Never Enough Time
Here we are again. A week and half has gone by and not one post. Even though I’m not traveling I’m playing catch up at the office and it leaves no time to slack off at work…imagine that actually working at work (kids these days). Anyways, mom and Mikey got in Friday afternoon and it was great to see them but not so great to see them go. Weekend went by too fast. Saturday (take a deep breath) mom, Mikey, Jen, Courtney, Greg, and I went to the Lazy 5 Ranch which is like Lion Country Safari, but without the lions and the Safari. Lazy 5 you’re able to drive through with the windows down or in our case the back of the pickup truck and feed the animals as you go. They did have a bear cub (in a cage) that the girls thought was the most adorable thing ever, but that’s where they get you. They look all cute and then wham! Sunday for Fathers day Mikey, Jen, Mike, and I went to play father’s day paintball. I was having a great time until my knee found the corner of rock hiding under leaves; needless to say I was done for the day. I cut it pretty good, but it’s healin up nice.
So one of the perks of being in the Guard is that I can fly free (Space-A travel) with the Air National Guard and I found this out when I was trying to get to Ohio. That didn’t pan out because there are no flights into the area I was going. Anyways, Jen and I are trying to plan a trip to Florida in August and I thought I would revisit that idea and research it a bit more. Space – A travel is free and it sounds great until you realize that you’re flying standby without a reservation and no guarantee that you will get a flight. The first part is you need to find the airport you want to fly out of and sign up and wait. Based on the order of date and time you sign up they call you and tell you when to show up to the airport to see if you made the cut. Second part, after you get the call you show up and wait and wait. Assuming they decide they have space available now you have to see if your name is on the list. There are six categories Cat I is top priority and Ct VI is the least, we would be 6. So if by some chance there was still room after CAT I – V then we would have a chance otherwise we go home and then repeat. As you can tell big headache, so now we are looking into catching a ride with truckers, actually we don’t know what we’re doing yet.
Before I close I wanted to share with you my experience of sleeping. I do not remember the last time I slept without a cat nuzzling me for attention, climbing on me, or purring in my ear. So I stumble to my side of the bed in the dark because I do not want to wake Jen. I check for cats and move any cats that are in my spot and then I check for Jen because she likes to claim my spot for her as well and move her…very cluttered ad popular spot. I then ever so softly get into bed to now wake Jen and realize I missed a cat and the cat of course resists, but I prevail champion. It’s amazing how keen your senses become after taking one away and in this case hearing and sight. I can’t see the cat but I sure can hear her purring away sounds like a lawn mower. Of course a different cat needs to come investigate the situation and see if I need help and see’s it’s all under control so decides to lay on me purring.
Home Sweet Home
Got back from Southbury, CT about 8 PM Friday night. We were originally scheduled for a 6:55 PM flight, but was able to get on standby for a 5:15 flight. Standby was interesting, it was my first time flying standby and I found that people who fly standby are jerks or at least the few that were with me Friday night. Two guys in front me about got in a fight and then the guy behind me pushed me out of the way as I was giving my luggage to the flight attendant. I understand seats are first come first serve, but really pushing. Anyways Southbury was pretty boring, nothing really there. I did see a place called “Chainsaws Unlimtied”, I thought that funny. I get to go back to Southbury next week and then I’m home for a week or a weekend to then fly out to Poughkeepsie, NY. The Poughkeepsie trip should be fun, my boss got us Yankee tickets (can’t wait) so I will finally get to see Yankees stadium before it’s torn down.
Weekend was good. Saturday did some errands and then went to a cook out in the evening with some friends. Sunday was church and then my father in-law and I played some paintball. Anyways that’s all for now folks. Till next time…
Team S.E.A.L.
I’m still in Southbury, at least till tomorrow. Things are going ok here. Not much to really talk about regarding that.
Before I left myself, Jen, and her dad we got together and discussed creating a paintball team for other Christians in the Charlotte, NC area. We wanted to create a team where other Christians that play paintball can get together. You can find out more information about it on the site: http://bseo.wordpress.com/.
Gotta run still in class.
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…
I Need One of These
Jen, Mike (Father in-law), and I have really gotten into paintball. We went over to Mikes house last night to do some shooting. Turns out Mike has set up a little mock shooting range in his back yard. I said last night that I bet in a month Mike will have his backyard cleared and pop up targets and the whole shebang setup.
I came across this today and well it’s just awesome. Some college kid built a half-size WWII Panzer tank for paintball.
Bloopers
So Saturday night was the first night of our Church’s Easter production and within a few weeks I will get the family a copy of it. Over the years I have gotten over my fear of getting in front of big groups and speaking, but not acting. So needless to say I was a bit nervous Saturday night. For the most part I remembered my lines, but there were some bloopers. Blooper one, there is a scene when Mary (Jen) realizes Jesus (Me) has resurrected. After the scene I was walking backyards through a curtain and lights went out. I turn to go right to get ready for the next scene and I slammed my toe into a black wooden box. It was so loud people in the audience not only heard it some of them thought I fell. Jen was still on stage getting ready to sing her solo and wasn’t sure what to do. Before I talk about blooper two I have a quick side story. Ann, the writer of the play, her husband owns a machine shop and he actually built an ascension machine. Picture a one platform escalator. Anyways, we nicknamed it the Jesus Coaster. So blooper two, during the ascension scene before getting on the Jesus coaster I was to go and shake hands with the disciples and give hugs. Well I was in such a hurry because I had to change costumes and get mic’d up again I forgot my fake hair. I walked onto stage where everyone could see me, which some people did. Fortunately, Gary cut me off before I was on stage for too long and I went back and got my hair. Saturday morning Jen, her dad, and bunch from church went and played paintball.
Mike, Jen’s dad, loved paintball so much that afternoon when he got home he bought a paintball gun. Mike is already talking about going to his land and playing paintball there. So I think a paintball gun purchase for me and Jen are in the future.
So remembering social obligations are not really my thing…actually without Jen I would be lost. One reason I have my Blackberry is to remember these obligations. However these planned events do not always make into my Blackberry. One such event I am horrible at remembering are birthdays. Birthdays are really the worse for me, they just never tend to pop up on my radar. Simply ask my mom, my dad, my sister, or anyone really in my family because I have forgotten them all at least once. Who knows why, maybe because I tend not to make a big deal out of mine. What I do know is that I suck as a son because I have once again ladies and gentlemen forgotten my mother’s birthday. It’s not in the Bible, but I am pretty sure God will judge me and others like me differently for forgetting our mom’s birthdays. So my day is pretty much ruined and if you need me I will be playing in traffic.
