OK, so I'm embarrassed

I think I kind of forgot about the blog. I need to apologize to you, my faithful readers, and you, my readers that occasionally look and have seen this post for the last 3 weeks.

So, for starters, I mentioned in my last post about a Geneva football game. They won. :D

It's the fourth week of classes. I've had 3 different exams so far in 3 different classes. I know I did very well on one of them, but since one was about an hour and a half ago, and the other was yesterday, I don't know how I did. I'm guessing I did fine, but of course I don't know for certain.

I'm really having fun in most of the classes. They're intriguing. I don't necessarily agree with everything my professors say, or everything written in the textbooks, but whatever I hear/read, it makes me think. Think critically. Think carefully. I'm enjoying it. Too bad I couldn't just go to class and not have homework... :D

Oh well. The homework isn't bad. I've had a bit of writing, which is something I've never enjoyed. However, I'm getting better as I practice more. At least I have lots of opportunities for practice. :P

The food here isn't bad at all. A lot of the time, I eat at this place on campus called the Brig, mainly because their subs are stupendous. I get pretty much the same thing every time, and a couple of the workers are already able to make my sub mostly from memory. :D

Dorm life is certainly different than living at home. It's taken a bit of time to get used to, but I think I'm mostly adjusted by now. It's certainly great to have the sense of community that I do with the other guys on my floor. It gets a little "wild" at times, but oh well. Nothing bad, just wild. :P

A couple Saturdays ago, I went with a couple friends up to the G. Basically, this is a big white G on the ridgeline on the other side of the Beaver River from campus. We had to walk over, then walk up the hill. It was a more serious undertaking than we had thought... it took something like 3 hours total to do all of it. However, it was a great time. While up at the G, we got to see a bald eagle and what we think was its nest. That was incredible. After coming back down, we hit Pizza Joe's for supper, mainly because we got back late enough that the dining hall was closed, and since the Brig ain't open on the weekend, we had to eat somewhere. :P

The other two guys that climbed up with me. This is what the G consists of.

Campus from across the river.

Last weekend, my parents and brother came out for a few days. Rose Point RP church, where my mom grew up going to church at, celebrated their 175th anniversary, so we were there for that. It was a great time - getting to see lots of family and friends, celebrating the blessing of God over the lifetime of a faithful congregation, and getting a couple of really interesting pictures.

I know it's blurry, but I wanted to post this. :D

This is in a ravine behind the Rose Point church building. It's a gorgeous spot. Wish I had a better camera to do it justice. :P

Sunset from my Grandpa's house. I wish I had some way of getting the tree in there without the wires, but oh well. Still a great shot.

I think that's it about me. I do have a request for prayer, though. My grandmother is currently having some major health problems. She broke her neck on Tuesday, and is apparently having some heart problems too. So, if you see this, please be praying for her. I will remember to post an update on this. If I don't, send me an email, call me, or somehow let me know I need to do it. :P

Seeya later!

SDG

Things have gone so fast

I can't believe that the first week of classes is already over. Things have gone so fast... wow.

Not really anything exciting going on. Later this evening, I'm meeting up with a bunch of friends and going to Geneva's opening football game here on campus. That should be fun.

Classes are going well. There's a bit of homework, but not too much. I'm keeping busy. :P

I'm really building up some good friends here. That was one thing I was concerned about, but thankfully it's not being much of a problem. My roommate (Josiah) and I are continuing to get along very well, which is always nice. The food isn't terrible... actually I enjoy it most of the time. There are lots of options here on campus, which makes things much better.

I think that's about it for now. I really can't come up with a ton more to post about. Seeya later!

The first two full days of college orientation

This has really gone fast. So, I'm posting from my dorm room at Geneva. I'm really starting to feel like I fit in here. In fact, on the bus back from a trip to a huge park this evening, I remarked to the girl next to me, "Well, we're in Beaver Falls. About back home now." Didn't even think about that until a couple minutes later. That's most likely a good sign. :)

Yesterday morning wasn't pleasant. I woke up and wasn't feeling good... and a few minutes later ended up throwing up. After that I felt better, but I had slept badly, so I was tired all day. However, this morning, the schedule was a bit nicer, so I slept in until about 9. I didn't feel the best this morning, but it wasn't quite so bad. Mom and Dad are thinking that maybe I have some allergy problems, so I got some Triaminic today... hopefully that's going to help.

Another great thing here at school is that I'm really getting to know a bunch of people. My roommate and I are getting along great. My L&T (Learning and Transition) group is great. It's just fun walking to the other side of campus, and on the way there stopping to talk a few times with people I know. Fun times.

Last night, the entire freshman class went down to Pittsburgh for the evening. After wandering around for a while, and hanging out some at Station Square (really neat place - go there if you get the chance), we went on a boat cruise up both rivers. That was really fun in a lot of ways, especially getting the chance to check out the city at night. Milling around talking with people and meeting them was nice too. :)

Not really sure what else to put up here now. I played Ultimate Frisbee for about 2 hours straight this evening, so I really need to get a shower, and then most likely hit the sack. I'll try to keep updating. Seeya!

