New Music

Well, I decided to just go ahead and do it now. Hope you enjoy it!

New Post

Hehe. I just love these titles. It's great fun!

Anyway, Monday was a little bit different. Dad needed to go down to the scout council's offices/store, so Mom and I went along. We had a great time, and had a scrumptious lunch at Arby's. After we got home, I had an algebra test that I did pretty well on, along with plenty of other schoolwork.

Tuesday was even "differenter." We'd had a bit of snow overnight, so Mom and I spent about 45 minutes outside shoveling. During this "P. E.", I suddenly wondered how long it'd been since I'd had a real snow day when everyone else did (the local public school didn't do anything yesterday.) Mom had to go to town, so I worked on a bit of school while she was gone. When she got back soon after lunch, we did one more subject, and I got the rest of the afternoon off! It was great. Unfortunately, all of my friends around town weren't able, for various reasons, to do anything, so I ended up spending a while at the library talking with the librarians. After I got back, it was time to get ready for the scout meeting.

Last night was what we call a "Court of Honor" (COH); an awards ceremony. We had a pizza dinner before, and everyone likes pizza dinners, right? Right! So, after this, we had the awards. I got three merit badges (awards for completing requirements all in a specific theme), the Den Chief Service award (a Den Chief helps out with a cub scout pack), a Senior Patrol Leader certificate (SPL is the main junior leader), and a couple of other patches. The one from the Klondike was kinda neat. I'll see if I can scan it in and put it up here. Anyway, the COH was a big success, as everyone managed to get something, and the food was great! The other nice thing that happened last night was that a Webelos Scout (senior cub scout) gave his final decision on whether or not he'd stay in Boy Scouts. Thankfully, he's decided that Scouts is too much fun to pass up!

Well, that's been my last couple days. I might be changing the music sometime soon, but I need to figure out what I'll do next. I might end up doing another Psalm, but I could do something more controversial, especially if you're a sports fan! Don't worry, it won't be anything bad, unless you root for the team up north.

MUSIC!!

I got the music working! Thanks to Jordan for the help. It should just play once. For those of you who don't know, this is Psalm 73C, which would be verses 23-28, sung from our denomination's psalmbook.

Finally!

Well, as promised last night, I'm getting a new post up. I'm really going to have to remember to put up stuff more regularly.

A couple of other format changes--I'll soon start doing more pictures, and I will possibly be putting up music, as well. One could argue that I couldn't do more pictures, since I haven't done any, but oh well. Also, on the music--I don't think anyone needs to worry about it. The content is just fine. Many of you have heard it, and I'm sure that either all or almost all have read the words.

OK--Wednesday was about an average day. It was far enough ago that I don't remember much about it. The only significant thing that was going to happen was prayer meeting in the evening, but that was unfortunately canceled due to sickness.

Thursday was different. Dad had a committee meeting out at Geneva College, where Nathaniel is. Geneva is about a 4 1/2 hour drive from here. It's located in western PA, right around where almost all of Mom's family lives, and where she grew up. Anyway, we all went out there to see Nathaniel and my grandpa and grandma.

Grandpa was doing all right. He still lives at home, but my grandma is in a nursing home about 25 minutes from their house. She isn't the best anymore, since she's always quite tired. When we got there, Grandpa was there, but Grandma was asleep. While we were talking, she woke up, but wasn't very alert until she got a cup of coffee. Then, she was almost back to what I remember her being like when I was much younger. She was (generally) alert and a bit talkative; she even cracked a couple of jokes! It was wonderful. Then, right before we left to go back to Geneva (we'd already been there, and needed to go back so Dad could get to the committee meeting), Grandpa invited us to stay at their house overnight. Mom and Dad were planning to come back home that evening, but were happy to have an alternative.

When we got back to Geneva, Dad got to his meeting while Mom and Nathaniel and I enjoyed supper (his meeting was 5:30-8:30 PM) with Nathaniel's roommate from last year, Tony. We ate at a local pizza parlor, Pizza Joe's. As usual, the pizza was great!

