Don’t plan out possible ways you could misspeak and how to recover from them. It’s too easy to make a Freudian slip and end up like this youth pastor from TX.
Caution: you wouldn’t expect him to say what he says.
Category: General
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The Death of Chris (not really)
I feel like I should explain the just broken blog silence. This semester has been kicking my butt. I don’t know why taking five in-major classes sounded like a good idea at the time. Even with the insane workload, this semester has been awesome.
The fall 2005 vtONE event was truly awesome, and we’ve seen God’s hand on this campus very visibly this semester. We’ve seen several specific prayers answered, ranging from key people getting together and praying, establishing better communication between groups, and also personal salvations. It’s been great seeing how much God works in spite of us to accomplish his will.
I’ve managed to mostly keep up with people over the semester too. I’ve not let the classes take over my entire life. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving break (which starts in about five hours!) and a lighter next semester.
If you haven’t heard from me in a while, drop me a line. I’m also planning to be in the DC area from tomorrow evening through next Friday.
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Back in the swing of things
We’re now officially back in the swing of things. I say that because we won our first game of the season last night. LET’S GO HOKIES!
Classes have been going fine, but keeping me busy. Hopefully I will get back into a more regular posting schedule recently.
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Fun in Blacksburg
Since I haven’t been blogging very regularly, I figured I’d update you all on what I’ve been doing down in Blacksburg. This past week, I’ve biked the Huckleberry Trail, hiked Dragon’s Tooth, and tubed a mile down the New River. Also been helping lots of people move in and binging on classic movies.
I know I’ve been bad about posting recently, but I wanted to put something up here thanking you all for making this summer awesome. The summer has had it’s ups and downs, but God is faithful and I know that He will never toss me anything that I can’t catch. So, to everyone I’ve worked with, my small group, friends, and everyone at The Gathering, thanks!
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Comments now work
I just noticed that I had comments waiting for moderation here. Most are really old. I just read and gave them the thumbs up or thumbs down for the first time. So if you’ve commented and never seen your comment appear, the wait is over.
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Back from California
I fully intended to post some more information from later parts of the trip, but after the hotels stopped having internet access, I stopped writing about what was going on. I fully intend to go back and add some posts about what happened on the other days of the trip, however we’ll see how fast that happens.
I’m still partly on pacific time, yet I’ve managed to keep my work schedule mostly regular since starting back on Monday.
In other news, it’s hot here. Really hot. It’s 90 degrees right now, but it’s not as bad as it’s been. The humidity is low now, which is unusual for Washington (it’s a filled in swamp). However, the humidity has been really high even for Washington most of the last week. We’ve had 100+ heat indexes most of the week, and it shows no signs of letting up. Maybe this heat wave is to convince me that I’m ready for fall’s cooler temperatures.
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Twin beds and parking brakes
Today, while waiting with the luggage in the Adante Hotel’s lobby, I witnessed firsthand how unusual some of our American ways seem to the rest of the world. First, I noticed a car pull up in front of the hotel. The rental agent got out, and a lady got in. She and another lady loaded their luggage, but then just seemed to sit there. At one point, she pulled up about six feet, then stopped. The second lady had gone back into the hotel lobby and was standing there looking confused. My sister asked me what kind of car my parents were picking up, and I told her I had no idea. The lady overheard me, asked me if I was American, and asked for help with their rental car. Their Chevy Mailbu had a tap on / tap off floor pedal to control the parking brake. The ladies thanked me and said something about their rental in New York had a normal parking brake in the center console. Ironically, my parents ended up with a Malibu as a rental. My dad struggled to figure out the parking brake too.
The second interesting exchange that took place in the hotel lobby was between the guy at the front desk and a man from Germany. The man seemed upset about the accomodations in his room. Apparently, he booked a room for four people and the hotel gave him a room for two. A few exchanges later, it came out that the man thought that a twin bed slept two people. It seems that in Germany, what we would call a twin bed is referred to as a single bed. Fortunately, the hotel had extra rooms with two double beds available, and they were able to get him into a room that would sleep four people.
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A Capitol Fourth
During holiday weekend, I spent a lot of time in DC. Over four days, I spent every evening downtown. FridayI went down with my mom and sister to see the Folk Life festival. This year, the topics were Food Culture, Oman, and the Forest Service. I didn’t like the exhibits as much as those from some previous years.
Saturday evening, I brought the family back downtown for a tour of the monuments, memorials, and the waterfront on bike. I think that riding bikes is the best way to see many of the famous landmarks downtown. The weather was perfect for being out on a bike. The only thing that could have made it better would have been fewer people blocking the sidewalks.
Sunday night, I went to see the dress rehersal of A Capitol Fourth on the steps of the capitol. I got to see Barry Botswick, Gloria Estefan, Sharon Lawrence, The O’Jays, and Ronan Tynan. Gloria Estefan and the Beach Boys were the headline acts, but for the dress rehersal, the part of the Beach Boys was played entirely by musicians who were not yet born when the real Beach Boys burst into the music scene. Gloria Estefan was excellent, as were most of the other performers. They had some technical issues between O’Jays songs, so they were cracking jokes with the audience. Overall, it was an excellent evening and a fun time.
Monday night, I met up with The Gathering to watch the fireworks. The location where we told people to meet was fenced off because “that’s where the fireworks land.” We ended up getting equally good seats between the reflecting pool and the Lincoln memorial. It was a fun evening–even the reorganized Metro system with all the lines the wrong colors and my mad dash across the Memorial bridge on foot to get to the Arlington Cemetary metro station.
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Blacksburg review
Once again, I’ve managed to slip into a cycle that doesn’t include posting. Blacksburg was fun last weekend, everything except getting a ticket on the 460 bypass coming into town. What really sucks about that is I was in the right lane going the same speed as the other cars, but I’m the one they decided to pull over. I enjoyed getting a chance to catch up with people who I hadn’t seen for over a month. Oh, and now I have Mill Mountain coffee at home. Mmmmm . . .