Interesting past couple of days...

So yesterday was very interesting. All of us went down to Cincinnati for the day to take Grandmother to a doctor's appointment. We were there for quite a while, mainly because of visiting with some more family in the area. As well, the trip back home took longer since we stopped at a Bob Evan's for supper and the food took forever. However, the delays were definitely good. Since we were delayed, we were able to pull off at a rest stop along I-75 just below Piqua. We pulled over since my phone had gotten a text alert from the Weather Channel that Logan County was under a tornado warning. That always makes the adrenal glands work harder.

Turns out there weren't any tornadoes. We did get to see at least one wall cloud, with maybe another weaker one. The definite one was very well-formed. Quite an interesting sight... thankfully not a dangerous one for anyone. There was a lot of wind, rain, and hail though. The northern part of Logan County here didn't get so much as the southern part, but there was still plenty of rain. We got about 1.3 inches, which was great - we really needed it. The lightning also was really spectacular, especially since it was night before we got home finally.

The other big thing was that today was my driver's license test. I passed. :) I almost didn't on the maneuvering part of the test, but did try over again and the examiner passed me that time. The driving part was quite easy, and I did a good job on it. So, I have the license. The only problem is that the new licenses are... pink. Blargh. Oh well. :P

So, that's it for now. Tomorrow and Saturday are going to involve a lot of packing. This coming Lord's day is my last full day at home until I leave for college... wow, that's hard to believe.

Only 12 more days at home...

Yep. By August 24, I will have left for school. This summer has gone by unbelievably fast. Sigh.

So, I went on a campout this last Monday and Tuesday. Our scout troop went to a local horse place, called Marmon Valley Farm. I was one of two guys belaying on the climbing wall for about 1 and a half hours. Since neither one of us was getting paid, both of us got to climb as well. That was lots of fun. After that, we hit a challenge course for a little while, before heading back to camp and then heading on home. However, the best part of the campout wasn't the climbing. It wasn't the challenge course. It wasn't even the pizza that a couple of the other guys and I ordered for supper on Monday evening (yeah, we ordered pizza on a scout campout). The best part had to be the 45 minutes spent on devotions Monday night.

During that time, we first started by concentrating on 1 Corinthians 16:13. "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong." Basically, this breaks down into 4 parts very easily. Hopefully you've figured that much out already. We spent about 20 minutes thinking about this, mainly applications for it. Then, the man running the devotions asked Matt and me if we had anything to add. We ended up taking it the rest of the time. It was a great time. We were able to give some (I believe) good advice to the younger guys there. I know I said it already, but it really was great.

So, that was the campout. Except for one thing. We played ultimate frisbee on Monday night. 2 games. They were GREAT. It was tons of fun. Then, Tuesday night, I played again. That was at a going away party for one of my best friends, Andrew. He's leaving for California this next Monday, going to The Master's College. I'm going to Geneva, in Pennsylvania. Really far apart. The party was great - got to meet some more of Andrew's other friends, got to play ultimate, got to help out with a great bonfire, and got to talk a ton with lots of people. Just... it was a bummer to have to say goodbye to Andrew.

I guess that's it for now. Seeya later!

Why I don't like cats...

I really wanted to post this video. It's incredibly moving. It's also what I believe God has for me someday. The chance to save others' lives, even, if necessary, at the cost of my own.

What has been going on the last month...

So, what have I been up to for the last month and few days since the last post? Well, the answer will be the rest of this post. Sit down, buckle up, maybe grab a cup of coffee, cause this is gonna be one long post.

Well, in my last post, I said that I was sick but maybe feeling a little better, and was going to be going to TFY the following Monday. Well, I left for TFY. I was feeling a little better for a little while. Then, things started going downhill. There was a cold and a GI bug floating around in the middle of everyone, and unfortunately I managed to get both of them. As well, whatever I had been sick with was still going on a bit, and also the antibiotics I was on were giving me some side effects. Put all these together, and I was one miserable guy. Despite that, however, I was having a great time when able to participate. Normally I couldn't do anything in the mornings, since I was having to sleep something like 10+ hours a day to keep moving any. I'd kind of struggle downstairs (4 stories of stairs) for lunch, and then not go back upstairs until bedtime. However, in the meantime, I was often able to make it to classes and such. So, that was how I lived until Friday.

On Friday, I went up, with 4 other kids from the group, to Rose Point PA. We were to stay there until a week from the next Monday. That night, I actually stayed with my Uncle Bob and Aunt Patty, since I wasn't in any shape really to be participating with the rest of the group. So, I stayed there until mid-afternoon the next day, at which time I rejoined the group. I was starting to feel better, or so I thought. The next couple days went downhill again, and I ended up having to go home on Monday. It half killed me (well, not literally, but you know what I mean) to have to leave those other 4 kids. Will and Scott and I had bonded together so quickly, to the point that we were insulting each other right and left, half-attacking each other, and otherwise being generally disagreeable the entire time, and absolutely LOVING it. :D I obviously wasn't behaving that way to Kim and Melanie, but we were still having fun together a lot too.

