Oh My Goff

Made this yesterday after my Aunt suggested I do it. The idea is to create something that reflects your deepest dreams and goals, and who you are. Besides being fun to put together, it will be a great reminder and inspiration when I see it hanging on my wall. (Click picture for enlarged view)

What better time than Christmas/New Year’s to visit family and friends?  Saving up vacation and sick time in order to accomplish this requires a lot of patience, however. Being 1300 miles away from the people I love is no walk in the park, and certainly enough motivation to do what I need to do to make regular visits happen.
What with an action-packed and defining 2010 coming to an end, I’m left wondering what 2011 will bring. Among other things, 2010 was home to many new excitements and disappointments. But that’s life, isn’t it? All I can do is continue to choose happiness, live without regret (both avoiding potential regrettable results, and forgiving myself when they happen), and strive to treat others as I want to be treated. So cliche, but it’s the truth.
For whatever reason, I have the feeling that 2011′s theme will be another period of soul-searching without coming to anything conclusive. I thought I had stuff pretty well figured out going into the first half of this year, but of course that’s a silly notion. Things didn’t pan out as I’d hoped in several arenas this year, but my career in IT has flourished enough (and I have so many bills) that I don’t think I’ll be going back to school any time soon, at least.
But back to the impending vacation I am fortunate to embark on this Christmas Eve…I am quite ready for a break from the cold here in MT. I miss my family; especially my mom, dad, sister and brother. On top of that, my friends whom I only see a few times a year if I’m lucky. I can’t wait.

Merry Christmas!!

I wonder if I will ever get to a point where I feel that I’ve figured life out sufficiently to not make stupid mistakes anymore, or be surprised by a series of unlikely events that transpires.

I doubt it.

I’m frustrated at my quality of sleep lately. I require good sleep, and I’m not getting it. As a result, I feel somewhat dull mentally. Perhaps a return to the chicken soup diet for a few weeks would do me good…

Just a quick thought about purpose. For awhile now I’ve agonized over my purpose here on earth and what I can do to make a difference. Often these thoughts have led to ideas about drastic changes in my career and the possibility of going back to school. As I finished doing a status report at work this morning, however, an epiphany struck: What if my purpose is to just be the best damn worker I can be in whatever field I’ve been blessed with skills to excel in (read currently: I.T. Systems Support Tech)?

It certainly gives me pause. That is all.

2010 has arrived! Now behind me, the ’00s brought:
- adulthood and its quandaries
- the beginning of wonderful friendships and the passing of old
- ten new places of residence, the last three of which are in my new home state of Montana
- the trusty ’86 Volvo 240DL, my beloved ’98 Ford Crown Victoria (R.I.P.), and most recently an ’07 Ford Focus  
- a brief tenure at university where I met some of my (still) favorite people
- financial stability, after putting myself in a large amount of credit card/student loan debt
- good roommates, not so good roommates
- the creation of some the most memorably cherished and most forgettably rotten moments of my life

Bearing in mind that it is all in the past and thus not worth too much nitpicking and analysis, I nonetheless pause to reflect on the path that has led me to today: January 2, 2010.
After a few tries at writing the next lines, it became clear to me that I left out a couple of large line items in the list above. That’s okay. I left them out on purpose. I feel they do not in any way define me nor have they had enough of an effect to consider worthy of any greater note than this quick tidbit. So let’s move along, shall we? Good.

I could be long-winded and write many pages of useless drivel about how I’ve changed since 2000 and what each year meant to me, but I won’t. The important part is that God has been with me throughout, and I’m where I’m supposed to be. Whatever brought me to this place, however life-changing or mundane, I’m grateful for. No matter what it was, whether painful or glorious, today is what’s important. I get to live in the most beautiful place in the world and have amazing friends. I have a roof over my head and money to pay the bills. I have a growing relationship with almighty God and am striving to make the most of the time He’s given me to roam this earth.

So then, what am I resolving to do or not do in 2010? I will increase my reading of books that have redeeming value. I will spend more time thinking things all the way through before I act. Beyond that, there isn’t much I believe warrants change.

Happy New Year (and new decade), everyone!

I had the good fortune of having a good buddy from college visit me a couple weeks ago and in our travels we spent some time in Yellowstone and Glacier Park! Click the picture below to see the gallery of pictures from both of our cameras.

Videos on Youtube!

There was enough available footage from Veritas lake day that I was able to throw some clips together for a highlight video. Mind you, this is only the third video I’ve ever edited…but for just a day’s worth of work, I’m proud of it.

Veritas Lake Day 2009: last weekend’s focus and a heck of a good time to be had by all for sure. Friday night saw the Veritas leadership arrive at Garren and Jayne’s cabin in Lakeside for some much-needed fellowship and free-from-responsibility hang out time. Large amounts of food and drink, impromptu usage of an inner tube behind my roommate’s new (to him) boat, an unfinished game of Loaded Questions, and some good bedtime conversation rounded out the awesome night around 11:30PM.

