Update from Bobby

Hi Everyone!  This is Jen.  I just wanted to post some updates from Bobby.  We went to his mobilization ceremony yesterday and I have never been more proud to be his wife.  He is very happy and seems to be making a lot of friends.  I got to meet some of his tent mates as well yesterday which was nice to finally have some faces with names.  Here is a copy of his latest email:

Things are going well here believe it or not.  We’ve had some really cold days here and we’ve been outside everyday.  We’ve been at the range everyday.  Two days shooting and two days working the range passing out ammo.  I hate all the paperwork and briefings the army has, but shooting is what I enjoy.

It’s only been about a week but it’s really amazing what the Lord can do within a week.  I have found myself praying and communicating more then I was before.  I’ve also had some opportunities to let others know who I side with.  Last night one of my tent mates was asking me about my tattoos (Star of David & Cross) and how I went from Jewish to Christian.  So I was able to share with him and 6 others who didn’t even ask.  It was pretty cool to be able to do that.

Thank you all for your prayers and support and I look forward to Christmas Break.

I have also uploaded pictures from yesterday’s visit.  They can be viewed here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=74282&l=ec661&id=557844883

Get ready for a ride

It’s a little after 10pm and we still have a few hours before the new President is announced and it’s not looking for McCain (Obama 207 to McCain 95). I would have rathered seen Mike Huckabee instead of McCain, but I guess America saw something in McCain. Anyway, I do not want to go off on a wild politic tangent because I’m sure we’ve all have seen enough to last us another 4 years. I just hope everyone got out and voted yesterday because it is important.

School is going well I have the third highest average in class and I have one more test left. I’m learning a lot about being petroleum Supply Specialist, testing the fuel, gauging it, learning about flashpoints, working with pumps, setting up different types of fueling points and that only a small amount. One of the vehicles I would be working with is a HEMMT and this is very versatile vehicle for the Army because it can be used in many different applications and not just for fuel. This picture shows the HEMMT as fuel tanker, but remove the fuel tank portion and it can be transformed into say a concrete mixer.

So just a few more days left and I’ll be heading home. That’s if I do not smother one of the female soldiers here. She’s a very loud female and is very “hey look at me”. Her voice just travels and it’s like nails on a chalkboard, and it doesn’t help that she spells out popular texting phrases. By the way I’ll be getting deployed with her. Perhaps I’ll send her on a quest to find headlight fluid. Yes she’ll fall for this and I know this because today she asked what channel the election results would be on.

December 1^st is fast approaching and I got my first taste of helplessness last week. Jen had a bit of an accident huge accident. Jen tripped in a hole and sprained both of her ankles and possibly tore the ligaments in one of them. I get the phone call of her in tears and I could not be there for her to comfort her. Fortunately her mom was there to get her to the ER and they have been helping her around the house, but I just wish I could be there for her.

I leave you with a picture of a Camel Spider:

Camel Spider

Great Scott!

So Jen has been hinting telling me that she wants a motorcycle, yes a motorcycle. She has been riding a bit with her dad who has a Honda Goldwing Trike (not his) and has really enjoyed it. So ya she wants a motorcycle now, which I’m not totally against just against the money factor of one. Honestly I wouldn’t mind having a motorcycle, if I did have a motorcycle I could abandon my dream of having a Jeep Wrangler. For awhile now I’ve wanted a Jeep just so I can knock off the doors and roof for those nice North Carolina days and maybe do some off-road stuff. But if I get a motorcycle that would be fine, yes we would have to get two because I’m not letting Jen drive me around on. We would of course need to get our motorcycle license and then of course save for the motorcycles. No Harleys for us, maybe later, but for now we’re looking at Honda’s models, so we’ll see happens. Any ideas would be great.

Sunday night I fly out for Connecticut for the week and then I have about a month home before I fly out again for work. This week’s trip is perfect timing because I have finished school at least for the summer and that is a blessing because I needed the time off.

So the day other I told you about Oreo the new cat, well when I got home that day he was still camping out by our slider. I seriously think this cat thinks he belongs to us.

