Currently Reading The Pilgrim's Regress: An Allegorical Apology for Christianity Reason and Romanticism By C. S. Lewis see related

So another update for all ya'll (in case you didn't know, that's the plural of ya'll.)  So work is going good.  I definitely worked a 16 hour shift the other day.  I was supposed to work from 2pm to 10 pm, and then this massive storm shut down one of our biggest airports and caused delays across the system, and so my supervisor asked me to stay and work the midnight shift as well.  Literally, the phone did not stop ringing until 3:30 in the morning.  We had flight attendants working 19 hour days.  (If that doesn't sound so bad, imagine spending that much time taking off and landing and dealing with ticked off customers because they're flights are running late.)  But then I found out the next night, if you have to stay and work late, you get compensated like double time.  And holidays are triple time.  Wouldn't you believe that I am now working every holiday through February?  Yeah, pretty stoked about that deal (I've been using the word stoked a lot lately.  Am I becoming a hippee?)

So my parents came down last weekend.  My dad actually hooked me up with a free washer and dryer, so that was pretty cool.  And it was fun to spend some time with them as well.  Seriously, they still flirt with each other more than junior highers do.  It's so fun to watch.

I had a pretty sad realization the other day.  I realized that this is going to be my first summer to not be at camp on my birthday since I was in high school.  My last birthday in the real world was before I could vote, and now I get cheaper insurance and can get rental cars discounted.  Yeah, that's making me feel old.  But I really miss being at camp.  And it's so hard now to explain it to people that haven't been there.  They don't get that it's just more than a fun experience to share.  I was thinking through a lot my stories from the place the other day.  I miss it.

OK, in some other amazing news, guess who hung up some pictures on his wall?  Yeah, that's right, I did it all by myself, and what's more important, IT MATCHES!!!!!  Pretty stoked about that (there it is again.)  Oh, and I have definitely been trying out new stuff in the kitchen.  Some day, whenever Josh and I have one of our restaurants open, yeah, we're taking the country by storm (and by ice cream and by cake and by grilled meats such as hamburgers)(except those are all separate chains, not necessarily in the same place).

So still haven't found a good church home yet in Dallas.  That's kind of disappointing, but then again, when you have to work quite a few Sunday mornings, and the ones you have off you are flying somewhere around the country, it makes it hard to find one that you can call home.

Oh, and do you ever have those nights where you are asleep and having a dream, and in your dream you make up and tell a joke, and then you wake yourself up because you are laughing so hard at the joke you just made up and told in your sleep?  Yeah, that definitely happened to me that other night.  Pray for me, this just proves how much help I need.

Well, that oughta give you one last glimpse into what's going on in my life.  Hope you enjoyed it while I was still posting, but this will probably be the last.

Stay the Course.     q

Currently Reading Surprised By Joy By Lewis Cs see related

OK, so I was asked to come back and give one last entry, so I guess I shall.  (This is a shout out going to Julie :)  My so much has happened since I was last on here.  I'll probably leave out some stuff, but oh well.  So work is going good.  There have been some pretty interesting scenarios since I've been there.  I know of at least 4 flight attendents that have been fired in some way or another resulting from a phone call they had with me.  That's a weird feeling.  One of the guys that was in my new hire class was let go last week as well.  I've never had a co-worked on the exact same level as me get fired before.  Ummmm, there was a bomb threat on a plane outside of my window at work a couple of weeks ago.  That was kind of interesting to watch unfold.

