Dang Denver!

I'm at home in California for Christmas, finally! I went up to St. Louis with Mike and Jenesse and stayed with his family for a day because I was flying out of St. Louis at 6:30pm Sat. night. My flight went from STL to Denver, Denver to Sac. Knowing about the storm in Denver a couple of days before it worried me a little because the airport had been shut down so I was keeping a close eye on my flight status via the intern. Everything was looking good, so we left for the airport, and my flight into Denver was on time and things were running smoothly. I got to Denver and had about an 1:30hr. layover, no big deal, so I got some food. My flight out of Denver was scheduled for 9:15. Well that came and went. And the scheduled departure time kept being moved back by 10 min, then 20 min, then another 20 min, etc. I didn't get on the plane till about 12:30am. Apparently, because of the storm, the ground crew had been working for three days straight, so they were highly understaffed yesterday to unload and reload luggage from the plane. That was the only reason my flight was delayed 3 hrs, because there was no one to unload it. I almost went up there and offered to do it myself if it would get us going. So we finally left and I arrived in Sac around 2:30am. Then the wait for the luggage. This is something that has never really bothered me too much because I have never had a bag lost or anything like that. You except to see your bag come up over the ridge of the conveyer belt and then you can breath easy. Well, it was somewhat stressfull for me this time. Knowing about the problems in Denver, I figured the chances of all our luggage getting to us wasn't very good. I saw one bag so figured I'd get both. Well I was wrong. My bag with my closes is somewhere in the United States right now. So I finally got home to Stockton around 4:30am and decided that I needed to go to the mall before churcha and buy some closes. So the only good thing about this whole thing, if there is a silver lining, is that my mom bought me some new jeans, which I really needed anyways, and two new shirts. And the gifts for my sister and parents are in that bag. So hopefully I'll get it. They are suppose to deliver it too me, maybe a christmas gift on my front door tomorrow. That'd be nice, shoot!

"First I would like to Thank God!"

"Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou! Um, normally I'm pretty cool in pressure situations, but my heart is pounding so fast right now. First off I want everybody that's able to be here with us today to understand how much I'm thankful and I have to thank God first because without him none of this is possible. I sit in front of all you great people today and without God we wouldn't have the blessing that we have before all of us."-Troy Smith

These are the opening words spoken by this years Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith of The Ohio State University. I want to say first how proud I am that an Ohio State Buckeye won this most prestigious award. I am always honored to be a Buckeye fan but it is moments like these that make it truly special. And it could not have happened to a better person. Granted, I do not personally know Troy Smith, so I may not be qualified to make a statement like this, so Troy, don't pull something like that guy that use of play with you, I think his number was 13, and end up in Jail in a couple of years. I do not want to hold Troy Smith on a pedestal. He is a great athlete and sounds like he is a great person that has over come a very difficult childhood. He has made some mistakes in his past that I'm sure he is not proud of, but he has over
come all that to make for himself what could be a great future. But my question comes not about his athletic ability, there is no doubt there, but in his faith. Do the words he spoke at the beginning of his speech really mean something, or is he just one of those people that thanks God when things are going good and points to the sky when he throws a touchdown? You see that a lot in sports. Someone makes a great catch, a perfect throw, hits a home run, or crosses the finish line in record time and the first thing they do is point to the sky. Are they thanking God in the
moment for being with them, for giving them the ability to play this sport that they love? Are they remembering a loved one that has pasted away as if to say "This one's for you pops"?
When you watch the Grammy's or Emmy's or any of the seemingly hundreds of other awards shows and you hear an actor or musician first thank God for their success do you really take them seriously? Do they take it seriously? I know it's pretty much impossible to tell. Half the time it's someone that has been married 3 or 4 times, has been to AA meetings for the last six months, and is probably a Michigan Wolverine fan. (okay that was low, I'll admit that, but it was funny) I'm sure that some people really mean it. They believe in God, or a god, and believe He is responsible for giving them the talents and opportunities to be where they are today. Or you have people that are just saying it cause everyone else gets up there and says it and they figure it's the 'cool thing' to say. I'd like to believe that it's
the first reason. While they may not live a life that says, "Thanks God for everything", that might be inside them, it's just the pressures of the life they live in weight heavier then a life following God. That of course doesn't make it right, but I'd like to think that anyways.
As for Troy Smith, I have heard him talk before in interviews. I have heard people talking about him (on tv) and you hear nothing but good things about him. It's one thing to hear what people say, but to also hear how they say it. Their tone of voice, their body language, their facial expressions, the way they carry themselves and their attitude can say so much more then what actually comes out of their mouths. I'd like to think he really meant what he said at the beginning of his acceptance speech. It wasn't just going through the motions. I think he really feels blessed to be where he is today and that he has receive those blessing from God. And he wanted the people that were in the Nokia Theater in New York City and all the people watching on ESPN to know that God has given us those blessings. While I can speculate and give you the reasons why I believe him, God is truly the only one that knows what is really in his heart. Maybe I'm just a Christian that is a big Ohio State fan and wants the Quarterback, and Hiesman Trophy winner, of my favorite team
to be a Christian also. That could be it. I guess one day when I'm in Heaven I'll have to look up Troy Smith and see if he is there also. Maybe I'll look up Mel Gibson also!

