Praise Habit

So Erin and I were on our way to utilize a common commodity at a local gas station……air. Yes, a simple thing that keeps our tires inflated and what we breath.

So I pull into the parking lot and I see a couple people near the air dispenser talking. I figured, they know each other and are talking. WRONG! I get out of the car to fill up the tire, and I get attacked! They are yelling at me! Apparently there was a line to get air. Was anyone getting the air, or pulling forward? No! They were arguing! They were fighting over air! Didn’t we learn this lesson in kindergarten? I think its called sharing.

Moral of the story…….don’t fight over something thats free. It makes you look like a fool. And if you are fighting over the free thing, don’t yell at the person who is utilizing the free thing while you are arguing with someone about it, nothing good can come from that.

Tomorrow I start a new phase of my academic life. I am enrolled as a graduate student at Kennesaw State University. I will take me approximately 5 semesters to attain my M.S. in Computer Science.

Am I crazy? I may be. I’m even taking the thesis option! That is a huge freakin research project that I have to defend! However, I think I’ve narrowed down my field of study to something that interests me quite a bit. Who knows, I might discover something that changes something in the world of Computer Science. I’m excited to start this and then ponder where I will go to work on my Ph. D. or Sc. D.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Tomorrow will also be the 6 month anniversary of being married to my wonderful wife Its also my parent’s 25 year anniversary. Wow, a lot of stuff is happening tomorrow.

Well, its off to Petsmart and to the grocery store soon.

Brandon

In the morning I am off to Kansas for Christmas with Erin’s family.

This also means I get to go to Springfield on Sunday!!!  I get to *hopefully* see some friends I haven’t talked to in a while.

Well, back to Numb3rs Season 3 (thanks Erin )

So, for all my faithful readers, here is my monthly update!

We arrived in Marietta, GA just over a month ago and began a new adventure. Married life is GREAT so far I am loving it so far. Work is going well, a lot better than the previous office I was at.

In other news, I’m staring a new programming project. I’m not going to release many details right now, but keep your eyes pealed for an extension on the site. I’m excited to finally have an idea for something to develop and bring in a few friends to help with the project.

Other exciting stuff is 3 concerts in 3 months starting on Saturday! Coming up is Derek Webb, Caedmon’s Call and then Derek Webb (w/ full band and his wife, Sandra McCracken) I’m uber excited to go and see some amazing musicians and hang out with my wife!

So, its time for me to crawl back in my hole and hide for another month.

Erin and I are going to Atlanta, Georgia next weekend.  Why?  That’s a good question!

Wednesday I found out that my position in Nixa is being eliminated by the end of the year and they are offering a transfer to their office in Atlanta, Geogia.  I’m a little freaked by all this but also very excited.  Oh, I would start August 1st if I decide to move…..That’s 2 weeks after we get back from our honeymoon. 

Erin and I have done so much research about Atlanta its not funny!  In typical fashion, we’ve also discussed tons of options, argued and let our imaginations fly.  We’re flying to Atlanta to see the area and check out the office next weekend.  I hope the trip goes well and we’re able to see the "real" Atlanta so we can make a good decision.

Its as if someone activated the Infinite improbability drive and normality is being restored.

As some of you know, I moved a couple weeks ago.  I now live with the person I am going to marry in the not too distant future.  We’ve pretty much gotten moved in except for one room full of boxes.  It also doesn’t appear that they will get unpacked any time soon (the next few weeks that is).

Work is BUSY!!!  We have a long couple weeks ahead of us and lots of overtime scheduled so we can make the release date on June 1.  I love the stuff we are doing though.  I’m learning a lot about Flex and working with Flex Data Services is REALLY cool!  I’m hoping to get a JMS queue working between the java and flex parts of the application.

Other that all the moving, life is getting back to "normal" and I’m loving every minute of it so far!  I’m excited for the next few months and see what God has in store and all I need to remember is to slow down and notice it.

So I’m sitting here watching The Karate Kid.  I now have the entire Karate Kid series on DVD because of my wonderful fiancee!  I was on a wild goose chase for this series some time ago and she got it for me for Valentine’s Day!!!!  Its things like these that make me absolutely sure that I want to marry this woman!

I can’t believe that it is less than 5 months away!  We still have so much left to do for the wedding though :-/  I have to put together my part of the guest list.  That is the big thing for now.

