Thought I would finish the record of events so far this week.... Monday, we all went to Hollywood Studios and watched some of the imagineering shows/rides learning all about how 2D things become 3D but it was very hot that day. also did Star Tours which was fun. My mom went to a flea market and got me a really cool bag to carry my stuff in at the parks...between that and the oversized, insulated water bottle... I should be good to go for park hopping. Tony and I had lunch at Fairfax FanFare. Tuesday was Animal Kingdom where I saw Flights of Wonder went on Kilamajoro's Safari, and hopped over to Magic Kingdom for a family lunch and a ride on Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain....that was fun, another hot day so we headed home early for a large family dinner of pork chops, fried cabbage, Mac n' cheese, and candied yams. Wednesday, I lounged in the am (wonderful!) and then went to Epcot for their Illumination show and back to Magic Kingdom for SpectoMagic (liked SpectoMagic better than Illumination)...went on Journey into the Future, Pirates of the Carribean and the Under the Sea Adventure to see the manitees and dolphins. Since we went predominantly for show purposes yesterday, I am going back to Epcot to go through the worlds and ride Soarin today.
Also got a few gifts at very discounted prices thanks to my Orlando friend...one of them is non-souvenir and for the SO so will leave it at that for now.
well got to go get dressed for Epcot.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
It's Been a long time but now at least I have time
Wow a lot has happened since my last post 3 months ago...obviously can't fit it all in and really I do want to start using this blog for perusing my way thru the Bible. Now, I am just happy I remember the password to the site. Currently, I am reading The Case for the Creator by Lee Stroebel and really enjoying it...it really appeals to my scientific mind. As a matter of fact, it spurred on a great conversation with my Agnostic father.
As far as school goes, I defended my thesis on April 10th (it was a good presentation) and I graduated May 16th. My degree was officially posted on my transcript on May 26th. I started applying for jobs early thi s month and have had a couple of interviews which is good but need to do more applying.
Right now, I am on a family vacation to Orlando and that has been absolutely wonderful so far. I am thankful to so many for making this a cost efficient endeavor. One of my friends lives in Orlando and has blessed me with free entrances to all of the parks for me and two of my cousins. Furthermore, my parents were each one day free hopper passes, as well. One of my friends in Richmond allowed me to use his DVD player and this device that converts a cigarette lighter to an electrical socket making the long ride to FL much smoother. My SO did all the laundry and packing and did a wonderful job I might add so I did not have to do that. He also got me the Creation Series by Wildersmith for listening pleasure and loaded a couple of MP3 players for me which all saved time. All of these things made it much easier on me.
The trip down was very smooth. I helped my mom pack the stuff in the car early saturday am and with multiple stops in the middle we still pulled in to our condo by 11 pm which was a great thing. The condo is quite spacious. Each of the 4 families has a two bedroom deluxe (living room, dining room, kitchen), however, there is enough room for all of us (13) to eat/lounge, all in one of the condos...the resort is wonderful. Pictures to come soon I promise.
Well, i am too distracted right now...phone calls, people visiting the condo etc. so I will have to finish this up later.
As far as school goes, I defended my thesis on April 10th (it was a good presentation) and I graduated May 16th. My degree was officially posted on my transcript on May 26th. I started applying for jobs early thi s month and have had a couple of interviews which is good but need to do more applying.
Right now, I am on a family vacation to Orlando and that has been absolutely wonderful so far. I am thankful to so many for making this a cost efficient endeavor. One of my friends lives in Orlando and has blessed me with free entrances to all of the parks for me and two of my cousins. Furthermore, my parents were each one day free hopper passes, as well. One of my friends in Richmond allowed me to use his DVD player and this device that converts a cigarette lighter to an electrical socket making the long ride to FL much smoother. My SO did all the laundry and packing and did a wonderful job I might add so I did not have to do that. He also got me the Creation Series by Wildersmith for listening pleasure and loaded a couple of MP3 players for me which all saved time. All of these things made it much easier on me.
The trip down was very smooth. I helped my mom pack the stuff in the car early saturday am and with multiple stops in the middle we still pulled in to our condo by 11 pm which was a great thing. The condo is quite spacious. Each of the 4 families has a two bedroom deluxe (living room, dining room, kitchen), however, there is enough room for all of us (13) to eat/lounge, all in one of the condos...the resort is wonderful. Pictures to come soon I promise.
