New Header

I have a new header for my blog. The funny thing is... I tried a couple other "different" approaches, and ended up with one that I had before --- with a different flare. There's just something about that font --- Futura. Also the rings are laced together if you didn't notice... a little pixel work.

Random.

I really don't have much to blog about. I mean, there are a lot of things that I could write about; but choose not to. For instance, I could write about the AE service last night... or perhaps Thanksgiving and the things that I'm thankful for (that wouldn't be very original).... or maybe how things are going in preparation for us moving. I know that none of my faithful readers like to read that stuff though. So, I'll just put down my thoughts. There they are. Our next door neighbors leave their dog outside all the time now... since they had a baby. It's a little cocker-spaniel type of dog. It is 2:00AM, and it has been barking for about 45 minutes straight. What's wrong with people? If you're going to own a dog like that... keep it inside! It's not an "outside dog"; it wants to be around people. And, since it isn't an "outside dog" but is forced to stay outside --- it's going to bark constantly! Get rid of it. Muzzle it. Have its "barker" surgically removed... something! Or maybe... just maybe... you could just let it in at night. I digress.

AE Retreat '04

This was my last retreat, and that makes me sad. As I was tearing down my drums on Sunday, I began feeling all nostalgic and stuff. Like, "this is the last time I'm going to tear down my drums at retreat". It was odd. None the less, this was the best retreat experience for me... and Sabrina too, but she can explain her side. I've can't understand why God speaks so clearly there. The more that I think about it, I think that we're just more open to listening to Him there. We expect Him to move, and we're upset when nothing happens. It's like how everyone was talking about Friday night. They were mad when they didn't feel anything... but at the same time, their mind was probably on other things. I'm amazed at how God uses me. I'm not like that. I don't do those things. It's bizzare. But, I'm glad He did. The football game was awesome, definitely one of the best ever! I got to spend a lot of time with you guys, and that was so nice. Just chillin' on the couches late at night, doing weird things with those couch things. Playing the "Territory Game" was fun! I don't get to hang out with you guys near enough; it's time like these that I'll miss the most. I love you guys so much... you don't even know. *tear*

Geesh, it never ends.

It's the day before the retreat. Normally, this day is a day of excitment and anxiety. However, this day, for me, is shrouded in stress and some minor depression. I miss my wife. Although she's right there... it's like she's not. We're not connecting. Please, pray. It's probably more my fault than it is hers... if anyone is to blame. I sent her an e-mail this morning. I know that sounds real shallow; but we've tried communicating every other way, and it hasn't been working. I love her so much. I hate it when things are like this. I don't feel like doing anything and I stop eating. Perhaps this retreat is what I need. A time to get refocused on God. Maybe if I regain my focus on God, everything else will fall into place. That's a positive outlook, although it's harder than it sounds.

And the winner is......

After reviewing the poll results, the masses say that I should definitely take the aviator shades to retreat. What's even more amazing is that 50% of people that took my poll think that I'm "HOT". Sadly enough, my wife admitted that she isn't one of them. In fact, she voted in the "Your a dork." catagory... but I knew that she would. She says that a lot about me.

Take the poll!... Do it.

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

The Insomnia Strikes Back

Here it is, 1:00AM... and I'm not tired. Ugh. Well, I stayed home from work today (yesterday) and helped Sabrina get the kitchen cleaned up... and I mean "clean". Real clean. We boxed up some stuff in there too. It sucks that it took us pretty much all day to do one room... but whatever. I had P/W practice tonight, and I went in a little early to work on some website stuff. Practice was decent, that's about all I can say about it. Sabrina went out with Jennifer O. and EmO to Applebee's and to WSU to watch a play called "Into The Woods". From what I hear, that was interesting. When I came home from practice, I played some SOCOM online. It's been like two-weeks since I've played. So that was nice. Sabrina got home at around midnight or so, and she went to bed. I tried... but obviously it didn't work out.

Out of mind... and almost out of time.

Gosh... we have so much to do before we can move. Sabrina figured out that we have 9 weeks left in Ohio. That's insane! We don't even have our house on the market yet. Just about all my free time is being spent working on the house somehow. I think that we're even going to have to back out of small group for awhile. The pressure is beginning to get to both Sabrina and I. Thinking of all the things that we still have to do can begin to wear down you. I just hope that we can both have patience with each other, and that we don't end up fighting over stupid stuff. It's getting down to the "nitty-gritty"... which involves a lot of work. I finished up our support letters and pledge cards today... so we'll be able to get those out next week. Sabrina is off tomorrow for Veteran's Day; so I think I'm going to take it off too... so we can accomplish some things together. We still don't have any job lined up when we get there... so we're really praying that these support letters will bear some fruit. It's hard... because I hate... absolutely hate... asking for handouts. Man... (that sums it up.)

Halo 2 in the morning.