So, it was a huge disappointment to have to leave on Monday, but my parents and I thought it was the best thing to do. So, that Tuesday, I went to the doctor. He talked with me for 10 minutes or so during/after the exam, to try and maybe narrow down what this could be. I then had a couple of tubes of blood drawn, mostly to eliminate a bunch of things, including cancer. (By the way, the nurse half eliminated my arm too. When she pulled out the needle, her hand twitched. It hurt a ton) That (cancer) was eliminated. So were most of the other things, including mono, which is what the doctor thought was possibly what had knocked me out so bad. However, he also said that the test gives a bunch of false negatives, and, based on the symptoms, he's thinking that's what I've had. No idea if that is indeed the case, but we'll see.

Whatever happened, I'm actually mostly over it now. But more on that later. Since the time that I came home from TFY, I've been doing lots of stuff. Among other things, the weekend after coming home, I went back to PA with the rest of my family. A cousin of mine got married that Saturday. So, we went out for the wedding. It was a great chance to see some of Mom's side of the family that we don't get to see too often. Uncle Jack and Aunt Carol live in Baton Rouge, LA, and her daughter Liz, her husband Shawn, and their two kids live in Kansas... so, yeah, we don't get to see them terribly often. It was nice getting to. I also was able to hang out with Kim, Melanie, Scott, and Will again. That was great. Spent a lot of the Lord's Day talking with them. :) It was great.

So, since that weekend, what have I been up to? Well, besides recovering, I've mowed, practiced driving stuff, flown, and done lots of other things.

Mowing is pretty much the same. Thankfully, we've started having enough rain to keep the grass growing nicely. So, we haven't had any week yet without income from mowing. Had a few where we only mowed a couple or three yards, but still. :P Now, we're back to doing most all of them every week as usual. One mower's in the shop right now, since the self-propelled control cable snapped. A while back, the cable had snapped at one end, so I got some cable clamps and tightened it up. However, that didn't hold long, since that wasn't what it was designed for, so it happened again. Eventually, we ran out of cable. That's why it's in the shop.

As far as the driving, there hasn't been much of anything unusual except today. I did end spending about a half hour with Dad practicing for the Maneuverability test for the driver's license exam. Basically... well, it would be easier to show than explain. Lemme find a picture.

So there ya go. That's what I was doing. Each of the course markers is 20' away from each other on the sides of the box, and the distance between them on the ends is 9'. The "point" is 20' from the side of the box. So, yeah. I was doing that. I also washed the car and put Windex on all the glass surfaces. :D

As far as flying, I've done it twice since I came back. One time was just local and having some fun. A man right outside town finished restoring a 1943 aircraft, and he has his own grass strip out back of his house. So, I decided to buzz him. :D I didn't go too low, and was still legal the entire time. It was definitely fun though. :D

The other time was when I went north and took Mortons flying. The entire trip was incredibly fun. It would have been better if the runway hadn't had workers alongside it most of the time (delaying my arrival by at least 1 hour), and if the mixture control wire hadn't readjusted itself (delaying my departure by at least 1 hour.) Oh well. Small price to pay. It was great. The only thing that I wasn't expecting was having some amazing screams from the seat next to me at a couple different points (you know who you are.. :D both of you). So, that's that for flying.

As for lots of other things, well, I've been doing lots of other things. There's no way I could remember all of them. I can tell you that today, I walked to the post office and library; mowed a yard; washed a car and did some driving maneuvering stuff; ate a powdered sugar donut, a bunch of peanut butter and cheese crackers, saltines with cheddar cheese, a hot dog, some taco salad, ham slices, corn on the cob, rice-a-roni; played around on the computer, taken a shower, talked with friends on instant messenger, poked around on Facebook a little, and written a blog post. So, that's today. However, I'm sure I missed some things. Oh well. I could post something like that every day... or not. I'm hoping to get back into a posting habit again, especially before I leave for college. I'm leaving on the 25th of August. Seeya!

Way too long since a post

Since the last post, I've been doing plenty of various stuff for church, flying, mowing, scouts, etc.

I'll tackle the flying part first. The checkride was scheduled for one day, but the examiner had to cancel, so it was rescheduled for later in the week. As of a week ago, I'm now a Multiengine-rated pilot, both private and instrument. The checkride itself went well overall, except for some muscle memories that I had formed that nearly had me bust the checkride. During training, we had often shut the engine off in-flight, relatively near the ground. However, on a checkride, if you actually turn off the engine anywhere less than 3000 feet above the ground, it's an automatic bust. Thankfully, the examiner spotted what I was doing and rather quickly let me know, in no uncertain terms, I wasn't allowed to do that. :D After I explained why I was going to do it, he was OK with it. Otherwise, everything went well.

