Blog Culture 101

[Stage Notes:: Woot, day is almost over and it went surprisingly fast]
[Music:: All The Way Live | Thousand Foot Krutch]

I don't really know what I feel like talking about so I am just going to start, and see what happens. On my old blog, I tended to go a long time between posts mostly because I like waxing philosophical about things. I would come up with a topic that I thought the world direly needed to hear my thoughts on, spend time contemplating the weight of the issue, and come up with my synopsis and opinions. It did not help that updating was not quite as simple as typing into a little window, though considering the limitations the web space had, it was pretty darn close. Naturally I will only admit that now that I have moved to an even simpler method of posting.

It always bothered me though that after spending large amounts of energy on writing something that may or may not have ever gotten read by its intended audience, I could never get feedback from the occasional reader. Again, another reason that I wanted to make 'the switch'. However, now that I have this improved method of posting, I feel like the quality of the posts in diminishing rapidly. Take this post for instance. I am basically writing whatever comes to mind because I don't have much to say.

I think this is the current trend in the quote unquote blog-o-sphere. Initially, blogs were journals. The first site that threw itself onto my radar was LiveJournal and most people that used it exactly as the title suggested. It was the author's diary and as such, the author rarely had any concern over who read it. The author wrote the livejournal for themself, and if people read it that was just fine. Of course, eventually wars erupted over who said what about whom in their journal, causing people to either make their entries or whole journals private, or it caused people to hold back the emotion of whatever they were feeling so no one would be offended. Isn't it interesting how we take something that is uncensored and artificially impose censorship on it? Sorry that just came to mind.

Continuing on, the journaling community adopted new forms and created blogging 1.0. The difference? Well, it seems that blogging became slightly more random. These blogs either maintained a common theme like a sports team or a hobby, or they were less emotional musings about a collection of seemingly random topics. The age of short quips and anecdotes had been ushered onto the web almost like small talk being printed on a screen.

These themes merged and separated several times, but still left distinct impressions on each other and created two sort of new wave trends that I shall call micro-chapterization and pit-foruming. No you won't find those anywhere. Nope, not even in wikipedia. What do you mean, 'How do I know?' I just made up the terms that's why. Because I didn't want to call it blogging 2.0 or 1.2.42. Ok, we are way off subject.

Micro-Chapterization is in my opinion one of the best things about blogging in general in my opinion. These people are the ones that blog for the purpose of letting people know what is going on in their life. Frequently these blogs are the result of someone moving away to a remote area that has limited technological access, and this allows people to post something once that everyone can check, and then leave comments letting them know how much they are loved and missed. I love these blogs because they often have the best stories. I call it micro-chapterization because in essence you have an author writing extremely short chapters of a very large and fantastic story.

Pit-foruming on the other hand has a different focus. Rather than tell a story, these blogs often try to engage a user base and get feedback. The blog itself is a mini web forum topic that uses the comments section as the forum itself. These are fun both for the blogger and the readers because it creates a sense of community. Often these blogs have a larger reader base. I call them Pit-forums because they are basically pit stops for people. When the day or week is over, any given forum topic is forgot about while the community moves on to new topics of discussion. People can stop by quickly, fill up on the latest information, leave a comment, and move on until they need their next dose. These can also be a lot of fun because you do not need to be aware of what has happened in the rest of the person's blog.

Realistically, most blogs are a combination of the two with different levels of leaning towards one or the other.

Wow, that was rather long winded for not having anything to say. Maybe I should go back to pre-thinking the blogs. Or not. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the blog title was actually written after the blog because I didn't know what it would be about before hand. My head is spinning. I am going home now :)

Discovery Zone

[Stage Notes:: Getting hungry, probably time to figure out lunch]
[Music:: Red Sam | Flyleaf]

Inspired by Ms Maggie Moo's Toosdae's, and sheer curiosity, I thought I would pose a question for you to answer in the comments section. This involves you--yes you--well there is no one else reading this at the moment--knock it off, we are getting off topic :P. As I was saying, this involves you going into the comments section and writing something related to the question.

One thing about commenting really quick for those of you who are new to commenting on blogger, at the moment there are three 'Identities' you can use for a comment.