After the meeting was over, and we had said our goodbyes to Nathaniel, we left. However, this was about 9:00 PM, and, due to the geographic location of this area, we were receiving plenty of Lake Erie snow. Unfortunately, PENDOT (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation) seemed to be waiting for the snow to stop before plowing/salting much. As a result, the roads were so bad that soon after we'd gotten going, Mom and Dad decided to go up to my grandparents' house and stay there overnight.

We left around 7:30 the next morning, getting breakfast at a combination gas/convenience store. The trip back was uneventful, and we spent most of the afternoon in getting ready for the Klondike Derby on Saturday.

Saturday. Klondike. Fun! I was up right after 6 in the morning, and we left for a neighboring town (where our troop is based out of) to collect others and most of the equipment. We arrived at the Klondike's location soon after 8, and started getting ready.

Now, a good summary of the Klondike would be this: we compete against other patrols (groups of scouts from other local troops) in different activities, all of which involve an assortment of scout skills, problem solving, and a good bit of stuff thrown in to make it all harder. We end the day with a sled race. We have a sled we put all of the equipment in, and we have to tow it around to all the different stations. The race involved (I'm guessing) around 15-16 other patrols; we finished around the middle. This race can be very interesting since everyone wants to win, so it can be kind of cutthroat at times. However, everything was fun. If possible, I'll put up pictures later. Here's one, taken right after the race. Some of you should recognize people. Just so you know, I have no clue why I look two-dimensional! Also, since this is my first time putting up pictures, I'm not sure why it won't maximize in a new window. I'll be experimenting with that...

After that, we came home and crashed. Everything was fun, but it was tiring. The last thing I knew was that the clock said 11:32, and then it said 3:40-something, then 7:36, then finally 10: something-or-the-other. I managed to make up on sleep! Today was very nice at church. We had a visiting family, and almost all of the regulars made it, so attendance was quite good. The sermons were excellent, and the singing was great! We had a little bit different schedule today. As many of you know, we normally have church at 1 and 6:30 PM, with Sabbath school right after the 1 PM service. Well, we did that today, except that the evening worship was right after Sabbath school, at 3:30. After that, we had a fellowship dinner. The food was excellent and the fellowship was "excellenter." We didn't leave until past 6:30! Since then, I've been typing this post, eating oyster crackers, and listening to psalm singing. Hopefully all of you have had a blessed Sabbath!

No, I'm not on sabbatical...

Sorry. I've been kind of busy, and never remembered to post when I was able to. :(

I don't have a ton of time right now. I'll get up a post tommorrow. Suffice it to say the Klondike was today. I need a nice soft pillow. Good night!

A post, being a discourse of the past two days of my life

I decided to do something different with the post title. I really need to get a few better ideas! :)

Monday was average. Nothing much going on, at least that I'm remembering right now. Schoolwork, and a little time sledding on a small hill at the park a few blocks down from my house pretty much was my day.

Tuesday--I had a chemistry test. I did really well on it, and I'm so thankful, yet again, for answered prayer! After that, I had a bit of other schoolwork to do, and almost finished it before the scout meeting.

The scout meeting tonight was mainly two different things. Since the Klondike Derby (look in previous posts to discover what that is) is this Saturday, we've been trying to get ready for it. While Dad and I worked with several of the younger guys on knot-tying, the older guys headed up to the scout hall and finished repairs on the sled. Then, just as they got back to our meeting place (about 1/4 mile away), we finished the knots. We got the chance to pull the sled around the parking lot! :) We actually did pretty well, seeing that several of the guys had never had the chance to pull the sled before. Anyway, we got home from scouts after a while, and I finished my school for the day at about 10:15.

Yesterday, in literature, I read various works of the author Edgar Allen Poe. He was very dismal at times, and seemed to be obsessed with death. This wasn't the case in all his writings; the last one I read (and the only prose) was actually a detective story, similar in some ways to a Sherlock Holmes story. While this was enjoyable, the rest of the reading was, in some ways, very difficult to read. This man's wife, who(m)(?) he loved dearly, died only a few years after they were married. This, in a lot of ways, is the reason for his obession with death. In one of his poems, he talks of how he will "nevermore" get over the passing of his wife. If only he had trusted in Christ. In Him, there is comfort in all situations. Poe wanted relief, but he didn't turn to the one place that would offer him certain relief.