What if one man attempted to tell the story of Back to the Future through music? Back to the Future is really a great movie, a classic I must say, but having it as a musical is even better!

11 Days & Counting

So I really have been procrastinating on updating my blog. Most of the time I would think about it and that was about as far as I got.

There are 11 days left for class and I cannot wait. Every other week I’ve had two papers due and that is on top of my normal class work. For my Christian History class I had to write a paper on The founding of the Canon and the second Paper was on the Papacy. In my Theology class I had to write a position paper on The Destination of the Unreached and The Nature of Hell and the second paper was on Calvinism versus Arminian.

Friday and Saturday I had the 30 Hour Famine with the youth group in our church. So the 30 Hour Famine is where you basically fast for 30 hours from food and raise money for the hungry throughout the world. It’s a nation wide event done by churches and is done through World Vision. Friday morning begins the fast, we then go to either school or work, and then met up at church around 6 to hang out, focusing on God’s word and why we’re doing this and of course had fun. We had the option of sleeping in tents or a box to experience what it is like. As for myself I slept under the stars with just a sleeping bag. Anyways I put together a video of highlights from the famine and posted it below.

Afterwards on Saturday afternoon Jen and I went to the Lazy5ranch, which is like Lion County Safari, but better. The reason why it was better was because you could feed the animals as you drive through. Of course there were no dangerous animals, however the Emu’s were very demanding when it came to food. At one point two Emu’s were about in the vehicle trying to get to the food Jen had.

The past couple Sunday’s I’ve been playing paintball after church with my father in-law and yesterday was the first Sunday Jen was able to go. There’s a paintball field about 15 minutes from Church (Boss Paintball Field, Locust). So it’s real easy to shoot right on over there afterwards and really cheap on Sundays. I am so fortunate to have a wife who will get outside and get dirty with me crawling though dirt and mud, but then also still wanting to be a girl. I really have been blessed with a great wife. The past couple weeks I had some stuff going and just seeing her there for me was great. I sometimes forget and take things like that for me to remember.
So last night was the last night of Passover and we had Jen’s parents over for dinner. This was my first ever Passover Seder that I conducted. This is something that Jen and I really want to do yearly and we may even do it for our church next year or at least for our home group.

Till next folks…

Come on Spring

So we are moved out of the apartment and into the house.  I took a few pictures of the new place but I don’t have them on me right now and will get them up soon.  We still have a little unpacking to be done, but it is minimal.Spring is approaching here in NC and I cannot wait.  I am tired of this winter stuff.  It was fun at first, but seriously 5 months of the cold gets old.  At least we could have gotten a bit more snow then a few inches.  Then again I could be shoveling 26″ of it.

Found out I’ll be going to New York for work mid April for about a week.  My boss and I will be doing training in Poughkeepsie.  I’m looking forward to it.  While we’re there my boss is going to try and get either Yankees or Mets tickets….come on Yankee tickets.  Also found out that next year I maybe doing some international traveling.  My boss asked me what my two preferences would be and I told him Australia and Brazil.  Brazil because I love the Brazilian people and the country and then Australia…well how often does one get a chance to go to Australia.  The international stuff is still a year away so we shall see.

I finished my first half semester of class and finished with an A and B.  This week starts my second half of the semester.  I’m taking another Theology class and also a Church History class.  I have a feeling this is going to be my most demanding semester yet.  I have a paper due just about every week either for my theology class of my church history class.  Plus I have quizzes at the end of each week and my normal lectures that I need to watch.

I haven’t really mentioned this at all and not sure why, but this week is our Easter Drama.We Followed Follow the Man is the Title and I will be playing Jesus.  A woman in our church wrote it and Jen is helping direct it and Jen even has some stage time.  Jen is the actor and I am no actor…how I got to be the main character is beyond me.  So unlike typical Easter dramas where it ends at the Resurrection we are going to continue pass that and describe what happens with each of the disciples after the death of Jesus and after His return to the Father.  I’m sure we will have a video of it and I will get copies out to everyone.

