Christmas Eve

Christmas time is hear. Happiness and cheer. Ahhh I love Christmas Eve. It may very well just be my favorite day of the year. Christmas day is fun, of course, but it usually involves a lot of traveling and what not. Christmas Eve is always just more chill. More peaceful. Right now I'm listening to some "Charlie Brown Christmas" music in between two candle light services. The first service, which we already did, I actually play my Sax with my brothers in the band. It's fun because the band there is really good and we just rock out on Christmas songs.

The second service I go to each Christmas Eve is the 10pm service at Faith Community Methodist Church, in Xenia. This is my favorite one! It's a really nice, but simple church inside. The walls are all white, and there are pews and elegant, but simple decorations. The place is packed out year in and year out. There is a singing choir, bell choir, and orchestra. The congregation joins in and sings all the classic Christmas Hymns. It's always really peaceful and powerful to me.

It's cool to think about Jesus coming down to earth. The humbleness of it all is astounding. With all the power He has, He was born a normal, little baby. Born a baby, he was born in complete vulnerability and dependence. I'm pretty sure that's not the way I would have chosen to do it.

Life has been pretty crazy this last month. Lots of stuff to write about. But I don't feel like thinking about it on Christmas Eve :-) I hope to be updating a lot more from now on, so feel free to check back in more often.

Merry Christmas!

And the beat goes on

In retrospect, life is good. It's great, actually. But it didn't seem like it the last few weeks. Two weeks ago was exam week, and then the beginning of this last week I spent finishing up a 25-hour-long homework assignment, which I really didn't even finish. I thought this week was going to be relaxing, but then that assignment turned out to be a lot worse than I was expecting. It's weird how much I let school get to me. I don't usually get as frustrated as I got these past few weeks. I mean, I was seriously questioning whether I really wanted to be doing engineering, and whether I wanted to go to grad school. I'm tempted to drop out of the Minor that I'm taking (which is where most of my work is coming from). I don't quit things, though. It's just not in my nature. I got cut from the baseball team three years in a row in Junior High before I finally made the team...and I can't imagine having missed out on the experiences I had if I had given up on baseball. I've made it through four years....I'll make it one more. I love my major, maybe not necessarily the classes I'm taking now, but in general I enjoy what I do.

I need to start applying to grad schools soon....really soon. Like within the next month. This might prove a difficult task with all the other school work going on, and with Navs and everything. I think I've narrowed it down to three schools to apply to. All big public schools. I like the public school atmosphere. One in the Midwest, one in the South, and one on the West Coast. I really don't have a great reason for applying to these particular schools, they just seem to be the ones in my head. I'm still not completely sure whether God wants me in grad school or not, but until I here otherwise, I guess that's where I'll head. I've been trying to keep my options open. We'll see what happens soon enough.

This year is gonna fly by. I'm already starting to make Winter break plans. And before I know it, I'm gonna be marching down the aisle in red and black to pick up my diploma.

And the beat goes on.....

Queen City Reunion

It's already fall in Ohio. It's been in the mid to upper 60's almost all week. Kind of chilly at times, but overall it just feels great. I've been doing a lot of cleaning and settling into my house down here. We got a new central air system so our place was quite a mess for awhile. It looks and feels great now, though. This place is starting to lose it's "slum house" title.

I am SO HAPPY to be back home. I absolutely love Cincinnati and UC. It feels so good to be back around people my own age. I loved the people I met in Texas, really, but most everyone I became friends with was older than me....and it's just different. They are all in different places in there life than I am....places I'm not quite at yet. I have so many incredible friends here, and there are so many incredible things that are about to happen this year on campus with Navs. It feels good to live back near campus again. In Texas, I was in an apartment and not really living near any friends. Here, I can just walk to a number of friends' houses if I get bored or want to hang out. I dunno...I guess these are just some things that I took for granted that I'm not going to anymore.

It's been great getting to see my family again. And, if you haven't heard, I am an UNCLE! My new nephew, Elijah Blaise Grissom, was born last Sunday night. I was the first one (besides his parents) to hold him in my family....he was only 15 hours old!!!! He's pretty awesome!!

I think the best part of being home, for me, is getting back involved in Navs. Being actively involved in something way bigger than myself or my own life. I feel such a sense of purpose and excitement thinking about all the students we will influence this year and hopefully lead toward Christ. These last four years at UC have been incredible for me...without a doubt the best years of my life and I honestly believe that I've had as good a time at UC as anyone has ever had. And so far, I can't really look back and see any big regrets. Sure, I've made mistakes, but I wouldn't change the way anything has happened here. Now I've got one more year left. One of our Navs leaders, Evan Griffin, asked me what my legacy was going to be this year. He likes to challenge people like that. Well I know without a doubt that God called me to UC. I wanted to go to OSU, but I thought God wanted me here. So I swallowed my pride, bit my tongue, and decided on UC. I can't imagine what it'd be like if I had gone to Ohio State...I guess it's not really worth thinking about now, just happy I am where I am. But I've got one more year left here. And I don't intend on leaving this place without leaving my mark, without having an impact. I plan on leaving a legacy.

Austin City Limits

Well I'm rolling out tomorrow...bright and early. I went to church one last time here in Texas. A friend and I played special music, and it went really well! It marked my first time finger picking in front of 150 or so people! We had a picnic afterwards, and then I took the long way back down to South Austin. I wanted to take one last stroll through hill country on the 360 loop. We don't have hills like that in Ohio....at least not really near Cincinnati.

Austin has been good, great actually. This last week has been excellent. I've been staying in an actual house, and they've been feeding me and everything! Free food really makes me happy, in case you didn't know.

I just can't get over the fact that I've been here for 5 1/2 months, and I'm just gonna up and leave tomorrow morning. I will be supplanted from the life I've been living, the people I've been friends with, and will resume "normal" life where I left off 6 months ago. But I know things will be different. Things are always different when you leave for so long...but hopefully for the better!

