I am pretty excited right now! Last night when I got home I had two messages on my answering machine. They were each from people that I had been trying to contact the week before about jobs that they were offering. One job was a youth leader internship with a local church near me. The other job was with Panera.
I called both of these people back today after I got home from school and talked to Joy for a little while. The employment services lady representing Panera asked me a few questions and made some promising statements, but said that she would be getting back to me later on today or tomorrow.
The Associate Paster of the church offering the youth leader internship was much more promising. I am going to be leaving in an hour to check out what their Wednesday night youth service is like. Then I'll visit their Sunday church service and talk with the associate pastor again. Hopefully, I will know more at that point. It sounds promising so far though.
One bit of bad news though -- the associate pastor told me that the dynamics of the job changed a bit. The position won't be a paid position anymore. That is a let down, but it probably makes it more likely that I will be able to work with their church though.
Today in my Evangelism class we talked about two things. The second topic was idolatry. We heard that the first and second commandments are most important because they lead to all other sins. I have actually been thinking about idols a good deal before I came to this class, so this was just adding to all of those thoughts.
I have tons of idols. "The very heart of evangelism is calling people to turn from their idols to Jesus." This is something I believe, and in believing it I feel that I should make the first step in turning from my idols -- admitting them to myself and confessing them to others.
My idols
Friends
Women
Astrology
Scorpios
Money
Security
Approval
Acceptance
My will
Influence
Peace/Quiet
Video games
Privacy
Rest
Not all of these things are bad things. The reason that they are idols is not because they are inherently bad. These things are idols because I feel and act as if I can not be happy and at peace with just God. I feel like I need these things in my life too to be happy.
Well, I have to get going now and I'm not quite finished with the list or this entry, but I have got to go.
This weekend I ran into another conspiracy theory and got to thinking about them with Jennjula and Joy again. My main thought-lines were about specific conspiracy theories, the strong incentive for discounting a conspiracy theory, the incentive for authoring or believing a conspiracy theory, and the personal ramifactions of actually caring about any one of these theories.
What do you think about this conspiracy theory? Are there any others that you thought were even remotely believable? Are there any that you believe?
I am starting this new thing in my blog that I am calling "Review and Respond." I've been wanting to do this since the inception of my blog, but I have always been hesitant because of the problem with links going dead.
If this link is dead by the time you get to it, leave a comment letting me know.
Here's the link --> http://oilendgame.org/ExecutiveSummary.html
I think it would be cool if you could review this when you get time and leave a comment on what you think about it. Thanks.
The hurricane is past us now.
I decided to come up to Gainesville for the hurricane again -- even though I really thought it would be wiser to stay in Orlando for the weekend. It just seemed to make sense to me to go and spend the hurricane time with Joy and our friends.
We pretty much holed up in a combination of Keys 301 and Joy's apartment. When the hurricane finally came close to Gainesville, I asked Joy to pick an apartment and stay in it. She didn't really want to do this at first, because she wanted to wait at Windmeadows until the power went out and then take her food to 301, but that seemed really silly to me -- as the power would most likely go out during one of the worst parts of the storm.
The power did go out. Joy managed to get her food out of the apartment. She asked two out-going cars take the food. Both of these cars had two girls in them. I think this is too is kind of silly, but at the same time I can understand and empathize with the willingness to take a risk to have some fun. I just worry because there are people who go out during hurricanes and tropical storms and end up dead or in car accidents and such. I didn't want this to happen to my friends for no reason.
They made it safely to their destinations, and our power came back on by morning. Everything was good and fine, and I had a wonderful evening. Hurricane parties are pretty cool, but I think that I enjoy them more when people are committed to staying at the party until it is over.
Lana wrote an entry in her blog the other day that reminded me about an aspect of blogging -- Tone. Whenever I read bloggers the tone is often any combination of pensive, dark, gloomy, excited, informative, funny, or profound.
I had commented that 'it is also interesting to note that our posting tones are often quite different from who we are in real life. Often times when you are in a great mood you're just too busy to post, so blog posts inevitably reflect a slightly darker version of the poster.'
How true does this become?
The way you act in front of your computer is and perhaps should be different than the way you might act in front of people such as friends and relatives. Every situation produces a different mood and tone in people -- even if that variation is only slight.
I have many other parts of my personality, but I don't think I'll ever share my goofier, sexier, sadder, insecure, etc. sides of myself here.
OK, I just sold 273 shares of Altria despite myself. (Note: 180 of that is Joy's and the other 93 shares are mine.)
The only reason I did this was that I made a plan, prayed about it, and decided to stick to it.
