so it is considered my REAL name. Kinda funny right. A student will ask me what my name is, and I reply, Mr. Kirkman, and then they get a bit frustrated and say NO, what's your REAL name. I got such a kick out of that response at first and would say, it really is my name, just my last name. Then, inevitably, they would ask for my first name. Eventually, I just gave up on the correction of whats my REAL name and just would offer my first name after that question was asked. Most often it is older students, like this afternoon when I was in a fourth grade and a few asked my REAL name. But not always is it the older students, a few weeks ago I was in the bathroom (Don't worry, been in there since too- just not a part of the story) at a school and while I was in a stall, a younger student comes into the restroom area, and starts talking with me, even though I have not even seen him. Who's in here?? he asks, At first I just play like I have not heard him, hoping that he will get the etiquette that people don't normally talk through stalls unless they know who is in the next one and its a friend or whatnot, but NO, he keeps asking, Who's that? So I say, Mr. Kirkman. Then the question comes, No, Whats your REAL name. SO I give it.

Now, I don't know if it is a bad or good thing to give out my first name. I know that the respect thing needs to happen at schools and so I have to ask students I know outside of school, (as in church or whatever) to call me Mr. Kirkman when they are in the school and they see me, but is it alright to let the students know my first name when they ask? I think so, it is just a sign of respect back to them. I can remember many instances in my educational career where a teacher might put their full name when modeling what a paper should look like or whatever. What do you think? Is it alright that I hand my first name out to those who ask? Let me know your thoughts. What's your REAL Name?

I Like Big Belts and I cannot lie.

I was reminding myself of a funny moment with dad when I was in Jr. High it must have been...
We were driving in the car, just dad and I, and somehow I had noticed my mothers huge belt that day or something like that. She used to wear really think belts, maybe it was stylish (what do I know about style right) anyways, I asked my dad "Why do women have such big belts??"
He thinks for a minute and then starts talking about the physiology of a woman and the fact that it helps them in child birth and so on.  I was a bit confused to say the least. I asked dad, What? How does a belt help in child bearing?? He starts to laugh out loud.
You have probably guessed by now that dad thought I said, Why do women have such big butts. It was the funniest thing and I remember that conversation even now, so many years later.

CD and DVD Templates

I am lucky enough to have the ability to print right onto my DVDs or CDs that are printable. It is a nice thing to be able to do. I used to have the label stickers that were a pain to get onto the top of the CD correctly and did not look completely professional, but when HP came out with a Print-on-the-disc printer, I asked for one for my birthday a few years ago, and I have gotten my use out of this thing. I love being able to print right on the disc and it looks so professional when I am done. In addition to that, I have really enjoyed printing CD and DVD inserts but there is always the problem of wanting the exact dimentions to the cases so they are nice and snug. At first, I would just measure the case and guess from there, but I just was searching for a DVD Slimline case insert template and found an awesome one on the Neato Website. Neato is a label software, but these templates are great because they let you use either Word or Photoshop and so I have been template download crazy since I found this site.
If you ever have the need to make your own CD or DVD cases, this is the website to download templates from.
http://www.neato.com/TemplatesCDDVDInserts.aspx

"I will go through my life, Penny-less" (BMW Quote)

It is a very liberating thing to have no money to your name. Going through this fraud problem is quite an experience. I have been running on empty on my gas tank these past few days, pretty much since Friday, and had no money to take from until this morning when my 500 I transfered from Amtrust finally became available. So I headed to the bank to pull out $40 for getting gas. I could not do that because my account was frozen. So I talked with one of the reps and she gave me some things to do to make sure my account was being taken care of. After talking with her, I was able to pull out the $40 for gas, luckily. Then I headed straight to the gas station to get a full tank. Nope. I get there and ask to fill the tank (not thinking that it would be more than $40.) and so luckily when I saw it was going to be more than 40 I stopped it at 40ish. I was not right on the dot and so I had to use my last dollar as well and told the attendant that I had 41 and to stop it there. He went a smidge past 41 and asked if I had 3 cents. I had to search my car for some pennies and found a nickel. So, it is official, I have NO money. hehe
But, I am in good spirits after all that. Hopefully I wont have to pay for anything more. until I am reimbursed the $690 that is due back to me eventually.

The Day and Obama!

