awholelotofsomethin'

Thanksgiving Happiness

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:06:00 +0000

And I wish it to all of you as well.

My brother came home for a surprise visit last night! He's here until Sunday afternoon! Wheeee!

What can I say about yesterday? Well, it went fast; it was busy at work; and I had no idea what to do when I got home because I'm not used to having time on my hands. I read the Bluejacket's Manuel after leftovers and then we watched a little Reilly, and then I talked to Mike, and then Zac came beating on my door... holy cow! Mom and my sister Andie knew about it, but they kept it as a surprise for a couple weeks! What fun!

Today I was woken up with a "Happy Thanksgiving" text message from my friend in Florida... and then I slept for another hour. :) Mom so has everything together! And then some. She made 7 pies: 2 apple, 2 pumpkin, 1 pecan, 1 lemon, 1 cherry! She did the turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberries, & yams yesterday... and we helped her with the potatoes and setting out the snacky stuff and setting up the kitchen for 11 adults and 2 kids. We have a feast on the way. I already started a little with snacking on salmon dip, chips and olives... :)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Thank the Lord for his providence!

Jp

More Days

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:03:00 +0000

Maybe I should make myself an appointment to talk about each day instead of doing these gloms of days in one post... what do you think? is it annoying to read three days in one (on average)? LOL

Well Sunday was really fun! I ended up going to church again, because I've been thinking I should lately (it's something that I haven't quite figured out yet, if it's very important to me or not). The Bible says that we're supposed to "fellowship" with other believers in order to stir each other on to love and good works. It also says things about singing songs to the Lord... but it isn't really clearly defined that I should go to the specific kind of meeting that is today's modern church service. Hmm. Well... it's been turning around in my mind. We'll see if anything changes it by the end of my study on worship.

After lunch on Sunday with the family, we stuck in that episode of Dick Van Dyke with the guy from the last Thin Man movie. Max the Mobster... or whatever that was. So funny! And after that, I was invited over to Jason's house with Meg & Jason for his birthday dinner with his family. I helped his mother make the stir fry... which was very large and fun. The whole evening was very nice, indeed.

But then I did something rather ridiculous. I got on Facebook that night and I didn't get off until quite a bit later the next morning. Yeah, stupid! Except I had a lot of fun doing my annual log-in as the 3 fictional characters I made profiles for. And I talked with my friend from Australia... and I stayed up way too late. And that really affected the rest of Monday and some of today. Thank the Lord we only have 8 hour workdays this week because of the holiday.

Ooooh. The final set of my books got done on Monday though... that was really nice. I've only been working on this program all year long. So my desk is about to undergo a major clean sweep. :) Oh, and I finally remembered to actually purchase the tickets for my mom and I to see my grandparents in February. I was "going to do it right now" for a few days.

Today wasn't much of anything... except lots of cleaning up the desk (with lots more on the way) and being a little late for work again. We watched "Shadow of the Thin Man" tonight. And besides the dopey things they threw in there about their little kid, it was very fun.

And I am going to hit the sack right now! Wow! 9:30! I might just make it in the morning! How blessed I am... only 6 hours tomorrow and then four and a half days off!

Yay!
Jp

Studies

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:27:00 +0000

What a couple days I've had!

After work let out Dad took Mom and I out to Red Lobster in Lynnwood for a fabulous lunch with a coupon he had. Yuuuuum! Shrimp & Crab pasta!

When we got home, I needed to sit down in a bad way (because of the time of month) and I opened up the copy of a set of sermons that I printed out on Thursday. It was something recommended by the pastor that taught my Bible class. It is all about the importance of worshipping God "in spirit and in truth" like Jesus says we should in John 4:24. It is really nice to have a researcher point out what relatively vague phrases like this mean in connection with the rest of scripture. Wow!

After a couple hours of reading 3 sermons straight through, I needed a break. We stuck in a Thin Man movie... and oh, was that nice! "Another Thin Man", I think. Just love Powell & Loy.

Today I've had a lovely day. But it started at 6 am with lots of cramps. So I quietly went into Mom & Dad's room to get the heating pad and stayed awake in bed for a few hours, listening first to an hour of music, and then the book of Revelation straight through. There's nothing quite like listening to Revelation right after studying worship. The two are so tightly entwined.

I finished all that around 9 am, and found that cramps were gone. It is always good to lie still for a long time. It happened to also be the time Mom was getting up too, so after washing myself up a little, we all sat down to a really nice breakfast of oatmeal, egg and spam. Yum!

Mom and Dad took off to see Grandma this afternoon, so I had the afternoon to do things I've wanted to do for a long time: cancel that card that I already got the benefits from before the annual fee kicks in, close that extra checking account I got for the same sort of reason, get my car fixed up: change the oil, rotate the tires... and by the time I got home, Mom and Dad soon returned. We watched two Reilly episodes and a WENN, just for fun, and in the theme for the night... :)

Jp

And Where Do I Begin?

