Wasting Time
I'm trying to make it through the last hour or so of the work-day.... but its moving awfully slowly.....

I've been able to spend some more time with Trent over the last few days because he's actually in town for about a week. Which is great!! This may be the first time since we've been dating that we've spent more than one or two days in the same town back-to-back!

This is really unnerving, but even though we've only been seeing each other for a little over a month now (since aug 22), I honestly can picture myself marrying this boy. YIKES! I wish I knew how he felt about me though -- I mean I know he likes me, but is it strong liking/physical attraction or is it something more... L-O-V-E.

sigh.

when did I get to be such a mushy-gushy girl?

My Wishlist
I keep finding things I'd like to buy, but can't bring myself to spend money on.... so I'm making a wishlist of things I want but don't want to pay for. Maybe eventually, I'll get some of them -- or use this list to tell my parents something they could get me for Christmas. This list is currently in no particular order of importance
1. Brown/black leather belt - example: Fossil
2. Wallet - example 1: Fossil, example 2: Fossil
3. Ceiling Fan - example: Home Depot
4. GPS unit - example: Best Buy
5. A new laptop - example: Best Buy
6. A Watch - example 1: Fossil, example 2: Fossil, example 3: Fossil
7. A new camera bag - example: Circuit City
8. Camera Lens adapter and lenses - adapter, filter, wide angle lens, telephoto lens
9. Gorillapod for ultra zoom cameras - Joby
10. Barstools

Another Update
Well... things are still going strong between Trent and I since I last posted at the end of August. Either he or I have been on travel for work for a good portion of September though. He was back from the Netherlands for about a week before I left to go to New Orleans. Then, we hung out on Tuesday (the first night I was back in town after getting back from New Orleans and going straight to Atlanta for college recruiting) -- actually he took me out "on a date" to dinner and then we came back to his place and watched a movie. That next weekend, he came with me back down to Blacksburg for the VT vs Ohio game. We went downtown on Friday night and then the game on Saturday and downtown again on Saturday night --- Sunday we went to BW3s in Blacksburg to catch the early NFL games (including the Green Bay game). Then we drove back home. It was hillarious though on the drive back -- he was all goofy and stuff from being bored of driving. I guess then we had Sunday night and Monday night together before he left again to go on travel to Ohio.... I left to go back to Blacksburg on Tuesday anyway for college recruiting and then just stayed in southern VA for the William & Mary football game... On Sunday morning, I drove back to southern maryland and picked up Trent and Bruce to take them to the Redskins game.... and then after we got back home on Sunday night, trent and I hung out and watched the tape of the Green Bay game, since he missed it to drive to the skins game. Then, Monday he left to go on TDY again -- this time to San Diego.

My car broke down again about two weeks after I had it fixed the first time. This time it ended up being the radiator -- but I left for New Orleans the afternoon that it started overheating and stuff, so I had just left it at Avis and was going to deal with it when I got back in town. However, my dad decided to drive up to Maryland to take my car to the shop so itd be dealt with before I got back into town.... long story short, he ended up switching cars with me once my radiator got fixed -- so since then I've been driving his car while I decided what to purchase for my new replacement car.

Last weekend, after I finished with the job fair -- Dad and I spent a lot of time on Thursday and Friday test driving cars. I had done a lot of reasearch and found about 10 cars I was interested in... so then I focused on some of those to test drive. Thursday I drove:
- Pontiac G6 coupe v6
- Pontiac G6 sedan 4cyl
- Mazda6 v6
- Mazda3 4cyl
- Hyundai Sonata v6
- Hyundai Sonata 4cyl
- Honda Accord 4cyl
- Honda Civic 4cyl
- Toyota Camry 4cyl

On Friday I drove:
- Nissan Altima 4cyl
- Mazda6 4cyl
- Toyota Camry 4cyl

By the end of Friday, I had pretty much narrowed the field down to the Mazda6 and the Toyota Camry and was having a hard time deciding between the two. There is a Toyota dealership closeby down here in southern Maryland so it'd be easy to get warranty maintenance done, however the closest Mazda dealership is inside the beltway. The Mazda is more sporty and has the 5-door option that I have reallly liked for a long time. The Toyota has a special bluetooth option that would be really handy for the future when using cell phones while driving becomes illegal. Saturday night, while talking to my parents about making my decision, my dad asked me, "If there was a Mazda dealer next door to the Toyota dealer in Lexington Park, do you know which you'd get?" And I said the Mazda.... so I thought about it for a while, and decided that if I'd get the Mazda if there was a dealer down here... I shouldn't let a little bit of inconvenience in dealer location be this big of a decider.... I should get the car I like the best.

So, hopefully, this Friday I will be picking up my new Mazda6 5door from the dealer in Roanoke. Here's a link to the vehicle locator info from the mazda website: MY NEW CAR!!!