1. Blogger ID - If you have a blog on blogger, you should already know about this, but if not, you can sign in it will automatically use your blogger name and leave me a link to your blog so I can check it out :)
2. Other - This has two fields, one for your name or some random name that you make up to be silly or create some semblance of anonymity. The second field is for your web page. This is an optional field so if you don't have one or really don't want me to see it, leave it blank. But I like looking at other sites/blogs/xangas/myspaces etc. If you have some web presence somewhere I would love to know. For example, on some blogs I could enter in Hepcat and my old Blog address.
   
3. Anonymous - Honestly, I don't like this field, but if you really want to use it you can. I would prefer that if you use it, you give me some clues as to who you are, but at that point you might as well just use other, and at your request if you are ever talked about in the blog, I will use the silly name you have created for yourself.
   

[ INSERT REMAINDER OF SMALL PRINT, LEGALESE, AND BLAH, BLAH, BLAH HERE ]

Now the question:

What is your favorite pre-travel ritual?

~I have so many rituals before taking a big trip, but since it is my rules, I should probably stick to them. For the moment I am going to have to say stacking my luggage at the foot of the stairs. I really love seeing my pile of luggage neatly sitting at the base of the stairs waiting to be put into a car. It always makes me feel anxious, excited, and relaxed all at the same time.

Now it's your turn!!!

Squishy

[Stage Notes:: Can't seem to keep thoughts in my head, they just run away]
[iPod:: All I Can Say | David Crowder Band]

Despite my current state of confusion about life in general, there are some things that are still exciting. Travel is always exciting and now I am only about a week away. It also means an opportunity to take the camera out and go to town. Ever since I got my new camera and a few lenses, I have been trying to soak up every piece of information I can get surrounding the subject. Lately I have even started going through old National Geographic magazines to get ideas on how to do photojournalism. I mean this trip is really an opportunity to do exactly that for myself. My goal is to capture the trip as more than just a series of events (that is what I see in many people's travel photo albums).

Don't get me wrong, I do not think there is anything wrong with that, in fact that is what my camp pictures generally look like, and each story tends to have its own story to go along with it. That always makes going through the pictures fun. However, on this trip I want to challenge myself to move outside of my comfort zone and capture the emotion of the people I am going to help instead of the emotion of the people doing the helping.

On a related note, I have been doing a tremendous amount of photography for Epic both for the new website that I hear is launching around Easter and for banners that will be around the church and other events. I am really excited and a tad nervous. This is the first time any of my photography will get any publicity. I will let you know when the new site is launched and let you see my handiwork [beaming smile goes here]

All of that said, I thought I should start sharing a few pictures. The one above was taken on a trip to Tennessee last April.

Happy Wednesday!

It's That Time Again

[Stage Notes:: Restless]
[iPod:: Charlie Brown | The Coasters ]

Those of you that know me well are probably going to get about half way through this post and say to yourselves, "For crying out loud, I thought we were past this." Guess again, and try and help me out, it is far more productive!

For the rest of you, Hi.

The variables:
X = It is the end of March
Y = I am restless
Z = I am embarking on a trip that will no doubt be very meaningful.

X + Y + Z = Crisis time. Granted, Y has been more or less a constant ever since I graduated and realized I am not doing what I am supposed to be doing. Unfortunately, that realization was not combined with the immediate understanding of what I am supposed to do. Thomas Jefferson once said, "I have not had 999 failures. I have found 999 ways how not to make an electric light bulb."

Well, check Engineering and Application Support off the list, now what are the other 998 possibilities? Hmm, somehow I do not think I have the time to try out 1000 careers. If I did each one for 3 weeks, It would take me 57 years and 36 weeks just to get done with my trials. I'll be 81 years old an just starting my career. When would I get to retire???

Heck, yesterday I started thinking about just trying to find really awesome seasonal jobs and float from job to job for a while. It would probably make for an interesting book down the road, and I would have no shortage of pictures to show for my time.

I think one of my problems is that the job I wish I could do, I just cannot do. Seriously. I know what you are all thinking, "You can't do it now, but with some classes and hard work, you can do anything." If education were the only problem then I would agree whole heartedly, but that is not the big problem. If I could do anything, I would be a doctor. Yes, I know, I hate doctors, but I would still be one.

