Stuff

I've recently moved and I wanted to share two cool things about where I now live:

1. On a clear night, I can see the stars. Something I couldn't see from the apartment.
2. At noon each day, you can hear the church bells from a local church playing a tune (not just ringing the hour, but actually ringing an entire tune).

I'm rather excited for the weekend. You see, some friends and I are going down to IKEA. It's very exciting because my friends have never been to IKEA. They seen my catalogs, but not the store. Yet. There is also a football game on this weekend. I'm excited because I've invited a few people over for some food and fellowship. And there also happens to be a football game being played.

Have you ever planned a party for an event (like the Super Bowl) and found out that other people were also planning similar parties? And that people you had invited to your party were also invited to these other parties? I have. And I have struggled with the feelings I may have if people choose not to go to my party. I know my event isn't the only one in town, but my ego likes it when I invite people and they show up. It's not so happy when they don't show up because they chose someone else over me. I get jealous. Questions along the lines of "What do they have that I haven't got?" or "Why do they like that person more then they like me?" fester in my brain.

But I'm trying not to do that this year. The friends I have invited to this party were invited, not because of their party skills, but because they are my friends. If this was high school, and if you abandoned me, I wouldn't talk to you FOREVER! But I've matured, and if people don't make it to my party, that is a decision that I will not hold against them. I will be a little sad if they don't come (they are my friends, after all), but I will not let it ruin my party.

So the party will go on. And if you're in the area, and you're interested (and you don't have another party to attend), drop me a line. We'll hook you up.

Trailers

Sci-fi fans click here.

Lindsey Lohan fans, click here.

If you'd like to see Outkast in a really long music video, click here.

And if you don't have quicktime, this one's for you.

Frustration.

Okay, so I like to go on interviews. I like to interview for jobs. It's fun. And it's great practice for the one interview that I'll have that will actually result in a job offer. But I'm already veering off-track....

As I am prone to do, I had a job interview with a fairly reputable engineering firm for an open HR position they had. I did not get the job. However, as I do with most of my interviewers, I asked them if they could give me any pointers on my interviewing skills and what hard skills they thought I would need to better my chances of employment. Without fail, everyone has always responded with some comments. Until now. Here is the response that I got from this firm:

Thank you for the inquiry. For legal reasons, we, as HR professionals should never answer this type of inquiry. Therefore, I cannot give you the constructive criticism that you desire. I hope you understand. Best wishes in your search for a position.

Well, I don't understand. I suspect that you don't want me to sue you because you didn't like the color of my tie, or you wanted to hire another women to work in the all-female department. But I'm not the litigious sort. I just want to know where my interviewing skills can use some improvement and what areas are already strong. I just want your help.

I really wanted to write back something like "All I want you to do is to help me be a better interviewee! I'm not going to sue you. I just want to know what I can do better." But I didn't and I won't. Because that's not going to do me any good, especially if I find myself interviewing with them in the future. So I'm moving on. But I wanted to share before I did.

Interesting tidbit

From yesterday's Central Pennsylvania Business Journal:

HIA deal with low-cost carrier sours
If things went according to plan, Harrisburg International Airport would have had a low-cost airline in May 2006. But things did not go according to plan. Airport officials have been in talks for more than four years with Orlando-based AirTran Airways. The airline committed to offering three to four daily flights out of HIA starting in May. But more than a week ago, AirTran pulled out of the deal, citing financial concerns. Members of The Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority board were frustrated and disappointed at a meeting this morning. "We had moved forward and had contacted a few people and all of a sudden, they made a business decision," said David MacIntosh, board member. "Although we were very much disappointed, I think we understand what’s going on in the airline industry today. It’s all about profit." Traffic out of HIA was down 5.9 percent in 2005 compared with 2004. The airport also has struggled to lease its former terminal building, still sitting empty on HIA property. The SARAA board has decided to sign an options agreement with Harrisburg Regional Chamber & Capital Region Economic Development Corp. to help find a tenant. - Julia Taylor

A simple song

The words of a simple children's song came to mind yesterday evening. I thought I would share.

Trust and obey,
for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus
then to trust and obey.

Reel him in. He's hooked.

Last Friday, I had Chai Tea for the first time. It was marvelous. I know that some people have been drinking it for years, and some cultures have been drinking it for centuries. But I'm kinda new to the scene. So since I've stumbled onto this Chai stuff, I've had it three times, in three different places. Since Friday.

Friday morning, I had the Chai at Eat'n Park. Saturday night, they did not have Chai Tea at the Harbour Coffeehouse, so I had a Chai Latte. And last night, I tried the Chai at Borders. So far, and it doesn't sound right, but the best Chai that I had was at Eat'n Park. Not so much impressed with the other stuff.