As far as church goes, most of last week was spent at our Covfamikoi family conference. Basically, it's our presbytery conference. We were at the conference Monday through Friday. It was an incredible blessing in many ways. I learned so much about the Lord and about His church. The main speaker was Anthony Selvaggio. All of his talks were on various aspects of Proverbs. The lectures were challenging, in a good way. The fellowship with other believers was also really great. I ended up being in the college group, instead of the high school group. That, in itself, took a bit of adjusting to. Oh well.

Unfortunately, I've not been doing too much with Scouts. I've been doing other things. So, as a result, for the first time since 2004, I'm not going to Scout summer camp. That's a big bummer.

However, the reason I'm not going is a great one. I'll be in Pittsburgh, at our denomination's seminary, for a program called TFY - Theological Foundations for Youth. The plan is to be leaving early Monday morning by Greyhound. Hopefully, it will work out. The only potential problem is that I woke up this morning with some pretty good aches and pains, and also a strong headache. During the day, the aches and pains went away, the headache stayed, and a fever hopped on board. Right now, I'm not feeling too bad, but I don't know if it will stay that way. I need to simply trust the One who gave me this disease, whatever it is, and the One who can take it away. Please be praying that whatever I have will get shaken! Thanks!

Another day, another post, another improvement

That plane is getting easier for me to fly. Today, with my 2-hour flight, I nailed it. Steve said I did really well. :)

Here it is, on the ground, with the canopy open.

Semi-side view.

Up the nose. :D

Wingtip view.

3/4 shot.

Here's the instrument panel. Relatively similar to the Star. Not complex at all, once you get used to it.

I'll leave you with this shot. This is with the engine intentionally shut off. If you look carefully, you can see the airport in the background. :D

Another quick post

The training went much better today. The biggest thing was that I figured out a better position for the rudder pedals, which means a better angle for my legs, which means NO CRAMPING!!! :D

Also, I had the feel for the plane a lot better. I also knew what I was messing up on yesterday, and was able to consciously work on those problems. So, all in all, a good day for training.

I have one more intense day of training tomorrow, then some on Saturday. The plan is for the checkride/oral exam to take place on Monday. No written exam (ya!).

Edit: Here's a picture of 198TS, the plane I'm flying. Might get more pictures tomorrow. The picture's with my phone, so it's not the best. Oh well. :P

Quick notes... two of them

The first one is that I started my multi training today. It went well, other than one thing. Steve, my instructor, warned me that the plane would require a lot more rudder input than anything I'd ever flown before. He wasn't kidding. For background information for anyone that might not know, the legs/feet are used to control the rudder. My right leg was cramping and even buckled a little bit at one point afterwards. After a while, it went back to being good again, but... yeah, I'd appreciate prayer that I'd figure out the ideal way to be using the rudder to get max performance and max comfort. :)

The other thing is that I got a new phone. (Thanks, Uncle Charlie!) If anyone's wanting the number, email me, get ahold of me on Facebook, or call my home phone number. If you can't do any of those, leave a comment, and I'll get it to you. I just don't wanna put it up on the blog for anyone and anybot to see. :D

Hopefully, I'll be able to use the phone camera to get some pictures of the plane that I'm flying tomorrow. We'll see. Seeya later!

So, it seems that I had forgotten to post for a while.

Since the last time I'd posted, I've been working a lot on getting my computer back to a functional form again. It looks like I've been able to mostly. Thankfully.

There really hasn't been a lot going on lately. I've biked once (hoping to make it more before long), mowed a lot of yards, or rather quite a few several times over, and done some more driving practice. Hopefully, I'll be getting my license soon.

The two big things lately are both having to do with aviation. One was last night, at our Scout Council Awards dinner. The dinner itself was at a new museum in the county just south of us. While there, I got to sit in the cockpit of a DC-3, which was really neat. However, even better, I was then able to get in the cockpit of a Eurocopter Dauphin, which is a helicopter used by Miami Valley Hospital for their Careflight division. That was tons of fun. Also, at the dinner, I received the award of Tecumseh Council's Youth of the Year, which included a $100 savings bond. Not too bad. :P

I'm pretty excited about what I'm going to be starting tomorrow. Bright and early, I'm heading in to the airport and starting my multi-engine training. I'll be training in a Diamond Twin Star, serial #2. :D I'm really looking forward to the plane and the training. However, most all of my time this week will be taken up with the training. Monday-Wednesday will take up just under 30 hours spent at the airport. Then, we're leaving for Pennsylvania on Thursday, staying at Grandpa's house. Friday is the Preview Day for Geneva (including a few tests, I believe :( ), then we head home that night. I have a little bit of time on Saturday scheduled at the airport as well. Then, the plan is for me to take the multi checkride Monday morning, and then leave that afternoon and get back the following Friday. That time is at Covfamikoi, our presbytery family conference. So... I'm busy.