Well, i am too distracted right now...phone calls, people visiting the condo etc. so I will have to finish this up later.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Thanks and Praise
With all the complaining in the last post, thought this would be a great time for the weekly Thanks and Praise to start.
I am thankful for:
A job that does provide for all of my SO and I's needs
A dentist appointment that ended in no cavities and thus no extra bills
A light at the end of the tunnel of my Master's program
A SO who shows me the true meaning of life....living to the fullest despite the circumstance
A relief in stress over the last six months that has resulted in significantly lower blood pressure and heart rate
oh, and lets not forget the small stuff or the smaller stuff of the week.....
A great lunch provided spontaneously by a friend at work
A great offer by a friend to deal with the minutia of my thesis....such as picture formatting
The polishing up of the blog and beautiful rainbow Jesus Loves You banner addition by my SO
Renewed contact with a friend who left my current job suddenly who was very interesting and similar to me.
A great weather day or two where I really got to enjoy walks around the town....something i get less frequently now since my current place of residence does not have a balcony like the last place (but it does have tons of other great amenities).
I am thankful for:
A job that does provide for all of my SO and I's needs
A dentist appointment that ended in no cavities and thus no extra bills
A light at the end of the tunnel of my Master's program
A SO who shows me the true meaning of life....living to the fullest despite the circumstance
A relief in stress over the last six months that has resulted in significantly lower blood pressure and heart rate
oh, and lets not forget the small stuff or the smaller stuff of the week.....
A great lunch provided spontaneously by a friend at work
A great offer by a friend to deal with the minutia of my thesis....such as picture formatting
The polishing up of the blog and beautiful rainbow Jesus Loves You banner addition by my SO
Renewed contact with a friend who left my current job suddenly who was very interesting and similar to me.
A great weather day or two where I really got to enjoy walks around the town....something i get less frequently now since my current place of residence does not have a balcony like the last place (but it does have tons of other great amenities).
It's almost Friday and Life is Good
Hi,
This week seems to have gone far better than last week. I still have not gotten to talking to various regions about potential teach for america assignments but that will be done very soon. Work is going relatively smoothly, actually almost mundane. I still need to get applications out for other positions though...wow, reading this back to myself, it sound like I have gotten virtually nothing accomplished!
However, on the thesis front, the good news is I think I finally have a thesis defense date, the window of time of availability is only two hours and they still think that is a good date...waiting for one final confirmation and that will be set. I hope and pray that works out. The other good news is I have a friend that is formatting my pictures to be more crisp and clear...which is a great blessing. The bad news is my advisor has acknowledged receipt of my final thesis and encouraged the setting of a defense date but has NOT actually sent comments on the draft itself....which makes me scared.
There are things that are certainly on my mind this week. My SO is newly blind and very loved by me (although thanks to my thesis, it is not shown very much sometimes). He has been uprooted from a totally different state, been subjected to many doctors visits, and is finally getting vision loss services he is entitled...actaully they start really soon, which is awesome. He will be able to finally use a computer and take notes with ease and do things we all take for granted. However, some of the people that should be the closest to him seem to look out more for themselves and certainly fail to take his feeling and/or needs into consideration. This really, really bothers me.....don't get me wrong no one is an angel (and I am not saying he is immune to that) but he is entitled love and understanding and consideration and normal family relationships. Anyways, despite this, he has an absolutely awesome attitude about life, which I deeply admire. Just as importantly, he obviously deeply loves and trust me. Granted, sometimes I really wonder whether I can meet his needs effectively...I am a pretty independent, stubborn sort. Nonetheless, I hope and pray that the relationships that are most broken and bothersome to him mend themselves to something functional and reasonable, for everyone's sake, especially his....heck, at this point with thesis crazyville going one...he might say we could start with this one relationship right at home :) lol.
My friends are coming over tonight and I am looking forward to that as it is relaxing to me.
I did get my next nine weeks schedule and I have a full week of nights to work while the normal night person is off but usually you only actaully do work for about three hours of the night shift so I am okay with that. In this economy though, a job is a great blessing so I will take what I can get!
I guess that is enough of my complainfest for now! True bible related post will occurs soon but the stress level has been a little high and until defense day is all scheduled and my paper is considered sufficient, it is hard to focus on much else.