Big 12 Championship Game

On Saturday I went up to Kansas City with Chase, Abbey, Teri, Eric, and Tori to the Big 12 Championship game. It was Oklahoma vs. Nebraska. Being that we are in Joplin and half of the people I went with are from Oklahoma they were all going for OU. I was, somewhat quietly at first, going for Nebraska. When it really comes down to it I didn't really care, but I guess for me the edge went to Nebraska. The other's wern't really too happy about that. Because our seats were at the second row from the top of Arrow Head Stadium (where the Kansas City Cheifs play) they threatened to throw me over the top. But we still all have fun.
We knew that it was going to be cold up there. It had snowed in Joplin a couple of days before and some up in KC, so we tried to dress accordingly. I had on my wife beater, cutoff tee, long sleeve tee, short sleeve tee, two sweatshirts, and a heavy jacket for my top layers. That's seven layers. That worked out pretty well for me. I had long underwear, athletic shorts, jeans, a pair of ankle shocks and two pairs of knee high socks as my bottom layers. This worked alright. My feet were freezing by halftime, my right knee was cold because I had a big hole in my jeans, and my butt was cold because the seats were freezing. I also had a beany, the two hoods on the sweatshirts I was wearing and the hood from my heavy jacket. Also three pairs of gloves. Overall I felt like I was pretty well prepared. It sounds like I may have overdone it, but no, not overdone at all. There are a couple of things I would do differently next time I prepare to stand out in freezing temps with the windchill being probably close to single digits. But I had a great time. I have only been to one pro football game, but the atmosphere of a college game is so much more electric. The energy of the crowd is amazing. You have the band playing and everyone cheering for 'their' team. It was great. Funny thing was I was taking pictures, so I had one glove on my right hand off so I could work that camera a little better. I had dropped it at some point at the beginning of the game and looked everywhere for it. I figured it might have fallin in the seat of the man sitting in front of me, so when he stood up I looked. Nothing. So the game has gone on and sometime during the third quarter I think, the lady next to him finally stood up, and there it was. She had been sitting on it the whole time. She kept it nice and warm for me so I apprieciated that.
We didn't get home till about 2:30/3am. It was a great game though, great time with friends, just a great overall experience.

Lot's of Snow, and I love it

On Wed this last week it was 68 degrees when I left for work at 7:30 in the morning. The day progressed and it was raining and got colder. By that night its was sleating/snowing. Thursday morning there was snow on the ground and the southwest Missouri area was shut down. And of course I was wearing shorts, and it really wasn't too bad out. It took me about 20 min to get my car ready to go. First I couldn't get into it because the doors were frozen shut. Then I had to scrap a thick layer of ice off all my window. I was loving it though. I went into work and there were a hand full of people that came it. I love my Tahoe. It has 4x4 so I can get through the snow and Ice a little easier then cars without it. It still slides around a little, but it is so much fun. That night, Thursday, Mike asked me to help him pick up his sister at work because she couldn't drive her car and Mike couldn't drive his. So I was happy to help. We got back to Mike's house and had some hot chocolate and relaxed a little. Then we got to talking, we should go sledding. Now that I'm out of school I haven't done too many spontanious activities late at night, 10:00pm is late to me now, so I was excited about it. Mike, Janese, Nicole and I went to Wal-Mart to buy some sleds and we headed to the biggest hill we could think of. Being in Missouri there aren't really many hills, so we went to where the CIY offices are. There is a little hill that you have to get up to get to the offices so we thought we'd try that. Needless to say it wasn't very good. There was too much powder. So we decided to get a rope and tie it to my hitch and pull each other around the parking lot and down the hill and back up. It was a lot of fun, very cold, be so much fun. It was snowing pretty good by then so the snow was hitting your face so you could hardly see, it was great!
Friday morning I woke up and had to pick up Nicole and take her to school. We had another snow day so we didn't have work. The roads still weren't very good, so again, I was happy to help. I dropped her off at Ozark and went to the office. I turned in and there was someone that was stuck at the bottom of the hill. So I got out and asked him if he wanted me to push him up the hill with my car. So I slowly started to push him up the hill. I was a little worried about hurting his bumper. We got half way up the hill and I got a little stuck too. So I backed up and repositioned my car. I started to push again and I heard a cracking noise. I got him up the hill and saw that I broke his back right tail light. Thankfully he was okay with that, he was just happy to not be stuck anymore. Again though, I was loving the snow still. I took some pictures around the office and was just enjoying the beauty that the snow brings.
After a little bit of that it was time to go pick Nicole up from school and take her to work. Then I came home, relaxed briefly, then went to Kansas City with Patrick and Sam to pick up their friends from the airport. I am glad the Lord blessed me with my vehicle and I can help people out. I love it. And it's always fun to hang out with them.
I am just loving all the snow. I love that it is cold. I love that I can put my Tahoe in 4x4 and get though it. I love that I can help people out and give them a ride. I even enjoy scrapping the ice from my windows. Maybe it's because I grew up in California in the central valley where I never had to drive though snow and deal with everything that comes with it. I just love it and I hope this is the first of several snow storms we get here in Joplin. And I wouldn't be suprised if I'm the only person that feels that way, but that's okay, because if I haven't said it yet, I love it!