ABC’s OF A FRUITFUL LIFE

ABC’s OF A FRUITFUL LIFE

A lways put God first in your life.
B e a true friend and you will have many friends.
C ount and thank God for your many blessings daily.
D iscipline yourself. Decide to make your life count.
E dify and encourage others consistently.
F ollow great leaders and then become one.
G ive liberally and joyfully of your time, talents and means.
H ave an attitude of gratitude.
I nvert any negatives thrown your way. Turn them into positives.
J ourney through life one step and one day at a time.
K eep written goals set ahead. Make specific plans to accomplish them.
L ove and forgive everybody.
M aximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.
N ever, never, never give up!
O pen the door wide when opportunity knocks.
P ractice patience. Promote peace.
Q uit bad habits by replacing them with good habits.
R ead God's Word and other profitable material every chance you get.
S hare the Gospel whenever and wherever possible.
T ake time to appreciate everything and everyone God has given to you.
U se your God given common sense.
V isualize your dreams and stretch to reach for them
W atch, listen and pray without ceasing.
X amine your motives on a regular basis.
Y ield to the Holy Spirit when He prompts you.
Z oom in on God's real purpose for your life.

-- Author Unknown

Happy Birthday to ME!

I thought I'd take the time to wish myself a very Happy 22nd Birthday. Might be the only birthday wish I get all day. After all, I do have to look out for numeral uno once in a while.

Experiencing His Presence

So I was at the Barnes & Noble bookstore Saturday night and I found a devotional book entitled Experiencing His Presence by Tommy Tenney. Seemed like an interesting book, and since it was on the cheap books table I bought it.

Figuring that reading such a book would spark a firestorm of thoughts in my mind, I decided that I would create a new blog. As I read the book, I will use the blog to plot my progress, and post reflections on the reading that I have done.

All are welcome to visit the Experiencing His Presence blog, and are welcome to post comments.

What Type of Writer?

Courtesy of Sr. Steph's blog

You Should Be a Film Writer

You don't just create compelling stories, you see them as clearly as a movie in your mind. You have a knack for details and dialogue. You can really make a character come to life. Chances are, you enjoy creating all types of stories. The joy is in the storytelling. And nothing would please you more than millions of people seeing your story on the big screen!

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

Midnight Reflections

On Thursday, Natty posted the follow quote of the day on her blog:

"God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell the difference."

Too often, I think about how wonderful it would be to never see half of the people I have had the misfortune of meeting while here at college. Then again, there are some that I would like to know better than I do. There are some that I have met along the way, whose names and faces I no longer remember.

I can only pray that I will have the good fortune of remaining with the one person who has made the biggest difference in me since I came to school. May I always have the eyesight to see the one who brings light to my world on the darkest of days. For not having either, would most certainly make for an existence as dark as a moonless night.

I'm still here

Wow! Has it really been eight whole days since I made my last post? There's been so much going on since Spring Break ended. Some good, some bad, but as usual the bad has been weighing me down the most.

My great-grandmother had to have surgery on Monday, to remove some skin cancer spots from her face and arms. The spots on her face were around her nose, and they were bad enough, that part of the nose had to be removed. She literally had another hole in her head. Thursday, she went back in so a plastic surgeon could rebuild her nose. Having gone down there this past weekend, I can tell you that she really looks like shit. Thankfully, she came through the operations pretty well, and remains in good spirits about the whole situation. Now most people would say, "oh, that kind of stuff is done everyday. It's routine procedure, blah blah blah."
Well, I can tell you that this particular case is anything but routine. I did say that she is my Great-Grandmother. The woman in 88 yrs old, in terrible health as is, and is, by all accounts, ready to go. Needless to say, knowing what I do about the situation, I haven't been able to focus on anything related to school. I hope that having seen her myself, I will now be able to ease my mind, and focus on my obligations here, rather than dwell on something I can't do anything about, considering it's 250 miles away from here. I know, easier said than done.