This week seems to have gone far better than last week. I still have not gotten to talking to various regions about potential teach for america assignments but that will be done very soon. Work is going relatively smoothly, actually almost mundane. I still need to get applications out for other positions though...wow, reading this back to myself, it sound like I have gotten virtually nothing accomplished!
However, on the thesis front, the good news is I think I finally have a thesis defense date, the window of time of availability is only two hours and they still think that is a good date...waiting for one final confirmation and that will be set. I hope and pray that works out. The other good news is I have a friend that is formatting my pictures to be more crisp and clear...which is a great blessing. The bad news is my advisor has acknowledged receipt of my final thesis and encouraged the setting of a defense date but has NOT actually sent comments on the draft itself....which makes me scared.
There are things that are certainly on my mind this week. My SO is newly blind and very loved by me (although thanks to my thesis, it is not shown very much sometimes). He has been uprooted from a totally different state, been subjected to many doctors visits, and is finally getting vision loss services he is entitled...actaully they start really soon, which is awesome. He will be able to finally use a computer and take notes with ease and do things we all take for granted. However, some of the people that should be the closest to him seem to look out more for themselves and certainly fail to take his feeling and/or needs into consideration. This really, really bothers me.....don't get me wrong no one is an angel (and I am not saying he is immune to that) but he is entitled love and understanding and consideration and normal family relationships. Anyways, despite this, he has an absolutely awesome attitude about life, which I deeply admire. Just as importantly, he obviously deeply loves and trust me. Granted, sometimes I really wonder whether I can meet his needs effectively...I am a pretty independent, stubborn sort. Nonetheless, I hope and pray that the relationships that are most broken and bothersome to him mend themselves to something functional and reasonable, for everyone's sake, especially his....heck, at this point with thesis crazyville going one...he might say we could start with this one relationship right at home :) lol.
My friends are coming over tonight and I am looking forward to that as it is relaxing to me.
I did get my next nine weeks schedule and I have a full week of nights to work while the normal night person is off but usually you only actaully do work for about three hours of the night shift so I am okay with that. In this economy though, a job is a great blessing so I will take what I can get!
I guess that is enough of my complainfest for now! True bible related post will occurs soon but the stress level has been a little high and until defense day is all scheduled and my paper is considered sufficient, it is hard to focus on much else.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
A State of Aw(e)
Boy, has this week been a rolller coaster ride of emotions. Sunday was totally Awesome as I created this blog, shopped for tennis shoes and flip-flops, spent time with my mom, and cleaned up around the house. Monday, however, was the total opposite extreme...it was awful. I work (temporarily) at a hospital and it was trauma after trauma. I swear I was wondering if the short-lived good weather (it was 70 or more) got to everyone and they went crazy. I mean one guy came in shot and so much blood was pouring out that we used towels to create a dam-like effect to prevent it from traveling further across the room. I did not stop all day and everyone had an attitude. I am also writing my thesis or more finetuning my thesis (weeks away from defending) and lets just say the emails from the thesis advisor were a little demanding on Monday as well. To add to my week, i got neutral at best news from Teach for America on Tuesday. This is a program that places top notch students in the worst neighborhoods ior most disadvantaged neighborhood in order to fight educational inequities that exist in this nation and it is very competitiver. Furthermore, it has an extensive application and interview process (written application, 2 essays, phone interview and 7 hour in person group/personal interview). Well, after all that, i am waitlisted. In other words, they feel Iam qualified to teach through their program and have great leadership abiliites and they want me but they do not know with the present economy know yet if their is a position for me. There honestly was nothing that i could have done better on that interview but I am going to call and talk to the regional offices this week. Fortunately, Wednesday through Friday was relatively uneventful.
There were certainly some positives in the week. Thursday, brought the news that despite impending layoffs at my company of employment, my section by in large, will not be affected by these layoff. Essentially, we are somewhat sheltered since our section is the 'moneymaker' of the hospital. My SO was out of town for most of the week and he generally does the cooking and cleaning but i managed to deal with lunches, cleaning, and getting up at 6 am in the morning without wasting money on eating out or anything else this week...this in and of itself is a feat since I am not a morning person. I also enjoyed his
return back here on Thursday. I did like all of the students in my building (i live in an apartment) being gone on spring break so it was quiet for writing and thinking and i enjoyed watching American Idol (it is one of the only shows I watch on TV).