I'm excited for this year. School will be school. But what I'm really excited for is to see what God is gonna do this year at UC, b/c I know it's gonna be huge. I'm excited to be a part of it. I'll be leading Tuesday night smallgroup this year with Nate, Sapp, and Saylor. I'm pumped because I've never led with any of those guys, and they are all great guys.

Our house is gonna be sweet too. It's under a lot of construction right now, I guess, because we are getting a new furnace and central air system. Can you imagine Bosley with heat and/or a/c?? Yeah, it's gonna be sweeeeet. Plus, we got a new HD tv coming in......ohhhhh yeah. I can't wait to watch the Bengals games...WHODEY!!!!

God has been good to me here in Austin, better than good, really. I never would have fathomed living outside of Ohio, so far from my friends and family. But God has shown me that He will provide friends and family wherever He sends me.

Peace out Austin.

I love you all.

Rounding Third

It is officially September! This is exciting to me for numerous reasons, and not just because my birthday is this month. I'm not really looking forward to turning 22...I think it's more weird than anything else. How did I get to be 22 years old and a fifth year college student?!? Anyway, back to September. September is obviously the best month of the year. First of all, it is the beginning of fall, my favorite season of the year! Instead of hot muggy walks back and forth to campus, you have sharp blue skies, colorful trees, brisk Autumn temperatures, and the surprisingly fresh smell of dying leaves. Ahhhhh. And obviously, fall is the start of all things football. College football, NFL football, and even intramural football! I don't need to talk about this because you already know how excited I am about football. Going back to school in September is pretty awesome too. Fall is the most exciting time on campus because everything is new again and there are so many new people!

In other news, this marks my last Sunday in Texas. Which brings me to another stark realization. How have I been here for over 5 months?!? These last few weeks have been pretty crazy. Work has been really busy. It's been non-stop stuff coming in to do. I really don't mind it too much, and actually probably prefer it over the antithesis. It definitely makes the days go by much quicker...it can just get to be overwhelming at times, though. But on top of that, I've been studying for the GRE (which I took on Tuesday), and packing and cleaning up my apartment with any other free time. I moved out on Friday and am living at my smallgroup leaders' house: Greg and Jan Riggs. They are pretty awesome! It's nice to live in a real house for a few days. The GRE went pretty good, though. I'm not planning on taking it again. So now I can start applying to schools and what not. Exciting times!

This week should be crazy too, but hopefully in a fun way. It's a short work week with only 4 days of work. And thankfully, I have all the stressful "crazy" stuff done, so I'll be spending each day hopefully hanging out with different friends one last time before heading home.

One more week. And then the epic journey back to the great state of Ohio begins!

Beyond Imagination

God blesses. Sometimes beyond what you'd ever imagine. I've been blessed in such a way this week. I believe it's dangerous to believe that he does it to reward us for some good behavior we've done. Maybe He does, sometimes, but I'm doubtful. I've done enough bad things to offset the good things. There must be another reason why He blesses us. In Genesis 12:2, God makes this promise to Abram:

I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.

In some versions, the last line is translated "So that you shall be a blessing." This makes more sense to me. We are blessed so that we may be a blessing to others. God doesn't just give us things to waste away. This is evident in the story Jesus tells about the talents. He gives talents to these three guys, and expects them to invest it wisely. I think we should use everything God blesses us with, whether it be money, a special talent, or a highly respected position to be a blessing to the people around us and to further His kingdom.

Last weekend was my mentor's (from work) wedding and Sea World. The wedding was pretty cool....well it was pretty hot actually since it was outside, but I ended up having a good time. And Sea World was amazing. I didn't think it'd be as fun, but they had a lot of really good shows! This weekend brings new and exciting adventures. Tonight, I'll be driving up to the (hopefully) great city of Dallas/Ft.Worth with my buddy Tom. We are gonna meet a bunch of guys and girls up there tonight and go to the world's largest Honkey Tonk!! It is appropriately named Billy Bob's. I'm pretty excited because I think they have live bull riding with real cowboys and everything!! And of course, I'm sure there will be plenty of good country music and two stepping! Tomorrow there is a party in Denton (North Dallas) at my good friend Bobby Brown's house. Should be some good BBQ and good times.

I only have three weeks of work left, which is really crazy. I'll be back in Ohio before I know it. I'm really glad I came out here. I've met some truly great people out here and had some truly amazing experiences. I've learned a lot about life too, and feel a lot more independent. God has definitely taught me a lot, hopefully a lot I can bring back to school this year. I'm excited to be a Senior this year and to see what God plans to do at UC this year. It's gonna be HUGE!!

Summer In Austin

Summer is FINALLY here in Texas!! You don't understand, until this last week, it had rained almost every day before and after (that's 3 weeks) my trip home to Ohio. But it's been sunny every day this last week...it just makes life a lot more fun!!

It's really hard for me to believe that I've been down here for almost 5 months. I think back to March and all the things I did when I first got here, and it just seems so long ago. Kind of like when you think back to high school and say "Did that really happen?" It's weird how memories fade like that. Sometimes I want to go back and relive some of them. It's not like I want to get out of where I am....it's just some things were that good. If I could go back and relive any week again, it would probably be my week at YL camp at Rockbridge. It's so beautiful and peaceful and fun down there, and you can just feel God when you are there.

Texas is going well. Just five more weeks of work left. One of my best friends, Tom, is moving back to Austin in a week or so, which I'm pretty excited about. Hopefully we'll get to go back downtown and see some live music b/c I haven't done that in a while. I'm planning on going to Sea World with some friends this Friday, though, which should be pretty cool!

I have(get???) to go to a wedding this upcoming weekend. My mentor from work is getting married. It's not that I don't want to go....well maybe it is haha. I really wanna be there for him to help him celebrate and I'm glad he invited me...it's just that I'm not going to know anyone there and it's all the way down in San Antonio. I mean who wants to go to a wedding alone, and not even know anyone there. But I've gone to a ton of places these last months knowing no one and it always seems to turn out just fine :-D

I have to admit though, I am really excited about going back home soon. Not that I don't like it here, but home is home and always will be. Maybe someday Texas will be my new home, but not for awhile. I'm just about ready to get back into the swing of things at school. I'm so excited to get back involved in Navs and be around a ton of people again! I'm also starting to get Bengals fever!! WHODEYY!! I think I will get back to Cincy on the day the Bengals have their Monday Night home opener against the Ravens!! I was looking at tickets online but they are so expensive. Who woulda thought 5 years ago we'd be selling out every season?!? I remember getting upset b/c they would never put the home games on tv since they never sold out. I'm also getting pumped for Bearcat's football....I think we're going to be pretty decent. I'll definitely be going to as many games as I can!!