Confused yet? Stay with me. The job of a doctor or even a nurse has pretty much the characteristics of my ideal job. Lots of interaction with different types of people, creative problem solving, passion, meaning. Enter the problem; I have a very weak stomach. I have been doing MDA camp for 8 years and there are still fairly basic things that are very difficult for me to do. I wish I could, but I just cannot seem to get over it. I even have to turn away during parts of Grey's Anatomy or ER.

What does that leave me? Well if nursing and doctoring are out, take another 6 weeks off of the total. Just 57 years, 30 weeks and 994 careers left to try.

Ten

[Stage Notes:: Wishing time would go faster]
[Podcast:: International Justice Mission | Daily Jeezit w/ Noel]

One of my favorite days before traveling is when I can finally see what the weather forecast is for the day I arrive. It is one thing to look at the local forecast and get a rough idea of the local weather, but it is something entirely different to see the day show up in the 10-day forecast! To me it is one of the first truly tangible things about any trip I am taking. It means the planning is pretty much finished and the trip is going to be a reality.

Today I saw that the weather in San Diego will be 63 and Partly Cloudy when we arrive and that day it will be 92 and mostly sunny in Mexicali. I guess that means I need to start doing some serious thinking about packing...just not physically packing because I cannot do that any more than 24 hours away from the trip :)

Call Me El Mariachi!!

[Stage Notes:: Bored, yet is in a silly and contemplative mood. I don't know how that works either]
[iTunes:: Soy Feliz | Azusa Pacific]

Last night, we had a fundraising dinner for our Mexico trip! I do not yet know how much we raised, but we did run out of food at one point and had to go out and buy more while we entertained the crowd with songs and skits we will be performing in our vacation bible schools. The build team also talked about the house they will be building for a family of 10!!

I spent most of the dinner being a roaming musician :) About half the time it was just myself and young woman named Julie and the other half the time there were five or six of us. I would play and we would all sing, though to be honest I think we spent more time deciding where we should go next and what we should sing as opposed to actually playing the songs! Oh well, it was fun! Our set list included and was pretty much limited to:

• Soy Feliz
• Tu Nombre Levantare
• Aunque No Marche
• Yo Tengo Un Amigo
• To Tengo Gozo
• Alabare
• Jesus Yo Te Amo
• Su Bandera Sobre Mi
• Padre Te Adoro
• Este Es El Dia

I Can See Through You

[Stage Notes:: Waitng...just waiting]
[iPod:: Seasons of Love | Original Broadway Cast of Rent w/ Stevie Wonder]

I am a gadget freak. I love gadgets, gizmos, thingamabobs, lights, switches, dials, etc. I am also an electrical engineer which means I am, at least a little bit, fascinated by the inner workings of electronics. Combine that with the general love of fantasy and science fiction movies, and you can just imagine the types of toys improvements I can imagine. Movies like Star Wars, The Matrix, many of the Star Trek movies, and all of the 007 films have shown us technology on the edge. They tease us with things that can make guys drool (other than the women).

With that in mind, it is my great pleasure to introduce many of you to some of the wonderful technological advancements that have been successfully made and are in the process of being improved. That's right, I said all of these things are functional!!

• Transparent Organic Light Emitting Diodes
• Transparent Integrated Circuit (Microchip)
• Transparent Flexible Batteries

Now, when they start making transparent robots, I might be a little scared. Until then, I am going to keep dreaming about the transparent iPod that send music directly to my brain without the need of headphones :)

Don't Kill the Messenger

[Stage Notes:: Though I can't see any windows, the darkness outside from the current storm, can be felt even at my desk]
[iPod:: Ghost Town | Shawn Clark]

This is your warning for this post: This post will possibly infuriate you depending on your current religious beliefs. However, this is my blog, and this is something that really made me think last night. Therefore, I think it is worth saying, and if it makes you mad, put some serious thought into why. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section.

Alright, now that we have that out of the way, lets get to the meat and potatoes, so to speak. In some christian belief systems/religions, people believe that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin through her entire life. These same people also believe that Mary and Joseph were married.