The plan was to double this money every year -- just like a good steward. To do that, I would choose one company to invest in each month. I would buy as many shares of that company's stock as I could, and then hold it until one of three events transpired.
A) The stock appreciated by 10% before the end of the month
B) The stock depreciated by 2% before the end of the month
C) The end of the month
In the last year, option B didn't really happen. That was awesome! I ended the year with more than a 100% gain, and was pleased to measure up as a good and faithful steward of this money that God let's me monkey around with.
This is the first month of a new year, and option B reared it's ugly head. Not only did option B come up, but it came up in such a way that caused me to squirm inside in a big way.
See, Altria has legal troubles. They come and go from time to time, and don't really mean too much to the long-term health of the company, BUT people always decide to hop out of the stock whenever this bad news comes up. Usually that last two to five trading days and then the stock comes back up and things progress normally. Knowing this, I still decided to sell the position based on the principle. It hurts. I can't care about it anymore (after I write this blog) though, because that is really the market's and ultimately God's perogative. I'll likely still do really well this year -- I'm just starting a little behind.
(Actually, I guess I'll be starting right about where I should have been, because we made more than 100% last year.)
Last Note: I don't know if I have blogged about this or not, but I set the bar for myself at 100% earnings every year. This is an absurd expectation to most people who invest in the stock market, but I think that it is right for me. In fact, I feel convicted that I should expect this every year, because of that one reference to it in the Bible. Oh well, people shake their heads and doubt every step of the way down any path to a goal. I just need to get used to that.
Wow, I haven't blogged in over a week, and my last two entries weren't really even entries about my life or anything. I guess it can be true what they say... the busier you get the less you blog.
Here's what's been going on...
Classes, Daytona Beach Retreat, more reading and Classes.
I am pretty much at the end of my week now. I am really behind on my errands, my reading, and pretty much everything, so today I have worked a lot on getting some business handled. I have to do a ton of change of addresses, and I managed to do a few of those today. I also reregistered to vote, which is good. I just now I set up my Sunpass account, and I deleted the porn advertisement comments from my blog. I'm rocking and rolling.
One of the major things that I have been working on this week was getting things done, but also getting into a firm sleep groove. That has been difficult with the traveling that I've been doing every weekend, but this weekend I am staying in the apartment. I plan to wake up at the same time every day, do my quiet times for Priniciples of Sanctification, get some reading done, and just get back on top of everything. I really want to get a job too, but I don't think I should do that until I am on top of all this stuff. I have an interview set up for 10AM tomorrow morning, so that gives me something to wake up for then. I woke up at 7:25AM today too, so I am doing well. I just need to stay awake all day and go to bed at a normal time, right? Soon this will be a habit and I'll actually get tired every day at the same time again. Ahhhh! That will be nice. That's the one thing I actually miss about Southwestern.
I've also started doing these mini workouts. I think that getting my sleep ordered and workingout everyday will send my moods back through the roof and give me tons of energy again. I love that feeling! I usually get grumpy more easily when I am not getting regular sleep or exercise -- just like everyone else I guess. I don't want to be grumpy though. I like being pumped, excited and ready to go -- without caffeine.
So, that's where I am now. I am learning a lot of interesting stuff, but it is waaay too much to manage and get into blog form. Besides, I have it all in OneNote and most people don't want to read my seminary notes anyway.
Ahhhh... that must be part of the issue with less blogging. I have been journaling in OneNote lately, which is easier to do when you have no Internet in your room. I guess I need to get into a habit of bringing those down here and uploading them to my blog when appropriate.
After the English Parliament's 1938 appeasement of Hitler in Czechoslovakia, Winston Churchill saw the danger of choosing peace when honor and common sense called for battle. "You have been given the choice between peace and dishonor." he said. "You have chosen dishonor, and you will have war!"
History confirmed his prophetic warning.
Refusing to fight an honorable battle may afford a temporary peace, but in the long run it's too costly. Delaying a necessary battle may well result in a devastating, full-scale war.
If you were a cookie, what sort of cookie would you be?
Me: I'm still undecided, but I am definately thinking about it. I plan to have an answer waiting for everyone by the end of the week.
Today I finally started work on my first book.
I am using Microsoft's OneNote to put it together at first. There are two reasons for this (1) I wanted to try out the program and see how it goes and (2) I like the way that it organizes things into folders, sections and pages. I have it set up so that the book is in its own folder, each section is a chapter of the book, and each page is... well... a page.
Uhpt! There's a third reason. I like the fact that I can just throw the text anywhere on the page that I want it in pretty much any configuration. Then I can rearrange it as a please and search through all of it at once. It is good for me.
