Feast

Hello everyone and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

This is a time we all take and give God the glory for everything He has given to us. Giving thanks for not only all the good things but also the trying times in our lives. The Bible tells us that in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus. This is something we all can be thankful for.

So enjoy this time of family, friends, food, fellowship, fun, and football :D (I'm the F master). Anyway, feast away!

Fixed

Some people's minds are just fixed to one frame of thinking.

You can't shake them, no matter how hard you try.

...

...but I guess we're all like that.

Sorry...but I'm fixed.

Foresight

...I saw it coming, ya know. And not only did I see it coming but I saw beyond it.

From mountain top to mountain top, I saw it but I didn't see the valley.

I'm through the valley now. I am another mountain top.

I knew it wasn't going to last forever...even though you thought it would.

I had the foresight.

Fountain City Diner

Ha! You thought I was done...

Anyway, yes! A fresh new spot has hit Knoxville, TN and it's the Fountain City Diner. What makes this place special? Well it's owned by some good friends of mine, the Wagners. When I heard the news that they were opening up a restaurant, I was taken back for a moment. It's not every day you hear that, ya know. But I was happy for them. Too bad I wasn't there for their Grand Opening.

Truth be told, I'm hardly there at all. I'm still up here in MD but trust me, if I was still living in TN, I'd be there practically all the time. It's a great atmosphere and terrific food. Mr. Wagner is a culinary chef and provides the edge that other restaurants don't possess.

I liked the place so much, I started a fan page on Facebook for the diner. Eh, I didn't have too much in mind, just trying to get their name out there but people are joining the fan page. It's nice to know that something I started (the fan page, not the restaurant) is beginening to grow. I hope more people become fans.

Well that's all for now. If you live in TN, stop by the Fountain City Diner. You'll enjoy the place, I guarantee it.

Phone

...well, it sounds like F. You leave me alone

Anyway, I just celebrated a birthday recently and my mother told me that for a gift, she'll buy my next phone upgrade. "Sweet" I thought to myself. I figured I'd get myself one of those touch screens, possibly a Blackberry. But I heard from some friends of mine that Google is coming out with a phone that will blow iPhone out of the water and it's going to be a Verizon phone. "Even better" I thought to myself again. "I'll just wait for that phone."

I go to the stores and no one knows when this phones is supposed to be released. I just about lost my patience (it's only been a week since I heard about it, what does that tell ya?) until I saw an ad for it. The teaser did enough for me to hold out until next month.

I can do it, I can do it...

Fail

So Google Chrome just stopped working on me, on the home PC anyway. I think I may know why. We have Trend, a beast anti-virus, anti-spyware/malware software. It will trap anything that thinks it's a threat and get rid of it. It will also notify you of suspicious activity being performed by a certain program and it will ask you if you want to grant it permission.

It notified me that Google Chrome wanted to do something. I denied permission. Ever since that, Google Chrome has ceased to work. I removed the program and downloaded it again but still nothing.

I'm sure I can get it back if I did some tweaking with Trend but I won't bother. IE will work for now.

Farmhouse Frenzy

So I went to the OCS Secondary Retreat for the first time. It was fun. Food was good, the preaching was great and I was given the opportunity to lead one of my students to the Lord. I'm glad that God used me and that He desires to use me.

While we were there, we played a rousing game of paintball. Since the outdoor course was a bit muddy, we were taken to an indoor course. That's right, a farmhouse. It was a bit interesting. I've never played paintball inside before.

It was an interesting time. The first game, I closed the game out in under 30 seconds. Ha! But then one of the refs told me not to do it because it's for the kids and they need to have fun and blah blah blah so I toned it down after that. I had a pretty good time playing but man, I never got lit up like that before. But it was still fun.

Well the retreat is over and come Monday morning, it's back to the old grind. But it was good to have some time off.

Until next time...

Feeling Frustrated?

Ha...I love being ambiguous. :D

Free Time

Ah....it's nice to have some free time on my hands. I had mentoined that it's really dangerous for me to have money in the bank and nothing to do. And I was racking my brain, trying to think of something to do, somewhere to go, and someone to do something with but I found nothing.

So what did I do when nothing came to mind? I ate hot pockets, stayed on Facebook, and watched college football all night. That was quite enjoyable.

It's hard getting used to the fact that I just can't go somewhere with anyone I want to like I did when I was down at school. Pretty much all my friends are down in Tennessee or elsewhere. Maybe I should focus on making some new friends here.

Anywho, I do like this free time. I need to take more advantage of it before it's all gone.

Foggy

I always have that foggy-headed feeling from the time I WAKE up to the time I GET out of bed. I programmed my radio to go off at 5:30 every morning. You know, I need plenty of time to get ready. Anyway, the alarm goes off this morning and I hear classical music playing. My exact thoughts at that point were thus: "Mmm? Uh, man. I really wish this music would cut off so I can listen out for my alarm...."

So a few minutes go by and I'm still thinking the same thought. The fact that the classical music WAS my alarm didn't dawn on me until I reached for the power button. Heh, then I just chuckled to myself.

Well here I go again, drifting off to la-la land.

Goodnight

Fake

Heh, if there's anything I don't want to be...it's being fake. I want to be genuine; true blue.