PS: I know the spacing between paragraphs is off. Sorry. The formatting is giving me fits. I've put up this posts half a dozen times already, and the formatting isn't right yet. I'm giving up! :)

Sorry about the long break...

Honestly, I'd forgotten to post. Sorry, everybody.

Friday was usual with school, and a good bit of it. However, the end of the day was different.

In Scouts, as many of you know, there's a program for younger boys. This is called Cub Scouts. The older cub scouts are in a group called Webelos (standing for We'll be loyal scouts.) In order to earn a prestigious award called the Arrow of Light, Webelos need to earn a bunch of activity badges, based on different subjects. On Friday, a program started called Webelos Woods. This was effectively a weekend to get lots of Webelos the opportunity to earn lots of activity badges.

Well, I was there from Friday evening until Saturday evening. Friday was a bit sad at first, as there was a memorial for a little while for a former scoutmaster of mine who'd died several weeks ago. After that, I got set up (everyone was "camping" overnight in a gymnasium, in the former school building where this was held.) Then, I ended up playing dodgeball with about 30 Webelos for about two hours. At the end, I was ready to go to bed! :)

However, I didn't just yet. Taps was at 11:15, but some people were still up for quite a while. Besides the cub scouts, there were a couple of boy scout troops there, and I was staying with one of the troops. I was just about asleep at midnight when several boys started getting a little bit loud. Now, in my troop, one of my duties as the Senior Patrol Leader is to go around at night, making sure that everyone stays quite, and nobody has any problems. So, I ended up doing that here. I got to sleep around 1:00 AM.

Reveille was at 6:45. Yet again, I was up earlier, so I'd be ready to blow it. After everyone was up and about, I led in a short flag ceremony, and we all went to get breakfast. After breakfast, I helped others get ready for their classes, then ended up getting ready for my own. Throughout the day, I led 2 classes for Showmanship, and assisted in a third. Showmanship focused mainly on a puppet show. The Webelos had to write out a play, help design a small stage for it, and then act it out with paper bag puppets. These classes were interesting. I had problems in two areas. The first one was having the Webelos keep going and focus on what they needed to do. The second was keeping everyone from playing with the microphones. Oh well. After that, I had a great supper, and really enjoyable conversations with several different guys from scouts. Mom and Dad picked me up at around 8:00, and a little while after we got home, I crashed and fell into bed.

I woke up almost 12 hours later, and there was SNOW!!!!!!!!! As many of you know, I've been wanting some for a long time, and I was ecstatic. However, after church (which for us is 1:00 PM) we were having a family from church over for dinner, so we needed to get ready. I ended up shoveling a little bit, but not much.

Church attendance was down a bit, due to sickness and bad roads. Since all of the 4-5 inches had fallen from about 6:00 AM-8:00 AM, the roads weren't the best. However, a lot of people still made it. We had a good worship time, and a good class time afterwards. Then, we all left and the Mortons came over to our house.

That was a lot of fun. We had a great time talking together, and the turkey dinner was excellent. Christian fellowship is so nice on the Lord's Day; well, actually, it's pretty nice anytime! After a few short hours, we headed back to evening church at 6:30. Even fewer people were able to be there, and we ended up with a grand total of 20 people. However, God promises to be there if only 2 or 3 are gathered, so we had worship as scheduled. Just a quick question for some friends who read this blog: when was the last time your church had 20 people for a service? Just curious :). If you'd like, you can treat that as a rhetorical question, or you can comment to answer.

After the evening service, I ended up reading for the best part of two hours before heading to bed a bit later. I got to sleep about 11:30, and was up a little before 8. Now, since I've spent 15 minutes doing this post, I'm needing to get started on school for the day. Hopefully this hasn't bored you too much. I'll try to post a little more regularly!