In the midst of the negativity, there have been a few positives. For starters, I have taken on that website project for the Indiana Association of Hostage/Crisis Negotiators, that I wrote about in a previous post. The exciting aspect of that is the $1,500 + that I'm going to rake in for my work. Not a bad start.

The positive sides of going home this past weekend included getting away with April, seeing my family, getting the suits that I bought during spring break, and celebrating mine and my sister's birthdays. Whitney's birthday was Saturday, and while my birthday isn't until March 28, I wanted to be able to celebrate it with my family for a change. That was the original reason for going home this weekend.

To be continued..........................

Back to the grind

It's nearly midnight, classes resume tomorrow, and I really should be in bed. Despite how tired I am, my mind doesn't seem to want to let me go to sleep. My mind has been racing most of the evening; I've been thinking about all the stuff that I have scheduled for the weeks ahead.

This week I really need to get the website for my senior project finished. I worked on it off and on during the break, but haven't quite completed it yet. Shouldn't take me long though; it's taking shape and really looking good. That may just be my opinion, but we'll see what the stakeholder has to say about that. I also need to get the ambassadors website updated before Wednesday; we are scheduled to have a meeting with the university president that evening. Big waste of time if you ask me. I have database project stuff to work on, a possible test in network and systems administration to prep for, and then, there's work in the library. Blah!

At the end of the week, I will be going back to Louisville with April, for a big birthday party for my sister and myself. April thought it would be nice to visit during my sister's birthday, which is saturday (March 18), and I thought it would be nice to be able to celebrate my birthday with the family down there at the same time; haven't been able to do that since I came to college, and thought the family might enjoy it. Should be a blast......cough, cough........uh huh.

Then the following week, on March 22, I have the Senior Etiquette Dinner to attend. The dress for that is professional. So I have to get all dressed up, suit, tie, and all, and go to that nightmare. I spent a bunch of money on professional attire during the break, and will share more on that later.

I am also expecting to hear from the representative from the Indiana Association of Hostage/Crisis Negotiators about the website job which I wrote about in a previous post.
So, um, yeah.....I have a lot going on. This is only a small portion of what I could list; though I don't feel like wasting my time with any more than I have here. More than anyone else would care to bore themselves reading too.

Well, now that I have rambled about all that is in store for me in the coming weeks, I'm finally ready for bed, so off to the land of dreams and nightmares I go. Ciao!

Good times (continued)

Well, the trip back to the fort wasn't too bad. As usual, my aunt, uncle, and I stopped at the outlet mall in Edinburgh; we had lunch, then went through a couple of book stores there, and was I disappointed in the selection of techie books at both. I did happen to find one interesting title, "Who's Pushing Your Buttons? Dealing with the difficult people in your life." Sounded like something that I could handle reading, so I bought it. Only 5 bucks anyway. We stopped in the kitchen and cooking stores; I found a line of Jack Daniels coffees in one of them and bought some sample bags just to see if they are any good. If I like it, I may go back and buy some more. We'll see what happens.

We finally got to Fort Wayne shortly after 4, and after stopping at the hotel so the aunt and uncle could check in, we headed to my place to unload all my junk, and to meet April before going to dinner. Ended up going to Applebee's for dinner, and as usual, the food was pretty good. My only complaint about that place is they use toooooooooo much salt on all of their potatoes; fries, red skins, mashed, you name it. Tooooo much salt. Just an observation that I've made the last few times I've been there. Overall, the experience was good.

After dinner we made our way over to the Border's book store. Of course, I found a couple of the techie books that I had been looking for, and bought them despite how much they cost. Some of those books are grossly over priced. Then again, this week has been one for spending money, and what's a few hundred more compared to the thousands that I've spent over the last 4 years.

