Changes

Its been eons since I've posted and stuff. Mostly because I actually do stuff at work. So, we moved to Gambrills, and my job is changing (working in DC permanently now), and now we'rehaving a baby in March. So lots of stuff goin on. Its very exciting though. I guess I could throw a few pictures up, but I dont have any on me. With the whole move I havent really done much with my cameras or my home computer for a while. I did start using facebook at lunch sometimes, thats pretty cool. Anyway. not too much interesting to report right now....but ask me for our new address if you dont already have it.

Snow!!

accident

my dad was just in an accident in his van where a large amount of lumber went through his windshield, and entered the van. It tore the passenger seat in half and kept going almost to the back of the van. He was the only person in the van. He's very fortunate, he only has a few scrapes on his hand and his shoulder is sore. I dont know if I should post a picture of the van because its kind of disturbing....but we're very thankful that God protected him!!!!

more than life size

I just read that at a recent AARP (american association of retired peoples, or something like that) convention, they had a giant, inflatable, walk-through colon. I guess when you get old you have to worry about colon cancer...so they wanted to make it very apparent what it can look like. When the aged visitors walk through, they get to see examples of healthy colon, then examples of not-so-healthy colon with polyps, which are apparently bad.....

and here when I first saw the picture, I thought it was a moon bounce....

something new

I learn something new every day....yesterday I learned that the Dead Sea in Israel is at the lowest point of dry land on earth...at 1,200 feet below sea level. Interesting.

Today I learned that the Brontosaurus wasnt really a dinosaur, Its discoverer had put the wrong head on a body that had already been discovered...with the proper head on it can be identified in the family of Diplodocus. Whoops...

Hallowweeen

Don't hug swiss cows

this is a bizarre article about a phenomenon in Switzerland...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14570685/?GT1=8404

the weekend

If somebody asked me what I did this past weekend, one of my instincts might be to respond with "well, I had my arms nearly pulled out of their sockets, I was stung by jelly fish, and I had the skin on my hands sanded off until I bled. But before that I had large objects dropped on my toes." It almost sounds like a torture chamber, but it all happened...

I was moving furniture, and of course what goes up, must come down. That's enough to explain what happened to my toes. The rest....basically I was getting used to the idea of wake-boarding behind Jeff's boat. It takes lots of practice.....and I'll get up on plane next time I try. I'm sure of it.

apparently, this blog has gone dry. perhaps I'll start a Xanga again, and point people here....

Cameras

Jenn and I both have new Cameras now...mine from my dad...and hers from me. She really loves hers!!

fear

thought of the day....

Its okay to fall, its not okay to stay down, to not rise back up. When we fail or fall, we learn how to succeed. We learn through failure, mostly about ourselves. Failures destroy illusions. Don't fear failure. Use it to your advantage.

Tuna

My thoughts recently have reverted to those of practicality (in times of great stress or struggle, we tend to dwell on methods of survival). So, for your benefit, and my own future reference, please consider the following:

Rule #1: Do not prepare tuna while wearing newly cleaned pants
Rule #2: Do not prepare tuna while wearing a tie
Rule #3: Do not prepare tuna before 6 in the morning
Rule #4: Failing to bring the proper utensil for lunch can be horribly frustrating

This last rule is not from my own experience, but I'm thinking clearly enough now to be smart about it:
Rule #5: Do not ever attempt to eat tuna with your hands

Eqyptian Discovery

sorry if the spiders overwhelmed you....I know after a while they started to bother me. Anyway, moving on. I used to love reading about Eqypt while growing up, I still do, theres just lots of other stuff going on too. I have a nice big picture book with historic places in Egypt in it...very cool. Even cooler is that they recently discovered another tomb in the Valley of the Kings, very close to where Tut was buried. Its named KV63 (Kings Valley, 63rd tomb discovered). Theyre even having a special on the Discovery channel soon. This is big stuff, like the biggest discovery over there since Howard Carter discovered Tut in 1922.

I also found a really cool mapping site that lets you see aerial shots of Egyptian ruins. It works best on faster computers, with fast internet connections.

Follow these cool links to check it out:

http://www.kv-63.com/

http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/

more spider pix

yep, he was a big one. I guess leaving a dirty sink is one way to find these guys (this is the actual spider in my sink)

Disposal of the Biggest

I dont know why, but I am repeatedly called on to clash with nature head on around 5am a lot these days. This time....a wolf spider in the sink. Seriously, this boy was 3 inches wide. No joke (about the size of the one in the pic above, see the scale). Somebody left a pot with water that perhaps it enjoyed drinking from..I dont know. It was there, next to the pot in the sink. It was dark, you see, then I turned on the light and there it is. That will really wake you up.

I took a picture and a short video clip that would probably remind you of the Blair Witch Project (I was scared), and then I approached it armed with a pitcher of water, and I flushed it. I was not sure what it would do, but I overturned the pot on it, and then added my pitcher water to the mix, and down the drain it went. Then I turned on the disposal and hopefully took care of the problem. I dont know. I repeated this about 3 times with more water and more disposal action. I think its pretty nasty, but I didnt know what else to do.

restaurants

I posted this a year ago, but after a discussion of favorite restaurants last night, I need to again. the two that I told last night arent on the list...its hard to capture them all...should I update the list with new favorites?