So I decided to take my own advice and head outside. I first just went out into my backyard to sit on the deck and read. That was nice, but then decided it would be a perfect time to head to a local park and do some filming of scenery- flowers, trees, ect. So I decided to go to the Riverfront Park downtown Salem.... Bad Idea. EVERYONE was there and there was a long line of cars waiting to get into parking spaces. I found it was WAAAAAY to crowded for me to be comfortable, so once I got out of there, I decided to drive downtown to perhaps find another good place. I found the Capitol and that was very vacant. There were a few couples and family and individuals spread out around the area, but I found it to be an acceptable place. So I did some filming of the buildings around and the scenery. It was a good alternative.

On my way back, I was driving home and encountered a printed paper on the back window of someone's car that read "Pray for Obama; Psalm 109:8.  I thought this must be a great verse to say we need to support our leadership and pray for them that God has put in charge. I was thinking along the lines of 1Tim. 2:1-2:
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone- for kings, and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

That was NOT what the Psalm reads:
Psalm 109:8-
May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.

Now, I may not be the happiest about Obama being in office and some of what he stands for and what he believes, but I believe that we need to be respectful of him in his position. God has placed him as our leader for these years and if we want to see that change in the future, sure we should work to get the candidates that support our beliefs the most. All I am saying is that we should not be Obama bashing Christians, but REALLY pray for Obama- not that his days may be few.

Get Out and Enjoy!

When i moved to Salem, I just KNEW that I would hate the rain. I was used to sunny weather 300 days out of the year. Central Oregon is nice in that way. I was worried that I would be miserable in this rainy climate. There are very few times that I enjoy the rainy weather and growing up in Central Oregon I was blessed.
So, now after living in "The Valley" for almost 7 months, I have found that I was somewhat wrong. Yes, I am still not into the rainy weather, and there were many more rainy days than there have been sunny/warm days these months, but what I have found is when the sun DOES come out, everyone is out enjoying it. The community appreciates the sunny weather so much more because they don't get it as often. Everyone gets out and works on their yards and enjoys the weather.
I have found myself doing the same. When it is sunny, (Like right now) I want to get out there (with my shorts of course) and be in the Glory of God's  beauty of the spring weather and creation of Grass, Plants, and Flowers.

So, if you have the great weather, get out there an enjoy it while its here, even if you get it more than others (CO readers)

No Wii for me!

I found out last night that I am not for strategy. I just do not think that way. I played two games (well one full one and a portion of another) and I did not do well. I played Citidels and Pirates Cove and was not good at either.
Another thing that I did not totally enjoy about either of them is that they were so complicated and LOOOOOOONNNNGGGGG! The first game took about an hour and a half and then the other I left after probably half an hour to an hour and we were nowhere near done.
I am more into games that can last 30 minutes. Or even games that you can just quit at any time (like Apples) that way you can move on to another game.
I was hoping to Wii before I left, but was so tired after those two long games, I had to just go straight home. Oh well, next time.

Some Crazy Outtakes

The Good, the Bad, and the Wedding

I had a bad experience today. I get an email notification this morning that I am out of money. This does not make sense because I checked my account a few days ago and was flush (enough) and had not made any huge purchases lately. So, I go online to the my internet banking and find out that $690 was taken from a fraud. I emailed dad asking him to check on it (cuz I was in class) and so they had to suspend my account and let it go through and then research and all that. And that means that I am left without money in my name. I have $4 in my wallet and tried to take some out today and could not because of this problem. So, hopefully, I will get my new debit card in just a few short days. What a pain.

On a happier note, I was looking through all my friends' stati (not statuses) on Facebook and one of my friends had a notification that she was attending a Concert for Kutless in Bend. I checked this out and find that it is a FREE concert. Now, I am a fairly big Kutless fan, and have seen  them about 3 or 4 times before, but I still would go to a FREE concert in Bend. But, Sadly this was a concert in Bend and I am in Salem..... But wait.... this concert is on April 24th- I will be in town on April 24th because of filming a friend's wedding. AWESOME, so because Jordan and Anthony are having their wedding on the 24th, that means I will be there in Central Oregon, and that means I can attend the concert. It should be awesome. I am excited.