Hope to be able to update quickly a few times during the next few days, just to let anyone that reads it know how the training is going.

Edit: By the way, I really should include a picture of the Twin Star. Check out this for a picture of the aircraft itself (not the same one, but close enough.) Also, here's a semi-good picture of the cockpit.

Computer is back...

But the data is not. Somehow, the hard drive fragged itself to the point that no data was recoverable. Thankfully, a bunch of my pictures and such are still on the desktop, but I still lost a lot of stuff. Also thankfully, the computer shop gave me a bit of a discount on the work, so I didn't end up paying as much as I thought I would.

Right now, next to me, I have sitting a small external hard drive. I'm going to do backups from now on...

Not the greatest news

I was going to be putting up a normal post today, but it didn't work out. My computer has temporarily but effectively given up the ghost. Thankfully, the warranty was still in effect, or I'd be buying a brand-new hard drive out of pocket. Hopefully, the computer will be back up early next week. :)

My interactive post is over

But if you wish to comment on it, you still may. Hey, if you wanna comment anywhere, do so. :D

Well, since last post, I've mowed yards, gotten sick, gotten better (mostly), gone to some friends' house for a movie and fighting on their trampoline ( :D ), gone to church twice, and been stung by a bee. There really hasn't been anything much exciting going on.

Tonight was the weekly meeting for my venture crew. Venturing is a program put on by BSA (Boy Scouts of America) for older kids (14-20) who would be interested in higher adventure. Unlike Boy Scout troops, Venture crews are co-ed. We have about 10 dedicated members right now, a few potentials, and a few people that come sometimes, and sometimes not. I'm not in any official leadership role, but I am unofficially assisting the Advisor, whose position is analogous to the Scoutmaster for a Boy Scout troop.

Tonight's meeting was the first that we've done according to an actual agenda... yay! :D Since we only formally started about a month and a half ago, things aren't totally fallen into place yet, but they're getting closer. We discussed the calendar for the crew, addressed a couple issues, and played this really challenging mind game. Not exactly high adventure yet, but we'll get there. :P

There really isn't a ton that's coming to mind to post about. So, with that, I'll get going. Bye!

An interactive post...

Just this morning, Mom and I were discussing pop-tarts. Mainly, we were discussing disgusting ideas for pop-tarts. Such as tuna, or banana and mayonnaise. Anyone else have any ideas for what would make a horrible pop-tart? Leave your ideas in a comment... :D

I am sometimes greatly impressed with what people will do for fame...

I'm not always favorably impressed. Check out this video, for example.



Well, the campout went quite well. The food was scrumptious (thanks, Sean!), the weather was perfect, and the company was excellent. I enjoy being in a Christian scout troop so much. Compared to what it could be, it's great. There was only one problem. The wood for the great campfire we made was... green. We didn't notice. Unfortunately, we also didn't quite have enough of little stuff in there, so that combination means the main campfire we made for the program with the entire camporee there... well, it flamed up spectacularly (partly thanks to the cordite we used :D) for a few minutes, then dyed back to smoking like crazy. It was particularly well-suited for sending smoke signals, had we so desired. We didn't desire. Oh well.

The checkride, as I mentioned in my previous post, went well. Thankfully, the oral exam was much easier than I had expected. I had been cramming like crazy for it. However, most of the stuff she (the examiner) asked me was a lot easier than the questions I had been covering. So, that was a blessing. Since she was satisfied with the knowledge I had, we went to the flying portion. That went well, other than two things. One was that she was having me do some rather complicated maneuvering with some of my main instruments failed, and I didn't level off at the correct altitude. The other was that Toledo Approach cleared us for the wrong instrument approach into the wrong airport, confusing us with another plane. Other than those two things, the flying portion went really well. I even greased the landing back at Bluffton. :D She was pretty happy with it, and so was I.

Well, that's about all of significance that happened lately, other than drowning a lot last night. :P My scout troop had a meeting at the local YMCA's swimming pool, where, among other things, some of the younger guys got some basic water rescue requirements done. They had to have someone for a "victim." The older guys volunteered. The younger guys started up a chant when I was being dragged back in: "Save the helpless Eagle Scout!" After that, I pretended to be in a slightly bad mood. :D They didn't buy it. Oh well.

Since I'm about to leave on a campout...

I'll make this quick. Did want to let everyone know I'm happy because I'm now an FAA licensed Private Pilot with an Instrument Rating. :D

It did go really well. I'll update more tomorrow evening or the next day, depending on how tired I am. Thanks to all for praying and one for commenting. :)

Just a quick one.

