proving grounds

Thankfulness

2007-05-28T16:09:00.000-05:00

Well, last year at this exact time there is a 99.999% chance I was at work. I worked a call center that by contractual obligations has the phones open 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. Also the newer employees worked the holidays because of seniority. This job does provide all of the federal holidays but the phones are open on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and even Memorial Day. There were many Sundays and Holidays when I was working that I missed my wife, my in laws, and our friends. This last job was GREAT while I was going to college because it was by the college and there was schedule flexibility. I am thankful on many Sundays and all of the Holidays that I am not working and that I am able to spend time relaxing with my wife and friends. Anyway, I am thankful that God helped my wife and me through the journey of college and working full time.

Lunchtime

2007-05-26T16:23:00.000-05:00

Last week my wife and I went to a tea house for lunch. We had spent the day garage sale-ing and stopped by the tea house so my wife could get some vanilla tea. I was pleasantly surprised and had some nice hot tea and a roast beef sandwich. It was served with mesquite BBQ potato chips, some red grapes, a few cheese cubes, a cucumber slice, and a few grape tomatoes on some lettuce. There was also a rasberry scone with lemon curd before the entree arrived. It was a relaxing and pleasant lunch with my wife.

Seven Things About Me Meme

2007-05-19T20:19:00.000-05:00

Here are the rules: Each player starts with seven random facts or habits above themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose seven people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged and to read your blog.

My seven things:

1) Sometimes I enjoy washing dishes by hand.

2) I tend to buy cookbooks for one or two recipes. I enjoy the internet for finding recipes now.

3) The first time I make a recipe I prefer to make the recipe exactly as listed.

4) I think a “good” CD should be listened to in its entirety so it can be appreciated as a
complete work.

5)Blues music speaks to my soul but I do not know why it does.

6)I have a habit of wearing my shoes until it is time for bed. My wife does not like this habit.

7)I feel uneasy if I have to drive a different route to work.

Bonus item: I have a bad habit of reading blogs and not commenting.

I thought “meme” was pronounced me-me not meem. I do not know 7 bloggers to tag. The rules do not address this situation.

Digging in the Dirt

2007-04-23T18:16:00.000-05:00

I was going to post 1 month from last post as a farce that I took a month off because my blog is taking over my life but I missed the deadline. Anyway, I went to the driving range by my place of employment this afternoon and did as the title suggests. I found dirt in ear more did fly into my face while I was trying to hit the little white ball. I am thoroughly convinced the ball is moving on me. I am also experiencing the new sensation at work. This is waiting for up to 3 days for someone to complete a task which is beyond my control. During these times I have NOTHING to do. I did read Visual Basic for Excel 2007 for Dummies. (I can hear my wife giggling) I learned enough about VBA to hack together a macro to help with our budget spreadsheet. I cannot guarantee when the next post will be.

Chicken Spaghetti

2007-03-12T16:26:00.000-05:00

One of our friends made us Chicken Spaghetti and it was delicious. It contained chicken, Velveeta®, condensed cream of X soup, chicken broth, and bow tie pasta. I got the recipe from her and made some for one of our other friends. The only change was substituting chicken broth with milk. Both dishes were delicious. I also was reminded that my wife does not like elbow macaroni and thus, she does not like macaroni and cheese. We both think she will like macaroni and cheese with a bow tie noodle.

I have started exercising at the gym where I work and the best part is they pay me to work out up to 3 hours per week. This is a very power full incentive to work out. I feel better when I work out. Also I read a story about a cow that eats chickens: Cow Eats Chickens

Finding Compulsion

2007-02-07T20:08:00.000-06:00

We received our newest edition of "Simple & Delicious" and this fine cooking publication has a contest where the reader is asked to find "Sandy's Magic Wand." Whenever I get this magazine in the mail I open it ASAP and look for the wand. I usually find the wand but have never won the contest. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 tries to find the wand. I do not even look at the recipes until the next day. This may be a finding compulsion. I found the wand but I will not list the page number because I do not want to spoil the hunt for the rest of the magazine readers.

Forgiveness

2007-02-05T19:31:00.000-06:00

A group of men at my church are reading “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” by Philip Yancey and in chapter 8 he relates a story from “The Sunflower” by Simon Wiesenthal. In this book Wiesenthal hears a death bed confession from a German soldier and asks the young man for forgiveness. When the author tries to leave the German soldier grabs his arm. Wiesenthal walked out of the room without replying to the soldier’s plea. He then relates this event to other people around the world and asks if he should have forgiven the soldier. Yancey is quick to point out that holocaust is an extreme example of forgiveness. The chapter is titled Getting Even.

