Blogging stinks...

Sometimes blogging stinks-I spent a good fifteen-twenty minutes working on a post and then poof! Out to cyberspace-oh well.

Basketball

Tonight Britt and I went played basketball......I haven't really played in quite a few years and Britt not really since middle school. The people that 'host' and organize are George and Mariana-both retired and in their seventies. There were about 11 of us in all and the competition wasn't fierce but definitely a challenge. George and Mariana were definitely the oldest as most of everyone else was in their 20's or 30's. We've been trying to stay more acitve which after both having been at work all day, exercising is probably the last thing on our minds.

Tonight was pretty cool though seeing the two 70 year olds obviously no threat as players but moving and hustling during the whole game. George was still pretty solid in the upper body and Mariana wore a little blouse that was tied just above her pant line with a bow like a teenager. Old people are cool.

Mt. Baker

So last weekend we went to Mt. Baker and went snowshoeing up to Artist Point which is the furthest point you can drive up in the wilderness area. It's pretty cool how far you can travel up big hills in the snow. We ate food, slept, adn then went sledding the next morning. When we traveled home we went and gorged ourselves on Red Robin burgers, mmmm.....burgers.

Where to begin

After looking I realize it's been a long while since I've posted. We've been staying busy. I started chashiering at Freddy's about a month which is nice. We've been out of town a lot for the holidays and for just having fun. We had snow last week which was fun to have but I'm glad that it doesn't stick around long. Anyways today I've got the day off-have lots I need to go do.

Stilll living....

Hello to all who may stumble across this temporarily deceased blog. Britt and I disappeared into the world of summer camp....surpise! Back to Bellinham for the summer and then God provided a job for Britt in Bellingham as well. So we're back up here and happy to be so. The summer overall was good and we enjoyed ourselves, however things were a bit bumpy on the staff end of things. Just a lot of young and new people who are awesome but didn't always make awesome decisions. Britt was creating weekly camp videos and I was leading a volunteer work crew. We built stuff, burned stuff and studied the Word a couple times a week. Awesome people.

Britt has been teaching at a middle school....she likes the teaching part but not so much the age group. Some of the kids are cool while others are kind of monkeys. I'm looking for a job-any job-which isn't the easiest to find. I think that I also figured what I want to do with my life which is cool after four and half years of floating. I'm hoping to go back to graduate school in January to begin a school counselor program but I may have to wait until the fall. Regardless it's nice to know what I will Lord willing be moving towards soon. Anywhos-I hope y'all are well, until next time-Joel

spicy food and insomnia....

So Britt and I are hanging out with my mom over the weekend helping here do some work around the house. On Fri we had a great dinner at a thai restaurant called Baan Thai. Great food and a fun time time however we learned a few things-first-we don't want kids yet. Not that we don't want kids eventually but at the present time...no thanks. We've certainly come to this conclusion before but every now and then it's cemented a bit more. Hats off to those who are parents cause yowsa that can be a handful at times (those who are parental units-take no offense at reading this). Yeah just not time yet.

Also what I learned is that the food at this restaurant isn't messing around. I really enjoy spicy food and this place makes a point to ask you twice if you really want things as spicy as you order them. So I ordered 'hot' which is just below 'extra hot' which normally would have been okay. But because of previous normal events during the day there wasn't anything in my stomach for the wonderful spicy food to sit on. Soooo I won't be getting sick from any bacteria anytime soon as I think they were killed along with my stomach lining. Yeah I went to bed early on Sat. but I've been up for about the last 2 1/2 hrs. early Sun. morning...oh well. I wonder what I can eat tomorrow......

huh

Didn't know quite what to title it so there ya go. However I have heard back from JBU and we're not moving to Arkansas, nor are we moving to Kansas. I put an application in with a school there but no interview. This has been a good experience and I've been learning lots of practical "professional" things. So I'm still waiting on two schools that I interviewed with and a few more that I haven't interviewed with. We'll see what happens...yet this is certainly one of those times where I'm starting to think "okay God what's going on here? where are we going to end up?". All he tells me is "Be still" and "seek me first"...we'll certainly see what happens in His timing. Also an admissions counselor position popped up at MBC which good be cool-who knows?