Good times

Well, this has certainly been a wonderful spring break thus far. The trip home has gone so well, I really couldn't have asked for a better time. I've done a lot of shopping; spent mega bucks, spent time with family, went to an art museum, and actually managed to get some other work done too. Overall, it's been a great trip, and I'm really sorry that it is ending tomorrow, when I return to Fort Wayne. Well, sort of sorry any way. There is the whole part of missing April, and wanting to get back up there to spend time with her. Of course, since I will be returning on Thursday, I will have until Sunday to spend time with her, and relax, and prepare for classes to resume on Monday. Blah. I'm having such a good time right now, I don't want to go back to class on Monday. I'm having a wonderful time doing nothing. Damn, why do good things have to come to an end?

To Be Continued........................

Made it home

Well, finally got out of Fort Wayne about 5:30 this evening. Mom got to town shortly after 3; we went to Walmart, had dinner, then got on the road. We made it to Louisville in 3.5 hours. Speeding may or may not have been involved. hehe. I'm staying with my aunt and uncle while I'm home. It's so nice and quiet here at there place, and I'm under no pressure to do anything. So nice to be able to relax in a warm, comfortable environment like this for a change. Maybe I'll actually be able to get some work done on my senior project after all.

My aunt and uncle will go to church in the morning, and I will more than likely stay home. I think I will use that time to work on some stuff. Might as well make good use of my time. Some of you may be thinking, "yeah right, it's spring break, you aren't going to work on school stuff."
I will have you know, I am hell bent on getting some work done during the break, even while I'm here in Louisville.

Anyway, it's late and I'm rather tired. Time for a nice long nap. Good night people.

A thought on Spring Break

I was looking through my AIM buddy list, and noticed an away message with the following:

"spring break is fail. because when I think of spring, I obviously think of 40 degree weather, dead grass, heavy coats and trees without leaves."

Keep in mind, Spring doesn't officially start until March 20. Tech's Spring Break is March 4 thru March 12. Shouldn't Spring Break be after Spring officially starts?

The Position Has Been Filled

Well, I thought about the web site job that Julie told me about and I have decided that I would take the challenge head on. Having reviewed the organization's existing web site, I can honestly say that I'd almost be willing to do the job for free. It's really bad. I've been told that they are looking to have a simple, yet visually appealing and professionally done web site. I told Julie to give the people me contact information, and have them contact me after spring break. By then, I should have the current web project I'm working on completed, and will be able to handle the new task.

By the way, did I mention that there was money involved with this gig? I'm not sure how much yet, but any thing is better than nothing at all. Not only will I walk away with money, but it will be one more job to add to my resume, and may potentially lead to other job opportunities. The more projects like this that I can add to my resume and portfolio, the better off I am going to be.

It's nice to know that people have taken note of my talents, and are promoting me when job opportunities like this come along. May these opportunities continue to present themselves as graduation grows near.

Encouraging Prospects

So I was sitting in the networking lab this morning, studying for a test, when Julie walks in and tells me that she finally remembered what she had been wanting to talk to me about. It turns out that the Indiana Association of Hostage/Crisis Negotiators is looking for someone to rebuild the organization's website, and Julie seems to think that I would be the perfect guy for the job. The plus side is that there would be money involved, so I am sorta drawn towards it. The website to be developed will be relatively simple in nature, and shouldn't take long for me to build at all. I have to figure out if it can fit into my schedule, so, I told her that I would consider it, and let her know soon.

Then, this afternoon I received a call from a technical staffing company, that evidently found my resume on either monster.com or careerbuilder.com, and thought that I would be a great candidate for a web design position at International Truck and Engine here in Fort Wayne. While the prospect certainly excited me, I was disappointed to have to inform the guy that I couldn't take the position at this time. He was very understanding of my persistence towards getting finished with college before taking a position, and said the company will keep my resume on file, and contact my closer to graduation time. I am encouraged by this prospect to say the least.

It is nice to know that there actually are employers looking at my resumes on monster and careerbuilder, and it was gratifying to receive a call from someone stating that I appeared to be very well qualified for the position he had available. I hope and pray that something else like that comes along at graduation time, when I really need it. I truly believe that God will provide when the time is here. And for that, I give thanks.