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:21:00 +0000

Gee, sometimes it gets hard to remember...

I was still sort of recovering from last week's crazy schedule: working non-stop though lunch most every day (under pressure) combined with 3 really early mornings for Jazzercise. I haven't gone to Jazzercise yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll make it tomorrow. Fridays are always better for it! Time to go home, freshen up & eat food before starting work.

I did manage to work on push-ups a little though. I did quite a few on Monday. The next couple days were quite a bit harder with the soreness.

Tuesday night was my last Bible class. I was able to friend the pastor on Facebook, and I am looking forward to another class starting in January. It will be on Christian philosophy, as far as he's said so far. We basically ran out of time to talk about all of the rest of the books, so we briefly mentioned the 2 books of Timothy and Titus, and then discussed Hebrews, Jude and Revelation. I did learn new things during these classes, but the best part for me was talking about main ideas and main doctrines and keeping these fresh in my mind.

Wednesday at work was the "Employee Appreciation Lunch"... with turkey, ham, rolls, stuffing, gravy & mashed potatoes. They call it that so they can get some benefit from the government that they couldn't if they called it what it is: a Thanksgiving treat. Employees are supposed to provide drinks, sides and desserts. It was a massive amount of food, but I did rather well not over-doing it. I only had a few small plates :)

Finally relaxing in the evening, after a bit of leftovers for dinner, we watched our next installment of Reilly, Ace of Spies. Oh, now I remember what I was doing between times... I finally brought my saddle and reins in from my car... left there from Saturday... eek... and I began to clean them up a little. In the couple years I've had them, I've never wiped them down. Okay... that was me being excited at remembering what I did last night. :)

Today at work, the quality engineer for my set of books almost made me mad. He had to annotate a few of the pages from my books and didn't flag them at first. Instead of re-scanning... how many would that be?... um... thirteen-hundred pages, I had him kick them up and I ended up rescanning about 60. It did take a moment to find the pages and replace them, but I'd take that any day over re-doing the whole kit. Yikes.

A bit of fun news though: I got my new MP3 player in the mail yesterday and loaded a few things on it. My goodness! What an improvement of sound and usability! It's literally a quarter of the size of my old one, and can lightly clip to my shirt without really being noticed. And I heard nuances from songs I've heard a thousand times, that I've never heard before! Neat-o!

Tonight, since Mom&Dad were busy, I went and got egg rolls at our favorite Teriyaki for dinner. When I got home, I was surprised by a package in the mail from Mike already! Wow, that was fast! And thank you very much! It all looks very fun! I'm especially looking forward to seeing those Thin Man movies. :) Right now, I'm laboriously copying over the New Testament CD's onto my computer. These commercial audio books always drive me nuts! They're always automatically named either incorrectly or inconveniently. Good thing it will be worth it in the end. :)

Okay... gotta go. The doggie is nosy-ing my arm.

Jp

A Slow Day that Went Fast

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:12:00 +0000

Well, I woke up at 7. That's right. Day off, everyone leaving, quiet house... up early.

I had a little breakfast with Meg before she left and I did say goodbye to Mom & Dad before they left, so I suppose that was a good thing.

Today I have relaxed. I worked out financial stuff that was pressing, watched a thing from the Navy about recruit training, listened to part of the Gospel of John and fell asleep curled up in Dad's big chair for about an hour. After taking care of Doggie Boy, I went off to Redmond to have a long, relaxing lunch at my favorite sandwich place, Panera Bread. I had forgotten to bring something to read, but fortunately I had a copy of American Caesar in my glove box. So I read the introduction about Douglas MacArthur while I enjoyed a Greek salad, thick tomato soup and a combo Italian sandwich. YUM!

Ever since returning, I organized my music on my computer, getting ready for my new mp3 player that I found online this morning (a small one for long days in the Navy), started planning out next year, Lord willing, and watched the pilot episode of Kim Possible that my bro copied for me when we were in Yuma. :)

Ah. I think I still need to sleep some more.

Jp

Just a Plain Old Nice Day

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:57:00 +0000

Sleeping in this morning was really nice. Really! Even if it was only until 7:15. Gosh!

After a really nice late breakfast with all four of us here (which is a rarity), Meg and I took off to Carnation to our friend's house. Meg prepared another model horse show with her best friend (who is now here, back from Mexico) and I spent most of the time out with my horse. This is the first time I've ridden in months! It was so fun. He remembered to obey me! I remembered what to do! He was a darling. We rode around in the ring for awhile practicing turning (after I had removed the little rocks in his feet - and he was very nice for that even!), and then I took him out of the pasture and down the gravel driveway a ways. This he was very nervous about because he doesn't go *anywhere* without Molly, his companion horse. He didn't buck at all though... and he even did what I said. What a good boy!