And then, last night, dad's car's check engine light came on... so I had to take it to the service shop to get it looked at today. Turns out the light was triggered due to poor seals in the gas cap, but then they also found that the rear wheel bearings had gone bad too -- so now that's getting fixed. But hopefully this weekend I'll get my new car, it won't be a lemon, and I'll have a nice dependable, pretty, shiny new car that gets me everywhere I need to go!! :)

August 2007
I passed my private pilot exam on August 4th. Woohoo! That evening a bunch of friends and I went out to dinner at Stoney's on Solomon's Island to celebrate. Afterwards, two of my neighbors (and friends who will be labeled A and K) as well as another friend (who will be named T) went to Cheeseburger in Paradise for drinks and a little bit of sub-par live beachy music. A was driving, so I could actually partake -- if you don't know anything about me, I'm a HUGE lightweight and usually get tipsy off of half a drink -- partially because I drink so infrequently and partially because of my small stature. So, needless to say I was slightly tipsy after my sex on the beach. T had a number of beers too and after we got back to our apartment complex (since the 4 of us had carpooled together), I insisted that he wait a little bit before he drove home. So we hung out for a bit and watched TV and really got to know each other just by talking... I found out then that we had a lot in common... and I don't know if it was just that we were both a little more open than we would normally have been because of the slight buzz but I really got the feeling that he liked me.... but because he knew that I was dating D (I was still with my boyfriend of 3 years at the time), he knew not to act on anything....

Anyway, after that we hung out a few more times -- he has NFL network, so I came over a couple days later to watch one of the preseason games that I couldn't see because I don't have NFL network. Later that week, I invited him over for dinner and a movie... but still we were just friends hanging out.

That weekend was when D and I parted ways -- although amicably, so we're still friends. When I came back from hanging out with D for the weekend -- that week T and I hung out a few times, including on a Saturday when he and B (another person we know from work) used my guest tickets to the Redskins game -- so we all went up to the game and had a good ol' time. After the game, T was staying in a hotel because he had to catch a flight early the next morning for work travel. I ended up crashing in his extra bed so I didn't have to drive home half asleep.

T got back from TDY on Tuesday night and so he came out to lunch with a bunch of us on Wednesday. Wednesday night after work I was on my way to Redskins band practice when my car broke down -- so after calling AAA to get a tow truck and my parents to get dad's word on things, I called T to see if he could come pick me up and give me a ride home. So, while we were waiting for the towtruck to unload my car T mentioned that when he had gotten home from work he was just so lazy and hadn't eaten dinner and probably wouldn't have -- so I told him that he should come over to my place and I'd make us dinner (I hadn't eaten either). So, I made dinner and then we started watching tv.... at some point in the evening, i noticed a scar on his hand and asked him about it -- and that conversation ended in us holding hands. A little bit later he put his arm around me so I was kinda leaning on his shoulder... at this point he said "Is this okay?" I said "yes" thinking that he was asking if I was comfortable. And he followed up by saying "I don't want to be getting in the way of another guy." Which was super considerate of him to not want to complicate things if I had still been with D... But I confirmed to him that everything was okay and that I was no longer dating D. Later in the evening he kissed me..... :) :)

So that was the start....

On Thursday evening, Green Bay was playing a preseason game (T is a big Green Bay fan) and so he invited me over to watch that game. Again we cuddled some more and he drove me home.

Friday evening, we hung out again... we went out to dinner at Nicoletti's and then thought about going to see a movie but neither of us were really dying to see anything in the theater, so we just went back to T's apartment and watched tv for a bit and then watched a movie. We hung out forever -- and as quiet of a guy as T is in normal social situations, I've found that he is a gentle, sweet, compassionate gentleman. He's a smooth talker too -- he said it felt good to kiss me and later that I was beautiful. I fell asleep in his arms while watching tv on the couch and ended up just sleeping there.... geez we move so fast.... but on Saturday he was leaving for TDY in the Netherlands, so I would have to go at least 10 days without hanging out with him.... before I left he said that he really thought he was going to miss me over the next week. What a cutie!!

I'm crushing so hard!! And I can't wait till he gets back.

An Update
September 2005 was the last time I posted before this morning -- at that point, I believe I was at the beginning of my senior year at VT and since then A LOT has happened. So let me recap --

Collegiate Life: I majored in Aerospace Engineering and was really active in the Marching Virginians (where I was a rank captain during my junior and senior year for the mellophone section). In addition, I was an officer in Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honors society, and Sigma Gamma Tau, the aerospace engineering honors society. I co-oped at GE Aircraft Engines in Cincinnati for 2 terms. During my senior year, I was on the International Design team -- a joint design project between VT and Loughborough University in England. During that project I served as the VT Team lead and also got a free trip to England out of that team. I graduated in May 2006 summa cum laude with a BS in Aerospace Engineering. I had a really great time in college -- learned a LOT, met a LOT of really great people, and had a TON of really great experiences.

Work Life after college: I accepted a job at NAVAIR Flight Dynamics in Patuxent River, MD (its on a little peninsula between the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay) where I started July 24th, 2006. The job description was everything I wanted in a job... I have been in a rotational development program since then. My first job rotation was in Flight Dynamics, where I worked on Small UAVs. Some of my job was cool, and a lot of it was boring and monotonous, however, the work I saw people in my group doing was pretty cool and I want the chance to experience that. My second rotation was with the Flight Controls group, where I worked mainly on the Firescout UAV which was a good experience but the workload fluctuated a good bit -- also during that rotation I got the chance to work on a really unique investigation of the A-7 rate gyros for the Greek Air Force. This rotation also gave me my first trip to California (San Diego). Now I just started a rotation in the Carrier Suitability Flight Test group which should be a really fun rotation and give me some unique experiences, most likely including a shipboard test (on the USS Reagan?).