In other news Survivor and The Amazing Race are awesome and yes Scott and Federov have outworn their welcome. Yes I know-that's a lot of t.v. watching but that's what happens when you live in a home with cable after you've been lacking for seven years. It's obviously not everything but it's been fun.

I hope that we still get to go to camp as a job in the fall could cut the camp thing short or certainly make it not happen at all. In God's timing...not mine. Anyways Britt and I are heading down to Roseburg this weekend to hang with my mom and help her do some stuff around the house. Underneath gross thirty year old carpet are beautiful finished hardwood floors. We may also do some painting too. Later

been a little bit

So-it's been a couple of weeks here..Britt and I went to Cannon Beach last week and enjoyed ourselves. First time watching Iron Chef-fun stuff. Then this last week we were in Bellingham to watch a crew race and then Britt got to row for a bit after the race. Today(Sun.) we went to the tulip festival in Mt. Vernon which is very pretty and something that someone should do at least once in their lives. Lastly I had a phone interview with John Brown University last week which I think went pretty well. It's for a RD position and entry in to a master's program. I'll know a little more by this week. Bye for now

An era has ended

So after four years or so I'm giving up my Portland, Or cell phone number. Kind of a bummer since part of me always wants to migrate back to Oregon. But after four years (I know it's just a phone number) something is changing. It doesn't change who I am but I certainly drug my feet a bit. Kind of weird since not a big deal and hey-change is good every now and then. Britt and I moved to a new provider and a family plan. That's all for now. Joel oh yeah my number will still be good until the end of the month and then no more.Give a call or I'll end up calling you eventually and I'll give my new number.

Who's been 'a busy little bee'

Yowsa-things have been crazy and I've also watched Gladiator recently which inspired the title. Good flick. But anyways-the last ten days have been super busy. Not with anything incredibly exciting but just life. One highlight was seeing Project 86 in concert at the 'Meow Meow' aka 'the Push, Spin Cycle,etc' (for those who are a bit old school). They were great though-good show and Baja Fresh before. Mmm. I didn't take Britt as I wouldn't want to torture her by taking her to a concert like that-I went with a guy from work who's also a fan. We had a good time.

In other news we've decided to go back once more to camp...Britt as the videographer and myself as Challenge Course/Work Crew leader dude. Should be good but I don't know if we'll be able to stay through the whole summer unfortunately. However the fortunate thing about leaving early is that hopefully I'll be leaving to go work at a school for student services. I'm pretty excited about the possibilities and also a little bit anxious. God has been working me over pretty good on this one-Ps. 46/Matt. 6 anyone? Yeah those ones always get me. My mom is doing well and is off of chemo for a bout a month or so which is nice. We're moving Britt's g-ma to a new care facility this weekend. Better situation for her and certainly way cheaper. Yikes caring for the elderly is spendy! I.E. $5200 a month....After that we're going to cruise up to Seattle for the day to hang out with one of Britt's best friends who's having a grad. party. Until next time the busy little bee will keep buzzing. jt

Home Alone

No this post has nothing to do with Macauly Caulkin but it has everything to do with me coming home to an empty house. After being married for 8 1/2 months and coming home everyday to someone. This is kind of lame...no offense to any single readers...but man I didn't realize how much I had gotten used to it and how nice it is. So I've eaten 'well'(an Totino's pizza)....mmm sodium...and I rented a few movies. The line at Hollywood was about fifteen deep. Apparently the only major video chain store between Vancouver and Centralia is in Longview. It moved fairly quickly though-I rented 'The Recruit' which I've always thought looked kind of fun but had never seen. Fun but not fantastic. The second showing of the night is 'Hero'. Haven't watched it yet but I don't think you can go wrong with Jet Li...maybe with some of the plot lines from his movies but not his martial arts. Like the famous American Idol host...Thomas out.