Having completed the planning for a cross-country trip to Rockford, IL, I've been taking a small break. The flight plan is not going to be flown tomorrow, since its main purpose is to simply verify that I know how to properly plan a flight. I have to study a little more tonight, maybe pack a little for a campout tomorrow, get a shower, finish getting ready for tomorrow... I think I'm going to stop this post now and get back to work. I'm getting up pretty early to get to the airport in time to be up at Bluffton, OH, by 9 AM for my checkride and oral exam. Please, if you see this, be praying that things will go well!

I'll keep my Bible, my money, and my guns. You keep the change.

Having gone to the TEA Party in Columbus this evening, I managed to get a bunch of pictures of good signs. So, without further ado, here are some pictures.

This wasn't actually my sign. There was a woman going around with lots of signs, handing them out to anyone that wanted one. This was the best. :D

This is all four of us. The one that you might not recognize is my Aunt Sarah, Dad's next youngest sibling. That's about it for this post!

I really need to find a program that writes witty blog post titles.

So, since I'm attempting to create a new trend for this blog and post more than 3 times per year... I'm going to post again. *gasp* :D

Not a ton has been going on since Friday. I've gone to a friend's house for a few hours, watching Flywheel (See this if you can. The acting isn't the best... but the movie itself is great), had a fairly routine day at church, gone to a Cub Scout meeting, a Venture Crew meeting, a Scout Troop meeting, and, finally, written a huge run-on sentence.

One thing of note did occur at church. Since I'm the one that normally handles the main recording stuff at church (sitting at the sound booth, running the sound system, running my laptop recording, etc.) I don't get to sit with anyone but the sound booth. However, the problem is that I'm going to college in around 4 months (!!!!!) and when I'm gone, I won't be coming back every week to handle the sound. However, thankfully, a couple young men have volunteered to assist, so I'll be instructing/teaching/assisting for a little while, and, then, hopefully turning it over to them.

Since there really isn't anything else going on, I'm going to sign out for now. I'm going to be taking my Instrument Rating checkride on Friday, and that includes both the flight portion and an oral exam from the lady doing the checkride. So, I have plenty of studying still to do for that. However, the study shouldn't have to be quite so intense as that for the written. Thanks to all who prayed for the written test, and please be praying for the oral/practical test. :D

Update

I passed. I am exhausted, however. :D

I took something like 1 hour and 20 minutes on the test itself. Before the test I spent a while doing some review with my instructor. Then, he said I was ready, so I started. There were a few questions I knew I missed, and a couple that I'm not sure about. The end result was an 83%. I was expecting better, but, on the other hand, Steve (my instructor) was pretty happy with the result. So, I'm not too upset. :)

We ended up flying as well. We an approach into Dayton International, one into Dayton-Wright Brothers (south of town), and then back into Bellefontaine. During that time, we had some flight in IMC- Instrument Meteorological Conditions. In other words, more time flying in clouds. Was plenty of fun.

Right now, I only have to fly for 1.7 more hours. My checkride's scheduled for next Friday.

Since I've now updated all of you, I'm going to go get a couple hot dogs for supper. :)

A quick update

Went in to the airport for a 4-hour ground session with my instructor today. Also found out I'm going to be having a very full day tomorrow. The plan is to go in at 8, ground work with Steve (my instructor) until 11. Then, at 11, I'm going to be taking the written test for the Instrument rating. Basically, this is a 60-question test that I have 2.5 hours for. However, I'm only planning on taking a maximum of 2 hours, since I'm flying at 1 until 3. So, a very full day. If anyone sees this before tomorrow, I would really appreciate prayer that everything would go well. :)

Well, I should put up a non-test post...

So I will. There won't be a ton of time for an update, but I will be doing some.

Aviation has been taking up most of my life recently. I'm working on finishing up my Instrument Rating, which effectively allows me to fly in clouds/reduced visibility. Since having this rating would really make my flying a lot more useful for transportation, I'm looking forward to getting it. I'm also looking forward to getting done simply because the large amounts of study can be over. :D

Since I'm hopefully going to be taking the written test this week, I've been studying a ton for it. I recently bought a book that has approximately 400 pages of FAA test questions. It's interesting to go through it. Hopefully, it's also useful.

In the last month, I've learned a ton about flying. Working with an experienced pilot as my instructor is great, simply because he has so much time working in the system. I'm able to learn so much from him. About two weeks ago, for example, I got my first experience flying in IMC, instrument meteorological conditions. Otherwise, in this case, known as clouds. It was so much fun! Unfortunately, we were only able to stay in them about a half hour, since we started picking up a light amount of ice. When that starts happening, you really need to skedaddle outa there. Ice buildup can increase your drag and decrease your lift faster than you might think possible. The amount of ice we were picking up would have taken quite a while to do that, but, still, discretion is the better part of valor.

So, since that's it for the aviation, lemme bring you up to speed with Scouts. Not sure if I've mentioned this on my blog or not, but, since I turned 18 in January, I've been continuing to be active, right now with three different units. I'm officially an Assistant Cubmaster with Cub Scout Pack 51 here in Belle Center. Really enjoying it, too. I'm unofficially functioning like an Assistant Scoutmaster for my troop, but not officially. I am a registered Merit Badge counselor for a few things, though.