Yet Another New Title

Well, I'm just coming up with all kinds of great titles, aren't I? Feel free to say no if you want! :)

Well, the last couple of days have been pretty average. Yesterday was schoolwork, a trip up to the library, and prayer meeting. School was ok, the walk up to the library was nice (I didn't get anything out), and prayer meeting was quite useful. It's great having something in the middle of the week like that, and very nice being to fellowship with other believers another time as well as on the Lord's Day.

Today was schoolwork and a trip up to the library. School, as before, went ok. Today, I finally put together an outline for my term paper. It's about the development and use of the ME-262 german jet fighter in WWII. If you want to know more about the plane, just Google it. You'll get plenty on it.

The library trip was because it's great going up there to talk with the librarians, and to get some exercise. Some people have asked why I love living in a town of around 800-900 people--well, it's great when you know all the librarians personally and can have a great time talking with them for half an hour. It's only about a five minute walk up there, too. I ended up getting out a DVD. Our independent library has over 900 DVD's! Anyway, the movie is the second Pirates of the Caribbean. I didn't like it as much as the first one, but it has a couple of parts that redeem the whole movie. The first one is when they're all escaping from the cannibals--that's just hilarious. However, it pales when you compare it to the sword fight at the end when the water wheel gets involved. That's one of the funniest scenes in any movie I've ever seen!

Well, that's pretty much been my last couple days. Seeya later!

A Different Title

I decided to have a different title, so that's what I went with!

I've been doing two main things the past couple of days: schoolwork and Scouts. School has been the same old thing, so I'll talk (or write) a little about scout stuff, along with what else has been happening.

Yesterday evening was one of the two monthly meetings for the cub scout pack here in Belle Center that I help out with. It was fun, and I managed to be useful. On the way home (I walk both ways), it was snowing/sleeting/raining, and I wondered whether the weather would be "interesting" today.

When I woke up this morning, I took a peek out the window and noticed: *drum roll* SNOW!!!!! Unfortunately, only about 1/2--1 inch was on the ground, and it melted rather quickly. However, there was snow. This is either the second or third time this school year; I can't remember exactly how many.

After looking out the window, I drifted back to sleep again until Mom woke me up, saying that we were going down to Springfield, OH, and I needed to get up and get ready to go. When we left a little while later, I had mostly wakened up.

On the way down, it snowed a lot of the time, which was quite nice for me. :) However, I also needed to do history, which was actually quite enjoyable.

The reason we were heading down to Springfield was that our local scout council's offices are down there, and we needed to take care of updating records and also get some uniform patches at the store there. We managed to take care of this, and then headed home.

On the way home, I did some chemistry, which is my least favorite subject. Lately, however, it's been coming to me more easily, and I've been trying to stop loathing it! :) It's almost becoming enjoyable, at least from time to time. Anyway, we finished up the chem work just as we got into Bellefontaine, the county seat, where a treat was waiting for me.

Since it was around 1:00 in the afternoon, we were all hungry. Mom really wanted to go to Burger King, but, as we got out of the car at BK, she and Dad gave me some money, and had me run across the parking lot to Taco Bell, which is my favorite restaurant. After a tasty lunch there, I again crossed the parking lot, and found out about our new, up-to-date plans.

In the shopping plaza where these two restaurants are, there's also a Dunham's Sporting Goods shop. I had a meeting scheduled with the manager at around 4:00 this afternoon. However, Dad and I went over there right then, while Mom got in a quick stop at Walmart. We accomplished our goal there: the members of my scout troop now can get a 10% discount at the store. Perfect!

Anyway, after we got home, I did some more schoolwork, and then got ready for the weekly troop meeting. It was themed around fire building (a very inflammatory subject!) We managed to have all the guys who needed to build a fire as a requirement get one going, and then had a nice big fire roaring for a few minutes before we had to put it out. After the closing, we ran up to the equipment hall and did a few more repairs on the Klondike sled.

The meeting tonight was very well attended (for us), with 11 boys there. It's nice having a little bit larger meetings sometimes!

Well, that's pretty much been what's up the last couple of days. Hopefully, you haven't been too bored with this! If you note typos or anything, I apologize. I should have been in bed a while ago, but I obviously wasn't. Anyway, good night!

Last Several Days

Well, in keeping with my previous several times, I'm having an accurate post title!