So, here I am, back at home after a lovely little afternoon with my sister and my horse... and I hear the Huskies lost terribly again. Hmm. Just like old times :)

Jp

Weather You Like It or Not

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:14:00 +0000

Yesterday was so rainy and icky in the morning... but by afternoon it was just beautiful. Cold and bright with all sorts of towering clouds everywhere. I hear they had a bit of snow in Everett.

That may well be, but this morning is our First Frost. Roofs, lawns and cars are all white this morning!

Jp

And So On

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:33:00 +0000

Thursday wasn't too bad. I did stay through lunch, but I could barely tell. One of our customers brought in a tray of crackers, humus, cheese and salami. And let me tell you, that felt really good at 9 and 10 o'clock. Normally I don't eat breakfast, but that morning I did have a couple blueberry muffins that mom had made the night before. For some reason, eating in the morning makes me hungrier in the later morning. But this wasn't all... one of the main programs had a special lunch for engineers, and one of the quality people came in and invited all us ladies to partake. Wow! It was very good lasagna, garlic bread, fresh, crisp Caesar salad and a very light lemon cake. I probably ate more at work than I would have at home!

I did end up getting through 3 of those huge books all in one day! And I only stayed 3/4 of an hour past quitting time. And when I got home, after leftovers for dinner, we watched the next installment of Foyle's War... all about Communists, embezzlement, stealing and murder in 1941 England. Very exciting.

Now yesterday, Friday, I did make it to Jazzercise again. But it always is hard to get up so early on a day when I don't have to start until 8. Although this allows me time to go back home to freshen up and eat breakfast before work, and I love that even more. When I got to work I hardly knew what to do with myself because all my books were finally all together and my customer wasn't going to be there til Monday. I wanted to crash and fall asleep, but my working so hard all week trained me to keep going even when my head wasn't in it. I ended up going through all sorts of things that had been put off.

After that abbreviated bit of work I came home and my parents wanted to go out to Chinese! I love it when that happens! I had Moo Goo Gui Pan (bok choy, other veggies and chicken) and Sweet and Sour Pork... and egg flower soup and pork fried rice. Yum! Talk about an eating spree this week! Right when we got home I had to take off for a meeting with my recruiter. I thought we'd be doing a workout, but he wasn't there... he was resting from unforeseen complications to his spleen surgery. But the Recruiter in charge was there, so we went over some things for my qualification standards (PQS) while in the program. We talked about A-school... Hey! They allow you to have your own car there!... and general boot camp stuff... about the mind game they play with you there and why. I was also able to recite the 11 general orders of a sentry that I had learned with Mom helping me on Wednesday night. I learn much faster listening to something and repeating it rather than reading.

I went for a run after this and then went to the store to get the Bible on CD... which is good for somebody like me who doesn't love reading every single day... and good since it would be great on an mp3 player when I'm bored to death cleaning something in the Navy. I hear they have to clean things a lot.

Gosh, Monk was good! I was worried the whole time they were going to wreck the Captain's heart *again*, and I was about going to kill someone if they did... but they didn't! :) I loved Monk getting so excited about being Best Man. Gee! Only three more episodes left for all time! :( I'm glad they are taking care of the characters first.

Jp

Spoke Too Soon

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:41:00 +0000

Well Monday might have been nice and relaxing, but Tuesday was like a hurricane. Had a five minute lunch between reviewing data and slapping data books together and scanning them. It took *all* morning to just scan three data books (about 130 pgs. each) because our scanner is having trouble putting a dark line across the pages... and these have to go to the customer... So after the third hour or so, I felt like getting personal with the copier and punching its lights out. And after all this, the rest of the day was spent with one mammoth book that had a huge failure in testing and therefore had twice as much paper.

That was pretty much it for Tuesday... oh, besides my New Testament class. It was good again. I'm loving this constant reminding of scripture! Next week is the last one though.

Today was a bit better, but still busy! I got up for Jazzercise again. The only way I really motivate myself is because I have to weigh in with the Navy every first Wednesday of each month from now on... and I don't want to have to work off too much. I'm pretty sure tomorrow is going to be just as crazy as today... when will it stop? :) Thanksgiving, appropriately. It's our end of the fiscal year.

Jp

And For Today

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:21:00 +0000

I made it to Jazzercise in time... sort of :) They had done the first song in which you "warm up" - by doing amazing things like stepping to the side and stretching your neck. I'm usually not ultra motivated to get there on the dot.

Work was busy today, but not on par with last week. I had time to come home for lunch and I didn't feel like I had 30 things to do every minute.

You should have seen the beautiful sunrise over the valley this morning! The radiant reds and oranges shone everywhere. But by lunchtime, this had all disappeared into a sea of grey and pouring rain, only to let up by the late afternoon. There was a brief moment of sun that I could see out the window, illuminating the fall-colored trees across the valley. When I left work today around 5:45, the stars were just coming out. Jupiter greeted me cheerily as I walked to the car.

Jp

Is It Possible?