Now I just need to stay disciplined and churn out some actual prose, do research into what I am writing about, flush out the rest of the structure, and let it bake for a few months in the daily writing oven.
It's Labor Day! I've been here in Atlanta all weekend avoiding Hurricane Frances and attending the Mueller's get together / first annual corporate board meeting. I just realized that I haven't blogged at all this whole weekend so I thought it would be a good time to update the site with all that has happened so far.
I left Gainesville with Joy Friday afternoon around 2PM after putting my car in a parking garage at UF to keep it safe from Frances. We headed up I-75, which wasn't nearly as congested as we were told it would be... until we got about an hour or two south of Atlanta.
After we crossed the Georgia-Florida border we stopped for lunch at this Chinese restaurant that we had seen on our way home from Nashville two weeks ago. We got the lunch buffet there and headed back out on the road. That place didn't have the best Chinese, but it wasn't a complete loss either.
As we approached Atlanta we got stuck in some heavy traffic. That really frustrated Joy because she was the one driving. I was sitting patiently in hopes that my calm demeanor would rub off on her. If not then at least I wasn't adding to her troubles.
We finally made our way through it all and to Georgia Tech to pick up Matt. He gave us a quick tour of his dorm and some of its facilities and then we headed to Karl and Jenn's house.
Once we got to Karl and Jenn's we were almost immediately seated for dinner. That was pretty crazy as most meals with The Muellers are -- especially ones with Joe present. I survived it though, and we were on to the next thing. There wasn't really a next thing though, so Matt and I decided that we'd start a game of poker.
That was an adventure all its own. Joy's Dad (Pere) took Joy's car so Matt could take their van, which he almost drove off of this steeeep hill that is Karl and Jenn's driveway. He also nearly hit two trees. That adventure lasted nearly an hour as they had to rig up something so that Dave (Karl's video-game and motorcycle addicted friend) could pull the Van out of this mess with his Range Rover.
Finally we made it back to GeorgiaTech, we grabbed some cards, some poker chips, and Matt's folding chair, which he'd need at the races the next day. We ended up playing pool, poker, and doing other stuff until it was time to sleep. Then we all went to sleep.
Saturday we all woke up early and drove off to the RoadAtlanta raceway, which was about an hour away from where Karl and Jenn live. When we got there we set up our lawn chairs on a ridge at turn 10A -- right by a camping spot and the infield tunnel. We stopped for a few cases of beer, but we didn't get sunblock, so everyone except for Joy's Dad was severely sunburned.
The races were pretty cool, but there was a lot of down time during them, which was quite boring. I actually ended up taking two naps, visiting the Main Paddock Area and the Vendor Village, and getting free stuff while I was there.
There were two specific things that I really wanted to see at these races before I left. I wanted to see someone pass someone else in a turn and I wanted to see someone wipe out on his bike. I saw both of these things and more.
I saw people pass each other a few times, but the best pass was done on the last lap by the two leaders. Duhamel passed some other guy and he did it so closely that their bikes actually touched. Duhamel ended up winning, which was pretty cool because he stayed in second place the whole race only to win it after passing during turn 10 -- two turns before the finish line.
I also saw people wipe out. I saw two right in front of me on turns 10A and 10B. The first one was really cool, because the guy just jumped up off the ground and ran straight back to his bike ready to get back on it, but it caught fire while he was holding it up ready to re-saddle it. This was during a qualifier and I think that he had spare bikes to race in the actual race. The second wipe out was during an actual race and the racer went straight into a sand pit after basically riding and bouncing on his side on the track for a while. It was intense, but he got up and got pissed off. Finally he settled down, but he was out of the race.
That's almost it for the races. I saw a lot of interesting people though. I saw quasi-famous people -- the motorcycle racers. I saw Michael Jordan on a motorcycle from a long distance. (He has a cycling team and a bunch of bikes and stuff too. I got to see all of that in the Paddock area.) That was the closest I had ever been to seeing him in person, because I never got a chance to go to one of his games. I also saw a lot of augmented women. I have a strong intuition that guys who like races of all types also like augmenting all sorts of things and they like large breasted women, so this phenomenon is a natural mating of those two interests in my mind.
After all of that I came home and got to hear about Joy, Mere and Jenn's day. They probably had a better day -- at least for my tastes.
I'm en route to Atlanta, but I am stopping over in Gainesville for the night. The plan was to spend the night (Thursday night) at 301, which is now Jenn and Lana's place. The plan has changed a little and now Jenn and Lana are staying the night at Joy's place and I am too. Weird how things get rearranged like that.