Well, it's about to be Saturday night, I better go find something to do!

Peace out.

Soon

Ahhh I haven't updated this think in weeks. I really want to but I also really want to go sleep on my comfortable air mattress. Hopefully soon I can find some time to really write something on here!

Movies

It's been a pretty chill Weekend. Tonight, I ate 3 popsicles and watched Night at the Museum. Now, Ricky and I are watching Cinescape. It's basically a really bad American movie dubbed in Spanish. Tonight's movie is American Ninja 2 (Ninja Americano Dos). I think it makes just as much sense in Spanish as it does in English. Last night I watched Deja Vu, with Denzel Washington. I usually don't watch this many movies, but like I said, it's been a little slow. Anyway, Denzel is the man....I think I'm a huge fan. He's always got that one point in every movie where he gets real intense. If you've ever seen a movie with him, you know what I'm talking about.

Well, I think it's time for another popsicle......

Ohio and Back

I like movies and good stories...who doesn't? I saw Ratatouille and Transformers over the break, both of which were pretty good movies. But I'm not the type of person who can watch a movie over and over again. I tried watching the 3rd Lord of the Rings the other day again (hadn't seen it since it came out), but I ended up letting it play in the background for about 2 hours while I did laundry, surfed the web, and took a cruise through the countryside, before I finally came back and turned it off b/c I hadn't watched 3 minutes of it.

But, there is one story I never get tired of hearing. And that is the story of Jesus. It's crazy that I can hear it over and over again and it always be refreshing to me. Perhaps it is because it's always applicable to my life. When I am struggling with sin, it reminds me that I am covered in His blood and grace and that He has forgiven me. When I feel like I am doing great, it reminds me that it's not by my own goodness that I am saved and have life, but by His blood and grace. When
overwhelmed with life's circumstances, Jesus' story reminds me that He is in complete control.

In other news, I'm back in the LONESTAR after 10 days in Ohio. I had an awesome time at home. Some really great stuff happened. I got to see a ton of my friends and almost all of my family, which I love....I really couldn't ask for a better family. The next time I see my brother and his wife, they will have made me an Uncle...which I am pretty excited about b/c I am the youngest of 6 and never had a younger brother or sister. It's weird how much I missed Ohio, though. How much I missed the cornfields and countrysides. My first morning in Xenia, I woke up at 9am in pure bliss. The sun was shining in my eyes in the midst of a clear blue sky...not a cloud in sight. It was about 65 outside and the breeze was brushing by me as it passed through one window and out the other. It was one of those mornings you could just sit there all morning and relax and it just be OK. I don't have mornings like that in Clifton or Austin...mostly b/c neither is off toward the country. And there is nothing like a clear Xenia night to look up and see a million stars.

Anyway, back to the Texas life for 2 more months. I was greeted with overcast skies this morning....which I hope don't stick around for my remaining time here. I'm going to be sad when I leave b/c there are so many great people here. But I'll be happy to go back home for the same reasons. So I guess I am happy wherever I am :-)

I leave you with this truthful mug:

Return To The Land Up North

I'm flying back to Ohio in 9 hours!!! And I am soo excited. I will miss Texas and all of the fun people here, but I'm looking forward to hanging out with friends and family back home. When I get back to Cincinnasssty, I think I want to eat some sky-line chili, and then go buy some grippos BBQ chips mmmmm. I just got back from the midnight rodeo so I got my two-stepping in before going back home.

I really hope it doesn't rain. It's rained a record amount here....the most ever recorded!! It rains just about every day. But it's weird b/c it will rain half the day, and then be kind of sunny the other half....so it's not too bad. Except last night, me and Bobby Brown and two of his friends were at this country concert sort of deal and it starts pouring down rain. The concert is about over so we decide to leave anyway. Bobby goes to get his truck, only to find out that his truck, as well as his friend's SUV had been towed. At the same time I am finding this out, I ran into these two girls (Lauren and Erin) that I had met about a month or two ago....they'd randomly come up to me trying to figure out why the recognized me. So anyway, I decide to go see if my car is still there. In true Huckleberry Finn fashion, I rolled up my pants, took off my sandals, and walked (you get more wet if you run, mythbusters did a thing on it once) the quarter-half mile to my car in the pouring rain. So when I get in my car, Lauren and Erin call me (they got my number from my roommate, who Lauren is friends with) and tell me they got their car towed as well!! To quicken the story, we ended up rolling 7 deep in my luxury Buick Century to this super shady towing lot out in the country. It ended up costing them $600 all together to get all 3 cars back!!! I'm proud of my Buick for coming through in such a clutch situation. Alright well I really didn't intend to write that story so I'm gonna go to bed so I have lots of energy for tomorrow!!!

Goodbye Texas...for now.

Hello Sunny OHIO!! :-D

Good times with great people

Highlights of this last week:

- Dinner at this place called Matt's El Ranco something or other with a bunch (like 20) of the co-ops from work. It was like a Tex-mex sort of place. Pretty good...although I ordered a plate with a tamale in hopes to figure out what this mysterious non-Midwestern food really is, but I never actually got one. Oh well, some day soon I will know....

- Thursday, we (me and a bunch of other co-ops from work) played flag football in the rain. Later on, me and Bobby Brown and some lady friends of his went to this place called Midnight Rodeo where I got my two-step on. This was my second two-stepping experience. Midnight Rodeo was a lot dirtier (and I don't mean dirt from the ground) than the Broken Spoke, but it was still fun getting to meet a bunch of random people (friend's of Bobby's) and two-steping once again.