The new big thing with Scouts is that I've signed up with a new unit here in Logan County. I've joined what's called a Venture Crew. Basically, Venturing is a program for a little bit older youth, put on by BSA, designed to give teens a safe and fun environment to make new friends while trying out new outdoor adventures. It's for young men and young women ages 14-20. Since I'm leaving for college in August, I'm not going to be able to be active for long. However, since I have a lot of experience with Scouts in general, I joined up to be able to help get the crew started. So far, it's been plenty of fun, especially our first trip. It consisted of a 12-mile bike trip along a designated bike trail. Other than others being a little bit slower than I normally ride (14-16 MPH) it was great fun. The slowness didn't really bother me, but I teased a few people about it anyway. They teased back about something else, so we were even. :D

About the only other big exciting thing that happened recently is that I've been accepted to go this summer to a program called TFY. It stands for Theological Foundations for Youth. Basically, it's a 19-day program put on by our denomination at our seminary in Pittsburgh. During this program, everyone who goes will learn massive amounts about systematic theology, apologetics, evangelism, church history, etc. Effectively, it's a mini crash course in seminary. :D I'm looking forward to it a ton.

I believe that's about it for now. I'll do my best to remember to update more often. Instead of letting that be an empty promise/threat (however you want to take it), I'll attempt to fulfill it this time.

Testing Post

I’m sorry for no posts for such a long period of time.  Most of that time has been spent working on flying or accounting.  Right now I’m taking a quick try at a new program that should help with making the posting take less time.  I decided to try out Windows Live Writer, which means I can do all the formatting and everything like that on here, and when I’m done, it simply loads everything up.  We’ll see.  Let’s put up some random picture.

OK.  Hope that worked.  I hope to put up a little more substantial post later on.  Until then, e-ya later!

Job 1:21

I will put up more as a post in the next few days, since I've had several people asking me to. However, in the meantime, I really want you to see a video I just saw. A good friend sent it to me. Notice the title of the post here...

A Post

For starters, the Mortons tagged me in a posting game. You have to go to your pictures folder, 5th file, 5th picture, blog about it, and tag 5 more people. The only problem with that is that I don't really have 5 friends that actively blog... I'll do the best I can. :D

This is the small flower garden by our front porch. I took this in early April 2007. That day was something along the lines of 75 degrees. 24 hours later, the temperature was around 35. The flowers were nice until then. Oh well. :)

The five people I will tag... Nathaniel, Josh, Sean, Milkdud (who probably won't do it anytime soon :P), and *drum roll* Mortons. Backtagging isn't against the rules! :D

Well, of late, I've been doing a good bit. Schoolwork has been taking a bit of my time. I recently finished the second chapter of the second college course. So far, this course has been a little more challenging than the last one, which isn't surprising. However, thankfully, I've been able to keep up with the work. The grades are staying quite satisfactory. :)

I've started a weekly job here in town. I'm cleaning the local barber shop every Thursday. I dust, clean the bathroom, sweep, and mop. It isn't too difficult and provides a little bit of income. :)

We had a lot of snow lately. Early this week, Mom and Dad and I went out to Pennsylvania to pick up Nathaniel. We stayed at Grandpa's house overnight, and got up early the next morning to head up to Cleveland for a couple checkups for Nathaniel. Thankfully, so far, it seems as if everything is continuing to heal right along schedule. His restrictions have been removed (no bending at the waist, no lifting more than 10 lbs.) So, we got him back to Geneva, then started on our way home.

We made it about 100 miles. It was dark, the roads were starting to have snow drift on them, and the wind was picking up. So, we stopped, booked a cheap (but generally clean, except for the bathtup) motel room, ate a delicious supper at Bob Evan's, headed back to the room, watched a program on the Weather Channel called "Why I Love Winter", which we weren't right then, and then drifted off to sleep. Don't try to diagram that sentence. When we got up in the morning, the car had 4-6 inches of snow on it, and there was tons in the parking lot.

I got out and brushed most of the snow off, and scraped the small amount of ice off the windshield and windows. Mom came out and helped with a bunch of it. Just as we finished, an older couple from Ontario came out of their room and the husband asked if he could borrow our brush to get the snow off a door of their car to get out their brush. I offered to do the door for him, and he said okay. Well, he and Dad got talking, so Mom and I hurried up and did the entire car. He was pleasantly surprised when he turned around after finishing talking with Dad and found his car about ready to go. :)

We finally made it the rest of the 115 miles. We holed up in a McDonald's for breakfast. stuck around in there until nearly lunchtime, then struggled about 15 miles down the road (in about 20-25 minutes) and stopped for lunch. The place we stopped for lunch had free Wi-Fi, so, using my laptop here, we tracked the weather. Since the back end of the storm wasn't far away, Mom and Dad decided to simply wait until the snow was past us to leave. After it passed us, we got going, and had a relatively uneventful trip home.