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:23:00 +0000

Sunday, November 8:

I really liked the Will Ferrel movie 'Elf'. I know it sounds unbelievable, but the guy can actually be funny sometimes. He's mostly too crass and stupid for me, but he wasn't in this one. It was especially fun because it had lots of references to Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and a few other Christmas movies without being too formulaic. We watched it right after lunch because my friend Becky had it with her. It was a good one to watch with the family.

After the movie we played a few hands of Skip-Bo... poor Becky! :) I won all three (or was it four?) times. We then went out to get something at Fred Meyer and had Chinese for dinner while we were out. A perfectly lovely evening, really.

When I came home, I was pretty tired, but Mom and I read in Corinthians again. And after that, I picked up Mere Christianity again and finished it! Yay! But it was so long ago that I started it, I read the first book of it again for a refresher. So good. The Lord used a part in the end to speak to me directly about a sin that I was holding on to... and I let go. Sweet freedom :) I am shocked with myself that I was tempted for a minute to say "Forget you!" to God about it. He is so patient with us.

Jp

Movin' Stuff Around

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:54:00 +0000

Jason's brother's wife had to move out of her apartment into the new house today, while his brother (her husband) is coming home tonight from doing an engineering job in Alaska... what a day! So it was a hard day's work with our friends and my future family in-law :) Very happy to be doing something with my hands all day long though!

I've had a very strange week. Really intense at work... besides ten minutes for a sandwich on Wednesday, I haven't eaten lunch all week. Too busy at work to stop to think. But I did get done what I needed to get done. 8 small engines *finally* shipped on Friday! Yay! Only 24 to go... :) I've only had them waiting to get going for months.

In other news, I had a wild night of weather last night, listening to Switchfoot's new album "Hello, Hurricane" with lightning, thunder & pounding rain outside. And then of course, there was the video of "May's Fury" that I had just happened to decide to watch because I was alone. LOL

And Friday was also a Monk double-header. We made up last week's at 3PM (which I loved - what a cute little dog!), went out to dinner and then watched the regularly scheduled one at 9. Very fun indeed! I ended up falling asleep to the rain pounding on the roof.

Jp

Walkin' in Running

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:20:00 +0000

After working on that last super-long post on Sunday, we watched the next in Foyle's War. I'm always worried that they're going to kill off Foyle's son (he's in the RAF), but they just gave him battle fatigue. Whew! I really love this series.

Yesterday was wild! I woke up way early, and then unpacked and cleaned myself up. As I walked in the door at work at my usual time... a little after 7... my boss called my cell to make sure I was coming in. And as soon as I got upstairs I barely had time to sit down all day long. Worked right through lunch and stayed a little late. It was pitch black outside when I left at 5:30... so much for bike riding after work until about March.

Not only was it more than a full day of work, but after a quick dinner, I ran off to my Bible class. We studied Galatians and Ephesians a little closer than we've done in the others to discuss Christian freedom in Christ and how he becomes our identity. We talked about the difference between doing what Christ commands with delight rather than through duty. It's the only way Christianity can really work. Otherwise we start thinking we have to do all this stuff to impress God, and that is exactly what he wants to save us from. How hard would it be to impress perfection and holiness? Impossible, as far as I've experienced. So us Christians do things that please him and abstain from others that don't because we love him. His desires become our desires (slowly, but surely). Thank the Lord he has promised to help us in this.

I started listening to the Owensboro WENN program in my car on the way to class. It is so different from what I'm used to! It's fun when it deviates from the show! Except of course, when Victor speaks... :) No one can replace JBL. In order to unwind when I got home, we watched Valentino Speaks for some plot-less fun. And it was... fantastic.

This morning, you should have seen the valley! I didn't see it from my regular hill because I made it to Jazzercise this morning... but from the parking lot I saw the fog coming up to the trees on the opposite side with a thin, wispy layer of pink and yellow clouds surrounding it. Mt. Rainier was lit up in a glow of gold and the moon was still fully visible in the west. And then I walked in the door. Here we go again!

Jp

There, And Back Again

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:24:00 +0000

The puppy is comfortably sleeping at the top of the stairs now, but he sure got excited when Mom and I got back! And it's his 7-year-old birthday... Unfortunately, to him a birthday cookie is just a cookie. lol! It sure is nice to get back in the afternoon and just relax...