- Friday I went cowboy-hat shopping. But I think they are too expensive for something I would probably never really wear in Ohio. Friday night, I slept 12 hours, which was pretty much amazing.....

- Saturday, I went to church and then hung out with some friends from church all day long. Went to a friends house for lunch....her mom made the most amazing Italian lunch mmmm.

- Today, I went to Schlitterbahn (which is supposedly the best water park in the world) with Nate. It was pretty fun. They had this really cool ride where you could boogie board or surf (kind of) on this fake wave sort of deal. They also had a few rides that shot you uphill with water. Pretty cool. Then we went to San Antonio and met up with Nate's sister, brother, brother's friend, and Dad. We went down to the Riverwalk and had dinner. The Spurs parade was going on so there was literally about a million nutty Spurs fans down there. The parade was kinda cool, though, b/c it was on the water so all the players came floating down. We saw Duncan, Popavich, Ginobli, Bowen, and some others I didn't really know. No Tony Parker....or Eva Longoria, for that matter. We also saw the Alamo....which was kind of neat. Some pictures for you to enjoy:

Sorry gotta say it, "Remember the alamo!"

Riverwalk and all the crazy Spurs fans.
Tim Duncan with the trophy....that should be LeBron's ;-)
Some funky looking building that looks like it belongs in Seattle.
This hotel we parked in front of....just thought it was a cool shot.


It's weird though. I can feel it coming over me. At first, I thought people were just a little crazy. But it's starting to take over me. I'm talking about this love people have for Austin. A lot of it is the friends I've been making and people I've been hanging out with. I was talking to a friend from church last night, and we were talking about how you are going to find great people wherever you go and, really, can be happy (he's getting ready to move to the Dallas area with his wife for a new job) regardless of where you are. And, if you aren't, a lot of it is probably you're own fault. But beyond all that, Austin is just a really great place. I absolutely love hill country. I would love to have a house out there sometime. There is so much to do here, so much culture, so much pride for the city and state. It's not like they go around saying Austin and/or Texas is better than anything else (although they might say that to themselves), but people here just like where they live....and that makes people like me like being here. I talked to a prof at UT this week about grad school here. Also talked to some guys at work about grad school here, as well as jobs at AMD along the lines of what I want to be doing. It's all here. I don't know if this is where God wants me yet...I'll have to pray about that and find out. Regardless, I'm gonna try to enjoy every day here while it lasts, go back to Cincy and enjoy every day in Ohio for the next 9 months, and where the road leads from there, we shall soon see........

Becoming a Texan

So last Saturday night I went Texas Two-Stepping with some folks at this place called the Broken Spoke. It was pretty much a good ole' honky tonk. Apparently, the Queen of England came there when she was in Texas and wanted to see a real honky tonk. It was actually really fun. Everyone had on cowboy hats and boots and the girls were all wearing their country dresses. And me, I was wearing my white K-Swisses.....representing Ohio. Haha, I suppose I looked kind of funny, but these are the type of folk who don't really care about such a thing. And I think I decided that my future wife should have a little country in her, because I enjoy that type of thing from time to time :-)

Otherwise, life is good in Texas. Last Saturday I went down to the pool and played pool-volleyball with some random people for about two-and-a-half hours....it was pretty amazing. We had Bible Study at our place Monday night, which was pretty cool and tonight a bunch of the co-ops got together, as we do every Thursday now, and played flag football in the 90 degree heat!

I started looking into grad school this last week. I really don't want to take the GRE and do all that grad school stuff, but a guess it's part of the deal. Not quite sure where I'll apply yet, although I do have a few schools in mind. I'm mostly just looking at cool locations now. I'm pretty sure I won't be in the Nati though, just b/c I want to get my Masters from a different school. But there is a lotta living left to be done in Ohio before I really start dealing with grad school.

Well I really don't have anything to write about, so gonna go root for the Cavs!!

The Deal....

So I bought an Xbox 360 today. I bought it off Craigslist. I didn't really need one, but it was such a good deal I just couldn't resist (I'm bad with that sometimes). It came with 3 controllers and like 8 games for $350!! I've never bought anything from Craigslist....but it was exciting. Kind of what I'd imagine a drug deal would feel like haha. Me and my roommate were driving across town in my Buick Century with $350 of cash in my pocket, meeting up with this tall French guy. I rolled up to the gate and gave him a call "I'm here to make the deal, how can I get in." The French accent returned back "The code is #2715, you'll see me on the inside." Just then my roommate screams "I know this guy!!!!" It took away from some of the excitement, but at least I knew I wasn't gonna get ripped off. He was a pretty cool guy, in a snobby, French type of way haha!!

But this weekend has been pretty solid. No work today since it was memorial day. Yesterday, I hung out with my roommate all day. We went to this party for some people from my Saturday church, which was cool. They like eating vegetarian food and so we had vegetarian ground beef. And to the surprise of both of us, it was actually pretty good! Now, was it really more healthy for us? The world may never know. But after that, we went to church at the Austin Stone where they are still preaching on the 7 sayings of Jesus on the cross. This week's message was on the saying that Jesus cried out "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" The speaker pretty much focused on the fact that Christ cried that out so that we would know that He was forsaken, so that we would ultimately know that we never have to be, or will be, forsaken by God. Good stuff.

After church, we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3. It was pure entertainment. I will admit, I didn't have a clue what was going on....they make the plot so stinking complex and hard to follow. But the pirate action was good enough where you really didn't have to know what was going on to enjoy the flick. And I don't know how, but Keira Knightely managed to look amazing in every single scene.....even in DLP, which is like high definition for movie theaters. And I guess the girls like Johnny Depp. Which I personally will never understand.....maybe it's the whole bad-boy pirate act haha. He definitely makes those movies what they are, though.

After the movie we went and hung out at the girl's house who is a friend of Ricky's. There was a bunch of folks there and I got to meet some pretty cool people. It was weird (in a good way) b/c I had a lot in common with some of these people. One girl was in engineering at UT and is in Engineers w/o Borders, which I am in as well. Another girl was doing a co-op in Austin and had just moved here from Iowa and is new to the whole Texas thing, like me. We both thought tamales were some kind of pepper, before the locals laughed at us. Apparently they're not :-) This other guy I met knew and went to high school with another of my friends from down here.