The problem is that the two statements that she died a virgin and she was married are mutually exclusive. Meaning, if she was married then she cannot have died a virgin. If your blood is currently boiling, sit tight and read the rest of this with as calm a head as possible.

In our society today in the U.S. we think it would be possible. We have all heard the jokes about how infrequently married couples make love. With that in mind, and the importance of Mary's virginity at conception, it is conceivable that God would want her to remain a virgin indefinately to provide further strength to the virgin birth. Unfortunately, this logic involves us naturally assuming that today's reality is the same as 2000 years ago thousands of miles away in Israel.

I know, you are wondering just what realities I am referring to and how does this tie into Mary and Joseph's marriage. I am getting to that. In Jewish culture a man and a woman were not officially married until they had consummated their marriage. Think about that for a second. In the Jewish world, their was a wedding ceremony then everyone led the couple to their bedroom and waited outside for the marriage to be consummated. Then and only then would the couple be married and the party could begin!!!

The best laid plans of mice...

[Stage Notes:: People are trickling past my desk on their way out the door for the day, I on the other hand am sitting here waiting for the time to go like an over anxious school boy]
[iPod:: Minor Swing | Django Reinhardt]

This weekend did not go in any way, shape, or form like it was supposed to. It all started Friday when I got home and got The Letter. I was pissed off and confused more than anything. Naturally my parents wanted to play 20 bazillion questions about it, which anyone who knows me well knows that I need time to reflect on things before I can have a real conversation about them. Prior to reflection time, I just might take someone's head off. After dinner I spent some time ranting at God...it was very Job like rant, complete with God's response. Ouch! There is honestly nothing more frustrating than wanting to be really friggin ticked off and knowing you have absolutely no reason to be. I spent the rest of the night watching movies and flipping through old magazines.

I woke up late on Saturday and was late getting to Velocity (the mini conference that Epic was having at Dave & Busters'). Overall, Velocity was a good time with lots of friends old and new, complete with green sprite that got spilled on me. At least it wasn't beer :) Spent the rest of the day running errands with the Gimp. Hit up borders, Salvation Army, Comp USA for their clearance sale, and a few stores at the Mall. Even found some pants at Steve & Barry's for Mexico for only $11!! Now I just need to figure out where I am coming up with t-shirts for the week.

The evening was spent with Dave and Emily at some of Emily's friends' house. We watched the State game (sad, but at the start of the season I was just going to be happy if the made the tourney and they put up a good fight). However, around 10:30 the night pretty much ended. A little pathetic for St. Patty's day :( Went home and messed around with some things before heading to bed.

Sunday morning I was off to Epic for church and the drama that I only knew about half of. My mom finally wanted to come, but I had to tell her not this week. I think she was a tad confused because this is the first time I think she was serious about coming, and I have been wanting them to come check it out. However, I really had no choice but to say not this week! Why? Well, because the whole message was about Porn. Yup, that's right, we talked about PORN in church. In addition, Lisa and I did a drama about Porn. I don't care who you are, nobody wants to be in the same room as there parents when the topic of porn comes up, let alone be in church :-P.

After service, a bunch of us grabbed lunch and headed to the Mexicali meeting which ran long, but was a riot. We practiced our 'Jesus feeds the 5000' skit, complete with Cinnamon toast crunch and Swedish fish rigged in the sleeves of the Jesus robe. If you want to know, you have to come to the Dinner this Sunday and see it live! Afterwards, a few of us headed to the Gimp's ice hockey game. If you think regular ice hockey is fun to watch, you should see it played in wheelchairs! Need I say more? Finished the night off by hanging at Chelli's Chili bar.

Not a bad weekend per say, just not entirely according to plan. That's it for now since it is almost time to call Monday finished!

Going to the instant replay...

Well, the letter came. I am wait-listed.

I am also confused.

That is all.