Yesterday was a good Sabbath to worship our God. The sermons were quite useful, and we had around average attendance. As well, most of us (as usual) enjoyed staying afterwards and talking for a while.

The day before had the meeting I was talking about. It went quite well, and we got a lot of work done. Thankfully, we've pretty much planned out our troop's calendar until this next September! We might have some editing to do on it later, but it's generally good.

The past several days I've been having lots of fun talking with people on instant messaging. However, that's going to have to be limited. I've been spending too much time on it, and not enough on other things I need to be taking care of. This is a reason for the shorter post today. As well, I'm not coming up with a ton to post about!

Lastly, this is the first post of the second week of this blog's existence. Wow. :)

Yesterday

Well, I really seem to be coming up with inventive titles of posts, don't I? Anyway, yesterday was a generally good day. I ended up getting 5 different lessons done in various subjects. I worked and worked and worked on the Chemistry, and prayed about it a lot during studying and taking, and ended up with a 100%! I'm very happy with the trend that my grades are taking. They've been generally going slowly up ever since I've committed to prefacing the studying and the test itself with prayer. I give praise to the LORD for His mercies given to me to enable me to do well for Him in the calling He has given me.

Other than that, I didn't do a whole lot today. We ended up going to Fazoli's for supper, which was quite tasty. As well, while in town, we hit Lowe's, in order to get a rebate taken care of for our new stove. While there, I suddenly remembered that our scout troop needed some rope for the Klondike Derby coming up, so we got a 100' length of 3/8" rope. I just couldn't get over the coiling job someone had done on that rope! It was incredible! (Even though some of you might be wondering what the big deal is :) Anyway, when we got home, I took a while cutting it into 6' lengths for the Klondike, and while doing this, talked with Dad (who's the Scoutmaster for my troop) about planning some stuff for a scout PLC (Patrol Leaders' Council) meeting this morning.

Hopefully, I can put up something else later. If not, then I will tommorrow. Oh and, by the way, (sarcasm alert!) the drought's broken around here!

Last Couple Days

Well, today was a little bit busy, but yesterday was a little bit more. I'll start with yesterday.

The day was dominated by a trip up to Defiance, OH (90 minutes north of here) for the funeral of the grandfather of a family from our church. It was good to hear of how loving a husband, father, and grandfather he was. However, above all, it was good to hear of how he was a Christian, and trusted in his hope in Christ. Another reason that I'm glad we went up there is that we seemed to be a help to the family from our church.

Schoolwork was pretty much forgotten yesterday. I got a few minor things done, but not much, since all of us were a little tired on the way home, and when we got back, we had time to eat supper, and then get ready for prayer meeting. That wasn't as well attended as it is sometimes, but it was still a joy to sing and pray with other believers.

Today was supposed to be hitting the books hard. We hit the books, more than gently, but not totally hard. I'm gearing up for a chemistry test tomorrow, so, if you think of it, please pray that I'll do well on it! Other than that, it was algebra and history the rest of the day.

Tonight, and last night, I've had fun instant messaging with friends. It suddenly struck me last night about how blessed we are to have such wonderful technology. A decade ago, it would have cost hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars to have a webcam and microphone set up, and there probably wouldn't have been an instant messaging service able to take them. Now, I can talk with friends (actually talk) and even see them, although they're over 100 miles away! It's really nice to be able to do this. I thank God for enabling man to invent this technology, and also the technology to have this blog! I can keep in touch with all of you reading this, and you can respond. Can you imagine what people 100 years ago would have thought of this? And lastly, before I go to bed and get out of this philosophical mood (!), what will it be like in 100 years from now? 50? 25? Even 10? I'm really curious, especially, when the flying car will take over!

PS: For those of you who are thinking this already: yes, Nathaniel and I are alike in this way! :)

My day today

Well, this day has been generally nice for me. I managed to get 100% on an Algebra test that I'd been rather dreading for the past week. As well, we had a generally good scout meeting tonight.