So I'm pretty happy because it turned out to be a great weekend. I wasn't sure how it would all go b/c we were originally planning on going to the beach....but it was really cloudy and raining most of the weekend. And now I have a short 4-day work week ahead, which is never a bad thing. I just found out that Nate is coming to San Antonio in a few weeks with his family, which is pretty cool b/c we might get to hang out.

Oh, and for those of you who remember my encounters at the lake with the cactus....I finally went to the doctor to see what I could do about the poison ivy and needles in my foot that have plagued me for the last 3 weeks! He gave me some meds for the poison ivy. For the needles, he told me to go get some duct tape and just keep applying it and peeling it off in hopes to pull them out. Apparently they just have to fall out. Needless to say, I might have 11 needles in my foot the rest of my life!! Oh well, something to remember Texas by!!

A Truthful Saying....

I like this:

I am not what I ought to be;
I am not what I would like to be;
I am not what I hope to be.
But I am not what I once was,
and by the grace of God, I am what I am.
John Newton

Two Months Down....

Sunday means it's the beginning of a new week, which I am pretty happy about after last week. Last week was a below-average week on my scale, to put it in a positive way. Monday had it's disappointments. Tuesday was unexpectedly interesting. Wednesday was the longest, most dull day of work I've ever had (ok, maybe not quite that bad). Thursday was not too bad, I guess. Friday was one of those days where you just get something on your mind and worry about it till you literally feel sick and lose your appetite. I don't know why it took till Friday, but it did. But luckily, Friday night is my chill night and I got to spend some good time with the Man....which helped out a great deal.

The highlight of my week was definitely going to this restraunt (<--that's one word I will never be able to spell, along with 'museaum' ....i think i cheated on my spelling test on those words in elementary haha) called Z Tejas (that's Texas in Spanish for all you non-Spaniards and non-Texans) for a friend's 21st birthday. Got to hang out with some good friends there, as well as meet some nice people ;-) It felt amazing to hang out with a group of people my own age...all in college. I can't describe how much I miss that. Oh, and I actually met a girl with a southern accent....it only took 2 months!! She said there are lots of cowboys where she is from in East Texas. This was particularly exciting to me since my secret dream and true purpose for coming to Texas is to become a cowboy.

Yesterday was pretty good. I got two free meals, got to take a short nap, and hang out with some cool dudes around a grill fire and just talk about whatever we felt like. Today was good as well....free IHOP for breakfast! I still haven't figured out what to do with my Sunday's yet. Sunday's are boring when you don't have homework to do or friends to hang out with. I guess I could watch NASCAR :-/

I did go to Austin Stone church tonight...and it was amazing. They are doing a series called 'The seven sayings of Jesus on the Cross'. Basically, every week, they do a different sermon on one of the last things Jesus said while dying on the cross. Today's was from John 19:25-27. Basically, Jesus is dying on the cross, bearing the sins of the world, after just being beaten nearly to death....undoubtedly the hardest and most painful thing He or any one will ever go through. In this moment, He looked down and saw Mary, His mother, and said to her "Woman, behold your son" of John, and to John He said "Here is your mother." The point we miss in all this: even when Jesus was in the midst of such great pain, even when He was performing the most amazing and important act of salvation and grace for mankind, He still took time to look down and see that His mother's needs were taken care of. Even when God is busy doing these seemingly huge and important acts on earth, He still cares enough to see to our needs. Do we do the same for the people in our lives? Or do we get caught up in the big things, even if they are good, and neglect the people with needs in our lives that we pass by everyday. Something to think about.

I got a few nice phone calls this weekend from people I don't talk to often...including one from the man himself, Evan Griffin. Evan makes me laugh....we like to joke around and make fun of each other a lot, but I think there is a deep appreciation for each other under all that. There's not many people I would follow off a bridge, but I think Evan is one of those people.

Hopefully I can update this thing more frequently...although I don't know if anyone really reads it. I think people do. But you know how those things go. People never like to admit they read other's blogs...which I think has become a somewhat funny social norm. I don't mind at all when folks silently stop in, but I also don't mind when they let me know they were here :-)

Don't kick the cactus.....

I've been wanting to update for awhile, but just haven't gotten around to it. Great things are happening here in Texas. I went to Lake Travis today with some friends from work. One guy named Tom, who I've been friends with, another guy named Trevor, who I met back in November when I interviewed, but hadn't seen since, and two new people: a co-op from U of Illinois named Rey and another co-op from UT named Yovita. They were all cool people and we had a great time. We grilled some amazing burgers and sausages and then went cliff jumping. Okay, okay, so some of us were too chicken to jump off the 40-foot cliff, so we ended up finding a 10 foot jump, which was still a bit scary not knowing what was underneath the water. But we've got all summer to work our way up to the big-daddy 40-foot cliff. I accidentally kicked a cactus, though, and those suckers will get you. I barely brushed up against it and I had like 30 pricks in me.

I love meeting new people and making new friends. I went to this new smallgroup on Friday night and met a bunch of cool people there. It's amazing how fast you can begin to feel comfortable and at home around certain people. I especially love meeting people from other countries. Tom is from Vietnam and Yovita is from Indonesia. It's so cool to me to meet and become friends with people that are literally from the exact opposite side of the world. I usually find that we're really not as different as you would think.

Last week I got to share why I follow Jesus with a friend, which was really cool. It was just two friends being real with each other and talking about what we believe and what our experiences have been. I think too often Christians get caught up in trying to convert people...trying to turn people into followers of Jesus ourselves. That's really dangerous because people are smart and usually know exactly what is going on...and that can be a big turn off. Now, I want to see my friends know Jesus as much as anyone because I know how amazing life has been for me. But, I don't believe converting my friends is the exact goal God gives. I think He simply wants me love my friends, and share the hope and joy that I have in Jesus with them. It is completely and solely up to God himself to do any convicting or "converting". As Evan Griffin would say, "I could be wrong, but I'm not!" ;-)

In other news, me and my roommate are going to try to start a Bible study at our apartment complex, which I'm really excited about (not really nervous, yet, at least). We are going to go through the book of John, and pretty much focus on Jesus. I'm hoping that people will come and see Jesus for who He really is. I also want to get to know people better here because I've met very few people who live here. I hope people show up! :-)

Work is going great and I'm slowly getting to know the guys there better. I got invited to my mentor's wedding in August. Hopefully I know people well enough so that it's not awkward!! Haha, this also means I'll have to buy a new suit or bring mine back to Texas when I go home in July.