I am not Jewish and I do not think one person can forgive all of the actions of the Germans but we Christians should forgive people to emulate Jesus’ life. We should forgive out of love for God and other Christians. I am not perfect and may still hold offenses and unforgiveness. It is easier for me to forgive others than to forgive myself. I have been working on remembering that God’s forgiveness is more powerful than my guilt. Yancey writes that forgiveness is an “unnatural act” and I agree. It is easier, in our human flesh, to hold on to offenses than to forgive. So if you get cut off in traffic forgive the other driver.

Working Out

2007-01-22T17:41:00.000-06:00

Well my new employer pays me to exercise for 3 hours a week. I got my doctor to sign the form and hopefully Wednesday I will go for my first work out. I start troubleshooting my first printed circuit boards tomorrow. It is a daunting task but with God's help I am up to the challenge.

Chilly (Not The Green Kind)

2007-01-11T17:20:00.000-06:00

Well we are expecting 1 to 2 inches of ice this week end. My wife and I are planning on stating home and making baked potato soup and/or chili. I hope it is warm this week end whereever you are.

Consistency

2007-01-08T21:02:00.000-06:00

This is the most important thing for me when establishing a new habit, good or bad, or a new routine. A wise person told me to quit second guessing the subject matter I write about. This person is correct. This post helps to establish Consistency in my writing. Also, remember whatever you post is important. As a football fan I did like the Fiesta Bowl. It was wild ride. As an OU fan I was kind of sad OU did not win.

You Pick The Title

2007-01-05T09:28:00.000-06:00

Well last night was my first night on a permanent basis with my wife. We went to see We Are Marshall. It was a very excellent movie. I almost started crying a couple of different times. Afterwards we played Scrabble™ and I played my first 7 letter word. My wife claims I had played 7 letter words before but I do not remember. I was very excited (<- look another 7 letter word). I also made mashed potato pancakes last night for the first time. The pancakes were good. I have SportsCenter on and Bill Cower looked really young in 1992.

Getting Reacquainted

2007-01-03T10:33:00.000-06:00

Well today is my last night on the third shift, my last night working from 3 PM to 11 PM, and my last night away from my wife whom I love. As with all jobs there are things I enjoyed and things I did not enjoy. The people on my shift are wonderful and hard working people. I am privileged to have known them all. They have expanded my view of the world and politics. I was on leave last night and my wife and I played Scrabble™. It was close and I held the lead briefly. My wife won by less than 15 but we had fun. We are going to see a movie tomorrow night and I am looking forward to that. I start my new job on Monday and Saturday my friend and I are going to replace the wax ring on our toilet and my father in law’s toilet.

Creativity

2006-12-27T10:53:00.000-06:00

Creativity is one of my wife's greatest and best qualities. She has created more art out of different media than I have phalanges. She has used paint and canvas, stained glass, baskets and tissue paper, beads, wrapped wire, fabric, paper and stamps, broken ceramic tile and grout, cookies and icing, ceramics and paint, photo editing software and a printer, scrapbooks, bells and wires, some white glue stuff from Norway, picture frames and embellishments, charcoals and paper, markers and paper, wire mesh, tin and soldier, diamond light lens and glue, clay, and small glass stones. However, as we all know, all of this media is lifeless without the artist's imagination and creativity which is my wife's greatest artistic ability. Her creations are thoughtful and created with a piece of her in each one. When she creates a gift for someone she tailors the gift to the individual. God has given my wife great artistic ability, even if she does not see it that way, and I love this quality about my wife. Thank you for the numerous gifts you have made me. Well I was making the salad and remembered my wife's newest medium. My wife is talented and creative writer. She writes on paper and her blog, see links for kpjara.

Graduation Day

2006-12-20T13:39:00.000-06:00

Well my dear readers I got a C in Thermodynamics and thus by Paul's first law of Thermodynamics I have graduated from OU with a BS in Computer Engineering. I would like to thank God, my wife, my family and friends who have helped through the last 5 years.

Transition Time

2006-12-19T11:44:00.000-06:00

Well, as the semester has ended I am in that familiar transition period. During this time I always feel like I need to be studying something or completing an assignment but I do not. I am looking forward to eating lunch with my wife and not getting up early. This is where I am at so my question is "Where you at?"