We got up very early, Friday morning... so early that I laid myself back in bed for a minute or two before we left at 4 am for the airport. The Fun Couple dropped us off and we went right through to security as I checked in online and we only had carry-ons. So at about quarter to five, Mom and I stopped at Ivar's for breakfast inside the airport... holy cow!... and we had breakfast sandwiches with smoked salmon... bizarre, but good! By the time we were done it was time to catch the subway tram for the S gates. We didn't have to wait long to board at all! I slept almost the entire first flight to Salt Lake City, and the second flight was so uneventful, I don't remember anything about it. No turbulence, no nothing. I suppose we did take off and land though. We got to San Diego at around 11:30 am and we went directly to the car rental place and hopped on the freeway and didn't stop until we pulled up to the stoplight at the off-ramp in Yuma, Arizona, 180 miles later. Our car was a white Chevy "Cobalt", and besides the CD player not working, it was a comfortable little ride. At least that way, Mom and I had lots of time to enjoy talking. There were two border patrol checkpoints that we went through, an awesome mountain pass (4,000 ft. elevation) with mountains that looked like they were made of gigantic rock piles (with rocks the size of cars and trucks), an enormous, white sand desert, a large, orange submersible being hauled on a semi-truck trailer flatbed, a sign saying "Next Exit, Mexico" (LOL), and 16 miles out of Yuma, the Imperial Sand Dunes (where they filmed part of Return of the Jedi (on Tatooine)... and Road to Zanzibar, among others) that Interstate 8 goes through. It was a neat drive!

We got to the Days Inn in Yuma around 2 pm and the proprietor said it was an unseasonably cold 77 degrees. Heh. We had just come from 40 degrees Seattle. We settled in, and soon Zac came driving up in his new maroon pick-up truck. It was a very pleasant meeting. But as Mom and I had not eaten since 4:45, we were slightly hungry, so we went out to eat a snack at Carl's Jr., which Zac didn't know they had. Outside of Walmart, this was his first time around town in the month that he's been there. He had just gotten the truck 2 days before this trip. Back at the motel, we piled into his pickup and got a look at his base. He drove all around, but we stopped to look in the PX (well, more than look - they had his unit patch and a navy t-shirt :) and then we took a quick tour through his barracks. I was shocked by the bleakness, but it was a nice little room. One roommate, two beds on the floor, plenty of storage space and an adjoining bathroom with the next room over. He's had wireless Internet in there for about a week now. We weren't hungry enough for dinner yet, and there was nothing worth watching at the local theater (gee, Halloween was the next day, no wonder) so he brought Transformers 2 back to the motel to watch on his gigantic laptop/blu-ray player. He's very much into movies. What an intense thing that is to watch! It's nearly all computer-generated machines slashing each other to pieces... with a storyline and disgusting stuff along with it! I hadn't realized that Spielberg was one of the producers, so that's why I was surprised. I was interested in watching it... I was, I promise. And I did enjoy watching it. I did. :) Right afterwards, we went out to Zac's favorite food place on Earth: Outback Steakhouse! I had my favorite: Tilapia with crab. And oh, boy! was that good! It's pretty needless to say we were wiped out when we got back to the hotel, so we all crashed and fell to bed.

For Halloween on Saturday the 30th, we slept in 'til 9. Lovely breakfast at Denny's right afterwards (right nearby) and then we stopped by the gigantic mall right across the street. He needed to pick up new frames for his glasses, and then I wanted a external hard drive so I could bring home a copy of all of the Kim:Possible seasons that he had on one of his. There was a Best Buy, so we were set. They have pretty much everything you can think of in Yuma. It's rather large and has a growing retirement community along with the very large Marine Corps Air Station. We then did our local sightseeing at the Yuma Territorial Prison State Park. We did quite a bit of driving around the historical district (I can be directionally challenged sometimes), but we did find the entrance after all. This place was neat to visit (as a tourist)! They had a little museum, a short movie about the place, and a walk-though cell. Not only that, but they filmed scenes from Beau Geste there! Wow! After a lunch break at Cold Stone Ice Creme (in the mall) where I had a medium cup of half pumpkin, half chocolate, (yum!) we went back to the motel and watched "Sleepless in Seattle" in the same fashion as the night before. I really did like it a lot... they filmed in the same "S" concourse that we had taken off from the previous day! After the film, we were hungry enough for dinner, so we went out to the Olive Garden (also across the street from the motel). It was one of the loveliest dinners I can remember. Cheese stuffed pasta with shrimp... and the company was good too :) To finish the evening before he had to go back to base for the night and next morning, we watched "The Prince & Me". I have to mention here that these are all Zac's own movies and also ones that I had never seen before! I love his wide taste in movies... most of the time :) I suppose I could do without Rambo 1 through 4... eeek. So he had to take off to do his duty the next morning, so Mom and I were alone for a little while. Sleep came quickly.

