Coming to you live from Houston Texas where it is cloudy, HOT and humid. Once again I am reminded WHY I do not miss Houston Texas. LOL. The only difference between Charleston SC and Houston at the moment is that Houston is atleast getting some rain and that water is another reason for the high humidity in the air.
It has been 6 weeks since this trip to Houston Texas was planned and I waited with anticipation. The plane rides were relatively uneventful but I have to say that after 1 hour and 45 minutes of riding in the same seat mashed together in coach with two other unlucky occupants that I was extremely happy to get off the Jet in Houston yesterday evening.
I was quite impressed with the new Rental Car complex that they built on the north side of Houston close to Intercontinental Airport aka George Bush IAH. There was a shuttle bus that picked me up and shot me out to the main complex to rent the car and I was immediately ushered into the rental car and shown the exit where I verified my reservation. Nice car, nice service. What a deal folks!!
Once I was in the rental car I was reminded of one thing that I do not miss and that is the hellish driving habits of the 4 million other people who drive like bats exiting hell through one hole. LOL.... I had not been in Houston driving for much longer than 25 minutes when I found myself slamming on the brakes heading for the emergency lane wondering if there was some nice soft grass on the other side of the concrete barrier that was coming up a little too quick. It appears that as I was trying to exit off of I-45 South onto 610 West that three cars ahead of me there was someone in a black Ford Mustang who had slammed on its brakes in an attempt to get off an exit that they had already passed about 2 car links back. OH MY GOSH people. Lets take some prozac or something to calm ya down...
Once I was in Houston I picked up my friend James Carberry and headed out to sit in the parking lot on I-10 West headed out to Dairy Ashford and Don Coleman Stadium where the commencement ceremonies were to be held. We managed to grab a bite to eat (snack) and made it to the auditorium around 7:10 pm. It is a good thing we arrived 50 minutes early because the auditorium filled up quickly. I had called my friend Tom Whitten and Donel to come to Jeremy's graduation but Tom was the only one who made it.
The ceremony itself lasted about 2 hours. From what I could see there were approximately 5000 people in the stands and then the graduates on the floor all dressed in Terry Highschool RED and the staff who had on black robes. James Carberry was kind enough to man the video camera for me and I spent most of my time on my feet up on the top row taking pictures with our new Canon AE-1. I was disappointed in the fact that at the top of the arena that the people who were not sitting down in the auditorium were talking loudly instead of being quiet and respectful. I guess if you were in the actual seated area of the convention center you did not hear everything that was going on up at the top level. I was very pleasantly surprised that several of the students who spoke gave Jesus Christ the praise , honor and glory for their success and stated that together with God on their side that they could go on and overcome anything the world would throw at them. The prayers that were lifted up were very humble and not full of religous rhetoric. I was very pleased as a parent to hear the young people giving God the credit for their lives and their accomplishments.
I am sitting at James Carberry's office. James works for a printing company and no, I do not know the name of it right as I am writing this. Hugh, who is James's boss gave me permission to use his high speed network access to sponge e-mail and write my blog. I have to stop for now because the burgers that they cooked on a grill are now ready and my stomach is calling.
God bless
Friday, May 28, 2004
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
HELLO IS ADDICTIVE
LOL... HELLO!!! No, I mean it, really. Hello there! Yes, I also mean TRY out Hello from Blogger. As you can see I have been having a LOT of fun uploading pictures from our archives to Blogger. I only have 1500 pictures to go so hang on to your mouse. LOL....
Well, it is time to sing my favorite song. We owe we owe off to work I must go!! Time to put on the gorilla suit and head off to the County Office Building for another 8 hours of fun filled excitement. NOT.....
Yes, I will share a picture of me in uniform sometime in the near future. Are you up for THAT? LOL.
God bless
Monday, May 24, 2004
Walking walking walking walking
I am now walking approximately 4 out of 7 days per week 1.6 miles in 30 minutes in our neighborhood. That is better than what I was doing 6 weeks ago which was not much. The other day I was at the Pastor's house helping them with some computer issues when his wife and daughter made mention that I was losing some weight. I know that I have probably not lost much but I do know from the way my pants are fitting me looser that I am atleast toning up a bit even if the weight loss is very gradual. I am also feeling much better and I have more energy than before. That energy level increasing has given me more self confidence and the ability to suck it up and go for that proverbial walk even when my body wants to be lazy in the morning.
I am having more luck with the increased exercise than I have been with my diet. I need to find the same will power and tenacity when it comes to sticking less calories into my head. The BEST way to lose weight is to EAT LESS and EXERCISE MORE. Repeat this after me.