Missed Opportunities....

There's this guy at work named Raymond. He's one of those quiet, shy type of guys who isn't going to just start a conversation with you. My first week of work, I was sitting by him and decided I'd talk to him (it's not like I really had anyone to talk to either). We had a pretty decent conversation...just talked about where he lived and his girlfriend and stuff. Usually at lunch, there is about 10 to 15 people at a big table, and when he's there, he hardly ever says a word to anyone. Whenever I would ask him how he was doing, I would just get "keeping busy, keeping busy." Well, yesterday we were eating lunch and he came in, but there were no seats left at the table, so he sat at the table right next to all of us and just ate by himself. I felt bad for him and wanted to go over and sit with him and ask him what he was actually keeping busy with...I just felt like I should. I sat there and thought about it, and then thought about it some more, until it was too late...he got up and went back to work. Oh well, theres the rest of the summer to talk to him is what I probably thought. Well, today some of the managers on our team called a short, impromptu meeting for the sole purpose to let us all know that Raymond's "contract had not been renewed" and that he would no longer be working with us.

Welcome to the real world Danny G. A place where your future is not secure or predictable. It makes me wonder if I'm ready for it yet? But that's beside the point. I feel really bad for Raymond....I'm upset that I didn't take the opportunity to talk to him that last chance I got. I don't know what could have happened....maybe just a simple conversation. But I hate the fact that I know what I'm supposed to do sometimes and don't act. I get these seemingly great ideas to meet people and love people, but then I'll just think about it until it's too late. I can only imagine what God would do if I would just hear and do, instead of think and doubt what He is telling me to do. There's no way I could have known that yesterday would be my last chance to have a meaningful conversation with Raymond. There's no way the friends and family of the 32 Virginia Tech students and professors could have known that the day before that Monday morning would be the last chance they would get to reach out, share their faith, or simply say goodbye. All the more reason why we can't sit around being afraid to love the people around us and share our faith.

In other news, my mommy loves me and sent me a big package this week....check this out:
That's right, two shirts, 10 pairs of socks, homemade brownies, fudge, and chocolate chip cookies, cashews, granola bars, trail mix, dried fruit (yeah i know my mom is really random sometimes), Twizzlers bites (my favorite!), an assorted bag of chewy candies, an assorted bag of old random Easter candy, gummy bears, and last but certainly not least, a steel ball point pen!!! It's a good thing I got the dental insurance from work!! :-D

Oh, and I bought plane tickets to come back to Ohio!! I'm so happy because I got direct flights both ways at reasonable times in the morning. I'll be flying back into Cincinnati on Friday, June 29th and then back to Austin on Sunday, July 8th. I'll probably be back and forth between Xenia and Cincinnati while I'm in Ohio, so make sure you get a hold of me so we can hang out!!

This new place I call home for awhile.....

So Saturday I decided to explore my backyard here in Austin....and I was really surprised at what I found. Hill Country is like 2 miles away from my apartment, and its really cool. There are all these really nice, and I'm sure really expensive houses hanging on the tops of these hills and cliffs. I also went out to Lake Travis, which is the big lake near Austin. Some of the best pictures are below.

Really, Austin is a great city. Going downtown and and out around the city borders makes me realize how boring Cincinnati is. Or maybe I'm just used to Cincy and never do any of the cool stuff.

I really felt like I actually belonged here this weekend, instead of feeling kind of like an outsider. I'm starting to get familiar with the area and make good friends. Saturday night we went bowling. We have a Nintendo Wii at work and we bowl at work during lunch. And I kid you not, Wii bowling has revolutionized my bowling game. I pretty much went in believing I could put spin on the ball because I had been doing it on Nintendo. I used the same form as on the Wii and it worked!!! I still got a 99 though. Hey, I didn't say it improved my game, just revolutionized it!

But Sunday night I went to this church called Austin Stone. It was really cool. Chris Tomlin lead worship there Sunday night (he's from Austin) which was pretty cool, but I didn't even realize it was him for awhile. The message was really good though.....it was all about whether we were following Jesus for our own gain, or simply because we love him. It was cool, I'm gonna try to go back again.

After that, I went to a meeting for Navs on campus with some friends, and then out to this place called Amy's Ice Cream. And I'm sorry Graeters fans, but Graeters has absolutely nothing on this place. I say without any doubt that Amy's Ice Cream is the absolute best ice cream I've ever had in my entire life. It's kind of like Coldstone, where they put the toppings in the ice cream and chop, mash, mix and roll it in right in front of your eyes. But then they do really cool tricks like flip your ice cream up in the air above their head and catch it in a cup. It was sweeeeeeet!!!

Work has been going well, I would have probably stayed till 6 today except someone pointed out that it was 4:40, which meant it was time for me to leave. Oh, and good news for the Buick, I bought a sub for it so now it can be as sweet as the Intrepid ;-)

In other news, I talked to my boss and mentor and they are cool with me taking a week to come home, so I'll probably be back sometime at the beginning of July to visit....so mark your calendars now!!!




Lake Travis.
Lake Travis again.
Some cool houses and a lighthouse at Lake Travis.
Lake Travis.
My apartment is somewhere 3 or 4 miles beyond that hill in the back!

Downtown Austin, this was an amazing view!!
Friday night lightning storm!
This picture is really cool if you take all the little pictures and play them in a row on my camera...

April Is Here and I Cannot Think of a Title....