Other Life after College: I'm pretty active in the ESDP (Engineer & Scientist Development Program) and am my competancy's council rep so I try to organize activities for ESDPs in my competancy and for all ESDPs so I can meet people and keep busy... its taken me a while to really start meeting people that I feel like I mesh with and can hang out with but finally in the last 5 months. In addition to that, I joined the Redskins Marching band last year and continue to do that which is pretty fun and gets me (and 2 guests) into all home games for free. This spring/summer I finally got my private pilot license, so now I fly all sorts of random places to expore or just grab a bite to eat.

Personal Life: While co-oping at GE, I met a boy whom I started dating in May 2004. He also was an aero engineer at VT, but started a year before me -- we ended up graduating at the same time. We liked to travel a lot and have been a lot of really great places together -- including England, France, Las Vegas, and multiple sporting events (Indy 500, Pepsi 400 at Daytona, VT football game at Miami, and NCAA playoff games in Columbus), and many other places inbetween. As of this May we had been dating for 3 years, but I started really thinking about things and wasn't sure that I saw myself marrying him -- after meeting a new ESDP up here who had been dating a girl for 3-4 years and was starting to think about the "M" word, and then realized that they weren't meant to be together... I decided that it probably wasn't fair to either of us to keep things going if I didn't see it going there.

So that's a brief recap....next time an update of the last few weeks since I became single again....

BACK TO BLOGGER
Its been a long time since I participated in the blogger world, but recently I've been looking for a place to record everything I've been up to and what's on my mind -- somewhere other than facebook and somewhere that less people I know look at... I used to be against the menial posting of what I do from day to day and would only post messages about deep thoughts or other things like that... I'm going to say that my new posts will probably not be as deep all the time, but don't discount that I may get deep at times as well....

Expect the next post to be an update on where I am in life and from that point anything is fair game! :)

You are a Social Conservative (35% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (65% permissive) You are best described as a: Republican Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

P.S.
Oh yeah, and today at church, in addition to seeing a good friend of mine who got married just after we graduated and has been off in the Virginia Beach area since then, I was asked to speak at the next Acteens meeting. Acteens is this group for girls in middle and high school to teach them about missions (in a nutshell)... you also do bible study and things of that nature too.

Anyway, I was really active in Acteens from 7th grade all the way until 12th grade. By the time I was in 12th grade I was basically a student leader since the next oldest girl was in 9th or 10th grade (I forget which).

Well, they've asked me to come back and talk to the girls on Jan. 5th. (that's the day after I come back from New Orleans) So I have to come up with what I want to talk about. I'm kinda worried because I haven't been the best Christian since I've been at college... i'm still working on some things I'm struggling with. But I guess we're all works in progress. and teaching people also helps you learn, right?

Anyway, once I get something put together I might post it up here!

Almost another year come and gone
I've been meaning to post, but, as I continually remind whoever out there in the e-world who might still be reading this old thing that's drastically reduced in intellectual fortitude as time has progressed, life has been busy! Busy but not in a bad way.

My Hokies made it to the SUGAR BOWL after an impressive end of the season STOMPING on Maryland at home on a Thursday night, sending UVa back to C-ville minus their previous hopes of being ACC Champs, and then finishing up the season by going down to Miami and embarassing them which wrapped up our title as ACC Champs OUTRIGHT! All-in-all it was a great season... our only two losses weren't BAD. The first of which was our sesaon opener against the #1 team in the nation USC. The other loss was to NC State and could've been won if we hadn't botched the field goal in the last few seconds. I actually had a ticket for the Miami game and was going to travel down with Robbie (Hokiepundit) and some other people from the Navigators, but then had to sell my ticket because a professor scheduled a test the day my group was leaving and also had a GINORMOUS project due at the beginning of the week after the Miami game. (OH WELL) As a good 2nd place to actually seeing the game in person, I did get to go to Cassell Colleseum to welcome the team back that night after the win! THAT PLACE WAS PACKED!!!! it was insane. that's all I can really say about it... insane.

Anyway, in less than a week (Jan. 1) I'll be leaving from the Richmond Airport on a GIGANTIC PlANE (it has to hold more than 330 people) to go to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. This will be my first bowl game after not getting to go for my first two years in the Marching Virginians. I'll have to say, going to the sugar bowl for my first bowl trip almost makes up for the two that I didn't get to go to. So I'll spend 4 AWESOME days, with some AMAAZING people, in a CRAAAAZY town all to cheer on my BELOVED HOKIES! :) That's right... GOOOO HOKIES! BEAT AUBURN!

My semester ended up pretty well.... acutally a lot better than I had expected after taking my final exams. The only class I didn't get an A in was my thermodynamics class and I managed to pull off an A- there! WOW! Also I found out after talking to one of my professors (and my advisor) that I'll most likely start doing undergraduate research with him next semester. Right now the plan is for me to do analytical and physical aerodynamics research on winglets (and possibly other wing tip modifications such as "c-wings" and "box wings"). I'm kinda excited.

Oh and I also put in an application to work at Space Camp this summer, so maybe that will come through. My other options right now are to go back to Cincinnati to work at GE Aircraft Engines for another term OR to stay in Blacksburg and continue my research work that I start this semester (provided that I get the research grant that I'll be applying for in the first few weeks of the spring semester). I don't know if I want to go back to Cincy. I mean I had a GREAT time socially and it paid quite well. But, I'm not really excited about the job itself... I'm kinda getting afraid of boxing myself into propulsion if I work too many terms with them. All the positions I've applied for with Boeing (their application process is done all online) have all come back saying that I am no longer being considered for the position, so its looking doubtful that Boeing's even an option for this summer.

