If you were wondering, I have not completely disappeared from the blogosphere. A couple of months back, I attempted to update WordPress to a newer version and experienced a complete data loss. I have finally located all of my lost data in a backup and restored all my old posts. I’ve also cleaned up some dead links and am ready to start posting again. Carry on, citizens.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
up and running
Saturday, March 28th, 2009Running and Relaxing
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged, so I’m going to catch everyone up on my life colloquially.
In mid October, Josiah and I decided we needed to find a race to run so that we’d get in shape. We settled on the Mountain Home race on 11/15/08 and chose the half marathon. We had a grand plan to run every day and train; I think we ran together maybe twice. In the mean time, my aunt Jan died and I had to go home for a funeral, so I didn’t really keep up with my running well. Before the race, I’d managed to work myself up to a grand total of 4.5 miles, which obviously prepared me for the 13.1 required for the half. Come race day, it was freezing (with wind chill in the 20s) and at one point during the run it started sleeting on us.
Let’s have a little before and after, shall we?
Before
After
I’d say Josiah fared better than I did. His girlfriend, Katelyn, was kind enough to trek up to Mountain Home with us, brave my driving, and take these pictures. At this point I’m planning to run either the half or the full for the Little Rock Marathon in March. I’m going to try and work myself up to at least 30 miles per week, starting with a minimum of 10 miles per week.
For Thanksgiving, I went up to my brother’s house in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. He and Sara just had their first child, a lovely daughter named Cambria with whom I’m totally enamored. I had a great time getting to know her and can’t wait to see them again during Christmas. As a bonus, Sara’s sister Christianna and her husband Wes were there, as well as Sara’s parents. It really was fantastic to see them all. I felt a little like the 7th wheel though, since I was the only single person in the group. That is to be expected, however, when you’re 27 and everyone you know is getting married and having babies. All in all, it was a memorable trip and I hope to head up that direction again soon. Thanksgiving is a great time to catch up and renew old friendships. It’s also nice to spend time with the family and share in the joy of that relationship. I’m so blessed to have longstanding friends and a loving family for sharing all these times. The shot below is a little grainy because it was dark and I took it on the isight, but it’s one of my favorites.
Teaching Cambria the Hebrew alphabet.
On the way back to Searcy, I stopped by Nashville and stayed the night with Nick. Nashville has an REI store, and I’ve been looking for some camping/hiking gear. Two hours later (Melanie even stopped by to say hi!) I emerged with a new tent, a REI membership, and the urge to go camping at least once in this cold weather before Christmas. Anyone game?
For the time being, I have about two weeks to finish up all the assignments and work I haven’t done over the semester. For those who don’t know (I haven’t really announced this to many people yet), I don’t think I’m going to continue with this Masters of Ministry program at Harding next semester. It’s not a bad program, but (a) all my classes are online, and that’s not working out to be a great scenario for me. I feel like my time and money would be better spent doing face to face classes if I’m really wanting more school. (b) the classes seem more oriented towards current preachers who have no bible background, and I’m re-hashing a lot of stuff I did in undergrad. Doesn’t make the program bad, but it’s just not what I am looking for right now. I’d rather cut my losses and pursue other avenues at this point. I’m not sure what exactly that will entail, but one option that’s been on my mind a lot is teaching English in Japan and maybe planting some house churches while I’m there. Another option would be to move up to N.C. to be near my brother and his wife, or I could also just stay here in Searcy. Either way, I’m bound here until June when my lease ends, so I’ll probably find a job here until that time comes.
So, we’re all caught up and I solicit your prayers as I re-group and plan my next steps. Merry Christmas, all!
rock the vote!
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this election cycle, it’s this: people really like to talk about voting, vote, and then talk some more about voting.
Now that November 4th has come and gone, I’m offering you the opportunity to vote, once again. Unlike the presidential race, this is universal suffrage, baby! You can be under 18, you can be a convicted felon, you can be a subject of a monarchy in some other country that doesn’t have elections — you all get to vote here.
If you’d like to participate, please select image below that depicts your preference regarding my facial hair, and leave your choice in the comments. (Yes, I realize I can’t grow an awesome beard like Phil, Jacob, Josiah, or Tim, but I’m doing my best here!)
The beard.
couple days' growth
baby face
you're so vain; you probably think this blog is about you
halloween funsies
Thursday, October 30th, 2008I know it’s been a few weeks since I’ve updated, and I’m getting back on track here. Thanks for caring, though!
I decided to carve some pumpkins for Halloween this year, and here are the results:
Run o' the mill scary pumpkin.
The fantastic Ron Paul Jack-o-lantern
[ACT]http://www.floydius.com/video/blog/rp2012halloween.divx,464,352[/ACT]
buckle up.
Monday, October 6th, 2008I remembered reading this transcript back in May before I moved back up here to Searcy, when I was still just a fledgling conspiracy theorist:
Here’s the thing I want you to watch for. I want you to watch for a sudden fall in the price of oil. If you see oil spike downward to about $70 a barrel, $80 a barrel, if it goes from $110 to $80 a barrel, look out. It’s counterintuitive but you have to remember that the price of oil is based on futures and so what could possibly happen, a bad sign. If it drifts back down slowly over a period of time, that’s good. But if it suddenly drops down, what that means is that the conventional wisdom for the people who buy oil futures, these are the big — you know, there’s a lot of money. These people who are buying oil futures, what they’re saying is the economy around the world is going to slow down so much that people won’t be able to drive or fly as much as they have had to. They won’t be able to afford the oil or the gasoline or the diesel. So demand will go way, way down for oil. That’s what they will be betting on.
If you read the whole transcript, there’s further exposition. I don’t necessarily agree that we need to be hoarding food and gasoline like Glenn Beck does, but let me just ask you this — anyone noticed a severe reduction in gas prices lately? How about the fact that oil, which passed the $100/barrel mark a long time back is now, all of the sudden, under $90/barrel?
Interesting.