Bewilderment

[Stage Notes:: Mmmm, lunch]
[iPod:: Minnie the Moocher | The Big Bad Voodoo Daddies]

I am a pretty good size guy. By that I mean, I am more teddy bear than I am ken doll. Apparently my lunch order was rather shocking to the guy at Burger King. The transaction went something like this:

MANY (That was his name?!): Welcome to BK what do you want?
ME: I'll have a #4 with cheese (That's a Junior Whopper meal)
MANY: Fries or Onion Rings?
ME: Salad.
MANY: What kind of dressing?
ME: None.
MANY: *Eyes pop out like Daffy Duck realizing Bugs had slipped him yet another stick of TNT*

I had no idea that eating salad without dressing was enough to stop a fast food employee dead in his tracks. Honestly would have thought it would take a lot more than that. Something like, 'I'll have four of the Quad Stackers and an extra large Diet Coke.' Go figure.

Sound Check

Standing.

Waiting in the darkness.

Crowds' murmurs fade to momentary onomatopoeias.

Nervous energy builds with every breath.

Words floating in the fog of consciousness.

Squeaks break the silence.

One, then another.

Heavy red fabric shifts.

Shadows too dark to be real dance upon its somehow shimmery surface.

The massive cape slides open to reveal its mysteries.

Faint wisps of light reflect off imperceptible shapes.

Maddening silence of people not exhaling.

Appendages numb and shaking of their own accord.

As if afraid to break the tension, all thoughts hide from perception.

Memory erased; leaving no trace of what was moments ago.

Everything hushed.

Heart thumps nearly audibly.

Nothing.

Suddenly from above, Pop! Fwoom!

Landscape painted by blinding light

Only a subtle hum remains.

Crowd shifts, drinking in the created reality.

Creaking.

Thoughtless feet move forward.

Stop.

Parched throat; knotted stomach.

Dry mouth begins to open.

No words yet uttered.

Like water from a burst damn, thought comes rushing back.

Words begin to flow.

First word brings confidence.

The show has begun.

Swing and a miss, strike one...

[Stage Notes:: Chatting online, getting ready for bed, checking e-mail, sound of the fan in the background]

For those of you who are wondering, today (well yesterday since it is after 1 am) was an o.k. day. Nothing really bad happened, and fusion was pretty good. That said, I also got no news whatsoever. None. The website says:

March 14th: Notification of Acceptance

I guess what that actually means is, letters will be sent out on the 14th. Now instead of just one nervous drive home from work (yesterday's) I get to have one every day until the letter comes. Bah! Oh well. I have waited this long, what's a few more days.

Seriously?

[Stage Notes:: Trying to figure out how to keep myself occupied]
[iPod:: Father of Mine Everclear]

Ever wonder why dealing with tech support is such a pain. When it comes to support of any form, there are only two scenarios of what can happen. The first scenario is one where the support person you are talking to knows exactly how to fix it, but does not remember what it is like to not know how to fix it, and therefore cannot explain to someone else how to fix it. This is of course a bad thing and makes both parties very frustrated. Been there, done that, have broken phone pieces to prove it.

The second scenario is that the support person does not have the first friggen clue how to fix it. Yup, I said it. Not a clue. The scary thing is that this is far more common that scenario one. How do I know? I am a support person, and most of the time I am scenario two. Don't believe me? Here's how it works.

1. Person calls help desk (Help desk people do not know anything about anything technical. Their main job is to figure out who which group of people might be able to fix the problem by recognizing key words)
2. Help desk calls me
3. I call the person in need of help and have them tell me what software they are using and how to re-create the problem (the ticket that the help desk opened usually are written neither in any comprehensible spoken language, nor are they in any recognizable programming language) and have them send pictures (without pictures things go very badly)
4. I take pictures of the problem that I may or may not have replicated (I too have no clue how fix it)
5. I call one of several other help desks. Yes, I am absolutely serious. Guess what they do :oP
6. Someone calls me for an explination (Sound familiar)
7. Voodoo happens (yup, voodoo, because I have no idea how the fixed it)
8. Repeat 6 and 7 until problem is solved.
9. Gelp desk tells me ticket is closed.
10. I tell original person that the problem is fixed.

At no time did anyone learn how to fix the problem. This is why tech support is such a pain. Everyone wants to be supreme geek and therefore refuses to teach anyone the mystery voodoo that solves the problem. What's even worse is that when they are promoted or getter job because they know the mystery voodoo, they still will not teach the new support person the voodoo that they do so well. That is when we get to the point where no one actually knows how stuff works, and don't even bother asking about documentation. There is none.