The week before Tech classes start I'm going on a ski trip with Dave and Trisha maybe someone else (any of you tech people I know want to go??? I think we have an extra spot). We're going to Snowshoe. We have some package deal... 3 night stay in one of the lodges, 4 days of lift-tickets. I'm looking forward to it... but I'm expecting to be UBER-sore once the trip is over. I've never been skiing for more than one day at a time, so this is going to be pretty strenuous on my body I think. Its also been a while since I've been snowskiing at all (i think since my senior or junior year in high school).

I went to the first ACC basketball game that Tech had. We played UNC at Cassell Colluseum! We held in there pretty well during the first half but UNC showed their true talent in the second half and pulled WAY ahead. Oh well... in a few years we'll probably be able to even go out on the court with these hard-core ACC teams and not look like we're a rec team against them.

Dave got me one of those new VT football jersies for Christmas. Its really nice... me gusta mucho! I got him a VT snow hat and a ghostbusters t-shirt. He needed a new snow hat for the ski trip and since he likes the ghostbusters soo much, I decided he needed a shirt too. I guess we've kinda been dating now for 8 months now.... its hard to say

Christmas eve service was a great again! I love Christmas eve service at my church.... besides the fact that its a gorgeous service, it always is a reminder of the TRUE story of Christmas and a chance to worship God's gift to us in honor of the birth of his Son Jesus. After all the normal reading of scripture and singing of the related hymns, just before the Lord's Supper. Our Pastor gave a nice message about the similarities & differences between secular and Christian Christmas celebration/traditions.

Both Santa and Jesus have lists.... Santa checks his list twice to see who's naughty and who's nice. Jesus keeps a list of people who follow him--"The Lamb's book of Life". The difference is that Santa is trying to take people off the list (clearly he wants to get rid of people because he checks it TWICE), but God is continually trying to add people to his list... once you're on God's list, you're on for good, because he writes the names in his blood.

Both the secular Christmas and the Christian Christmas have gifts. Santa keeps his gifts in his bag.... comes flying in on his sleigh that lands on your roof. THEN, he mysteriously manages to fit down the chimney and put them under your tree... These are nice gifts... lots of times they're just what we wanted, but they can only make you happy for a little while. On the other hand Jesus' gift is forever.... its the gift of eternal life!

Both Christmas celebrations involve trees. Of course there is the tree that Santa puts the gifts under.... its really pretty and all.. But then, Jesus' gift to us was himself on the 'tree'

Every Christmas, I'm reminded of how fortunate I have been during my life. My family, my opportunities, my church, my home, everything I own, my school, my clothes.... everything. I'm SO blessed to have what I do. Of course, my family isn't the wealthiest family I know (goodness... no.... not by a LONG SHOT). To some this could be depressing, but we have SO much more than SOOOO MANY people in the world and even more than the possessions.... we have such a LOVING family. I don't think I could've asked for a more loving home to grow up in. It disturbed me the other day when reading my little brother's Christmas blog entry to see a little bit of what he wrote: "if i thought about all of the material things i had, i would be very sad because my family wasn't blessed with much, but we know how to look at what counts and it's definately each other that means something..."

I mean he knows that the most important thing is that we 'look at what counts' but I was shocked to see that he didn't think we were blessed. We definitely don't have as much money as some families that live around us and that our friends are from, but that doesn't mean we aren't blessed.... Anyway.... I think he'll learn soon enough.

Speaking of my brother, he applied to Tech earlier in the fall. Actually he applied 'early admission' but was deferred to regular admission. He doesn't have the BEST grades.... I mean they're decent, but Tech has become more and more competitive over the years... even since I applied, so I just want to say if you can say a little prayer for him to get in that'd be great. I know he wants to come to Tech REALLY badly. He hasn't applied anywhere else (mainly because my father insisted that since he didn't know what he wants to do with his life, that if he doesn't get into Tech right away that he go to Virginia Western, the local community college, until he can transfer to Tech). My dad never went to a normal college, only community-type colleges, so he's really pushing VA Western for Matt. And I can't say anything bad really about the education you receive there. Its definitely DRASTICALLY cheaper and you're taught the same curriculum (at least for the first 2 years of basic coursework) because most professors come straight from Tech and most courses are designed in conjunction with VT so that its very easy for students to transfer. HOWEVER, what I've noticed over the past few years is that the people I know that go to VWCC end up never letting go of high school. Many don't really grow up out of the 'high school' mentality until they're thrown into the 'real world' after receiving their degrees. I'm not saying that everyone is this way.... I'm just saying that A LOT of the people I know were this way. And I think my brother needs a little bit of the 'college lifestyle and independence' to help him mature emotionally and help him prepare to live in the real world after college. Not to mention going to VWCC would cause him to miss out on the musical opportunities that he is so active in and so talented in.

Anyway........ hanging out with the family was once again LOTS of fun... just the normal Christams traditions. My parents managed to surprise me this year by getting me a DVD player! :) I thought I was going to be able to borrow one my aunt had bought for the trailer at the lake last year, but it turned out that she had taken that home with her this fall to use. I think they overheard me asking about it and decided that I could get some good use out of a dvd player instead of using my laptop for playing movies!.