Two things I increasingly wish I had brought with me from Ohio each day:

1.) An umbrella ~ For a state in which it's not supposed to rain, it rains an awful lot!!
2.) My Dr. Claw Chair (aka my computer chair) with comfy and cushy suede material, arm rests, full tilt and swivel, and of course, lumbar support ~ This $2.50 fold up aluminum sorry excuse for a chair I bought from super wal-mart just isn't cutting it. I hope Mike is taking care of my chair....

Overall, things are going well. I've been meeting people and gotten to go downtown and see some live music the last two weekends with friends. I'm thinking about busting out the Alto Sax and finding somewhere to jam. Everyone plays guitar down here, most much better than me, but the Sax is a more-rare instrument that few have the skill to play so gracefully as myself....j/k, sort of ;-)

I'm still really excited for the rest of my time here. I can already see God beginning to do things in me and with me...big things. I can't wait to look back at the end of the summer and see what has happened.

I might come home at some point this summer for a few days, which is exciting as well. My parents want to pay to fly me back and visit. I haven't talked to my boss yet about it though so we'll see.

Welp, that's all for now...I'll leave you some pictures of the Grissom Ranch here in Austin so ya'll can picture my new and beautiful estate....The driveway/road that goes through our apartment complex.
The pool area, there is a volleyball net in the pool on the right which I have not yet tested out.
This is our living room which doubles as my bed room ;-) Note the breathtaking vistas from the Ranch deck...

This is my living room which doubles as my office/study. You can see my ridiculously over-sized air mattress on the left, which is surprisingly comfy (20 inches of air)

One Week Down....

Today marks my second Saturday here in Austin. It's been quite an interesting week. I knew it would be tough at first coming here and not knowing anyone...but I wasn't really worried about it. Let me just tell you, at one point early in the week, I had gone I think three days without having an in-person conversation with anyone outside of work! I found myself working overtime just because I knew I didn't want to come home and be there by myself. It's really depressing not knowing anyone, being alone. To think some people feel the way I did, and much worse, for weeks and months upon end is sad to me. Luckily some of my best friends from back home called when I really needed and gave me someone to talk to...that helped more than they know.

Things started changing around Wednesday, though. I had worked some things out with God and just felt better, plus my roommate came back from being stranded at home Wednesday night. But Thursday and Friday night I went down to UT (University of Texas) campus and hung out there. I met some of the Nav folk down there which was pretty cool. They are doing this big thing down there called Rez Week....sorta like a revival for the whole school where all the student ministries unite together to further the Kingdom and spread Christ's love. I think we get caught up a lot of times in what is going on in our lives and what God is or isn't doing around us...and don't ever realize how big He is. I mean, I come down here, 1200 miles, to find that He is doing and getting ready to do huge things completely apart from me or anyone I know. Pretty sweet.

Work has been going pretty good too. It's completely different from my last job working for the DoD. The consumer world is quite different. At my last job, we pretty much either got money from the government, or we didn't. But now, we're competing, and marketing is this huge new thing to me that everyone is talking about. How can we make a better product than Intel and how can we make our stuff sound better than theirs. Don't buy Intel chips by the way, AMD is much better :-)

But it's pretty laid back at work, a lot of people wear shorts and t-shirts and sandals and no one seems to care. I haven't yet, but maybe when it is above 100 degrees for 30 days straight, like it's supposed to be here, I'll start!! There is a ping-pong table and a Nintendo Wii in the cafeteria at work that we play on pretty much everyday....I wish I was as good at ping-pong as I was freshman year when we used to play every day in Daniel's. People do work really hard here though, and seem to enjoy what they do, which is great! I get to work a lot with hardware too, which is something I wanted to do. The days haven't dragged on at all, but have gone pretty quickly....which didn't happen too often at my last co-op. We'll see what happens in the next 5 months.

I'm still hoping to get to experience more of the music and the people down here...which are both supposed to be amazing. It's weird because everyone I've talked to or heard talk about Austin loves it....and it's a lot easier to like a place when the people who live there like it too.

Anyway, I've finally submitted to cheering on OSU....time to go watch the game....go BUCKS!!!

Austin...

Finally got to Austin yesterday. I left Galveston yesterday morning and drove through Houston on my way. The drive from Houston to Austin was pretty sweet. Before I came here, I thought Texas would pretty much be completely brown...like dirt. But the drive from Houston was really colorful. The trees down here are all shades of green and the highway medians are spotted with wildflowers of almost every color....purple, orange, pink, yellow, and red. One of the coolest things was all the ranches. Everyone has some ridiculously splendid gate boasting the family's name or some phrase like 'God Bless Texas'. Behind the gates, you can see a driveway bend around the trees, allowing you to only imagine what the house looks like. To the side of the gates, there are vast fields sprawling the country side filled with cattle and shorthorn grazing on the rolling, grassy hills. As I took it all in, I thought to myself, 'Man, I could definitely live here'. Who knows, maybe one day when I become a cowboy...I finally got to my apartment in North Austin about 4pm. The location is super nice. The apartment complex is nestled back in this little wooded area on top of a hill. There are a ton of other really nice apartments and condo's nearby. It'll be amazing living in a nice area, after living in Clifton for so long.

My new roommate, Ricky, is really cool. We went to Super-Walmart yesterday and bought some necessaries, at which point I was fortunate enough to spot a brand new Little Ceasars. I couldn't resist and ended up purchasing my first of many Hot-n-Ready pizzas in Austin. They charge tax on fast food in Texas though...8.5%!! How ridiculous is that?? This meant that my Hot-n'-Ready was $5.41 instead of $5 even.

I ended up going to church this morning. The pastor was talking about getting out of your comfort zone. Check, I'm pretty much out of my comfort zone more than I've ever been in my entire life. But then he started talking about having Vision...about how we only expect God to do the things we've already seen Him do, or the things we see Him doing now. Hellen Keller said "The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision." I think God wants us to dream big...wants us to dare to ask for things we think are impossible. When we dream big and have vision, God will provide big....

One last day by the beach...

These last few days in Galveston have been pretty amazing, sitting by the beach and floating around in the ocean on an inflatable donut...definitely cannot complain. I somehow managed to burn the area right around my eyes yesterday, and now I look like a crack addict. Hopefully that'll fade by the time I start work on Monday though!!!!