But I'm still on the lookout for some good Chai. So if you know a place, let me know and I'll check it out.

Trailer

This is probably the best trailer I've seen in a while. Possibly even better than the Pirates teaser.

One for the thumb

Okay. It's early, but I'm going to use my allotment of one Super Bowl posts per year today. If you live in the state of Pennsylvania, and you are not a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, this is going to be a long two weeks. Because the state will be breathing and bleeding yellow and black for the next 13 days. And everyone will be invited to get on "The Bus" (in DC, we called it the bandwagon).

Now let me also state that there is nothing innately wrong with this. Going to the Super Bowl is a big deal. But if you grew up outside of the state or have different allegiances, you probably don't care about the success of the Steelers. In Pennsylvania, the only team that I actually dislike is the Philadelphia Eagles. I'm indifferent to the Steelers and in college ball, I'm indifferent to Penn State.

That being said, I'm rooting for the Seahawks. They have never been to the Super Bowl. Ever. Next season, will be their 30th season. The Steelers should be celebrating their 77th season later this year. They have been to five Super Bowls, winning four of them. The Steelers have lots of history. The Seahawks have very little history. People recognize who Terry Bradshaw and Franco Harris are. I would reckon that lots of folks don't know who Steve Largent or Dave Kreig are.

So the Seahawks will win. But it won't matter much, because next season, people will forget after my Redskins run the table and finish the season 19-0.

Hey, it could happen.

Can I just tell you..

If you know me, there's probably lots you know. And one of the things you may know, is that I love to travel. Love, love, love to travel. I have a map of the United States on the wall in my office, and every time I visit a city, I put a push-pin in there. If I could make money and travel, that would be alot of fun for me. In today's edition of USA Today, they did a piece about travel jobs. I thought that if you like to travel as much as I do, you might be interested in this piece.

Hello God!

It doesn't do it justice, but I awoke to this sunrise this morning.

Hey single people!

Are you ready to be married?

That's the question that I was chewing on last night. From a "physical time and space" perspective, I'm ready. But I don't know if my insides are ready. Allow me to explain. I have reached the wonderful age of 30 and I feel like I'm ready. But I don't know that my heart and my mind is ready. I've thought about problems I've had in my past, and whether they'll crop up or be magnified. I've had problems with jealousy. If I get married, and I see my wife talking to another man, will those jealous feelings rise in me?

This sounds kinda goofy, but I would really like to be the perfect specimen of a husband. Is that possible? From what I know, no. But that doesn't seem to stop me. Part of me wants to think there is some area of my life that is really blocking the path to marriage. Ever had that thought? It's that "if only" feeling. If only I was more outgoing. If only I had more hair. If only I spoke her language. Of course these thoughts are all silly. I find my indentity in Christ. But how about this one: If only I was more in-tune to God and His word. Or this one: If only I was more obedient. Or this one: If only I could show more love.

So that's been swimming around in my head the last day or so.

In other relationship news, Hilary Swank mentioned that she and Chad Lowe are working on getting back together. This encourages me because I've always looked at them as a "model" Hollywood couple (whatever that means).

We got a new printer

Exciting day here at the office. We got a new HP printer. For the past 2+ years, we have been using a printer that has doubled as our fax machine. But now we are all excited because our print jobs won't be delayed because we're receiving a fax.

And we are happy.

Oh the humanity!

As I've been praying and thinking about the possibility of taking this phat promotion and moving down to Maryland, I've been yearning for something. My human-ness has noticed that with the exception of my parents, no one (that I can recall) has indicated that they would miss me. And while I'm sad that I haven't heard that, I'm also glad. Because, well, that means people think enough of me that they aren't going to try and influence my decision. And they know that I'm better then that. Either that, or they just don't care whether I stay or go. While I don't think anyone would start a petition, I do think people care and some folks have expressed that. But nevertheless, my humanity cries out "Hey, wouldn't anybody miss me???"

In other news, I saw something really scary on television today. I saw Hulk Hogan, frying some bacon. With his shirt off.

The Word

So I was listening to a sermon on the old internet this afternoon. It was by Pastor Todd Philips, who is the teaching pastor down at Frontline. He gave this really good message about being engaged in the context of you and the church. It was a really good message that could probably be applied to anybody, anywhere. Here's a verse for you to chew on that was used in his message, from Luke 6:45:

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

That verse really resonated with me. I bolded that last part myself. When I say negative stuff about others, it's because my heart's not right. Because if my heart was right, I wouldn't have the need to say anything. And when I get frustrated, sometimes it is difficult for me to hold my tongue. And I think that is a result of getting caught in the moment, as opposed to the big picture.

Come on over

My two favorite football teams are the Redskins and the Colts (the Redskins being the most favoritist of the two).