I'm a rebel

Yes it's just after 1:20 in the morning and I should be in bed but I thought I'd try and sneak in a few quick thoughts. Collective Soul in concert: interesting but very good. A sick wife: no good and no fun. I sympathize with the Brewsters and their plight last year. Jed thanks for going on short notice and thanks for good conversation throughout the evening. Especially the stuff at the end when we realized that "sarx sucks". Night

oh life

So I don't think I realized the reality of the phrase 'real life trumps blogging' and how much of a discipline it is keep moving on the blog scene. Kind of like journaling-Hutch I think it can be a discipline....didn't you pose that question before? Anyway it's been well over a week since I've posted anything and I need to leave the house here in a bout a half an hour. So the last week included....camping, raccoons, my mom....trips in a plane to Crater Lake and Maui, more work, lots of eating out, today a sick wife...last night Sizzler...and I 'll have to elaborate more later.

Just a quick one

Been a little bit since I've posted-I got a draft sitting in the vaults about Jed and Melissa visiting this last weekend-soon to come. Things have been pretty busy for us-we've been house-sitting for a couple who lives way out in the country. Great house and property but definitely adds a long drive. Also their dog who is very sweet and pretty well disciplined....is very spoiled. Sometimes she gets a scrambled egg for b-fast and won't eat her food if you put it in front of her face. Once you put it in your hand however-then she'll eat it. Yeah. Not exactly number one on my 'cool dog list'.

The coolest thing though about their place is that they have a llama farm. They only have five males left as the market is not as good as it used to be. Interesting fact-males are worth about $300 while the females are (ru ready?) about $3000. Huh. Lastly Britt and I taking off this weekend to go camping on the Oregon coast-just a quick trip which was put in to motion because Britt has three days off from school-nice. Hutch-if you read this anytime soon-lets hang out.

The agony and the ecstacy

I must confess that after not living in a house with cable for about 7 years, I'm making the most of my current situation. One of the shows that I really enjoy watching is the Amazing Race. (Check here) Season 6 ended last night and it was agony. All season the team of Kris and Jon just quietly went along their business, enjoying the experiences and the people as they went along. Definitely your 'nice guys'. Now granted the show is produced and as a viewer I probably just saw all of the 'nice' moments but regardless they were cool. The final leg of this race always gets me pretty worked up and nervous. I was pulling hard last night for Kris and Jon who in a close final leg were beaten by Freddy and Kendra. Not my favorite team....but they were okay. I was bummed though-I don't get that worked up in life-but last night was one of those nights. Life sucked and my world was ending...after I finished throwing a 'fit' Britt commented-" I've never seen you get this worked up". So as I'm sulking on the bed to watch the previews for next season, I find out...."what! It's on from three weeks from now! I can't believe it! Survivor and The Amazing Race on at the same time.!" Oh the ecstacy!-kind of pitiful though too...

Happenings

So Britt and I got to spend three days at the beach over the weekend-very nice. My family has a cabin in Cannon Beach which for the most part is pretty easily accessed. Just a phone call to gramps and away we go. Britt made a comment about how some people have to plan a year in advance to do something as such and yet my whole life I've had easy access to it. I'll get to my point....

When we lived in Bellingham we lived on a lake at a summer camp for about six months about 30 minutes from town. We probably saw 'Erin' (named by Britt) the heron more than we saw the four other people that lived right by us. Pretty good deal...but I didn't realize how good of a deal it was. We had a friend of ours out for dinner who isn't a believer and she was literally brought to tears by just being out there and seeing the beauty of where we were living. To us, it had just become a drive down a mile long dirt road to our tiny studio. How easy it is to take things for granted.....life becomes too routine. Right now I push a broom at a machine shop-not exactly my life's aspirations but it's a job. The unemployment rate in Longview has gone up 20% in the last year but yet I have a job. Not glamorous but it's money. My point is this: It's really easy to lose sight of my blessings when I'm not seeing correctly. Do I just 'look' at life or do I 'see' it for what it really is.

Thanks Lord for blessing me, even when I don't always see it.

Look for Pedro

Coming home from work yesterday I saw a sight that made me chuckle. I was coming up to a stoplight to make a left and a car in the opposite lane passes me. Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite was driving the car. However he was about 20 years older and had a double chin....it made my day.

One more time..

So sometimes I think that computers are cool and other times I don't quite understand them. I consider myself somewhat proficient in using a computer-not quite to the extent of some of my other computer building cronies (i.e. ex roomies) but anyways... I managed to create two blogs somehow and one of them is now dead. Not bad for one night. Happy to be jumping on the bandwagon though.