Tomorrow we'll make the final drive to Austin. The rest of the guys I'm with want to see where I'll live, as well as the UT campus....but they'll have to leave tomorrow night to get the rental car back by Saturday afternoon....then I'll be all on my own!!! That should be cool, I guess. It'll be cool to start all over with who I am and what people think of me. It's not that I would really do anything that different or that I'm at all upset about my life in Cincy, because I'm not....but there are a few things that I'd like to change about the way I carry myself that should be much easier to do with a clean slate.

That's it for now....peace!

Texas At Last....

Finally made it to Texas....not Austin, but to Galveston for spring break on the Gulf. And can I just tell you, this place is the most ridiculous place I have ever been to. I used to think that California was the land of the fruits and nuts, but no sir, it's Galveston. As we turned onto Seawall Blvd, the main road that goes up and down the coast in Galveston, we were bombarded with traffic. People were driving down the street hanging out of their windows yelling and screaming. Everyone had 22s, some slick paint job, and 1000watt subs pounding their beats. Motorcycles were revving up and peeling out. People were driving down the street with their trunks wide open to show off some neon lights that spelled out their own stupid little phrase. Guys were rolling down the road showing off their hydraulics, bouncing up and down. One guy was even driving his Red Cadillac Escalade, subs pounding, with his Lamborghini style fold-up doors wide open. People were riding these funny bicycles with like 4 and 5 people on them. Dudes were walking down the street with their pants hanging below their butt. People were stopping in the middle of the street and getting out of their car just to shake hands with their buddy. I really just couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was like all the stuff you see in the rap videos, all the stuff you kind of laugh at, was really happening here...like people really do that stuff here in Galveston. There were several points where I really stopped and thought, 'am I crazy, or are we the only normal people here.' Now in all fairness, it was Saturday night, and it was St. Patricks Day, so maybe they were a little crazier than normal....who knows.

Today was good though. Things quieted down a lot and we actually went to the beach. It's not particularly hot, 70 degrees, but it actually felt pretty good. The water was a little bit exhilarating to jump all the way in, but once I did, it was pretty nice. :-)

One notable experience, I did see my first real cowboy yesterday. He was wearing cowboy boots, a cowboy hat, and those cowboy pants thingys as he was getting into his red Ford F-150. This is particularly exciting to me because it has always been a secret dream (a few privileged people know) of mine to be a cowboy since I was about 5 years old...in fact I've been a cowboy for probably 10 Halloween costumes.

We'll see what happens.......

Road trip.....

Finally done!!! I just finished my last exam...Psych 102. I put check marks by the problems that I knew and after the exam was over, I went back through and counted how many problems I knew. Out of 141 problems, I counted 33 check marks! Haha, but I actually felt like I guessed more on the midterm and I ended up getting an A+, so who knows. It was particularly hard taking this exam because about 10 minutes into it, I couldn't stop thinking about how there wasn't one place I would not rather be than in that room filling in bubbles to questions I have no clue about!!

But school is done with, and now I can leave. I'm pretty much just waiting for my parents to get here so we can pack the car up, get lunch, and head on out. It will be weird saying goodbye to them. I've said a lot of goodbyes in the last few days. Some harder than others. It's something we say everyday, but usually really just mean 'see ya tomorrow'. When it really means goodbye, though, it's weird. I mean, we can say 'I love you' and 'I'll miss you', but there comes a point in the goodbye where you realize that's all you can say...and it seems so unsatisfying, almost frustrating. I guess I'll just go this way, and you'll go that way, and that's really it??? Makes we want to be in Heaven....where we'll never have to say goodbye.

But I am really excited to go to Texas. I got an e-mail yesterday from my new roommate in Austin, Ricky, and he seems like a really cool guy. It's going to be a lot easier settling in to Austin since I will have a friend as soon as I get there who knows the area and the people. And I'm definitely ready to get away from this cold weather. It's supposed to rain most of the week for spring break, which is weird to me because I didn't really think it rained in Texas. There might be a lot of misconceptions I find I have about Texas....guess I'll find out soon ;-)

The road trip should be fun since I'll be driving down with BL (Ben Lewis, aka Bacon Lettuce). I've got three road trip CDs that were made for me.....I'm pretty excited about! I can only imagine what great songs await me on Lindsey's road trip mix. Speaking of road trip CDs, I'm gonna go make sure I have my Kelly Clarkson Breakway CD, because what great road trip doesn't have Kelly!!! :-D

Peace out Ohio...I'll miss you all!!!

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. ~ Phil 4:6-7

and then there were 4 days......

It’s 1:22 AM….I should be sleeping, but I’m pretty much wired. All I can think about is Texas….it’s pretty much all I can think about whenever I’m not studying or taking care of something else. It’s not really Texas I think about so much as the thought of leaving here….leaving my friends and family, my life. You don’t really realize how much you love your friends and family until you are about to go 1200 miles away from every one of them for awhile!!

It’s hard to believe that in just 4 days I’ll be on my way….taking my luxury 2001 Buick Century on the adventure of its lifetime down to the Lonestar State. I know people leave for co-op and for jobs all the time for 3 or 6 months, or even more…and I feel like it shouldn’t really be a big deal. But it is….I’ve never moved so far away for so long before. It’s not like I’m nervous, God has provided too much for me in Texas to be nervous or to even begin to think He doesn’t have my back…I’m just really anxious and excited to go. I really don’t have any expectations of Texas….I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

I just wish there was more time. Not a long time, but just like a day between exams and leaving so I could spend one night getting things ready and hanging out with friends. Pretty much, I have a Psych 102 exam from 8-10am Friday morning, my parents are bringing my Buick (on a side note, I really miss my Intrepid, it would have been a great car for Texas in all it’s Purple glory) down at around 10 or 11, we’ll probably pack it up and go get lunch, and then I plan on heading out at noon!! There’s just sooo much to do, and so little time really….but I’m sure it’ll all get done, one way or another.

1:51am, time for bed........