I am just frustrated because I am getting more applications to support that no one really knows how they work. I hate that. I hate the stupid support cycle because it is a waste of time and makes everyone feel like an idiot. Maybe that is just the way things work here at my company, but I have a feeling it is a much bigger problem than that.

For the record I now support approximately 11 different applications and databases with almost no sufficient training. The only reason I know how a few of them sort of work is because I watched them get installed. Oh well, I think I am done ranting, and am moving on to banging my head against the cubicle wall. Some parts of it are actually foam so they aren't too rough on the head.

Paranoia

[Stage Notes:: At Work, Entering time into the time tracking system, kinda thirsty]
[iPod:: The Sweater Song | Weezer]

I am feeling a little paranoid. Why? Up to this point, today has been a pretty good day. Much better than yesterday, that is for certain. Yes, that is the reason I am paranoid. I know, it does not make much sense, but to me it does.

Here's the problem. I am not one of those people that believes that if things are going great on a particular day, that something catastrophic is going to happen to crush my day. That would just be silly. I mean, a good day is a good day and you cannot ruin a truly good day. That would make it a bad day.

No, my paranoia is about tomorrow. It seems that very often in life, a good day is immediately followed by a not so good day which is then of course followed by a good day...etc. You get the point. So, there you have it, I am worried that tomorrow is going to be a bad day and it is still seven and a half hours away.

Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal, but tomorrow I get news. The irony is that I am not entirely sure what I want the news to be. Confused? Well it is news that basically means I stay put or I head elsewhere to do a very different job. Those are the only two possibilities for the news that is supposed to come tomorrow. Logically since I am a traveler by nature and I very much dislike my job, it would make sense for me to move and do the new job. I just do not know if it is what I am supposed to do.

Still with me? If not, here's the recap. I want good news tomorrow which will make tomorrow a good day, I just don't have a clue which one of the two options the news can take will be the good news.

Welcome to the inner-workings of my brain. It's a lot like spinning in circles with your arms out while staring up at the sky, and then very abruptly stopping, while closing your eyes, and putting your arms at your sides...or something like that.

It's Alive....again....

[Stage Notes:: Sitting at work, Pepsi on the desk, major tension headache]
[ipod:: Kei's Song | David Benoit]

First things first, the Camp Photoblog is alive yet again, though sadly I do not know how long it will last. I am searching for a new free webhost for it, but in the meantime enjoy it while it lasts. I am requesting that anyone who wants to be notified of its status send an e-mail to dailycamppics AT gmail DOT com. I will add you to a list that I can send updates too :).

I do not have much to say today because the truth is I am not feeling that great and that is skewing my perspective on pretty much everything. That's life though, so I guess I just have to deal with and move on. The highlights included:

• Thrift store shopping for Mexico
• Bocce Ball and Irish Pubs do go together
  
• Spending the day with a friend and her one year old daughter(who ironically does not like me, but loves the stuffed dog I gave her for her birthday)
• Wandering around Great Lakes crossing realizing that Thrift stores really do have good deals
• Reading a few chapters of a new book [title withheld until conclusion of reading said book]
• Looking through a bin of old McDonald's toys and deciding that Hula girl Lila just might be the van's mascot in Mexico
• A candy dispensing Mr. Potato head that is also a wind up toy is very versatile
• Jesus' miracles can all be done using only 5 actors, some bed sheets, a robe, Swedish Fish, some sort of to be determined cereal, water, a few cups, some food coloring, and streamers!
• Stores you really, really want to go to close two minutes before you get there...Always!
• Speaking with a French accent to 1st-5th graders is always fun

There you have it, my whole weekend in 10 bullet pointed items. Three cheers for Monday being almost over!

I'll take two...

If anyone is looking for gift ideas for me for no apparent reason whatsoever, here you go. I want this :oD

It is a 200-500mm F2.8 lens, that when combined with the 2x converter and the 1.6x field of view crop for my camera it is roughly a 640 - 1600mm F5.6 Lens.

The only word that comes to mind with this is...absurd! None the less I still want one just to see how far I can zoom. I honestly believe this is roughly the equivalent of a small telescope.

