Father's Love Letter

A couple of my christian gaming friends from Xbox Live, SplatJunkie and SoldierForHim, shared this link and I wanted to share it with all of my faithful blog readers. It is a Love Letter from our Father, an expression of God's heart, based on almost 50 different scriptures.

Read/Listen to the Love Letter
Video of the Love Letter - Right click to download (WMV format)

Trying not to get sick

Most people in the IT department at my work have been sick sometime within the last week or two. I have yet to get sick, but I feel like it is starting to get to me. I hate being sick and I am hoping I won't get sick anytime soon.

Volleyball was fun last night, although there was a definite lack of female presence due to Allison and Maija ditching us for a relaxing vacation (can't blame them really). We still had a good turnout though and even used the 2nd court for a few games.

I ordered a couple new books that I am wanting to read and I should be getting them in this week sometime. I believe one is called "Biblical Eldership" and the other is "7 Practices of Effective Ministry". I've heard they are pretty good books. I will most likely read them over my lunches so it usually takes me a little longer to get through a book.

Relaxing Weekend with Wanda and my Friends

First off, Wanda accepted the HR job position and she is very excited about this transition. Her last day at her current job is 1/23 and her first day at the new job is 1/24. Not much of a break, but it is going down to part time so it isn't too bad.

Last night I helped plan a video game day at the church. We started at 6pm and left at around 1:15am. We had a good time playing with about 13-15 people showing up to actually play games. Austin brought his Nintendo Wii and that provided a lot of fun. We also had 3 Xbox 360's which we linked together and played some Halo 3. We shared some pizza with some of the scrapbooking ladies as well. There was plenty of food to eat, people to talk to, and games to play. Wanda was at home doing homework.

Today Wanda and I are going to see "Bee Movie" with our good friend Rachel. We are actually going to the cheap theater which we haven't been to in a few years. We will then do some sort of dinner after the movie.

Tomorrow I get to go to church and then I have a meeting right after church. Then I think Wanda is trying to setup another movie date with Michelle to see the movie "27 Dresses" sometime tomorrow evening.

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful wife and such good friends that I can hang out with. All in all this looks like it should be a rather relaxing weekend that I am looking forward to.

Job Changes

Wanda has been lightly watching for some HR related jobs that she could apply for. Last week one of our good friends, Rachel, passed on Wanda's name as a referral to a company that she does some work at. It sounds like Wanda will be getting the job doing some HR related work in the payroll area. This is exactly what she is wanting to do. She is really excited about the opportunity and I think it will be a great change for her. One of the biggest differences is that she will be working part time and not full time, meaning we will be bringing in less income. While this is never fun, I don't think it will be a problem for us. We will need to be more froogle in some areas, but nothing that we can't handle.

I believe this new job will help her to have less stress and that she will enjoy this new job much more than she will her current job as a teller. I'm looking forward to seeing her get involved in this new job.

Wanda - I'm proud of you and I'm sure you will do great in your new job!

Ode to Google

I was talking with the Rao's and Matt on Saturday about websites (since that is what I do) and I was talking about how much I like Google. I started to list the Google products that I use and I thought I would share that list here...it is quite a large list.

• Gmail - Used daily to check about 6 email accounts.
• Google Search - Used almost every day numerous times a day to find the info I need
• Google Calendar - To help keep my busy life organized.
• Google Reader - News Reader to monitor my friends blogs as well as some technical blogs/news. Much easier than having to go to each and every site.
• Google Maps - Find addresses/directions/business info/traffic/photos of houses. The best map website out there (IMHO)
• Google Toolbar - Toolbar integrated into IE/Firefox
• Google Bookmarks - Integrated into the toolbar, but makes it much easier to have my bookmarks shared across computers.
• Google Chat - Quickly chat with some of my friends
• GOOG-411 - Google on your phone...works wonders when you are on the go! Just Dial 1-800-GOOG-411.
• Blogger - Obviously for this blog
• Google Analytics - Website Stats for all of my websites
• Google AdSense - Making money off the ads on a couple of my sites
• Google AdWords - I am temporarily using this to try and increase traffic to my site. Probably won't use it much in the future.
• Google Webmaster Tools - Used to help improve the search engine presence of my websites.
• Google Docs and Spreadsheets - For creating documents I want to be able to access from any computer and possibly share with friends.
• Google Desktop - To quickly find files on my computer
• Picasa Web - To access some photo galleries and share some photos with others. I don't use this much, but have considered using it more often.
• Google Notebook - Make quick notes that I can go back and read later if need be.
• Google Images - Quickly find an image you are looking for using some keywords. I use will often use this when searching for icons to use on a website.