-Pizza Nova, Harbor Drive, San Diego CA
-Huck's Waterside Cafe, Pascagoula MS
-Busara (Thai), Tysons Corner VA
-Yama (Japanese), Chain Bridge Rd, Vienna VA
-Grace's Fortune, Bowie MD
-Rivermill, Draper St, Blacksburg VA
-The Homeplace, Catawba VA
-Steamers, Chincoteague VA
-Squatters Seafood, Indian Beach NC
-Old Town Mexican Cafe, San Diego CA
-El Guadalupe's, Blacksburg VA
-Anthony's, Harbor Drive, San Diego CA
-Pot Belly's, Harbor Center, Annapolis MD (also in Crystal City VA)
-Burrito Brothers, Rte 7, Mclean VA
-Bottoms Up Pizza, Richmond VA

Eventful weekend

We had a good weekend. Saturday Jenn and I wandered over into Virginia for a meal tasting at the place our wedding reception will be held...very good, we're happy. Now we can decide what food options there will be. We also talked to a flower person.

The interesting part was that we collided with both ends of the funeral that was held at McLean Bible Church for the cop that was killed last week in Fairfax. The story isnt online anymore, I dont think, but she was gunned down in the police station parking lot. Anyway, about 4,000 people attended the funeral, and we came across the procession as it was heading to the first part, in the morning. There was a line of cop cars all with lights on, that was miles long, and as 270 and 495 came together, they were all there, and all of us poor cars that werent told what was going on were left to figure out how to get to our proper exits and what not. It was a bit confusing. Jenn guessed it was a funeral. They all got off the first exit on the toll road.

Then, as we began to make our way back home at around 1:30 or so, route 28 was real backed up just past the toll road, and we hop on the toll road, to find that there are TONS of cars on the other side of the road pulled over, with people out just watching the road, even with cameras ready. As we continue every overpass contains a firetruck, ladders up, with firemen lined up standing in salute on top of their vehicles, and there are helicopters every mile. Seriously. We really didnt connect the mornings events to this, but then we started seeing policemen lining the side of the road as well, then we see people on our side of the road pulling over. Then we guess it must be the same thing. We turn the radio on for information. Then we came across the procession, 100's of motorcycle cops, and then cop cars, then the bulk of the funeral procession. The radio confirms what is going on, and I found out later that they were actually heading out to Warrenton, VA to lay her to rest.

It was almost like being in a scene from Independance day, or War of the Worlds, where everybody is stopping to get out of their cars to look at something, and you have no idea what it is, and you feel dumb because you dont know, but traffic is getting all weird and stuff. People were waiting for a while out there...and the procession was phenomenal.

Then, we got home and had a cook-out. I'll let Jenn tell you about that.

oh deer

yesterday was interesting, it had its ups, downs, and corkscrews, yeah, it was pretty much like a roller coaster. The highlight was my Bible study that was sort of a little party for me since I'm stepping down from being a leader. So, that was very nice, very encouraging.

Earlier in the day (very early, like 5am), I had a run in with a deer in Davidsonville. Its hard to say who won, but I'm still alive, so I guess you could say I did. Really, it wasnt a bad "accident", but the damage to the car looks to be more than the car is worth. I was driving my reliable Grand Am, so I'm glad it wasnt my Mazda.

So, a few plans were changed, and now we're dealing with what to do with the car. It may turn out to be perfect timing, since I just pulled my good radio out of the car to give to my dad (two weeks ago), and there really are a number of things wrong with the car. Well, its not that they're wrong, its just that they arent right. Heating, A/C, defrost, they just dont work. Turn signals are finicky, not always working. Exhaust is rusting out, very loud (kinda cool). Sometimes it leaks when it rains, and I have to perform emergency towel action (I had like 2 inches of water in the floor of the car once). The interior light doesnt work, the electric door locks dont work (but the auto lock which isnt supposed to engage until the car is moving, it sometimes locks me out). There's a 2.5 foot crack in the windshield. It performs very well though, and its been faithful to me for 8 years.

I'll probably take the money if the insurance company decides that its totaled. Believe me though, I will be a little emotional. I'll keep you updated....

verse of the day

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer"
-Romans 12:12

(3(5+1))+((20/5)+5)

Thanks to everybody who made my birthday special :-) I got to see most of the important people on my actual birthday: My sister, my Grandparents, my parents, and Jenn. The trip to NY was a success....I'll put some pictures up when theyre ready (might be a while).

Owl Update

Wow! I cant really fit everything in here, or it would take too much. Well, just wanted to say that I never imagined it would happen the way it did, but I actually saw the owls! Yeah, there's atleast 2 of them. Jenn and I were walking through the woods behind my house around dusk last night and noticing that lots of birds were making noise in the trees (more than usual), then we heard the owl. We stopped, and then I realized that 10 feet away just a few feet above eye level another owl was sitting in a small tree looking at us. So close!!! It wasnt making noise though, its friend up in the trees was making noise. When Jenn saw it there was only a few seconds more before the close owl decided to get some distance, but it only flew a little further away, we watched it, and saw the larger (probably male) owl up in the trees moving around. We watched them fly back and forth and make noise for a bit. They would sit up there and just yell. Not sure if its because we were there, or because of the birds, or they were hunting.....but it was so cool. Face to face with an owl. I love nature, can you tell? (and yes, it was definitely a Barred Owl)