Am I Dating?, Good Intentions, and PKs

I went to a friend's church this morning. Heather was involved in the worship team and was up there for a while. She did a great job of helping to lead worship, through song.
When there was the inevitable greeting time, I got up and met some people around me. One of the ladies sitting behind me asked how I was here and if I was related to anyone. I said that I was visiting my friend Heather and the first thing that came out of her mouth- You're dating Heather? No, I am visiting Heather, I don't want to start any rumors.
Its funny how those things happen. I said nothing about dating, but this lady was very anxious to think that we were dating. I have quite a few people at my former church that were that way too. They were on the "lookout" for me to find me a wife. Even my own mother was on the Prowl for me. She had found someone at the church that she thought was perfect for me. Now, I can grant you that a mother has some sort of right to be able to do that a bit, but there are many people who are not asked to search for you, and they just do it. They want to matchmake. Now, they may think this is a nice thing to do, but for those single people out there might not feel the same. It can be a bit of an inconvenience. It can be a bit embarrassing.  My sister got it the most from our old church- one lady was hounding her about trying to find her a guy so much to the point that she was on the verge of making a guy up for a boyfriend just to calm the lady down.
When we got out of church, I told Heather about this experience, and she had already known this was going to happen. She felt bad but, hey, it happens to all of us.
Afterwards, we went out to Ruby Tuesdays. That was fun too. We got to talking about some of those things that us PK's (Pastor's Kids) deal with and some of the feelings that happen along with it. We talked about old times and caught up on current events. It was a good time of catching up with an old friend.
Next time, she gets to come over to Salem and join me at my church and then we will get to go to Olive Garden for lunch.

I Remember "The Farm"

I remember the three hour drives each trip. How impatient I was to get to to the Tree Farm. After hours of waiting in the car, we were finally getting close. I could see it. It was an indicator because of the narrow road. It was an indicator because of all the tall trees hanging around the sides. It was an indicator because we came into the tiny familiar town. "Don't blink or you'll miss it", my parents commented every time we were on approach.

And there it was. I took it literally, and tried my hardest to keep my eyes open. The first thing I see is the church, that old white building, that was a sign saying that we had entered Colton. Next is the Post Office and directly across the street is the Colton Cafe- the place that we would always go for morning breakfasts on lazy days. I can still see the small place, with the light blue boothes along the sides and a few tables in the middle of the cafe. I can smell the morning coffee and the smell of scrambled eggs and various other breakfast items.

As we drive past, I notice the one other landmark of the tiny village- the Market that has groceries and various other items. Then, we take our right-turn onto Hult Road. This road, although only a few miles away from the grand destination, seemed like it went on forever. By this time, the whole family is tired of driving and ready to get out of the car. As my siblings and I look for the landmarks, the interesting houses along the way viewable from the road, the big hill that used to be full of huge trees, and now empty from clear-cutting (most likely now, there are some trees there once again), and of course, the point in the road where you come out of the curves and the forrest into a straight road with tree farms all along the road, we are finally there. We can see the final destination- Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We have to really look back away from the road to see the old farmhouse. As we turn onto the clay-red-dirt driveway, we are so excited that we can't contain it anymore. We are finally there.

As always, Grandma and Grandpa have been looking out the window and when they see us driving down the path (and they hear the dogs barking, proclaiming that someone has arrived) they get up to meet us in the yard.

I can still see the old farmhouse inside and out. I remember the huge window in the front room that gives a vast expansive picture of "The Farm". The wood stove that the shoes go by. The hat rack next to that, of which is filled with caps from everywhere. The stairs leading up to the door entrance to the two extra rooms. The kitchen that has a table at the end of it and a small 13" TV on top of the refrigerator. The patio that is off of the kitchen that has all sorts of cool things inside. I still remember the gates between the patio and the front yard and the backyard. (the gate to the backyard is actually a regular door). This was the place that the dogs were kept when no one was home and it was nice outside.

I remember the two upstairs rooms. The one on the left that had the bright blue walls. The bookshelves that had many different things on them. The room to the right had quite a slanted ceiling so a tall person would have to be careful when they stood up from the bed. And then there was the best part of the upstairs- the middle attic space that was just begging us to explore. Of course, except for getting a few games that were stored up there, this space was off limits for us, but it sure was asking us to explore it.