Lindsay's going to New Zealand next semester, so, as of right now, I have the entire room to myself! Don't get me wrong, I love living with lindsay, but if she's not going to be there, I'd just prefer not be assigned a new roommate.

Oh yeah.... and I've ordered a dress for the Bandquet off of ebay, and my aunt and I found a BEAUTIFUL dress to wear for ring dance. I know its all the way on April 1, but we wanted to make sure I found something great for ring dance.... you only get to go to your college ring dance once (well at least the one for your year). I can't wait to wear it now.... i might end up getting it out and just sitting in my dorm room this winter in it! hahaha... j/k

Anyway, I spent 3 days MASSIVELY cleaning my room... it looks a LOT better now and I can actually put my clean underwear in a drawer now instead of just leaving it lying on top of my dresser!

Okay... i'm going to end this entry now.
:)
that is all

Upcoming Election
Some politicians lie.......
others just don't have a stance on anything.....

http://www.wabcradio.com/listingsentryheadline.asp?ID=259078&PT=WABC+News

HALFWAY....
Yep, this week marked the halfway point for the semester and the halfway point for October. This semester seems to be FLYING by.... I've been pretty busy, as usual. Classes keep me busy with homework, band keeps me busy with practice and games and such. I'm joining both Tau Beta Pi (the engineering honors fraternity) and Sigma Gamma Tau (the aerospace engineering honors fraternity) so I've been doing stuff for both of those including running around desperately searching for members that could sign my sheet.....

Football season is going alright.... the Hokies aren't quite as spectacular as we'd like (sugar bowl hopefuls we're not), but we're having a decent inaugural season in the ACC. Our two losses are comprised of the 1st game against USC (the current #1 ranked team and one of the top two teams from last season) which was played at FEDEX field and a disappointing loss to NC State which came down to whether or not we made a field goal in the last 2 seconds of the game--- the pressure was too hard. BUT, on the bright side, we dominated against Western Michigan during the first game at home, did a very good job securing the win against Duke, completely UPSET WVU's orange bowl hopes, and squeaked by with a win at Wake Forest. This week is going to be a light one with our Homecoming battle against Florida A&M (too bad they're not bringing their uber awesome marching band). But the rest of the season is sure to be a tough series of matchups.... our next game is a Thursday night game against Georgia Tech who just obliterated the Terps IN College Park. This is followed by a game at University of North Carolina who upset NC State (who beat us). Then we have Maryland at home for our one and only night game in Lane Stadium this season. The Saturday after Thanksgiving brings the in-state rivals into blacksburg for a tough one. Finally, the Hokies travel to Miami to hopefully upset them for the second year in a row.

That's my mid-season wrap-up.

Anyway, I've mentioned before that we're doing the Topical Memory Study in the Nav Bible Study.... I'm pretty psyched cause we just finished the first set of verses. They correlate with the Nav wheel... so i've learned 12 verses so far this semester.... (these are from memory, you'll just have to trust me!)
CHRIST THE CENTER
* 2 Corinth. 5:17 - Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old is gone the new has come.
* Galatians 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ and no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.
OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST
* Romans 12:1 - Therfore, I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies and living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God
* John 14:21 - Whoever has my commands and obeys them, He is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my father and I too will love him and show Myself to him.
GOD'S WORD
* 2 Timothy 3:16 - All scripture is God Breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, training, and correcting in rightousness.
* Joshua 1:8 - Do not let this book of the Law depart from you mouth. But meditate on in Day and night. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
PRAYER
* John 15:7 - If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you.
* Philippians 4:6-7 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, offer your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
FELLOWSHIP
* Matthew 18:20 - For where 2 or 3 come together in my name, there I am with them.
* Hewbrews 10:24-25 - And let us consider how we might spur one another on toward love and compassion; let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another. And all the more as you see the day approaching.
WITNESSING
* Matthew 4:19 - "Come follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
* Romans 1:16 - I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe - first for the Jew, then for the gentile.


Tonight I went to the Nav rally and then to swing dancing for the first time this semester. It was a lot of fun as normal. I was also reminded of how awesome some of my friends are. I have been struggling a little bit with how fast/far a certain relationship of mine has gone and God keeps reminding me that maybe I've not listened to him or even asked him sometimes if what I do is what he's got planned for my life. One of these reminders from God became apparent again tonight; I know that the guy I need to end up with for the rest of my life should be like one of my guy friends who shall remain nameless.... too often my closer friends aren't even Christians and this doesn't help strengthen my relationship with him.... I need to find close friends that can build me up and encourage my walk with God. Anyway... I just hope and pray that I will find someone like the previously mentioned friend to spend the rest of my life with: a strong Christian guy who's a lot of fun to be around, and preferably someone who'll swing dance with me! ;)

Well, tomorrow's going to be an early, long day with all the homecoming festivities that the MVs have going on, so I better head on to bed so I'll be psyched for the game!

The Word.
Last night I went to my weekly Nav Bible study. This week we were studying verses related to the topic "The Word": 2 Timothy 3:16 and Joshua 1:8. For each verse, as I think I mentioned in a previous entry, we read the surrounding text to get a better idea of the context of each verse and then discuss the verses' implications. While we were discussing 2 Timothy 3:16 last night, I thought of a really cool metaphor.