In other news, we have a place to live!!!!  Provided we get accepted, which shouldn’t be a problem.  We found some amazing townhomes in Ozark.  I didn’t really want to live outside of Springfield to start with, but we looked at the cost of living there and it was very attractive.  Small towns outside cities are much cheaper to live in.  That’s one lesson I’ll remember from now on.

Things at Schweitzer are going well.  I’m currently leading the Young Adult Sunday school for now and I also have a Small Group coming up.  I’m also doing stuff with the Youth Group now.  The praise band is also a lot of fun!  I love Schweitzer and I’m looking forward to serving in many more ways in the future!

Well, the movie is almost over and I’m getting tired.  This whole being responsible thing is for the birds because I get tired earlier now.

What a weekend. I went to my hometown Amarillo, Texas with my parents this last weekend. The circumstances of the visit were not very good, but somehow the weekend turned out very well.

It started on Thursday with a trip to Pittsburg, Kansas with Erin so I could meet up with my parents. While there, Erin had to get her tags renewed so we did that and hung out for a bit. When my parents got there, we (Mom, Dad, Erin’s parents and I) ate dinner at the Mall Deli in Pittsburg. Then we (my parents and I) left for Amarillo. We arrived at 3:30 AM on Friday.

Friday, after we woke up, we went to my Aunt’s house and dropped Mom off. Her sister is now with home hospice so she wanted to visit and be with her for a while. While Mom was doing that, Dad and I went and visited with old friends and people he knew. It was on the way to lunch that something amazing happened.

I got a phone call from Assurant Solutions offering me a position! I haven’t been able to blog about this because I was playing the waiting game and didn’t want to announce it prematurely. I’m very excited about this opportunity and I’m moving up in the world!

That pretty much made my day. After lunch, Dad and I went and ran around some more and then went back to my Aunt’s house. That was very emotionally draining because she was in a lot of pain. I was very glad I went and said goodbye to her though.

The rest of the weekend was filled with friends, relatives and food. I forgot what a real donut tasted like. Krispy Kreme is nothing compared to the Donut Stop!

Anywho, I’m excited to be able to talk about this new job and share my experience this weekend with all 2 of my readers.

-Brandon

Happy New Year everyone! I’m back from my trip to Des Moines with Erin. It went rather well. Erin and I got to spend New Years together and yes there was a New Years kiss as is tradition. That was Saturday night. On Sunday Erin and I went to church. This was a Westview church and they are members of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) and was different than the United Methodist Churches that I’m becoming accustomed to. Other than church, there was some “excitement” as my car decided to light up its check engine light. This freaked me out and I checked everything I could with Dad. We drove all around West Des Moines and Urbandale and didn’t find a thing wrong with the way it drove. It was strange! This was very good news though Moving on to Monday. Erin and I started our journey back to Springfield. But on the way back we stopped by and saw a bridge of Madison County (we would have stayed but it was cold and muddy). Now I’m back here watching TV and writing this post after a day of work. Things are getting back to normal as break winds down and school starts back up. I’m starting up my last semester of my undergraduate career in 2 weeks. In the meantime I’m going to have to get my resume out there and find a job. Maybe I’ll stay in Springfield or I might move out of town. I’m not sure yet (it depends on a few variables). But time is running out so I need to get my act together.

This post brought to you by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Brandon

Well, its been a very long time since I’ve posted last and I hope this isn’t like the last time. What has been going on in my life? Well a lot and not much at the same time. After the break up with Jeni, I went through a period of depression and then I realized that I didn’t have to be like this and kind of snapped out of it. Then I met someone, she was moving into the Wesley house and her name is Erin. I helped her move in and then about a month later we started dating. We are still together now and are very happy. Its strange how fast these things happen.

Now lets move on to what is going on with me in general. I’ve been feeling like an outsider at the Wesley Foundation as of late. I’ve tried everything but I’ve realized that it is time for me to move on. I’m still going to stay fairly active at Wesley but I’m slowly going to step down as the Praise Band leader as the spring semester progresses. I’m going to miss what this ministry has brought but I am excited to see what is going to happen through this ministry. I know God is going to move.

Well that is a brief update for all 2 of my readers. I’m hoping to continue to post more often (I have time now that school is out for break).

-Brandon

This post brought to you by “Back to the Future: Part III” and a growling stomach. Mmmmmmmmm, foooooooooooood.