I remember spending the night in this house. Of course, I had the couch in the living room because mom and dad had the upstairs left room and my twin sisters had the upstairs right. So, it was just me and the coo coo clock and the grandfather clock, both of which would chime/coo on the hour every hour waking me to remind me that I was at my grandparents house.

You like the cook styles I am wearing??

Alas, we do not go to "The Farm" anymore. Grandparents moved to a place closer to town, but I still have fond memories of that homestead and will not forget the trips to Camp Kirkman, with Swimming, Strawberry Picking, and playing on the farm.

Vacuums SUCK

So, I decided after a million years, I needed to do some vacuuming in my room. I was all alone at home so I would not bother anyone. I set out in search of a vacuum. I looked all throughout the house and could only find a vacuum in the Garage. Not a good sign. If you have a vacuum, you do not store it in the garage unless you think it is broken right? Well, anyways, I figure I will get it up to the room and try it out. Sure enough, I start it up and it stinks. It smells like burned rubber or melted plastic. Anyways, I turn it off (and unplug it like I should) and open it up underneath to find, that indeed I do need a replacement belt. I get the belt off and find the part number. It is a Hoover 035 belt. I call a vacuum shop in Downtown Salem and they have the part. I get it and get home and install it. Simple enough, problem solved right? Nope. I get it on and still smell it and it is making bad sounds again. Bummer. I get it back apart and see what the problem is... the belt seems like it is not the right one. I take a look at the actual vacuum to find it is a Dirt Devil. Geez, what a dope. So I call back the place and ask if some Hoover Products can replace Dirt Devil belts. He says alot of belts work in the place of other ones. I ask specifically if this hoover belt I just bought is supposed to work on this Specific Dirt Devil Vacuum. He comes back and says that NO, they are very different belts.
I am just about to go and get yet another replacement belt and find that my homeowner is back. So, I ask if he has a vacuum. He did. So, this vacuum that was in the garage will work perfectly fine  once it has a Dirt Devil Belt, but there is a newer model of vacuum, so it saves me another trip downtown to get another replacement.

April Fools Day

Well, I have never been one for fooling people on April Fools. I have never been into it. I guess part of it stems from the problem that I am not good at fooling people. Whenever I try to trick people, it just goes terribly wrong. I try to make these elaborate inventions of my imagination work, and they don't. I am not good at lying (which I guess is a good thing) but when trying to trick someone, it just does not help when you are telling them something false and you are smiling and trying not to crack up. Does this happen to anyone else? Or perhaps it is just me.

Another major problem with April Fools is that I am made a fool easily. I consider it my nature to trust people and then I just get totally fooled. People try to fool me and I trust whatever they say (except for the occasional way-out-there-ideas and comments) There have been a few April Firsts that I don't get either. Ya know, once I had a friend show up with a cast on. Was this supposed to be some sort of wonderful evil-laugh prank? I just don't get it. I would think that sort of prank would be just annoying to the person pulling the preverbal casted-arm, because you would just get lots of people come to you and say "Oh, No, What did you do?"  Or "What Happened". Wouldn't that get EXTREMELY ANNOYING? I think it would for me.
Then there's those that place on their Facebook status changes such as Relationships and whatnot or even just bogus postings. I don't get it. Then you just get people asking questions and might even get those who are so concerned that they go and call you up for the scoop. What do you say then?  "APRIL FOOLS"

WOW, thats stupid. I guess you will just have to put my down for someone who is not going to be doing April Fools Joke/Pranks/Status Changes/Whatever.
I also do not laugh so hard when they are pulled on me. Congratulations, you GOT me, not that hard. You don't even need a special day to pull that on me.

Posting Becky in the Water

Can it Be Mo's?

So who has gone to the Central Oregon Coast and felt they NEEDED to go to Mo's because it's an establishment. I have always felt that way. My family whenever at the Coast head to a Mo's and wait in line (because it is usually at the busy time that we are at the coast- Spring Break) and we get our Clam Chowder from Mo's. Sure, its good, and legend (wait for it) dairy, but here's the thing- Is it still the best clam chowder??
I am certain now that it is not. I remember a time when Mo's was very creamy chowder. Of course it has all fresh ingredients, and still tastes good, but there seems to be something missing. I have found that I enjoy the chowder at McGraths more than I do at Mo's.
What's more, we were in Lincoln City today for lunchtime and we had already been to Mo's last night for dinner, so for lunch we went to the McMenamins. Mom and I both had chowder there and THAT chowder was AMAZING! The thickness of the chowder was great, very creamy, and their ingredients were great. I could taste alot of spices. Mom said something very interesting- She said that it seems like Mo's is just going off of reputation now, and not so much off of the need to make a good product. (I'm Paraphrasing) Anyways, I would recommend trying out new Chowder places even if you still like Mo's. There's lots of good chowder places out there, and they don't have to be Mo's.

