Work and school

I've completed all the training I'm going to have for a while at work at the beginning of November. I can now work all the positions in the tower (except the Watch Supervisor) and train new controllers. I've come to the conclusion that Air Traffic Control is one of those "you had to have been there!" jobs. One of my buddies just came up two Saturdays ago and during the two and a half hours he was there, we talked to zero aircraft. He left out shear boredom. The job isn't usually that slow, but the weekend isn't the best time to see any action.

I started classes at Liberty University again October 11th. I'm working on a BS in Religion. Liberty does a lot to work with military members. The entire degree is online, they accept a lot of military technical training, and provide some vouchers for books. I've noticed a lot of bashing on Liberty by liberal and media (almost the same thing) folks lately. They seem to have an issue with schools requiring students to maintain a moral code. I don't really care what they think of the school. I've completed over 70 credits and have about 50 to go. It's wierd to be getting to the point where I can only handle one class at a time. I've never been this far in college before - I usually quit long before this.

Right now I'm taking New Testament Survey and Evangelism 101. They are both pretty interesting. We've only gotten through the gospels so far in the survey course. I really enjoy it because I honestly have no idea how the timeline of Jesus' ministry worked and where in the world he was in any given chapter. He moved around a lot!

The Evangelism class is really great, too. I guess I just like studying the bible indepth and earning a degree doing it. I really wonder how God will use me once I finish it (or in the mean time!).

8th Anniversary Weekend

Candi and I are celebrating eight years of marriage on September 4th. We were talking this week about special events during the year and how we spend $$$ on those events. We decided we are going to try only spending $$$ on each other on our anniversary (not birthdays and Christmas) but that we'll make it a huge thing every year. To me, my birthday is not a big deal. I always like celebrating Candi's birthday but she's o.k. not doing something outlandish for it. Christmas always ends up being expensive with the gifts for the family (I have a big family - growing bigger every year!) and our kids. So it will actually make things easier on us to do this. So this year we're going to spend the night at Westward Look Resort. Our friends, James and Diane (seen in pictures from the hiking trip) are taking care of our kids while we relax in the Stargazer suite. It has high walls around an outdoor, personal jacuzzi and a nice room - should be sweet!

Who is God?

I've been reading a book I got from my church on Father's day called "In a pit with a lion on a snowy day." Great title, huh?! Anyway, it's about dealing with opportunity in life and how we view God (at least, the first 1/3 of the book is). It's been convicting but also very challenging in a revealing way. He uses a guy named Benaiah and his experiences in the bible to show that what I think about God will greatly influence where I will go, or how much I will grow, spiritually. So I stopped to think about what I think about God. I realized that even though I don't come up with the big meanie head or God waiting to beat me when I screw up, I don't have a lot of good or positive things in mind either. I see Him helping, but not much. I see Him as wise, but not in a way that I can understand. I see Him as loving, but not intimate (the way I want to be as a father). I see Him as real, but vague, ambiguous, or confusing. So I'm challenged by all this to find out how His word describes Him. I'm hopeful.

Bathroom project

I've had an interesting week. I spent pretty much all of last week tile the tub surround upstairs. It is almost finished. I stopped at the wall with the fixtures on it due to time and lack of mortar. I got a little help from my friend Don Ross. Actually, it was a lot of help. He supplied pretty much all the tools and guidance. We actually traded a little work because I helped install a couple of doors that he made in return. I'll gladly give him some free advertising for the AZ area; check out http://www.steelartdesign.com/. Anwway, it's been some fun work. It will be nice to relax in the tub for the first time in a few months. The renovation started out just trying to fix some bad caulking and get rid of some mold! I guess I get carried away sometimes. This is what it looks like prior to grouting: http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=52105

More than meets the eye!

CANDI AND I WATCHED TRANSFORMERS TODAY! THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!!! I'm cheesin' just thinking about it. Michael Bay, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman - way to go! Unreal! Very funny - I've been told Shia LaBeouf has been signed for the sequal. Awesome. I'm really pumped to have my son in to them. His birthday present and Christmas present shouldn't be hard this year! Anyway, it was one of the best movies I've ever seen. I know lots of people are saying that but from a critics standpoint it didn't lack anything. I suppose you can't put in the category with Shawshanke Redemption or Dumb and Dumber, but compared to any action movie... just my opinion. It had it all: plot, acting, action, special effects, the list goes on and on. Enjoy!