P.S. If you don't feel like getting me the lens, I will also be needing two college football linemen to probably carry this beast. Take a look at the picture...that thing all the way at the right end is the camera...it is about the same size as my camera. That means the other end is roughly the size of a small car tire. And you thought my big lens was scary looking!!!!

Taking the Tour out of Tourist

When I was a junior in high school, one of my roles in the spring musical was to be a tourist in the opening scene. There were 8 or 10 of us that wandered around the stage in two lines and took pictures. I even have a picture of the audience I took one night.

I hate being a tourist. True, I am a traveler, there really is not much debating that. I love packing up a few things and hitting the road (or the sky, rails, or open water for that matter) and leaving the norm behind me. Maybe it is the innate craving for adventure that calls me out into the unknown, or maybe it is the thirst for an understanding that can only be discovered through cultural immersion. Who knows? The only thing I really know is that the less touristy the trip the better!! Whatever the case may be, my next trip is going to be to Mexicali, Mexico at the start of April!

This trip will definitely be qualifying for less than touristy label. Why? Well because this is really a short term mission trip. In the past when I have done trips like this they have been called alternative spring breaks or something to that effect, but this one is really a mission trip. What's the difference? Well first of all, because we will be doing Vacation Bible Schools at 4 different sites. Granted, this means playing soccer, singing, doing skits, arts and crafts, and just generally playing with kids. I am really not too concerned or nervous about that. The real change is going to be the accomodations.

When I went to Puerto Rico in 2003, we were confronted by many of the cultural aspects that I assume I will be seeing in Mexico. There will be a language barrier, terrible housing, stray dogs that you don't dare go near, but in Puerto Rico, we were staying at a retreat center...Not the case on this trip. Once we cross the border, we say goodbye to the modern comforts of home. No more running water (we will have to buy all of our water for drinking and anything else) and no flushing toilets. We will be using spit holes for brushing teeth and porta-potties for you know what.

The strange thing is I am both really nervous and excited at the same time. Don't ask me why because at the moment I really haven't the foggiest clue as to why I am excited at not being able to take a shower for a week. That is just bizarre!

Well, that is about all I am going to say for now, but rest assured there will be a lot more blogging between now and then about the topic. For now, if you are the praying type, pray for our preparations and fund raising. Right now we are really short on funds and that is not a good thing, but we have faith that God will provide! If you have the burning urge to donate, or know someone who would like to, let me know and I can get you information on that!

Now Boarding at Gate T1...

[Stage Notes:: Excited that the design of the blog is finished and I can get blogging]
[iPod:: For Those About to Rock | AC/DC]

Since this is the first post, it would seem like I ought to say welcome to all of my new readers. I am not going to say that, because this is not actually the first post. True, this may be the first post you are seeing in the blog, and according to the archive that blogger is keeping for me this is the first post. Still, I am telling you this is not the first blog post. Why am I telling you this? Well, I am glad you asked...yes that weird smirk you are giving the computer counts as asking :-P

Reason 1: If you are reading this and can only see one post it is because I told you about the new blog personally and you have probably read my other bloggings elsewhere (if you are really nice, I might just give you the link to those old ones). If I did not tell you about it, then the odds are you stumbled across this by complete accident...or I suppose it could be because I neglected to ever post any thoughts after this, in which case, I would probably at least say don't bother coming back. Alright, I have a solution to those of you that fall into these last two categories: Aloha. There you go.

Reason 2: If you are not an individual that falls into the above description, then odds are that you have already read a few posts and are backtracking to see the start of it all (I do it too if I really like your blog). Assuming that is the case, then me welcoming you is kind of a moot point because you already have made yourself comfortable. It would be like going to someone's house for a party and after they serve you dinner, the say 'Welcome to my house, would you care for anything?'

There you have it. Now like any good story, the reader meets the character at the start of an adventure. The truth is that this adventure is just part of a larger story that is the character's life. My Story has been going on for many years before you arrived, but I am glad you are here. Likewise, my story will continue until after you stop reading, and this blog exists no more in its current form. Regardless of where I am in my sojournings, it is time for you to punch your ticket, leave the terminal, and join me for a while!