My Redskin roots are easy to trace. I grew up in a suburb of DC and and I'm a Redskin by birth. While Baltimore had the Colts for a long while, we were much closer geographically to DC. So that's not going to change.

The Colts are more interesting. I didn't start to follow the Colts until Tony Dungy came to town. I have a crapload of respect for Dungy. He's old-fashioned, but only in the sense that he has values. I think kinda like Joe Gibbs, but quieter. Anyway, to get an idea of the kind of guy Dungy is, check out this article from this morning's Post-Gazette. I'm also a fan of that good ol' boy, Peyton Manning.

And then after you're heart has been warmed, read this article. Then go back and read the Dungy article again to cleanse your pallet.

Hey dude.

I was reading this article this morning in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In it, one Joey Porter says some silly things about the Colts. He makes some accurate statements, but I think he believes that intellectually smart football players, don't measure up to those who like to play the "smashmouth football" (so don't delay, act now. Supplies are running out..). Obviously, I disagree. I think the game is changing. Teams are starting to play smarter football (look how common it is to see QB's regularly calling audibles, or defenses shifting) And I think that Indy knows it's passing game is far superior to it's running game. Why should they run Edgerin James 30 times a game when they can pass the ball like nobody's business?

I do think the Colts will win this game. And I'm also picking the Broncos over the Pats and the Panthers over the Bears.

And I'm picking the Redskins over the Seahawks (Fun interesting Seattle fact: The Seattle Times is not using the word "redskins" in any of it's headlines because it's offensive to indians).

Amazing Dental Technology

Okay, the past two Wednesdays, I've spent my early evenings in the dentist chair at Verber Family Dentistry. I had a bunch of cavities. Crazy huh? That's what I thought. I had changed my dental brushing habits after the last check-up, so I wondered if that had anything to do with it (what I used to do was use a manual brush in the morning and a sonic toothbrush at night, then I switched to sonic all the time). He said no. He said that there is finally technology available that can see stuff that's not on the surface. To the left, is the Laser Cavity Detector. To read what this bad boy does, check out this article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In a nutshell, it's like cavity sonar. It's kinda cool. The technology that is. Not having to sit in the chair and get the cavities filled. So this bad boy found four pre-cavities and nipped them in bud. And it found decay under an old filling that probably would have led to something painful and expensive later on.

But on the brighter side, the dentist said that I shouldn't have any further issues with cavities. And that's good news for me.

On one hand....

Every once in a while, we're presented with unique situations. Friday morning, I was presented with one such situation. Actually, I was presented an opportunity, which birthed a situation.

I have been offered a promotion with my company. It's not so much a promotion as it is a big huge leap up the corporate ladder. I have been asked to consider a management position. Now when I was a young whipper-snapper just out of college, I thought that I wanted to be a manager. But as I gained experience, I realized that I didn't want to be a manager. I had no interest in being an overseer. I just wanted to do work. And I didn't want to be responsible for other people's work. Who wants that? However, there are a couple of things I need to keep in mind. First thing is that this position would give me a lot of good experience. I would learn new stuff that could help me in my future career(s). And second, it would increase my salary roughly 60%.

BUT, this position would require me moving to another office, roughly 200 miles south of my current location. A location where I have no contacts. No friends, no family, no church, no roots. That prospect is rather daunting. I've never moved for a job before. Even when I moved after I graduated from college, I had a local support structure in place. If you know me, you know I am a rather quiet person and I'm not a social butterfly. So I don't know that I would be actively trying to make new friends and acquaintances.

That's what my human nature is thinking. But maybe God wants me to go. Maybe He's got something planned for me down there that I'm not aware of yet. This is where a degree in "Knowing God's Will" comes in handy. Unfortunately, I don't have my degree yet. But I am familiar with the course load. So I'm gonna pray. And I'm going to recruit a bunch of people to pray with me. If I haven't asked you yet, consider this your invitation. I informed my superiors that I would have an answer to them by early next week. And so I shall.

In case you're interested..

The Messiah College Spring movie schedule

Contemporary Film Series - Spring 2006

01/06-01/07 Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride

01/13-01/14 In Her Shoes

01/20-01/21 North Country

02/03-02/04 Everything Is Illuminated

02/10-02/11 Wallace and Gromit

02/17-02/18 Pride and Prejudice

02/24-02/25 Chronicles of Narnia

03/03-03/04 Walk the Line

03/24-03/25 Good Night and Good Luck

03/31-04/01 Paradise Now

04/07-04/08 Syriana

04/21-04/22 King Kong (showtimes at 6:00pm and 9:30pm)

04/28-04/29 Capote

**All films are shown at 7PM and 9:30PM, except where noted, and cost $1

Internet Find

As I have been filling out applications and applying for jobs, I have been coming across the following field: "WPM ____" WPM is of course the abreviation for Words per Minute. I used to know back in high school (when I took typing I) how many words I could type, but over the years I've forgotten. Maybe you know how many words you can type per minute, but maybe you're like me, and you've forgotten. If the latter is the case, check out this nifty little app that tells you how many words per minute you type.