I think the total count of the items above is at 19. I would not be suprised if there is one or two that I am missing. The products that I use almost every day would be the Gmail, Search, Calendar, Reader, Toolbar, and Analytics. Many of the other items I probably use at least once a week. The best part about most of these products is that you can access them from any computer with internet access and thus you do not have to have things on multiple computers (a good example is the Bookmarks, Reader, and obviously your email).

Thanks Google for the great products.

Job - Perseverance in the Tough Times

In my reading of the Bible, I am currently reading through the book of Job. Today I read part of the book of Job and I am reminded of why I like the story of Job so much. While Job was going through so much (including having his friends scorn him) he still would not curse God. In todays reading Job was commenting about how God has turned him over to the enemy, Satan, and how much pain the enemy has caused him, yet God was still his advocate and that God was still there for him.

When we go through the trials of our lives (typically nothing like what Job went through, although still painful), would we still be able to give praise to God amidst the pain? I pray that we would all be able to do this and that our faith is strong enough in God to know that he loves us no matter what happens to us. God allows us to go through trials and to be in pain, but that does not mean he does not love us! Never forget that!

The Weekend

My weekend was relatively calm compared to my good friends Isaac, Allison, and Rachel who all had quite the eventful (aka very stressful) weekends. This post in comparison to theirs won't be too exciting. PS - I'm still praying for you all!

On Saturday I got the priviledge of helping out the Rao's in moving their items from their storage area into their new townhouse. We had the truck loaded, drove to their house, and unloaded it in a record time of 1.5 hours. Matt, Adam, and I then went up to the church to get their couch and took it back to the house. We proceeded to manuver this couch up the stairs to put it in the extra room. We got it up there, manuvered it to avoid the light and fit down the hall. So far so good. We then had to try and make a sharp turn to get it into the bedroom. We spent the next hour or so trying to figure out how we could get the couch into the room. Note that much of that time was used up by me trying to get the legs off of the couch to give us some more room. Needless to say, this didn't work so we had to manuver the couch back down the stairs. Guess they now have an excuse to get a new couch :). None the less, it was one of the best moves that I have helped out with.

The rest of the day on Saturday I got to spend with Wanda while we stayed home and watched some movies. Then on Sunday we got to go to Olive Garden after church with Michelle, Matt, and Jen. It had been a long time since I had been to Olive Garden, but it was really good and I am glad we went. That evening a few of us guys got together online and played some games. As usual, we had a lot of fun playing. I'm looking forward to our next gaming day.

Early Morning...but no Traffic!

On Wednesday night, my parents came into town before heading to my brothers house the next morning. We had a relaxing evening eating at Buffalo Wild Wings (Honey BBQ is still my favorite sauce) and then going back to our house and watching The Bourne Ultimatum. We ended up going to bed around 10:30pm. Their flight was departing around 6am the next morning which meant I had to wake up around 3:30 so that I can get ready and leave at 4am to to drive them to the airport so they would be there between 4:30 and 5:00. From there I figured I might as well go to work as it isn't really worth it to go all the way back home. Thankfully I was able to leave work early and relax a bit that afternoon before going to play some volleyball.

Please don't take this as complaining as I am always willing to take people to the airport (or pick them up) no matter what time of the day it is (feel free to take me up on this offer). Honestly, I have to admit that the drive to the airport and to work and back home after work was some of the best traffic (not sure I can call it that since it was just me and a few other cars on the road) that I have seen in a while. Makes me wish I could go to work earlier and leave earlier every day in order to beat the rush hour drives like I did with my old job.

Happy New Year

Last night I was able to bring in the new year with a lot of my friends and we had a great time. I may post a photo of Wanda and I later when I get them from Harry.

I decided that I am going to read through the Bible in one year again this year. This time I am going to read through it in a Chronological order which I think will be an interesting way to read it. Feel free to ask me throughout the year how I am doing on this.

Hope you have a great God Filled New Year!