Spring Break w/ a meeting.

Spring Break is always nice right? Who wouldn't want time off at the end of March for a vaca with the fam. I was able to get my final papers and projects done early enough to have a very extended vacation- 20 days. WOW.

We will be heading to Newport (The Coast- very original for Spring Break right??) for a few days. That will be a great time of ocean-viewing.

I organized a meeting with friends from CO last night and it turned out very good. We watched the Princess and the Frog. What a great movie. It has been such a long time since a 2-D Old School Animation by hand, and I missed it. Don't get me wrong, the fancy, "looks-real-almost" computer animated films are great, but The Princess and the Frog is priceless.

We also played two lively games of Imaginiff. If you have tried this game out, you should. Its really fun, people just start cracking up and can't stop when this game is played. And to think that I did not even know anything about this game when I picked it up.

Early times

So, as always, I come in late to my College group because of my Research and Writing class. It starts at 4:30 and goes to 7:15 and is in Monmouth and our college group starts at 7ish in Salem, so I always race (not literally) back to church to get there in time for the worship. Anyways, I make it in time for the last few songs of worship, then we sit down for the sermon/talk and Matt starts going about his topic in Romans and then all of a sudden looking at me stops dead in his tracks....

"Dude, those are awesome chops, man..." He is referring to my facial hair. It was pretty funny. He spend about a minute talking about them.

I do happen to be able to create some good facial hair that some people are jealous of. I guess thats what happens when you need to shave by the summer of your 8th grade year.

Im not Following the Example!

What kind of people did Jesus like to be around?
Were they the ones who loved him and listened to his every word?
Were they the ones who were in the church all the time?
The ones who read the scriptures?
The ones who obeyed him?


The answer, at least what I have read, is the ones who needed him the most. Jesus did not like to be around the Pharisees, they were people who made themselves look good in view of the others around them; made themselves look religious. Jesus went about near the tax collectors and the sinners. Jesus knew that it did not help to teach and preach to "The Choir" but rather go into the places that no one else went and talk with those that no one else would. He associated with the Scum of the earth in his day. He led by example.

Do I follow His example? I have to be honest and say NO, I don't.

Most of the time, I bypass this idea, by making excuses to myself that I am very involved in my church. "No, in a way I am placing myself around those who need God by teaching in Sunday School and Youth Group (Previously), and I am up on stage a bunch helping to lead others to God through Worship to him..." But, I think that that logic is a cop out.
If I am truly honest with myself, I have to look at my involvement at church (Which isn't a bad thing) and my UN-involvement in other aspects of life (which IS a bad thing) and say that something there needs to change. I can no longer just say that MY MINISTRY is IN the church..., I need to work on my ministry OUTSIDE of church.

I have very few non-christian friends. Partly that is because it takes me a long while to make friends, especially outside of church.  But, I cannot just justify that and say its alright. I need to make a conscious effort to work on my involvement outside of the church.


I think that this will help me in my pursuit of God. May you and I constantly be in a pursuit of The Author and Perfecter of Our Faith.

Date of Birth and the Theory of Evolution

Today is the Day of my Birth, Twenty-Six years ago.
When I think of all the things that I have been blessed with, a family that loves and cares about me, good friends, health (for the most part), the opportunity to get an education and do what I like, a relationship with the Lord God... I am just amazed.

I think about too, what I have seen in my lifetime so far. Now I have not lived ALL that long, but I lived long enough to see the beginning of the internet era. When I was born, the internet was not created yet. We had to wait for Al Gore to help us out.... Just Kidding. But in actuality, the internet has changed so much.
Take a look at some of the snap shots that I took of some key internet pages when they first came out...

Google.com on December 2, 1998

How did I know that Google was going to be the biggest phenomenon on the internet?

Im just that good.

MySpace.com on October 3, 2003

I don't know why I felt in 2003 that MySpace needed a print screen, but I did.