I did a little bit of 3D work on the side this past week.  The pictures that look like they are hand drawn is a program (AutoDESK Impression) that will take the rendered drawings and convert them into hand drawings.  I wish I could take credit for 100% of the work, but I can take credit for about 95%.  The chairs and the speaker cones I found online.  But the speaker casing/frame, curtains, door, the screen and projector, wall scones and room layout I did.

3D Theater Room

Until next time folks….

Giants Win

First things first way to go Giants.  What a game that was.

It was a pretty busy weekend. Saturday I worked a few hours at the office, got new tires, bought a new desk because our old one just could not handle my school stuff and Jen’s stuff, and helped the in-laws buy a new dryer.

Interesting story while I was helping the in-laws pickup the new dryer. So I was waiting around for the owner of the vehicle I scuffed up while parking when I noticed that someone stole my Yankees license plate. I could not believe it. On the bright side they were kind thieves because they did leave me the screws that was holding on the license plate. So at least I don’t need to buy new screws.

Sunday we went over to the in-laws to watch the Super Bowl. By the way Patriots in case you didn’t know you needed to win the Super Bowl for the undefeated season to mean anything. What a game that was. Seriously I was at the edge of my seat for the last 5 minutes of the game. I loved seeing Tom Brady get knocked around and I loved even more we made a touchdown with 59 seconds left on the clock for the win.

There were only a few commercials that really stood out. This one and the Iron Man preview. After seeing that preview for new the Iron Man movies I’m even more excited.

I mentioned sometime ago about thinking of going into business on my own doing AutoCAD consulting and it’s really something that I’m thinking about. Jen said she would quit her job and would come work for me. That would be exciting for a husband and wife company. If this is a venture we would do I guess I would need to figure out where I would get starting client base and I would need to save for business expenses. Oh and learn how to run a business. But anyways I’ll just see what happens. If it’s meant to be, the Lord will make a way for it to happen.

By the way Jen is getting sick so if you could keep her in your prayers that would be great.

Jen Highjacking Bobby’s Blog

To all those who have been waiting anxiously on the results of my PE exam…

I wanted to let you know that…

I PASSED!

We got the letter last Thursday night and to celebrate Bobby is taking me to The Melting Pot (which is reserved only for special occasions)!

Thank you all for your prayers and well-wishes as both of us went through this process.

Jen

Updates

Boy it has been awhile since I’ve updated this beast. What has been happening lately, well I found out bears can climb trees faster then they can run and they can swim. So just by those two facts alone if you see a bear you’re done for. Go get’em tiger.

Last weekend we went to the renaissance festival. Fun time that was…really it was. We saw jousting, a guy with a cup over his you know what, a fire breathing guy, oh and we saw jousting. Overall it was a good day although next time we go I will need to make sure I have a 5 months savings. Once you pay to get in most of everything inside cost money as well…lots of money.

Tuesday was the most important day ever…actually, the most important day after the death and resurrection of Christ. Anyways it mine and Jen’s anniversary. Three years we’ve been married. Hard to believe that it’s been three years all ready, but it has. We weren’t really able to do anything really special like last year because of the ol’ mighty dollar. We did though go out for sushi. I’ve been really craving sushi for awhile and she found a nice little restaurant that has it. Two thumbs up for Jen.

This weekend we are going back to the creeper trail, but with the youth group. It’s been getting into the high 30’s lows 40’s. I can only imagine what it’ll be like in Virginia. My guess cold. Speaking of cold the first morning we woke up with frost we realized we had nothing to scrap it off with and the only thing I could find was an empty water bottle. I would like to say that I melted the plastic bottle down to a solid sheet of plastic and used that to scrap it, but we are under a burn ban. So I used the bottle cap.

I started my introductory to the Gospel of John class three weeks ago. One of the easiest gospels to read, but as the teacher say’s “it’s also the deepest gospel of them all”. This semester has really been kicking my butt though. On top of my lectures, I have my quizzes, my discussion board stuff, and I also need to write two papers. One of them I am working on now is the eight miracles performed by Jesus in the book of John. Did mention I also have my math class lectures. Believe it or not, I had to limit my riding to only weekends.