The Word
2 Timothy 3:16

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

So, we were talking about the significance of the order in which the 4 benefits of Scripture were listed. One of the girls in my study suggested that she thought it was odd for training to fall after rebuking and correcting.... when this popped into my head.

The order makes sense to me because you can view the usefulness of the Bible in the same way you view the usefulness of the classes we take here at college....
* Step 1: We go to class for the professor's lectures where he TEACHES us the material.
* Step 2: Then we're given homework or a quiz in which we get a chance to act on what we've been taught. The professor then REBUKES us for our mistakes when he grades this quiz or homework.
* Step 3: Next we have to go back on our own and see what we did wrong and CORRECT our mistakes and the way we approach the material in the future.
* Step 4: Finally, we have to TRAIN ourselves by studying and practicing, embedding the appropriate processes/material into our minds so that it becomes 'instinct'.

Its so easy to just stop after looking at the grade we get back from the homework and not worry about it until test time; but if we skip the intermediate steps of correcting our mistakes and training ourselves in the correct methods, then we won't be sufficiently prepared when it comes time for the test.

Rank Brunch etc.
Today, I cooked brunch for my rank in the MVs. The menu was pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs, plus some fruits and a wide selection of milk and juice. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the most TALENTED in the kitchen. I'm not the worst cook either, but I usually am not the most efficient when it comes to getting a meal cooked. Anyway, this was the largest group of people I've ever even thought about cooking for (with a grand total of 10 mouths to feed), so when I went to kroger to buy the ingredients I had a hard time predicting how much stuff I'd need. So I bought what seemed like A TON of food: One large box of bisquick, 30 eggs, 2 packs of bacon (i think each had about 15-20 slices), 1 quart of whole milk, 1 quart of 1% milk, 1 quart of chocolate milk, 1 jug of pulp-free OJ, and 1 jug of 'medium pulp' OJ.... 2 boxes of strawberries, 2 boxes of blueberries, a thing of butter, and a jug of Aunt Jemima's Maple Syrup (I accidently picked up the 'lite' bottle instead of original... DOH... oh well it still tasted fine). We made about 4 batches of the pancake mix, used 15 eggs for the scrambled eggs, and one pack of bacon. But everything seemed to be eaten pretty well... I bought way too much bacon, but most everything else was mostly used up.... I left with a little bit left in each of the milks and OJ's, but not much.... I have about a half dozen eggs now, about a quarter of the box of bisquick and both of my boxes of blueberries... apparently nobody likes that fruit.

Even though I started off a little rough on the first set of pancakes, everything turned out really well and at least the stuff I had tasted quite good if I might say so.... I might have to make some more pancakes some weekend for myself..... AND I did manage to not burn down Vinny's apartment, so that's always a plus.

Anyway, tomorrow starts the 4th week of the semester and tests are most definitely on the way (though I had my first one on Wednesday). I'm really enjoying my classes this year (you know, as much as one can enjoy Classes); its really cool to be learning specifics (FINALLY) on how these things work. In high school, I was in this elective at one of my schools called "Aerodynamics"; in this class, we had to design, build, and test fly a wing design. The program we used to select the airfoil (or cross-sectional) shape of the wing gave us all these really pretty plots that we all used in our final project display, but none of us really understood what they really meant. Well, in my aerodynamics class now, I'm learning how to derive the formulae to make those plots and what it all means! I think that's really exciting.

Band is going really well. The horn section is a blast as usual. Check out the horn webpage I put together for this year.... www.mvhorns.org.vt.edu


In Nav's this year, our Bible study is focusing on the TMS (Topical Memory System). Each week we learn about 2 verses that follow a certain topic. For the first part of the study the verses relate to the "Nav Wheel". This is an illustration that uses a wheel. At the center (the hub) is Christ (hence the first topic = "Christ the Center". Then the two vertical spokes are dealing with our relationship with God: Prayer and God's Word. The two horizontal spokes deal with our relationships with others: Witnessing and Fellowship. Then the rim represents our obedience to Christ: this is putting everything into action in our lives. Each of the topics (the hub, the 4 spokes, and the rim) have 2 related verses. Then we'll go onto similar types of sets of verses. As we learn the verses we read the surrounding text to get an idea of the context and stuff like that...

That's what's going on in my life though....

A quote
I found this in my planner last week...
Growth demands a temporary surrender of security. - Gail Sheehy

This is SO true. If we expect to grow in our Christian walk, we have to be willing to give up whatever it is that's holding us back. Whether it be a weakness to continue falling into the trap of the same old sins over and over again, or be it completely giving up the worldly lifestyle we are so familiar with, this is what we're comfortable doing and so its going to be hard to make a change. But if we excpect to become closer to God, we have to make this step.

Relearning a Lot
So, it was an excellent weekend. The first football game of the season just happened to be at FED-EX field just outside of DC against USC (ranked #1 in the preseason polls). And my Hokies did a really good job proving that we could put up a fight.... we were even beating them 10-7 for at least 10 minutes of play time. It was also great hanging out with all the cool horn kids.

Anyway, I think I'm making progress. I got a lot of ground to make up, but I think I'm finally on the right track. let me back up a second...