The meeting tonight was well attended (for us), with 8 boys there. We spent most of the time working with our troop's Klondike sled. This is a skis and wheel sled, which is effectively a large scalene triangle, with half of a 50-gallon plastic drum functioning as a seat and storage area, attached with bungees. The whole thing is pulled by all of us in the troop, tugging on an old rope ladder serving as the sled traces. Anyway, we had to put on a new cross-brace on the back, since the old one had broken. Also, we needed to replace a couple of axle holders. The old ones had cracked, so we pulled them out, and were drilling holes for the axle, when we found out the two drills were almost out of battery power. We'll end up finishing the work this saturday. Lastly, we cleaned and waxed the sled's skis. Hopefully, this work will give us an edge this year in the Klondike Derby, competing against other local scout troops.

That's pretty much been my day. We're getting up early tomorrow to head up to Defiance, OH, for a funeral, and there's prayer meeting tomorrow night, so I might not have time for a post tomorrow.

Good night!

The Big Game Final

Well, I'll say it once. Go Gators. 41-14. It was a game that they controlled the whole time. You can sum up the whole game by saying that it was nice, but it would have been better to watch a Buckeyes game.

The Bucks seemed to warm up some more during the second half. The defense really came more alive, holding the Gators to only one more touchdown. However, the offense still was lackluster. Part of this might well be due to Ted Ginn Jr.'s injury on the Bucks' first offensive drive. He went out, but ran back to the sidelines quickly, which made me hopeful. However, my spirits were dampened when they showed him with a large black boot on his left foot, and he was leaning on crutches.

As well, the offense was consistently plagued by a poor line which let blitzers through, and a tough defense by the Gators. Troy Smith, the great quarterback for the Buckeyes, seemed to be trying, but with Ginn out, and the Gator pressure on him almost constantly, combined with covered receivers, he wasn't able to turn the game around.

It was a fun game to watch, and it seemed for a while as if the Buckeyes could still pull it out. However, the Gators triumphed, and I'm happy for them. They fought well, and, once again, the underdog has won a spectacular victory against the favored #1 team.

The Big Game at Third Quarter

Well, the Buckeyes' defense seems to be getting in the game more. Since halftime, they've forced a couple of punts, and gotten their first sack of the game.

However, the offense still is doing rather badly. The score is still 34-14, even though the Bucks' defense is providing them ideal opportunities.

It seems as if the game will be controlled by the Gators throughout. However, there is still a chance for the Buckeyes to triumph!

The Big Game at Halftime

AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!! The Buckeyes aren't exactly playing as we're used to. The score is 34-14 Gators at halftime.

It almost seems as if the Bucks aren't trying. The Gators keep getting everything handed to them; they've started 4 of their 7 drives in Buckeye territory! Finally, we had another chance to do something, near the end of the second quarter, when Troy Smith, the Heisman winner, fumbled, leading to a quick Gator touchdown. The Bucks really need to get in the game, and the announcers need to quit talking about the 51 days the Bucks have had between games. Come on, guys! Stop being Gator-aid!

The Big Game

Well, after the first three drives, the Buckeyes aren't doing the best. We ran back the opening kickoff, but the Gators drove hard and put the ball in the end zone. After that, the Bucks succeeded in only a burnout drive, ending with a sack. Florida just ran back the punt to past midfield, helped by a late hit. I'm going back to watch the game. More updates soon.

PS: I know probably nobody is actually going to read this for updates, but I'm just having fun putting up posts! :)

First Posting

Well, it's my first post. To quote some friends, hold down the applause, please.

Seriously, I'm happy to have my own blog now. I should be able to post every couple of days or so, but I'm not making any promises yet. Please feel free to leave comments, if you'd like. They will be quite appreciated.

Please pray that, on this blog, I will show forth Jesus Christ, and that I won't do anything on here that does not glorify Him. Matt. 5:13: "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." As well, please pray that I will not be spending so much time on this blog and others that I don't get any work done!

Lastly, I'm going to (try) to include at least one joke a week. I'll start out with a classic, in order to honor my late paternal grandfather, who was the source of many jokes like this.

Why does the seagull live in the sea?
If it lived in the bay, it'd be called a baygull! (Say it out loud)

PS: GO BUCKEYES! BEAT THOSE GATORS!!!!