A select few of us nerds stayed up last night awaiting the arrival of Halo 2. We rendezvoused at around 12:30AM to play the most anticipated game of the year. It is awesome! We played online... although that offered some confusion. It was good though. It is probably not all that I expected it to be... but still awesome. We played until 4:30AM, which put me in bed at around 5:00AM. Needless to say... I'm tired. But it was worth it.

The Surreal life.

As time keeps on ticking away until the day comes that we move to Arkansas, things are becoming kinda surreal. Sabrina only has like 30 more working days. We've set the date to move --- sometime between January 10-15. We're going to get our house up for sale within the next week... hopefully. I wish that I could take everyone with me. Especially the media team people. I found out that my brother doesn't support our decision, and thinks I'm making a mistake. It's not a big surprise. I actually expected a lot more resistance than I have gotten. Halo 2 comes out at midnight tonight. I may get with BigPru and play tonight, I dunno yet though. I have been going to bed really early (for me) the last week. 10PM, 11PM... perhaps my insomnia has taken a vacation.

Enjoy it while you can!

That is my message to my beloved Media Team. Because, after I'm gone... there won't be anymore trips to King's Island on Saturday. My first week back... and they abandoned their post. Pathetic. What's more, only a couple of you told me. It's okay though... I'll manage without you. I'll get ALL the work done by myself.

Victory... sweet victory!

dubya
Originally uploaded by Josh R..

In honor of four more years of Presidential bliss; I've created this desktop wallpaper for all of you Windows users (so you can keep your nifty little icons on the left-hand side). Display it proudly!

My take on parents.

I didn't grow up in a Christian home with Christian parents.... and I'm somewhat thankful for that. Because I don't think that I would have the relationship with God that I now have; judging by the way I see some Christian parents raise their teenagers. Relating to the couple of you that struggle with your parents... I don't know how you do it. I will tell you though, that I respect you a great deal for putting up with you do... while still honoring your parents. I think that it's pretty sad how controlling some parents can be. I mean, I understand that they may be trying to protect their children... but c'mon! At some point, the parents are going to die. It is a fact of life. They're going to have to let go sometime. Because what's going to happen is... the child will not know what to do when the world is staring them in the face. It's kinda like the human body. If you keep youself in a completely sterile area, you are more likely to get sick... because your body will not have built up antibodies to defend against sickness. In another case, the parents are genuinly good parents.... but struggle with each other. You can't work on the relationship with your children until the parents have a good relationship with each other. I think that in this case, that's really all the children want... for the parents to be happy together. They don't want gifts or money.... just peace and happiness. Now then, I don't claim to know anything about raising children... but this is what I think. And here's what the Bible says... "Train up a child in the way that they should go... so that they will not depart from it." "Honor your father and mother."

It was my first time...

Voting... that is. Today marks my first time voting. I'm proud of myself for doing my civic duty. It was interesting experience... and now I share it with you. First off, I went to the wrong place. But, as I was walking into the "wrong place"... a guy asked me who I was voting for. Of course, I told him... "Bush." He was a Kerry supporter... and a drunken one at that. I could smell the beer on him. Anyway, so they told me inside that place that I needed to vote somewhere else. At this point, I just decided to head to the church... and just as I was getting to the church, I remembered where I was supposed to be voting at. So, I turned the car around and headed to the Springfield Art Museum to vote! Once I arrived, I went inside and found a loud, obnoxious woman babbling about the "rules of voting" to the presiding voting judge. *People like this should be shot.* Well, there was only like 3 or 4 people in front of me in line; so the process didn't take long. They didn't have my name... but they did have my address. So I had to fill out a couple of forms in order to vote. The lady showed me how the voting booth worked... and I went to it. I didn't vote on everything... because I didn't know about some of the people and issues. But, I voted on all the important stuff. Then, I grabbed my friggin' sticker and got outta there!

Back to work, Vietnam, and the basement.

Yes. Tomorrow... well.... today... is the day that I go back to work. It's sad really; because I truly did enjoy my time off. I do, however, feel somewhat disconnected from everything though. Perhaps this was just a pre-cursor to my leaving for Arkansas. Perhaps people are beginning to shut me out already... I dunno. So yeah, I'm sure there's a ton of work waiting for me.... maybe not though. I rentedConflict: Vietnam for PS2 on Sunday night. I played it some on Monday as well. It's pretty difficult. I am stuck at this one part... ugh! Anyway, control and gameplay isn't much different from its predecessor, Conflict: Desert Storm. However, the "atmosphere" of the game is pretty good. The game is complete with "oldies" music from the era... and a whole lot of cussing. Certainly not a family game. But I appreciate such things in a game... getting as close to reality as possible. The reason that I didn't play video games too much is because I was vaccuming cobwebs from the ceiling in the basement. Which would make that the floor. So, I guess I was vaccuming the floor from underneath. Anyway, it was pretty nasty... and I hit my head a lot on the ceiling. Sabrina and I finished the basement up when she came home. One more step closer to putting our house up for sale. If you might know anyone that's looking for a house... send them our way, please.