Sunday morning, the first of November: We got to sleep in 'til about 9 again, but Zac had to get up and to his work by 8 or so, and when he got there, they told him they didn't need him. That stuff can be hard to swallow sometimes. He also had to get a haircut for an upcoming inspection, so by the time he got back to the motel, it was about 10:30 or so. Mom and I spent the meantime reading more in the New Testament together. We've finished Romans and moved on to Corinthians. Instead of breakfast, we went to Carl's Jr. again, this time being more than just a snack. Their burgers are huge! I had one with guacamole and bacon. By this time we had checked out of the hotel, so watching movies was out. He did need some things at Walmart, so we went there first and left his truck there when we were done. There were a few museums we wanted to check out, but they were all closed. So while we were out there, we decided to go look at the Sand Dunes from the car. Zac was interested and we wanted to show him... he had been flown in to Yuma when he arrived, so he hadn't seen anything out there. We took a couple of back roads once we got to the dunes and we saw a lot of sand! It was very pretty, in its own way. By the time we drove back to Yuma, it was getting to be later afternoon and we were without an idea as to what to do, so we decided to part ways a little earlier than planned. We dropped him off at his truck and hugged him goodbye and we both took off in opposite ways. Mom and I then filled up our tank near the freeway and then drove to our pit-stop motel in El Cajon (EL CAW-HONE) just outside San Diego (where I stayed in July - the very same room!). Because it was so early (we even gained an hour on the way back to SD - AZ doesn't participate) we went to Balboa Park in San Diego and had dinner at my favorite place. There was a play going on that night, but we weren't really interested for the price it was at. So we enjoyed a long dinner and desert by the window and watched the sun set. It was a glorious time, just my mom and I.

I drove the route I discovered in July and got us back to the motel in a matter of minutes. We didn't stay awake very long... we hit the sack at about 8:30.

This morning, we didn't have to leave for the airport until 5 am! I sorta knew where to return the car... it took my third time around the block to get it right though! The car rental shuttle got us to the terminal in plenty of time, so after getting through security, we had really good breakfast sandwiches at the California Pizza Kitchen. The weather was perfect for flying, so I got lots of great pictures all the way from San Diego to Salt Lake City. I spent nearly the whole flight looking out the window. The next flight from Salt Lake to Seattle, I spent reading in Mere Christianity. I am thoroughly convinced that C.S. Lewis knew what he was talking about. :)

When we flew by, Mt. Rainier was covered with clouds to the north, but as we looked at it right out our window from the south it was just magnificent. The pilot surprised me by not landing right away. Instead we kept flying high past Seatac and circled around Lake Washington, flying over Kirkland and the U District before landing from the North. It was bright clear sunshine out and I got lots of nice shots of the cities and lakes.

So here we are again, back home. Zac seems a little disillusioned with his day-to-day in the Marines, and he spoke of getting out... It was good for me to hear him and see where he's at, so I can think of what I will do when I get bored when I get to that point. Gosh, it was good to see him! We all had a great time!

Jp

Teachings

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:55:00 +0000

Just came from my class... we worked our way through 1 & 2 Corinthians tonight, while we talked about other things like scripture translations, sanctification again (as the Corinthian Church was struggling with sin and someone in class didn't understand how they could be saved), the importance and sacredness of communion (at a level I hadn't considered before), and like every week, we talked about how the spiritual and material realms combine in Christ as he is Heaven come to Earth. I need to know scripture more... My head is swimming, thinking of all the things I want to do more. There needs to be a real effort made on my part to work at knowing the Bible better. That way I'll get to know Christ better; and what could be better?

I don't know how recently this was adopted, but the current Sailor's Creed (that I memorized on Sunday - on orders) is:

I am a United States Sailor.
I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and I will obey the orders of those appointed over me.
I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy and those who have gone before me to defend democracy and freedom around the world.
I am proud to serve my country's Navy combat team
with Honor, Courage and Commitment.
I am committed to excellence and the fair treatment of all.

Now I'm really goin' swimmin'.

Jp

Another Day or Two

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:07:00 +0000

Sunday was so relaxing, it was quite an odd feeling. I woke up around 10, went to late service, got back around 12:45, had lunch with the family, sat down and talked, ate a big piece of both the Apple and Pumpkin pies that Mom made (YUM!), took a huge nap, woke up around 7:30 as the family was leaving, watched the end of the NY Giants & Yankee's games with Dad, then watched "The Naked Spur" (Jimmy Stewart - 1953) that I had never seen before (that Meg owns) with Mom & Dad. I had a bit of trouble with sleeping since I had overslept in my nap, but nothing much to write about.

Yesterday was a crazy Monday. I spent the entire morning wishing it was September, next year. People were freaking out about my data books that are required to be sent to our customer this week, and that was pretty much it. Things calmed down by the afternoon, but by then I was really close to sleeping with my head on my desk. It was generally a hard day. Going home was a great relief. We had leftovers for dinner and watched the next installment of Foyle's War. But the greatest encouragement was talking to my friend who is going to school in Florida. She had just finished her mid-terms and wanted to catch up... we hadn't talked since May! It was only a brief 45 minute conversation, but it was just what we needed. Lots of things had happened since then! :) No problem sleeping last night! But it sure was cold... 41 degrees outside this morning. It took effort and a half to get out of bed.

Jp

Yay!

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:48:00 +0000

This is Seaman Recruit Payne reporting... for the first time.