My body clock has become somewhat of a nuisance lately, and the following morning was no exception. I was awakened from my oh so comfortable sofa-slumber at 5:55AM and dozed off and on until 7. Garren and Jayne’s two chickens tried (and partially succeeded) to wake us all up before they were quickly and quietly relocated outside. By 8:30 most of the crew were up and at ‘em. The Hartman’s are no slouches at hosting get-togethers, and the morning’s breakfast spread proved them excellent hosts indeed. After taking on a couple pounds each, we set about preparing for the lake day’s events. Vicki began painting signs for the would-be attendees arriving by car and foot while Garren, Eric, and I put up the Veritas sign and frequently rearranged the boats to prevent shoreline collisions. We managed to kill a battery attempting to start one of the boats and had to some quick swapping and charging to get things on track again.

The signage complete, it was now time to nail each of them up to the trees off of the Glacier Camp turnoff from Hwy 93. An unfortunate thing happened then. Eric and Alyson’s beloved Dodge Caliber, parked in the driveway, experienced a sudden disintegration of the rear windshield. This was not, in fact, caused by fairies or any otherworldly creature. As it happened, the signage (made from plywood, mind you) had been placed in such a way that a corner of the wood was protruding out of the trunk; when the trunk door was closed with some oomph, only the rear windshield made contact with the wood and therefore promptly exploded. A task force quickly mobilized to quell this uprising of glass and grief, and soon enough the Hartman’s driveway was once again a haven for all things barefoot. I grabbed the signs and hopped in Caleb’s SUV with Josh to get things done. After a couple hiccups and re-contrasting with a brown sharpie, all was well and the first guests meandered in.

The rest of the day was a blur. Barbecued food, boats pulling people on inner tubes, bonfires, worship, white elephant gift exchange (Note: not a white gift elephant exchange. There’s a difference.), not-quite-a-twinkie eating contest, wakeboarding attempts, and stupid dive tricks were just some of the goings on that day. Overall, total success. It wasn’t perfect, but nothing is or ever will be. I thoroughly enjoyed getting the opportunity to be with everyone and just enjoy our time out there. I hope that sentiment ruled the day amongst my cohorts as well.

As I wind down tonight, reflecting on today’s passage of events, I’m happy. As of this morning, my car is now officially paid off, my parents have completed another year of marriage to make it 31 years now, I made online payments for several bills, and traveled to and swam at Foys Lake twice this afternoon. Then I had some good barbecued chicken and burgers tonight after a good portion of Arrested Development. Kung Fu Hustle made an appearance on our TV with some friends and a quick run through the sprinklers in the front yard as our guests were leaving was the icing on the cake.

I wish I had more things to write about that I felt would be properly understood. Not that a bunch of people read my blog or anything, because I’m sure that’s not the case. Writing recaps of the last week’s events is fun and will hold great nostalgia value someday, but it’s not a complete picture. There are simply a few subjects I’m loath to broach in front of potentially the entire internet-enabled world.

So, it’s time for a big catch-up session. Since the Polebridge trip, lots has happened….

Tense conversations ruled the airwaves between my parents and me for a couple months because I was keeping a horrible, dirty secret from them; I was planning to surprise my mom for her 50th birthday by flying out to L.A. and didn’t want to give it away (plus I hated flat out lying to them). An elaborate web of deceit and misdirection confused my poor mother  before the glory was revealed. Originally she believed that she was simply going to spend a weekend away with my dad alone at some beach cottages in San Diego. In reality, the whole side of my dad’s family plus my siblings and I would be there. The basic outline for the plan was this:
Step 1. Tell family I can’t get vacation  until June.
Step 2. I fly in a few days before mom’s birthday at the end of April. Only my sister knows.
Step 3. I show up unannounced at the birthday dinner at Bossa Nova to surprise mom with flowers.
Step 4. I lie to mom again by telling her that I’m only in town for that night and have to fly back the next day.
Step 5. Surprise her again when the family meets up with her in San Diego for the weekend. (She thought it was only going to be herself and my dad there).
Step 6. Profit.
The outcome was utter success in every sense possible. My family was delighted to see me and I them…in fact, it was one of the best times we’ve had together as a family that I can remember. God definitely blessed the trip and I’m very thankful for the time I had with my mother.

Since I was in So Cal for 10 days, I had oodles of time to spend with friends as well. Sean and Sheena were kind enough to open their home and allowed me to stay with them most of the time I was in Los Angeles. It was as if I’d never left last year…we all got along crazily like old times Wii sports and WarioWare concluded nearly every night I slept over. Our mutual friend from Hawaii, Kevin, was in town (we kinda planned it this way) so we invited him over for some extra good times. A post-modern Family Dinner night took place on the first Wednesday of the trip, filled with old and new friends, food, jenga, and twister. I was a little surprised by my own reaction to some of the people/situations I hadn’t seen/been in for awhile, but I think it’s simply part of growing up. Becoming more tolerant of some things and less tolerant of others, finding myself – blah blah blah. I still love everyone that I did before I left in 2008. I just know that some friendships have already sailed, and that’s okay. Getting to concentrate on spending time with people I cared about most was a good thing. I’ll probably blog about this more later on, but for now I’m very content and satisfied with how the trip went overall, and I don’t think I’d change a thing.

In other news, here we are in the middle of May, and there was freezing rain today as I made the 5-minute drive to Costco. What the heck?