Facebook.com on August 6, 2005

Again, I just felt in 2005 that Facebook would be great someday.

I am just kidding, I did not take those screenshots on the date, but this morning. 

It really has been interesting seeing the changes in the web from the original boring pages to more exciting things using flash and java and whatnot. Back then, there was not much on the web, but wow has that changed. Now I can find pages dedicated to television shows, Dogs, equipment, flashlights, any product you want to sell, even pages on poop (if you really want to find it I bet you could, I haven't looked and dont really intend to)

I used to get online to do a bit or research, but NOW I am on constantly, looking for things, buying things, communicating with others, searching out answers to anything, finding out how to do something in particular, writing my Blog. It is pretty amazing what can be done via the web now.

I am just in awe of wondering what the world wide web will look like 10 years down the road with Web 3.0

Whistle While I Work!

What a hectic week. It is week 8 of my Winter term here in the Valley and things are starting to come down to the wire. I took a chunk of the week off last week to see my family and that was a great time. I got a chance to be home and see Mom and Dad and Kelli. I also got a chance to see Kristin and Arianna as well. They were in town so Kristin could play with the orchestra and so that was one of the major reasons for coming home.
I got many chances to babysit my niece with my father while the girls were off at orchestra practice and concerts. It was a great time. Anyways, because I was stupid and did not bring all the items I needed for the week I cut it a little short on some HW that I had to do when I got back in town, but I made it in time. Then this week just hit like a bombshell- I go to my class monday night and find out that we are starting presentations next week and we are on the docket for presenting next week. So that made me need to get all my reading done and create my presentation portion, then I have weekly stuff to do as well as work on some of the big items coming up- my Design Portfolio (of which I have no idea where to get bad examples) and creation of my Final Family of Designs, my Big Lit. Review, A design project for Theory, as well as my Examination of Current practices paper due this weekend. I also have a smattering of other papers and projects due. WOW
And then I remember that this weekend i am also attending a Worship Conference over here in Salem area. I HAVE A LOT TO DO THIS WEEKEND. Luckily I got much of what I needed done, done. I still have a big paper though.
So, that is why I have not been on my Blog in a week or more.
But, hey, next term will be great.

Confusion at A+W- What a Pain!

I recently decided to sign up for various fan clubs and things such as that. Many times fan clubs of restaurants give away free stuff for your birthday or just coupons every so often, so if it's free, why not right??
Well, one of those clubs I Joined was for A+W. I thought itd be smart, and I was right. If you sign up for the A+W club you get a free small Float of Freeze. Well I was planning to get my free treat today (because it expires tomorrow) and so i headed out to A+W to use my coupon for a free freeze. I got there and it took a while to get to order, not many people there, she was just doing other things. Then when I was able to order I decided to order a Double Cheeseburger combo but see if they could just substitute the drink for the freeze and discount the price. This cashier did NOT get what I was saying and so she was confused and then she added it into the computer- the combo was 5.60 and then she added the freeze and it was like 6.50. I tried to explain what I wanted again, then she went to ask a manager about it, and that took a long time. Then she finally gets it but I have a feeling that she does not because she is saying that she will give me a float and the meal. I got fed up with her and so I just took it and it cost the same price as the meal, no big whoop, then when I go to get my order guess what is there, I just have the Burger and the Fries. The float has been sitting there, for a while...
so for me FREE dessert, I had to get a combo at the regular price, and they took away the regular drink that comes with the combo, and gave me my "Free" small dessert.
I guess what I should have said it I would like a Double Cheeseburger Combo
and then when she rang that up show the coupon and ask for a Freeze. Maybe that would have helped her not get confused.

This Blog is a place I can let of steam- its for all those A+W workers out there that read my blog. hehe.
To give them credit, I really do like A+W- the one in my hometown of Redmond is very good. But the one here in Salem is not very good. I would not recommend it to anyone in the Salem area.