My height was off one inch, so I was under the maximum limit by the three pounds I lost this week. How glad I am that today is over!

Yesterday at the hotel I had lots of time to myself. They said I'd have a roommate, but she never showed up. I read a lot and watched odd things on TV, like the Arts channel. It was pleasant to close my eyes listening to a European orchestra, and just rest on the double bed. I finished my quick read through the Gospel of John and the letter of Ephesians and started Bridge to Terabithia. For dinner, Uncle Sam treated me to the hotel restaurant, where I feasted on tender, grilled chicken with rice and veggies and a small cup of delicious clam chowder. As I walked to dinner, I paused by the third-floor windows to watch the thousands of little birds gallivanting about outside against a brilliant sunset over the Seatac Airport (I could see the airplanes from my room).

I was able to watch Monk, and I was very pleased with the episode... especially that they picked it up right where they left it off five years ago... very pleased. Thanks! Also, a female in the room next to me, that was joining the Marines, watched it with me. That was also nice, as I was feeling rather alone all of a sudden, and realized how I missed those who were familiar to me.

This morning I fell asleep after my alarm when off, and I never heard a snooze... I did hear a wake-up phone call at 4:45 though, and my heart went from 0 to 60, figuratively speaking, when I thought for a second that I was late (bus left at 5:30). I had a dash of eggs and water for breakfast, as I thought I was right on the weight limit. I needn't have worried! :)

At the processing station, we first had a long medical briefing, then a breath test (for drugs? - they were quite worried about drugs), then an interview with a doctor (going over all those things I already said "no" to on the forms), then a blood pressure, blood draw, vision test, hearing test, urinalysis test, then the dreaded height, weight & movement test. We arrived at 6am and we were done with this part by 11am. Lunch felt really good! I had a burger with Swiss cheese!

The rest of the day (my recruiter and I left at 2pm) was taken up with paperwork and electronic fingerprinting. The boss of the Navy office was a nice lady who knew my grad assistant conductor from the Husky Band from being stationed with her... in the Navy Band... small world! At this point, I can leave the program without a discharge... but I did raise my right hand. I am set to join as an Electronics Technician for 6 years as an E-4 if I graduate from my school after boot. I can still change my mind on the job up to about a month before I go in September of next year. Ooh-rah! :) Oh, dear.

Jp

Until We Meet Again

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:11:00 +0000

I think this is the only time today I get access to a computer... right after work today, I'm heading over to my recruiter's and then we go on to Seattle where I stay the night. It'll be an adventure though, as I've never stayed overnight in downtown before :) I hope I'll get to see Monk on a hotel TV! That's something to look forward to at least. I'm bringing about four small books with me for tonight's stay and tomorrow morning's Physical. I'm not sure when I get done on Saturday, but I'll make sure to post yay or nay right away.

This week has been good. I was a little disheartened early on about my weight, so I spent a lot of time doing cardio workouts: there was Monday's run in the morning, and Wednesday I did Jazzercise, Thursday I did another mile in the morning as well as an eight-mile bike ride after work. I did Jazzercize again today and I've been keeping the meals to a minimum. For instance, I just had cucumber for breakfast. We'll see how it goes tomorrow!

Tuesday's class interfered with my workouts, but it was good for my heart in a different way :) We talked a lot about theology... in fact, some people who came early had asked questions about salvation, so when I arrived, the teacher was already teaching. The overview is sort of a backdrop as we talk about important doctrine, such as justification, sanctification and glorification. Gosh, I have read Romans lots of times, but I never stopped and thought about the implications of these things and what they specifically mean. Good to do! Good to be able to describe what it is you are reading! Duh!

On Netflix this week we had the first disc of 'Reilly: Ace of Spies' and I enjoyed it. Dude, that guy gets himself in sticky situations! My parents remember watching this on TV back when I was very little, so they are enjoying watching some of it for the first time. When we started the first one, I was surprised that it was set in 1901... not much done about that time period! So far it's covered oil in Russia, the Russo-Japanese War and the naval arms race with Germany in 1905... neat-o!

So, until Saturday afternoon, adieu! And although I won't be able to go to homecoming... Go Huskies!

Jp

In the Good 'ol Fall

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:16:00 +0000

Well, 5 AM came and went. I woke up briefly to hear the end of my alarm going off... and then I returned to slumber. The point is to work out every day this week... so when I woke up at 5:56 again (this time really awake), I realized that I had missed my first shot at Jazzercise. Wasn't too surprised though, as I had a long, busy day yesterday. So to make up for it, I got up and out and ran twice around our block for another mile run. This time I wasn't wasted (out of breath) at the end and I did it in roughly nine minutes.

Today was the first day I went to work when it was still dark out. :( Soon the light will leave before I'm done. That's the one thing I don't especially look forward to this time of year... feeling like I'm some sort of strange creature that rises at sunset and sleeps at dawn. :) Work was work. Ho-Hum. At least I didn't have my normal post-Sunday-trip letdown. I suppose it did help that we went out to lunch at our favorite place... so between the boat-loads of work, I had a really lovely lunch: shrimp tacos and a simply heavenly seafood bisque. Yes, that helped the day a lot.