This morning, a few of us horns got together and had a Bible Study during our ~2hr breakfast time as organized by Robbie. We talked a lot about listening for what God has planned for our life and submitting to His will. Anyway, from that point on today, God kept throwing things in my face to point out that I have been leaving him out of a lot of my decision making processes. Anyway, this evening after talking in more detail about the subject of our Bible study, I decided to stop and Y2G. I'm sure I could have handled the load, but I think things will be better this way.

This is seriously the first time taken a step like this in a long time.

anyway, after this tiring weekend, I'm heading to bed.

onward.

Approaching the end of summer
Wow, its hard to believe that the summer is practically over. I have a little over 30 hours to go before I'm off to classes again this fall. I guess taking classes in summer school causes you to lose most of the true 'summer experience' (aka relaxing... not taking classes.... etc.). Eh, but all in all I'll have to say that it was a pretty good summer. I've been working on my list of things to improve upon... making some progress, but I'll talk more about that later.

Its been a while since my last post and I can contribute most of the hiatus to the chaos of the end of a summer session and the transition from summer school to band camp to fall semester motions.

I've spent the last 4 full days here in Blacksburg at band camp, which has been an exciting experience for me seeing as it is my first time with a real leadership position in a marching band (or concert/symphonic band for that matter... I'm not counting the reporter position I held in high school band because you don't really have to be much of a leader to other people for that... just write stuff for newspapers and for the announcers at football games).

This year I'm a rank captain for the MV Horns. I'm the only new person to the horn leadership, as Justin and Andrew return as rank captains for a 2nd season and Robbie moves to section leader. This has been a very awesome experience so far for me... and actually a lot more strenuous/exhausting than I expected but I think maybe that's just cause of the lack of sleep, long days and the responsibility the horn leadership had this year in making decisions on how we were going to deal with the abundance of people 'auditioning'. For the first time in years, the Horn section not only didn't have to accept 'refugees' from another section, but we also had more people than our section traditionally could handle. Originally we thought we were going to have to make cuts... which is really tough because all the people in the horn section including the rookies are fun people and deserve to be a part of the band. We had to make decisions by 5pm on Friday. As of Thursday, we weren't sure what we were going to do but we had several options... cut 2, send one to the trumpets and cut 1, two ranks of 10 people, or send one to the trumpets and one rank of 10 people.... we weren't sure how the ranks of 10 people would work and that's how we left it on Thursday night. I had trouble sleeping on Thursday night because I kept thinking about how we could have this work out the best. The horn section has some of the most amazing people and they're like a big family of sorts so making cut(s) would be like inflicting a wound to the section. Each of us has some form of 'attachment' to each other member of the section, even the new ones; if we were to suddenly lose one, it would be tough I believe.

Okay I seem to be rambling. Anyway, long story short, I think things worked out for the best. We have one horn marching in a trumpet rank (because for once they actually were short one marcher) and then Andrew has a rank of 10. Tonight, I went to the annual Meet the Horns party and hung out with everyone. Again an excellent attendance.... and surprisingly a large number of the rookies didn't drink and some of the old people didn't drink either.... our percentages are definitely on the rise. Anyway, I look forward to this season a lot. I'm excited about the responsibilities I have as a rank captain and I'm excited about using the 'items' I'm working on to act as a leader and role model by example to my friends in the section.

Anyway, this summer I've been working on my lists some and think I've made some progress. When I got back from Cincy I had gotten a little 'too' emotionally involved in a certain relationship that started towards the end of my co-op there. I was struggling with the lack of time I had to talk to him, either on IM or on the phone, once school started this summer and had an even harder time when a girl from OSU who was on co-op at GE at the start of our co-op rotation returned this summer and they started hanging out a lot -- even less time for conversations with me. Now, I don't know how much of this struggle should be attributed to lack of social interaction here in Blacksburg this summer due to the lack of people, but that's beside the point. Anyway, as I thought about it, I realized what a waste of time it was for me to be worrying about him and what he was doing especially since we agreed that whatever relationship we started in Cincy was on hold, or ended or something like that since he was to be staying in cincy until the end of this fall semester. I remembered some things I had read back in high school when I was getting to know a very good friend of mine and learned that his family believed in the neo-courting style of relationship. Though I'm not sure I'm totally against dating, reading this literature** helped mre realize how petty and insignificant these worries I have about my relationship are. There are FAR more important things to focus on than how I'm viewed by one single person of the opposite gender, especially as I don't know that our relationship was headed in exactly the best direction. I think my leaving Cincy came at a good time, in fact, because I didn't know how to stop it...

*** some of the literature I was referring to....
- Christian Courtship
- I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris
..... (I just realized all the other links are on my old computer)

Also, I'm about at the halfway point in my 400 days which is awesome and I don't even really have the temptation anymore.... I'm far past that stage now I believe! :)


Finally, I realized today that band almost seems strange without people like Eileen, Leslie W, Leslie S, Will and Tess around anymore. Don't get me wrong, everyone in the horn section now's still great, but I feel like I was closer to the older members of our section from when I was a freshman and I'm not really finding that anymore. I mean Robbie, Andrew, and Justin are still around, but I dunno I just kinda feel like something's missing. I mean, today, all the horn girls had already gotten rooms of 4 before I had a chance to get in with one of the rooms... now comes the challenge... finding other girls in the band to room with (seeing as most of my close friends are guys... I'm not very close with any other girls in the band outside of the horn section). I mean I don't feel that its a matter of the horns not liking me... not by any means!!! I'm pretty sure that I'm well liked by everyone, but I'm just not really that close with people. Even within the horns little groups form and I don't really seem to fit into any of them.... I'm just kinda a drifter from one to the next which is great cause I'm well liked (I like to flatter myself that way anwyay...), but bad because I'm just kinda the frosting... you can take it or leave it. Wow this last paragraph sounds like I'm depressed or something. But I'm not.... I just was noting things I've noticed and at 2:15 in the morning I guess things just don't work the way I want them.