EAT LESS
EXERCISE MORE
Yes, I know, easier said than done. :) It seems as if the body has a mind of its own. No pun intended.....
Maybe the body (flesh) KNOWS that I am planning something silly with regards to denying it of what IT wants and it preemptively shuts down all the logic and will power circuits in my mind and takes over from there by opening my mind and starting the hand to mouth reflex problems....
Have you noticed how many people in your community have mad cow disease? No, I, we are not alone. Lets face it, us Americans are just down right obese. Someone said the other day that there is no shortage of food therefore we do not need to eat EVERYTHING in sight and that we just have access to way too much food to begin with. I never really thought about it that way but whoever said it is right. We do have access to way too much food.
Ok, enough said about mad cow disease. I am going to take my mind (and yours) off of the calorie counting madness and diving off into one of my favorite hobbies which would be photography. If you have know us (me) for long you had access to our www.fototime.com picture archive in which we had almost 1500 photos online. I took those photos in the space of the last 3 years. I guess you could say that I am a shutterbug at heart. I hate being on the business end of the camera but I LOVE being on the other end. The other day I noticed that there was a Canon AE1 35mm camera with a 50mm lens for sale at Goodwill. The price was 19.95 with 50% off which brought the grand total to 9.95. Yes, you guessed it, I am providing a new home for this camera. I was also told that someone saw a zoom lens for it lying around but I was unable to find it. So, with that in mind we now have another means of taking photos other than our digital camera or 8mm camcorder. Tomorrow I will be burning the first roll of film at Kristina's awards ceremony in the hopes that it will take some decent pictures. The proof will be in the negatives per sa... LOL....
If the pictures turn out I will take the camera with me to Houston and use it to take some pics there during the graduation as well as some of the sights there. I think that I saw something about Photoblogging over on Blogger.com. Gosh, imagine that, driveling through pics.... LOL...
The fun thing about using the Canon AE1 is that there is nothing automatic about it. With the advent of the technology age we live in everything is digital and automatic. Just point and click and the electronics does all of the work for you. Not so with the Canon AE1. You have to know HOW to use the different settings and I am embarrased to say that I have fallen victim to the technical simplicity of things and I have forgotten almost everything I ever learned about photography using this type of camera. With that said, it took me several moments to figure out HOW to open the back of the camera to load film. Just today I figured out how to remove the 50mm lens but it took me much longer to figure out HOW to put the silly thing back on.
Once I know that I know that the camera is still fully functional and I can figure out all of the different settings then I will begin the search for some CHEAP accessories for this camera. I will be needing a auto winder, zoom lenses and a flash unit and camera bag. I will be keeping my eyeballs peeled (ouch) over at Goodwill to snag any more good camera deals that come along in the near future.
School ending & Summer Beginning
Our children are growing up before our very eyes. Just the other day we registered our kids for the 2004 school year and now that year has flown right past our eyes. Kristina and Justin both managed to survive the year and even came out of the experience by learning some valuable lessons and gaining some awards and acknowledgement from their peers and teachers. I am going to have to build a shrine (book case) for Kristina's bedroom to hold all of the awards, trophies and such. Kristina was on the A B honor roll this year and had perfect attendance. Tomorrow we will be going to the awards ceremony at her school at 8:30 am. Today Katy went to Justin's school and ate lunch with him and attended his awards ceremony in which he received the "Best Author" award and "Best Otter" award as well. Justin went from struggling with his reading and speech skills to bringing his level up to the grade level he was in this year which is a HUGE accomplishment for him. Gosh, I am so proud of my children. Lets not forget my son Jeremy. Jeremy is graduating from High School this coming Thursday and thanks to Happy Days and Special Times I will be able to be there to watch him walk across the podium and take his certificate. Jeremy will be going on to college thanks to some Band scholorships and the help of his parents. I wish that I could take more credit for Jeremy's accomplishments but I can not. Jeremy has turned out to be quite a young man that makes me very proud. Jeremy has overcome some pretty big hurdles in his life and has shown me and others that he is capable of doing what he puts his mind to. Jeremy will be going to community collge next year and then going on to a university setting the following year.
It has been almost 3 years since our Jessica graduated from this world into the presence of God. I can not imagine the experiences our girl has lived in the last several years being in the presence of God. I ask God almost every day to hug our Jessica and let her know that her daddy will never forget her. I know that I spend more time in my blog bragging and talking about the children that are here on this earth as we know it but that does not mean that Jessica has left my mind or my thoughts. Jessica is still very much a part of our family and even though she is not here to share in the scholastic achievements of her brothers and sisters we know that her spirit lives on forever and that we will see her again one day when the Lord calls us home.
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