I did get to truly enjoy one of the perks of my job recently.  I had a four day stretch of days off after I had worked the midnight shift, and so when I was off work at 6 in the morning, I headed straight to the airport and flew out to California and stayed with my sister and her family for 4 days.  That was so much fun and so relaxing.  The night I got there, we went down to the beach, ate some hole-in-the-wall amazing tacos and watched the sun set while listening to a live band play and hearing the waves hit the shore.  It was a good night.  And then the next day, we went back to the beach again and played all afternoon with Olivia and my brother--in-law Brad.  I did get burned (I'm not used to having this much forehead.  I'm increasing my face value ;)  Seriously, if I grew up out in California, I would not have been a good student at all because I would have been out there ALL the time.  I can definitely foresee a lot more trips to Cali in my future.  While I was out there, I did buy some Rainbows (for those of you that are fashionably challeged such as myself, apparently they are a popular form of sandals).  Mine are really comfortable.  However, there is a downside.  So I bought myself two pairs.  Well, I was wearing one on the last day at a party in the park with Brad's college group, and I had my shoes off while I was playing volleyball and some much needed ultimate frisbee.  Well someone else mistook my shoes for theirs, took my two-day old pair and left me their much older pair.  It was fairly traumatic.  I don't know that I could live in California with that sort of crime.  And in broad daylight too.  At a park of all places.  Sheesh.  But my parents flew out to Cali the next weekend, and I think they bought me a new pair, so the world is in balance again (plus my parents got to fly to Cali for free, so that always makes me really happy.)

So, it's weird not being at Barnabas this year.  Carly and I went over to the open house about a month ago (really, if you go with a girl on a road trip for that long, they ask you lots of questions (ha, just kidding Carls).  So I stayed the night in town with PJM and the fam.  That was so great.  He and I stayed up most of the night talking, and then woke up and talked some more the next morning.  So good to talk with him again.  Last weekend, I had Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off, and Paul Teas called me at 2 pm on Monday and said to come over and visit, so I did.  I literally caught the next flight to Tulsa, rented a car, and was at camp by 7:45 that night.  That was fun.  But I stayed there, met lots of new staff (seriously, they have a guy there that is my personality twin.  Truly, imagine another of my personality in the same place as me.  Out of control.)  I got to talk with a lot of people from previous years as well.  Veronica started crying when she saw me as she hugged me and then didn't let go for a few minutes.  That was cool.  It was also fun watching this year's leadership team in action.  I must say, there are lots of parts about it I don't miss, but there are many many more that I do.  I miss the genuineness of people there.  By day number 2 of camp, there is no more pretending of fronts put up.  You really get to see people for who they really are without reputations to uphold, etc.  I miss that.  I've learned it's not quite like that in the corporate world (go figure.....)  But it was totally awesome to see the whole staff unified the way they were.  I miss that.

OK, so can I tell you that now that I have my own personal mailbox, I get excited every time I open it up and see a bill in there?  Cause I know, unless it's shipped to the wrong address, it's for me.  For example, I got my cell phone bill today, and I kind of wanted to tell the guy walking by, "Hey, guess what?  I got some mail.  See that, it's for ME!"  But I refrained.  I think that's like my validation.  I'm a real boy.

Oh, in other good news, I bought a towel for my bathroom, and IT MATCHED!!!!!  Do you know how amazing of a feat that is for me??????  And it's not just me that said it matches, Courtney, A GIRL, said it matches.  I think we should all pause for a second and capture this special moment.  I picked out a color that matches another color.  That truly was a momentous day.  For those of you who don't know, I bought a brownish-grayish pair of slacks once, and my mom and I had gone to a store and she was like, "oh, this shirt would look nice with your green slacks."  I was confused, because I had no green pants.  Somehow, she has also convinced every one I talk to that those pants are an olive shade of green, but it must be a conspiracy, because I just looked at them, and they are definitely brownish-grayish.  Oh the lies.

Oh, quick fun story.  So one Sunday morning a while back, I was working in the morning, and I looked down at my phone and saw that I had a new text message from Karen.  It said "I'm about to fly on one of your planes."  So later in the morning, we had a little lull in the action.  So I started doing some searching through the computer system, and I found Karen's flight itenery.  She was flying from Portland to Chicago, changing planes in Chicago, then flying to St. Louis.  Well, by this time, she was already in the air from Chicago to St. Louis.  So I called the flight attendants that were working her flight from Chicago to St. Louis.  I basically told this guy that I had a friend on this next flight that I used to work with, she started off the day in Portland, and she's going to be on your flight, this is her name, and you guys have my permission to do whatever you want to make her flight more, ehhh, memorable.  So he said they would do so.  Well, I got off work that day, and sure enough, about the time I expected her plane to land, I got a call almost immediately from her.  I asked her how she was doing, and she explained that she was a lot redder than she was when she first got on her flight this morning.  Shocked at how that could be, I asked why so.  Apparently, the flight crew was happy to announce to the plane (a full aircraft of 137 I might add) that today was Karen's 21st birthday, at which point she was the recipient of a happy birthday song from said 137 people onboard the aircraft.  Though, to make it up for her, they did offer her all the free drinks she wanted on the flight.  The moral of this story, if you are ever flying with my company, feel free to let me know.  :)