Since there was so much snow, there were large piles. Well, large piles of snow, young neighbor kids, and me mix pretty well. :D Several youngsters from across the street came across and wanted to have some fun. So, I made a tunnel. Unfortunately, even though they loved the tunnel, they wanted it bigger. So, I tried. It collapsed. So, I built a little snow cave. Later on, I built them a bigger and better tunnel across the street at their house. I do have some pictures.

I love this look.

Everyone smiling.

A different angle.

And one is starting to move.

The tunnel was right in there... you may be able to see some of it. However, most of what you can see is the cave.

Another tentative grin.

I think she likes it.

Another view.

I know he likes it. :D

And she's in.

And still in.

She makes a great subject. Too bad I didn't quite have the focus right.

And yours truly.

That's it for now. I had a big day today with a scout event, but it's getting late. So, I will put that in the next post. Hope everyone has a blessed Sabbath day tomorrow!

Oh my. I really have to remember to post more often.

As is, unfortunately, often the case, I've been thinking a lot about posting and not doing it. So, here's the update.

Since my last post, I have (according to official standards) become an adult. I am now 18 and can legally do a lot more stuff on my own... such as buy ammunition. :D I haven't actually bought any yet but I'll get around to it eventually. :P Other than signing up for an adult library card at the Belle Center Library and getting out an R-rated miniseries (rated R for realistic war violence), I really haven't done anything much with my age. Well, I did register for Selective Service, but, God willing, that won't come into play at any point. The other big thing is that Mom and Dad are getting me a new Bible for my birthday. It's been ordered but not arrived yet. I'm really looking forward to it, since it's an NKJV (which I like a lot) and a study Bible, so there's a lot of other resources in there. :)

I've started back into school again. As before, I'm only doing one class with Clark State Community College. Thankfully, I can do everything online. That includes the homework, discussion questions, and even the quizzes. I just finished up everything for the first chapter today, and ended up doing quite well on it overall. :)

My time has been taken up some lately with looking around for a part-time job. My job at the airport wasn't available starting around the beginning of December, mainly because there simply isn't quite as much to do in the winter. So, I've been looking around for something. Unfortunately, there really isn't a ton around here for an 18-year-old guy that doesn't have any major technical skills and can only do part-time work. I would highly appreciate prayer that something would turn up soon! Until something does, I'm simply looking around and trusting God to provide.

Speaking of Him, I had the privilege of attending the presbytery Winter Conference from December 29-January 1. The conference was... well, I can't totally explain it. It was incredible. (Just about) everything there was the best I had ever had it for WC. Since this was my 5th year, it was my last, and I sure went out with a bang. Gordon Keddie, the pastor of the Southside Indianapolis, Indiana, RP Church, was the speaker. He gave four messages on Ecclesiastes. They were quite useful. It's not a book of the Bible that I'm very familiar with (or was), but it's one, like all the others, that is INCREDIBLY useful.

The one verse that particularly struck me was 11:1. "Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days." The author of Ecclesiastes is saying here that we must have complete and total trust in God to work in our lives. We have to give our all to Him, and simply trust Him to keep us. That struck me, as a great-aunt of mine would say, right between the nose. I'm worrying too much and trying to do too much by myself, instead of giving it to God. Since WC, I've been trying to work on that a bunch. Spending more time with Him every day in His Word and prayer has also been a big emphasis. I learned so much about God and His Word there at WC. The time spent with about 10 other guys my age and a counselor, discussing the messages and other edifying topics helped tremendously. I came away from the conference feeling that I had matured a year spiritually. It was great. Thankfully, many of my other friends had the same experience, more or less. :)

One of the biggest parts that was a blessing was the chance to, with three other guys, witness to a young man on the last night. Please be praying for him, that he would come to Christ!

I haven't been doing much of any flying lately. Due to weather, lack of income, and being busy doing other things, it's kind of fallen by the wayside for now. Hopefully, that will be "taking off" again soon.

Thankfully, we're all staying warm. The weather is the coldest it's been around here since 1994. Last night, in north-central Ohio, a town got down to -28 Fahrenheit. That's actual temp. We had some snow, but it was light and fluffy enough that I cleared most of the sidewalks with the gas leafblower. THAT was fun! :D

Nathaniel is continuing to heal up very well. So far, there have been almost NO side effects/complications. He's to have the six-week checkup on the 27th.. I think. It's sometime around there. Hopefully, at that point, the only restrictions he has (no carrying anything over 10 pounds and no bending at the waist) will be lifted. The sutures were taken out successfully by our family doctor ten days after the surgery, and things seem to be healing up perfectly there. :)

I think that's about it for now. I really need to get to bed soon, so I'll do this, change the music, then head upstairs to bed. Good night everybody!