It's hard, you know? I know it's hard. You put on a smile and pretend everything is all honky-dory...but you know deep down, things are pretty much the opposite. The person that you're smiling with and laughing with turns out to be the person you want behead with your teeth (bite their head off...grammatical inconsistency, bleh). But you can't possibly do that. So you put on a smile.

But as I think about it, is it necessarily a bad thing? Should you avoid the person or give the person a scowl every time you two see each other? Maybe it makes things just a bit better whenever you "put on a smile."

Smile...and give them a wink too ;) They love that :D

Fortunate

I do take for granted the Lord's goodness to me. I am blessed and fortunate to be where I am at now. Some people would give anything just to switch places with me. May I always keep God's goodness in the forefront of my mind.

Far Far Away

I've been feeling as if I'm very far away from a lot of things and people. Distance doesn't have to play role, although it plays a major role in certain circumstances.

So far away from where I should be...

So far away from loved ones...

I never thought I'd say this but I miss Tennessee. That is, I miss those who are presently there but I'm just too far away...

But I'm a rolling stone.

Food :P

Well it's Missions Conference time around our church and it's a wonderful time for us. It's good to see slides, seeing what God is doing and what He is able to do through our local church. I'm praying that the Lord will do a mighty work.

We have our Missions Banquet to commence everything. A lot of people cook food and bring it in and we have a good time. Unfortunately, there are some foods I cannot eat like someone's ceviche (shrimp soup) and other dishes because I'm allergic to them. But for every dish I'm allergic to, there are 20 others I can so I'll be fine.

I'll be making my classic spicy chicken dip. I haven't made it in a while but I know the recipe by heart. I'm thinking that I'm going to spice things up and add more hot sauce :D Yeah...

Can't wait for it. It's going to be a great time for our church this week.

False Alarm

So I reported to work this morning at 8:30 instead of the usual 9. I was asked to do so and it wasn't a big deal. Good thing I did. It was a pretty long day. Well...longer than the past couple of days anyway.

Right now, the church is expanding and it's really exciting to see all these things happen. We know that the Lord is in it. But before we get into the new building, there is some well-needed construction. Today while the builders were hammering away, some dust worked its way throughout the building and before you knew it, BER BER BER BER!!! The dust triggered the alarm.

Heh, no one had the code to disarm it and those who did couldn't be reached. So...the firetruck came. Pretty quick, if I might add. We had to tell them it was a false alarm. They drove off, the alarm was disarmed, and we went about our day. Man, that thing was loud.

Well I'm still here. Still posting, still writing. To who? Probably no one. I like to think that I still have an audience. Oh well, it feels good to write still.

Later days

Facebook

Man, this social-networking website is taking over my life. It seems as if my happiness is dependent upon how many notifications I receive in a day.

I really DON'T like the idea of me being on Facebook all the time and I'm sure there are other things I could be doing with my time like clean my room, workout, go on dates...sigh...man, I am pathetic :D

Anywho, I'm sure things will change soon. I'm already heading to bed earlier than usual and once the school year starts, I don't think I'll spend much time on it. But for now, I have to do SOMETHING to pass the time...

Forgotten

You may feel forsaken...but you're not forgotten.

You're still in my mind, my memories.

I remember a lot of the times we've shared. Some bring a smile to my face. Others...bring an even bigger smile :D

But of course, there are times I remember that I wish I would have done things differently.

It's too late now, though.

But man...I can sure move one, can't I?

Friendship

Never take it lightly. Some people will openly confess that friendship means the world to them but if we're honest with ourselves, it means the world to all of us.

No one can get by without having any friends. Just the closeness you have with someone else, no matter who they are matters a great deal.

Sadly, some people use this great gift of friendship as a tool to get what they want. A means to an end, if you will. Others can accessorize friendship as with hats or coats, just wear it here and there and sees what looks best.

Of course, no one's perfect. We're all guilty of not treating friendship the way we ought to; being selfish.

Now I don't have all the answers and I sure don't claim to know it all but I want to be a better friend.

Forsaken

Do you feel that? Do you feel that everyone you loved and everyone who loved you has just left you without any care in the world?

Do you feel as if it's your fault? Maybe it's something you said or did that made them leave you. Maybe it was just something out of your control and there was nothing you could do about it.

Patterns...I see patterns. I follow after them. Things are set in motion and you know what they say about an object in motion. It stays in motion until another force acts upon it.

Ask yourself this question: are you the object or are you the opposing force?

That all depends upon what the object is, what direction it's going and if the opposing force is a good force or a bad force.

Some things...heh, will never change.

Fitness

Went to the gym today after work. I really didn't feel like going because it was a Monday and trying to learn the new job was giving me a headache. Not to mention that it was a long drive to the Y but nevertheless, I went.

I don't know what's up with me and the gym. I only do enough to work up a good sweat. Ten minutes or so of cardio usually does the trick when I start, then I'm off doing the free weights, a few machines and I'm done.

I do like how I feel after I workout though. I can eat a whole lot more :D And I do have a bit more energy. More than I would have if I didn't workout.

Oh well, hopefully I will become more of a fitness fanatic but I don't see that happening with the way my schedule is. But one can only hope, right?