I'm thinking of a word..

Last Friday, I started listening to a sermon series by Lon Solomon. For those of you who don't know (which I expect is all but one of you), Lon is the senior pastor at McLean Bible Church. It just so happened that he was speaking at Frontline. Anywho, I was listening to his series on Esther. I'll be honest, Esther is not a character that I'm real familiar with. In fact, if I was honest, I probably knew very little about her (like knowing that Mordecai was her uncle). But I've really found the series to be enlightening and it's actually motivated me to start reading through the book of Esther. I'm up to the part where Esther has asked Mordecai and the other Jews in his area to fast and pray for three days. I'm not sure whether this is actually the case or not, but I think Esther's story is just one big story of provision. Certainly, her placement as Queen lends credence to that notion, but from what I think I know, there's a whole lot of other providing going on too.

I'll share more as it comes.

Just in case

Only 298 more days until my birthday. If you're still looking for ideas, I would really like this. You could come along too if you'd like.

Need a laugh?

Every week, Clinton Portis does these hilarious interviews. Each week, he dresses up as a different character. This week he's playing the role of Coach Jankey Spankey. Go here and click the link in the Redskins.com TV box.

January's Focus Scripture

So one of my goals for the new year was to memorize scripture. I thought I would take the opportunity once a month, to share one of the verses that I am trying to memorize and maybe explain a bit about it. So first up for January, is Romans 8.5:

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires

One of the things I'm trying to work on this year is the practice of not sinning in my thoughts. As a fellow sinner, I'm sure you can imagine how difficult that task can be. Take something like driving. I've gotten pretty good about not verbalizing my feelings towards other drivers. However, I'm still thinking it. And that, is the kind of stuff I'm trying to get away from. So I'm using this verse as a reminder that the more upright I'm living my life, the more my mind will be Godly things, and the less likely my mind will be on sinful things.

Sin is inevitable, but I'm not going down without a fight.

It's that time of year again.

For what? Why the Farm Show, of course. The Pennsylvania Agricultural Farm Show is an annual event that brings all sorts of people to the Farm Show building. It's a celebration of all things Pennsylvania. Whether it be cattle, swine, horses, shoofly pie, apples, Turkey Hill ice cream or cross-stitching. It's all represented. Lots of folks come to check out the animals and all the farm equipment. But then there's other folks. Like me. We go for the food. And for the free stuff. The food court at the show is a gastronomical delight. The Pennsylvania Potato Growers represent with baked potatoes and potato donuts. The dairy council kicks in with their ever-popular milkshakes, while the apple growers cooperative sells cider and apple dumplings. It's all pretty great stuff. And there's the free stuff. All sorts of Pennsylvania businesses are there giving away free stuff. Food samples, rulers, stickers and other assorted items are available.

So Saturday morning, some friends and I will be at the farm show. Snacking our way through various exhibits and picking up the freebies. It's gonna be fun.

Movie Review - Walk the Line

Friday night I went to go see Walk the Line. For those not in the know, it's the story of Johnny Cash, albeit rather abbreviated. The movie stars Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. If you don't like Johnny Cash or country music, I don't know how much you'll like this movie. But if you do, I think you'll love it. And I thought it was pretty good.

The movie starts out when Cash was a youngster, playing with his older brother and keeping out of the way of his alchoholic father. After a rather prominent event in his childhood, the movie skips ahead to his first marriage. The meat of the movie starts here and runs through his eventual marriage to June Carter. I thought Phoenix did a great job as Cash. Oscar-worthy? I don't think so. But he did a really great job with the acting as well as the singing (both he and Reese sang all their own stuff). Reece also did a nice job playing Carter. I just think she is designed to play the role of a southerner (i.e. Sweet Home Alabama).

It was great to see the recreation of Cash sharing the stage with a young Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. It made me wish that I could have seen some of those shows. I can't imagine what a show like that would have been like. I'm giving Walk the Line a "9."

Breaking News

So some friends and I were over at Chocolate World about a month ago. We rode the factory tour ride (like any good person does), and we noticed a few things. Like the fact that the factory model in the first turn had been covered up. And that the dairy farm model (that was in the barn) had been boarded up. Well apparently, there's some big changes in the works. I don't have a link for you, but this is what I know. The ride closed tonight and will be closed for the next three months. They are purportedly sinking $5 mil into the ride to give it a facelift. They're not sharing many details, but they have indicated that they are redoing the ride finale (where you hear the chocolate song and see pictures from previous advertising campaigns).

More information as it becomes available.