No More Excuses

2006-12-18T10:05:00.000-06:00

Well the semester has ended and now the waiting game begins. I would like to thank my wife, my mother in law, and my mother in law's cousin for a wonderful graduation party. My wife has played and invaluable role in my education and I could not have done it without her support. I have accepted a position in my current city and I am scheduled to begin after the first of the year. I just wanted to update the uncountable amount of people on the internet that may or may not be reading this blog. I have no more scholastic excuses for not posting.

Wow, he is on a roll!

2006-09-30T15:36:00.000-05:00

Well this is 2 consecutive days that I post on the old blog. Anyway today was a school free day. I did trim the hedge and my very helpful nephew mowed the front and back lawn. After weed eating we had lunch. Anyway it is a relaxing day and I look forward to more days like this post graduation. I am off to make CDs.

Update For My Readers.

2006-09-29T15:32:00.000-05:00

Well, you may thought I disappeared from the face of the earth unless you know otherwise. {you know who you are :) } Two weeks ago I went to the career fair and spoke to 16 companies. I was nervous but after the 3rd encounter it got easier. I interviewed with National Instruments, based in Austin TX. It was my first interview for an Engineering job. I was blindsided by two computer programming questions. I assure you that I will be better prepared in the future. My team and I delivered our Preliminary Design Review to our customer. The PDR went well and we will adjust our design based on our customer’s response. I was very nervous for both the interview and the PDR. The PDR was video taped and we will watch the video on Tuesday.

Talking in Circles

2006-09-06T13:29:00.000-05:00

On the way to the Engineering Library I was thinking about a blogger’s responsibility to his or her blog. What responsibility do I have to my blog or is my responsibility to my reader(s). Do I need to post something everyday or every week or some other interval? Anyway I realized it should be enjoyable for me to write and post and certainly should not seem like a chore. Inevitably my thought process came back to reason the blog was started, was it started my personal release through writing or to comment on social issues or to post family photos? Anyway I talked myself around a circle.

P.S. School is going well. Thermodynamics is way too early in the morning and the instructor in the Senior Lab always runs long and yet no one leaves this class. I hope all of my reader(s) are will. Thank you taking the time to read this post.

Stop Dissesting

2006-08-28T09:42:00.000-05:00

As I sit here thinking of what to type I thought of the title “Stormy Monday” and the first sentence was, “I do not know if it will rain today.” This does not seem profound enough to start an entry next thing I know I am dissecting every word that I think of to type. Obviously, we all know it is Monday and I made it to Thermodynamics today. We are still defining things. Today is the day to sign up for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam which is the first step in becoming a Professional Engineer. I have been asking people if I can use them as references. The good news there has not been any homework assigned.

I hope all of you have a GREAT DAY!

School is in Session

2006-08-20T22:41:00.000-05:00

Well school starts tomorrow. I am getting tired already and I am missing lunch with my wife already. Here is the schedule: (in alphabetical order)

Digital Signal Processing
Robotics
Senior Project Lab
Thermodynamics

Anyway for the next 16 weeks this journey will be what is posted. I promise not to post to many formulas or theorems. One more thing
GO SOONERS!

Comparison

2006-08-07T22:55:00.000-05:00

I have thought about shutting_{this blog down}^{because I do}not write witty or insightful post (for now anyway). _So^I_asked^myselfwhy I started this blog. Truthfully I know nothing about HTML and I want to know some HTML so I can help my wife with posts on her blog.

Annoying Failure

2006-07-30T22:33:00.000-05:00

Okay, so apparently Blogger does not support the blink tag? but Marquee is cool and it would be very annoying to have a long post on Marquee. I am still bummed out about blink ~~working~~ not working.

Annoying?

2006-07-30T22:27:00.000-05:00

My boss and I both do not like reading white text on a black background on a computer screen. It is very annoying but I was wondering if a blinking post would be annoying. I do not even know how fast it blinks. Anyway let's find out shall we? OF (<-That's for you boss man)

To do list

2006-07-28T12:34:00.000-05:00

I finished my to do list (so far)

Mow Grass
Trim Hedge
Change Light Switch
Laundry

Number 1 or 0?

2006-07-26T13:28:00.000-05:00

This is number 1 or 0 post depending on your school of thought. I am not sure if you will find interesting reading here or just words.