Late night frustration

It's 11:30 pm, we just got settled into our hotel room in Cincy after driving 12 hrs in the van. It's late, I'm tired, Skyline Chili is not doing good things to me, and I need to vent a little. Why? you might ask, because I hate (I know it's a strong word, but it's very appropriate) online mapping services. Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, Mapquest, and now Ran MacNally. They can just never seem to get it right. Why send me in a big circle when it's just down the street. And I'm not the best with directions, so when it says, "Head North on Buttonwillow Blvd" I'm sorry but I don't know which way north is. Give me left and right, that's easier. It's universal. They could put it in Spanish and I could understand it better then telling me to head East on some random road. GEEZ!

Being in a Van for 4,000 miles, you do some thinking

I've been in a van for the last week traveling out to California and back so I've had a lot of time to think about this. It's the little things that we don't always notice that have been blowing me away. Some of them extremely random, like thumbs, holy crap! God was thinking on that one. I'm not even trying to be funny (because I know you are rolling right now). I was trying to open a bottle of water with one hand while I was driving and I was thinking, "There is no way I could do this without my thumb". It's such a simple thing, something we don't often think about until we get a hang nail, but it's so very important. I often think about how things work, that's just how my mind works. I am amazed at the technology that we have now a days. But as much as I am amazed that right now I am going to hit a button and my words can be accessed by millions of people, I am more amazed that I don't even have to think it and I can walk across the room. I know it seems simple and it's not anything that we really think about, but it's so amazing how it all works.
We never know what tomorrow brings. Half the time I don't know what yesterday brought. But the crazy thing is that God knows. He has it all planned out. I have to worry about things like what I'm going to wear tomorrow, if I'm going to go to Starbucks or not, what I'm going to eat for dinner, stupid things like that. Of course throughout life I have to make bigger decisions, but it's really nothing when I try to think about how God does it. But then I think I don't need to know how God does it. Even if he were to tell me how he does it, I don't think there is any way that my mind could possibly comprehend it.
I was talking to a friend from back home tonight and he was telling me the things God has been teaching him. He was telling me about how God has been amazing him. Which was great to hear because it always makes my heart happy to hear my friends talk like that. But it was also cool to hear it because it is something I have thought about a lot lately also. I look back on this last year, even these last couple of months and I am amazed at what God has been teaching me. Life is a constant journey that, for me, has been fun the whole time. Sure there are ups and downs, but I've been constantly learning new things, formulating who I am. I can't wait to see where this journey continues to take me.

Things in life must change sometimes

I have gotten to a point in my life where I felt like I needed to make some changes. Not that I am unhappy with where I am in life, because I love where I am at, but a change in some of the little things must take place. This has been my conclusion. This new way of life may have been inspired by some of the people I work with, or maybe just from the suttle, yet obviously very effect marketing of a company with a guy in a tee shirt and jeans representing the cool, casual, hip lifestyle their product is associated with. I'll have to admit I have been fighting this change for a while. People don't often like change and I am no big exception to the rule. I don't mind it, but transitioning from one way of thinking to another is not always easy, even if you know deep down inside that it must take place. So, after fighting it for a while, going back and forth on what I should do, I finally broke down and joined the esotaric, tendy group of people that own a Mac.

I make this judgement with the utmost respect, with the reluctant knowledge that I may be entering the beginning stages of becoming one myself. I told a friend who is a proud Mac owner, that owning a MacBook makes you feel almost high class. It's a smooth, classy looking machine and you are proud to walk into Starbucks (strictly for example purposes) with this MacBook in your hands, set it down on the table and surf the web with the added bonus of enjoying a Mocha Frapp (again just for example).

Several other people have MacBooks at CIY and I have seen theirs and they are durty where their hands rest as they type, so I decided I did not want mine to become like this. So I added some blue surface to protect and enhance the surrounding keyboard area. I think I really like it. It adds a nice accent and sets it apart from the other MacBooks I am surrounded by. People can look at mine and know it belongs to me, because it is unique. No one else has a MacBook that looks like mine.

The transition will take a while for me to be totally comfortable. I find myself trying to do little things that worked on my PC but don't work on the Mac. And I am learning the things that the Mac can do that the PC can't. So here I go, entering a new phase of life. It's like graduating from college and school all together. I went to school my whole life, then one day I woke up and I was done. I started a new stage in life. The same goes with my computing. I have used a PC my whole life. It is all I have ever know. Now I wake up one day and I have moved from the old to a whole new thing.
So far, it's been great. I'm loving it and will soon be a pro, or maybe just below pro status!

Remembering Ohio

I found this picture, which I thought I had lost. If you know me, which I don't know why someone would be reading this if they didn't, I am a big Ohio State Fan. I'm often asked "How did you become an Ohio State fan? You're from California" Well in case you don't know, my dad is from Ohio. Growing up my family would take trips out to Ohio every couple of years to visit my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was always a favorite place to go. We would all go out to the farm and hit golf balls and come up with inside jokes that only my cousins and siblings were privaliged too. Those were such great times. It is still always very exciting to go to Ohio to visit family. This picture was taken when I was out there a last Christmas 05. I have been lucky enough to have been able to walk the ground that my favorite team plays on. One day, hopefully soon, I will get to go to my first Ohio State Football game. Oh what a glorious day that will be