Today, I did not get to church, but spent most of yesterday and today tying up my thesis and submitting. it . There are a few things left to do but hopefully all will go well with that. My advisor has already emailed me informing me to set up my seminar date ASAP. However, I am not delusioned into thinking she read my thesis yet so I am hoping that all is still well after the final read.
This week has been busy and I knew it was going to be when I started this blog. However, I do plan on finally starting to read and write about the bible using 24/7 in the next couple of days (now that my thesis is winding down a little).
I also plan on doing a weekly Thanks and Praise post as well. With all the bad and challenging things that one has to deal with on a weekly basis, it is always nice to recenter on the things that really did go well during the week....I, as I am sure most do, frequently forget about those.
Well, thats all for now. Really need to liven this page up with some pictures I tell you.
There were certainly some positives in the week. Thursday, brought the news that despite impending layoffs at my company of employment, my section by in large, will not be affected by these layoff. Essentially, we are somewhat sheltered since our section is the 'moneymaker' of the hospital. My SO was out of town for most of the week and he generally does the cooking and cleaning but i managed to deal with lunches, cleaning, and getting up at 6 am in the morning without wasting money on eating out or anything else this week...this in and of itself is a feat since I am not a morning person. I also enjoyed his
return back here on Thursday. I did like all of the students in my building (i live in an apartment) being gone on spring break so it was quiet for writing and thinking and i enjoyed watching American Idol (it is one of the only shows I watch on TV). Today, I did not get to church, but spent most of yesterday and today tying up my thesis and submitting. it . There are a few things left to do but hopefully all will go well with that. My advisor has already emailed me informing me to set up my seminar date ASAP. However, I am not delusioned into thinking she read my thesis yet so I am hoping that all is still well after the final read.
This week has been busy and I knew it was going to be when I started this blog. However, I do plan on finally starting to read and write about the bible using 24/7 in the next couple of days (now that my thesis is winding down a little).
I also plan on doing a weekly Thanks and Praise post as well. With all the bad and challenging things that one has to deal with on a weekly basis, it is always nice to recenter on the things that really did go well during the week....I, as I am sure most do, frequently forget about those.
Well, thats all for now. Really need to liven this page up with some pictures I tell you.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
First Post
I have just set up this blog. It is created with a dual objective. First, I want to chronicle my new and slowly evolving spiritual walk through the bible. I have chosen 24/7 as the tool to guide my chronological walk through the bible and will be starting tha this week. I am very interested in how the events of the bible happened in sequential order and how that sequence of events patterned with historical events. Furthermore, I am a scientist (more on me later) so I am interested in how events of science were relayed in the bible...i.e. are the findings of science "prophetically" mentioned in the bible. On a similar note, I was raised in a family with one Christian parent and one Agnostic parent so of course my scientific question is "Where does the evidence lie" in regards to the existence of a Creator and Jesus Christ. I believe these are answers that can only be found by reading and examinining in true depth the book itself. With a strong scientific background, I have heard the clear arguments for evolutionary development and now it is time to truly examine creationism. This has always been of interest but acting on this interest has been spurred on by events that have recently unfolded in my life that lead me, based purely on statistics, to believe there is something else other than chance, something more divine, that has to be the explanation. To this end, some books and people have really spurred my interest. I am interested in examining Lee Stroebel's book 'Evidence for a Creator" and maybe "Evidence for Jesus" (I think that is the title). Even though my love is science, especially life science, I believe that those with vast scientific foundation can also have strong religious convictions...look at Francis Collins and Kent Hovind.
Secondarily, I need an outlet for journaling my daily successes and struggles with life, career, family, and relationships. Writing is a strong suit for me and I feel a journal will be quite helpful... I may even use that digital camera that sits in the corner a little more now. I certainly can't let this blog look so visually barren for long. I hope those of you who follow or manage to stumble upon this blog enjoy the read but also realize that this is my journal of my personal thoughts that you happen to be allowed to be privy too.
Secondarily, I need an outlet for journaling my daily successes and struggles with life, career, family, and relationships. Writing is a strong suit for me and I feel a journal will be quite helpful... I may even use that digital camera that sits in the corner a little more now. I certainly can't let this blog look so visually barren for long. I hope those of you who follow or manage to stumble upon this blog enjoy the read but also realize that this is my journal of my personal thoughts that you happen to be allowed to be privy too.
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