A couple days ago Jen put the house back on the market with BuyOwner and believe it or not we had a call tonight. He is interested in moving here from Ohio and wants his son to go and look at the house not this weekend, but next weekend. So we shall see where this goes. Sell house sell!

By the way because of this stupid Hollywood strike the new season 24 has been delayed. Stupid writers strike. Did I mention the writers strike is stupid.

Question..

It is a Friday night and I am sitting in the downstairs lobby of the Hampton Inn can life get any better. So we are in Orlando right now or at least until Sunday morning. What are we doing in Orlando you ask. Jen got her PE license today..eh, well actually she took her exam today. However I am being very confident for her, because she does not want to be over confident. So somebody needs to do it. So it was a pretty long day for her exam started at 7:15 this morning and she got done about 6 I guess and we will find out the results in December sometime.

My mom came up today for the weekend to visit with us since we could not get down there to see her. We would have loved to go down home, but after an already long drive I could not bear find the energy to drive another 2 hours back home. It’s really good to see her I just wish I was able to see everyone else. I do not know when we will be able to get down to see the rest of the family, but I hope one day soon. Stupid money and everything being expensive. I wish I could put money on “The List”.

So tomorrow we’ll be going to Sea World because military and family can get in for free. It’s funny because Sea World was never in the plans. Here’s how it went down Wednesday night at dinner Jen and I ran into one of her old friends from New York who happens to have a job at Sea World. He said he would try to round up some extra tickets for us and get us in the back to pet the penguins. He was not able to get us the tickets, but I remembered the military thing so it works out. He said he would still get us in the back with the penguins though. One word…awesome.

So I have been in Orlando a whole two and a half days I have come to the conclusion that one, I do not miss Florida and two Orlando people are jerks. So Orlando and Jacksonville are both on “the list”. Actually Jacksonville has always been on “the list”, long story, but now Jacksonville has company. By the way I got lost in a parking lot twice today. Well not really lost it was really more stuck then anything. Parking lots here are limited on exits..must have been a supply shortage.

So yesterday marked a very important day. ::Drum roll please:: the preview for 24 season 7 came out. I cannot wait for this season, it looks to be probably the best yet. Do not get me wrong last season was good, but it could have been better. Tony is back with a huge twist, CTU is gone, and, Jack is well doing what he does best, killing terrorists. So it’s only October and the new season starts in January. By my math If you start watching Monday I think you can get through all of the seasons before the new one starts. Can’t wait to hear what you think. Till next time.

Quickly

So I was going through the grocery store today and saw some bananas on sale for -6x>-18 per pound. Then I thought I am so happy I’m taking that math class because we just went over on how to solve this. I was thinking when in the world would I ever use this? Almost 25 years old and I have never come across this type of problem and do not think I ever will. But if I did I would not even bother to solve it because it’s to much of hassle. I got a headache just listening to the lecture on how to solve it. So I of course did what any college student does when they feel defeated….no I did not re-watch the video I gave up.

So fall is officially here I guess you can say. It’s a real nice change in weather. I realized two things one being that the fall here is like the winter in Florida and two that I have no jackets. I’ve been putting it off as long as possible so we went this weekend and bought me a decent jacket.

Sneaky Jen did something that really surprised me. I mentioned in a prior post about a helmet cam well Jen surprised me with one. I got a package at the office last Tuesday and figured it was for my boss. Saw the company name and never thought of checking who it was addressed to. Got a visit from the office secretary Friday asking if I got the package. Oops. So needless to say I was excited…kinda like this kid. That Nintendo 64 kid sure does bring a smile : D to my face every time I watch him. Back to the camera. So I was breaking in the new camera this weekend. A buddy I ride with, by the way he knew I was getting this and did not say anything to me, said this about the camera “It’s kinda like your black box for when everything goes wrong”.

The camera itself is about the size of my hand (length wise) and does not weigh much at all. I just attach it to my helmet or my handle bars and I’m good to go.  My first video is below and there will be more to come.
My First MTN Biking Video