New CD and the inevitable Wait

I am very excited for the TobyMac Album that releases today. I just have to wait for the cd to arrive to me. Usually I like to buy the MP3 version online, and that way I can get it at 12:01am if I really want to, but since this album has a few versions, I decided I would rather buy the Extended edition and that has a DVD part to it and so I figured it would be better to have it in hard copy. So Now, I just have to wait for UPS. I know it is out for Delivery, but it could be as late as 4 or 5pm, but in the past, my packages arriving here are in the morning.
As I was searching for different songs on this album, I came across a really dorky CD. If you like TobyMac and you do NOT like Saxaphone Elevator Music, you should check out this CD so you can laugh at how rediculous it really is.
If you LIKE Sax and TMac then you might actually like this CD.

http://www.amazon.com/Tobymac-Tribute/dp/B000VGTH16/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1265733063&sr=1-15

Walking alone in the DARK!

I decided to take a nice walk last night. I did not have anything to do and had not been out of the house for a few days (and even I, the perpetual hermit, need to get out every once in a while). So, I got my iPod from the car, plugged in the phones and started on my walk. I was smart enough to bring a small flashlight too, seeing as it was 6pm at night and dark. So I just started heading off, in no particular direction for no particular reason. It was fun. I am not an adventure person, so I rarely do something so out of place as walking around in the dark in a place that I know somewhat but in some parts have never been through. It was a good thing for me to do.
So, there I was, walking alone in the dark, and someone comes up behind me and makes me give them my wallet. I pleaded with them to let me keep it but they wanted it, even though it didn't have much in it...



Actually, that never happened, but the thought did go through my mind once or twice. I blame it on my Grandmother on my dad's side. His natural mom was very worried about everything. Well, anyways, I walked down a place that i knew somewhat, and then I got to one of the major streets and decided to keep going. I went out prepared for rain because this is Salem, (but not in Prepared for Rain in a way you would think- I just knew that I would get wet and did not have a jacket or anything. It was raining even when I first got out there. Anyways, I was glad that it was not doing more than just sprinkling a bit.
Well, back to my story- So on this main street I got to, I decided to walk down the road (even though I had not driven it before) and I figured I would come to one of my other main streets shortly and then that would start taking me back towards my house.  Well, I kept walking,... and walking,.... and walking. I was expecting it to be a bit shorter than it actually was. I kept on walking down the road expecting to come to that other road that I needed to see to start heading back towards my house.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, I came to the street I needed to see. I turned and felt better cuz I knew where I was at that point. By the time I got back to my house, I had walked 3 miles. I was expecting that I would walk say a mile or a mile and a half, but I got it my car and checked the mileage,and sure enough, it was 3 miles.
To be honest, 3 miles might not seem like much to you, but for me to walk 3 miles up and down hills around my house, In the Dark, this was a good feat for me. And it was fun.
I would not expect a Kelli event to be all that fun, but it was.

SCUM!

Noone has an advantage towards God:
-We lack desire to follow God
-Our character is warped
-Our language stinks
-Our behavior is destructive


"There is no one righteous, No, Not ONE" Rom 3:10

Even when the Rain Falls...

This image is one I created with Wordle- a text clouding website- www.wordle.net

Need to Breathe- Washed By the Water

Daddy was a preacher 

She was his wife 
Just tryin to make the world a little better 
You know, shine a light 
People started talking 
Just to hear their own voice 
Those people tried to accuse my father 
Said he made the wrong choice 
Though it might be painful 
You know that time will always tell 
Those people have long since gone 
My father never failed 
Chorus 
Even when the rain falls 
Even when the flood starts rising 
Even when the storm comes 
I am washed by the water 
Repeat Chorus 
Even when the Earth crumbles under my feet 
Even when the ones I love turn around and crucify me 
I won’t never ever let you down 
I won’t fall 
I won’t fall 
I won’t fall as long as you’re around me 
Chorus 
Even when the rain falls 
Even when the flood starts rising 
Even when the storm comes 
I am washed by the water 




This song is a powerful for me and my family. My Daddy is a preacher, and we had something like that happen at a previous church when I was younger and that was a very tough time for all of us. Accusations that were not substantiated by people were what brought my father down from his position at the church and it was a quick-deep pain for the whole family. It was the church that I grew up in. The only church family that I knew, the church where all of my friends were. This was incredible tough for us.




And so you can see why this song is just amazing at portraying the feelings of my family about that situation. The great thing is to know that Even though the Rain Falls and the floods are rising, I know that MY God is always there, and no one can take that away from me.


Thank You Lord God, that you are always there and have a perfect plan, even if it can hurt sometimes. I know that You will always be there to catch me and save me!