Anyway, now that I have a good number of my 'items' under control I'm going to focus on getting back in touch with where I stand on things.... religion, faith, life, etc.... I'd very much like to find someone to have a one-on-one sort of accountability thing going but my problem is that I'm not very close to any Christian girls. So I don't have anyone that pops to mind.... Well, at the least I hope to be more devoted to whatever small group study I end up in this fall as I wasn't very devoted (more like not devoted at all) to the summer nav study.

Well, anyway, I suppose I've garbled on enough for one entry... Besides I'm tired and need to get some rest in tonight seeing as I've been working on a smaller amount of sleep than I should've been working off of.

Good night ya'll. and I hope to talk again soon.

Its time for UPDATES once again.
Well Summer session one has been done for over a week and a half now! I ended up faring pretty well grade-wise and now second summer session is going pretty well. I have a lot more free time and have been using that to do stuff like go to the gym, work on my scrapbook, read a book (not a textbook), etc. Anyway, I thought I'd go through my list of things to work on since I haven't in a while and see where I stand.

1. Watch what you say -- I don't seem to be having trouble with this one. I think being back in VA has helped with that a lot and I think that the people I'm around this summer also helps.

2. Be Careful How you Portray yourself -- I'm doing about average in this category. My goal was to not contribute to conversations about drinking/sex/drugs/etc and I have been doing pretty well... there have been a few time where I'll join in on conversations about alcohol. But these have been limited. Day 154 of 400

3. Don't Complain -- Again about average.... A few things yesterday happened around campus that annoyed me and I slipped some but overall there hasn't been much to complain about.

4. Take Care of Your Body -- I'm doing a LOT better in this area this summer session. During the first session I didn't have much time to go to the gym and work out, especially during the hours they're open. but This session I've gone to the gym every other day. I think I've also been eating a more rounded diet this summer as well.... although I'm working with limited options with summer owens food.

5. Be a role model -- again I continue as normal doing fine in this area I believe.

6. Careful in Relationships -- I need to be more attentive in this area. I mean since I've been gone from Cincy there's not very many opportunities for me to falter here... but I need to make sure in the future I don't go too far.

7. Blog more often -- I think i've had a higher frequency in the past month.

8. avoid mental complacency -- haven't made a lot of progress but I have been watching the news more often in Owens and reading the news occasionally as well.

gotta run to class now.
Later.

Looks like an End to the Quarterback Controversy at VT
...But for real this time.

An announcement was made today that Marcus Vick is suspended from athletic competition as well as all team activities until further notice. The announcement made on the Virginia Tech website didn't give much detail as to why he was being suspended, so I went to the Roanoke Times online and found an article that gave a reason. Don't you think he would've straigtened up after the first close call earlier this year?? I guess not.

Update
Happy Belated 4th of July! :)

Well... Summer session one is finally over! :) So I had a breather for the weekend and classes start back up again for summer session II tomorrow.

While I was at home this evening after our weekend at the lake, my parents showed me a newspaper article from Myrtle Beach that was given out at Gary Epperly's funeral. It talked about how they speculate that a change in the current has been the cause of three drownings there in the last few weeks. Apparently that's what caused Gary's drowning. They said that he and his son were out swimming around 8 pm and that they caught the current. Benjamin, his son, says that the last thing his dad said was "Get out of here as fast as you can, Ben" and then he gave Benjamin a shove into shore until ben could touch again... but it was all he could do to save his son. Benjamin is in 4th or 5th grade now, but is autistic and still doesn't quite grasp what happened. He still asks "When is daddy coming home from the beach?"

Gary was a big influence on a lot of kids lives. He was really involved in the youth ministry at my church and, especially for some of the guys, he was someone you trusted and could go talk to about anything... Dad said that there are some of the guys that are really struggling with this because Gary was so influential in their lives.

Anyway, that's the word. Keep that family in your prayers if you will.

Sad News...
Well.. before I get to the sad, let me start off by updating you all on the situation presented in my last post. It seems that due to popular demand (possibly) HokiePundit has returned from the dead! There have been several posts made in the last few days. so HOORAY for that.

Anyway, I just got word from my dad that a Sunday School Teacher (Gary Epperly) I had while in the youth group at Bonsack Baptist Church (he was also very active with the youth group in other aspects as well) just drowned on Tuesday night while at Myrtle Beach. My dad sent me an email this morning to inform me of the news but hasn't heard anything of the details yet. He wasn't very old (possibly in his mid thirties to early fourties). His wife and child are on their way back to Roanoke and the visitation is tonight.... if I didn't have a test tomorrow morning I'd probably go back to the visitation. His son is probably in 3rd or 4th grade and is autistic. I'm not sure, but I think his wife has been a stay-at-home mom in order to help their son along and Gary has been the supporter of the family.

Well, until I hear more, please remember Susan (Gary's wife) and Benjamin (his son) as they're dealing with this tragedy.