Oh, so I last included a picture of my niece Olivia in California, so now I'll show you my niece Abigail in Germany.

I get to see her in October.  Well, and my brother and sister-in-law too.

OK, I hope that will sufice you in your reading Julie and whoever still uses this xanga stuff.  This has been a fairly lengthy last post for you, and I doubt there will be any more.

Stay the Course.

Currently Listening All to You... Live By Lincoln Brewster see related

OK, so I just can't not show you this picture of my niece Olivia that my sister took of her at the park where she found a puppy.  I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

I like being an uncle.

Oh yeah, and this is my last post.

Currently Reading Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer By C.S. Lewis see related

OK, quick note for my last post.  My parents came down to visit on Saturday and Sunday, and I had never noticed until then how much they still flirt with each other.  It was really cool.  Like, one of the ladies I work with schedules herself to work on the days when her husband is off and takes her days off on days that he has to work.  I asked why, and she just laughed and said it was because she hated him.  And then here I am, still getting to see my parents who have been married for 30+ years flirting with each other more than most couples I know that are still just starting out their relationship.  It was just really cool to notice that (and to be grown up enough now to not go "Ewwwww, get a room you two!")  I figured this would be a nice last post for you all to read.  Farewell.

Q

Currently Reading The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God By Lee Strobel see related

OK, quick and final update.  So, events that have happened in the past two weeks.  Was out at a bar with a bunch of co-workers after work the other night.  Half the people in the bar were gay.  It's an odd feeling walking in and seeing guys kissing guys, girls kissing girls, guys dressed up like girls, girls dressed up like guys, etc.  And being the non-drinker, non-smoker straight person, I don't think I could have been more of a minority.  But talking to one of my co-workers, who happens to sit on the 'other' side of the fence and tells everyone not to judge him, we asked about my Camp Barnabas bracelet I had on, and we started talking about camp, and he used to be on the Board of Directors for Challenge Air (the group of pilots that flies to camp and takes all the kids up in the airplanes for those of you who have been there).  He left that a few years ago to start a camp for burn victim kids here in Dallas.  Kind of caught me off guard.  Course then he wanted to talk about Extreme Makeover and how hot Ty Pennington is, and I had the pleaseure of breaking to him that Ty is in fact married.  It was a fun moment.

Ummmm, last Saturday at work, I screwed up and cost my company $10,000.  That made for a fun day to say the least :/  The next day, it rained.  And rained.  And rained.  I've got a picture of the parking lot at Love Field airport that flooded.  Those are police caars on the left.

Yeah, it was a lot of water.  It usually takes me 8 minutes to get home, it took me an hour and 45 minutes cause all the main roads were closed.  I watched several cars floating sideways down the roads.  It was awesome.

I get to pay a big tax bill this year.  The company I worked for before I went to camp last summer didn't take out any taxes, so I owe a few thousand dollars next month.  That's exciting.

Josh and I have our basic business plan for one of our companies that we're going to start.  And I'm starting the paperwork for a few corporations I'm going to start.  If nothing else, I can work it for tax breaks in future years.  Oh and I'm looking at buying a house.  That's fun too.  That way I can pay myself instead of someone else.

I'm realizing it's going to be a hard summer this year not being at camp.  I could be out there loving on those kids, and instead I'll be sitting and making a company a profit (unless I screw up again.....)  It's going to be rough.

Oh, and I'm reading a book on evolution.  It's interesting.

Well, hope you enjoyed.  This shall be the last post.