And just finished: a Facebook Album from Puget Sound and from 132nd Square Park, full of Fall.

Jp

To Be More Specific

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:18:00 +0000

There are a couple things I didn't have the patience or memory to mention last night... Another name for Puget Sound yesterday could have been the Enormous Lake of Shining Waters. We didn't have direct sunlight right away, but for at least 5 out of the 6+ hours the sun came out and blinded us on our port side, causing the waves to sparkle as far as you could see... on that note, if it wasn't for the tops of the Olympic mountains floating above a massive cloud-bank over the peninsula, you could think that you were in the middle of the ocean, the water spread out so far.

And what I forgot to mention about the service in Ballard, is that the overall message talking about the attributes of God was for us not to worry about our lives. He used Mary's attitude (vs. 46-55) about God during a tough circumstance to show that if we have the same attitude about him we shouldn't worry either, because we know that God will take care of us as he has always done. What a perfect time for me to be reminded of this as I go into a weekend that is likely to change the course of my life.

A little song I learned as a kid:

"Cheer up, ye saints of God, there's nothing to worry about, nothing to make you feel afraid, nothing to make you doubt. Remember Jesus never fails, so why not trust him and shout? You'll be sorry you worried at all tomorrow morning." :)

Jp

A Modern Whaling Story

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:45:00 +0000

All of a sudden, my friend that went with me on the Aquarium Adventure to Oregon in March, invited me to go whale watching out on the Puget Sound today. Now yesterday was pelting rain for most of the daylight hours, but all of a sudden, today was perfect skies and calm out on the Sound! A perfect day for a boat ride!

I woke up a little late, but made it out the door and to her house in Bothell fast enough (say, 15 minutes), lol, and we absolutely cruised up I-5 all the way to Anacortes, WA, where we sailed with Island Adventure Tours... and ended up going out 100 miles into the Straight of Juan de Fuca (between Port Angeles and Victoria, BC) where we feasted our eyes on a real, live cousin of George and Gracie. :) Yes, a Humpback whale! It dove at least three times while we were watching from a respectful distance and showed us his tail! The last time he came up before we had to head for shore, he rose not even 40 yds from the boat! So cool! And on the way out to this spot, we saw a Steller sea lion feeding on fish, two bald eagles, several harbor seals and a pair of harbor porpoises along with hundreds of sea birds...

...all I can say is I have a lot of picture processing to do... tomorrow... that, and I didn't need a life jacket (because there were railings all around the boat up to my waist :)

On the way home, we went to my friend's church in Ballard (north Seattle), where the pastor taught about God's attributes using Mary's song in the first part of Luke. Very nice indeed! I really like that church.

Unfortunately, it's 11 pm, it's 11 pm, it's barely enough time to sleep before 5 am... and I think I'm still swaying from the rocking of the boat... or is that... go to sleep, go to sleep... zzzzz

Night, night.

Jp

And Now...

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:25:00 +0000

This morning started off quick; I went to Jazzercise for the first time this week... and then got some new athletic shoes and gas for the car on the way home. But after breakfast at home, I was pretty uninspired to do anything else, but after doing a little more cleaning I somehow managed to psych myself up for a mile run outside (after our torrential downpour ended). I really don't like running! It took my breath away...

For fun, I drove down to 132nd square and took pictures of fall foliage for about an hour or so. After that I was much happier with the day! It was beautiful blue skies after our downpour, so the colors were very vivid.

We had a makeshift dinner... and Mom made a little more veggie soup, which was really good because it was fresh! This might help me lose whatever I can before next Saturday.

Monk was good these last two weeks! And next week is the long-awaited return of Sharona! And I must spend it in a hotel in Seattle, before the long-awaited physical. :( At least hotels have TV's...

Jp

And Again, Since Monday

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:35:00 +0000

Well, it finally decided to start steadily raining. I even got caught in it as I went to pick up data books in the next building this morning. But I could see bright sunshine over the Cascades... a beautiful sight despite the rain (which I don't mind too much in the first place). And now we're completely engulfed in dull, heavy clouds.

Not much has gone on this week. We watched a wonderful episode of Foyle's War on Monday night... a good story with lots of character development.

The story of this week is really just feeling frustrated and frayed at work. Ever since Monday afternoon I've had piles of work to do in all my departments. I came into work on Thursday morning after dreaming about chasing down traveling papers while trying to catch a plane and found that I couldn't find an MO that one of the Quality Engineers was hot for. Spent about an hour or more looking all over the place and asking a few people before my boss found it on my desk in my error pile, under a tool drawing. Sigh.

And with my check-in with my recruiter this afternoon, I found out that my net weight loss from two weeks ago is only 2 pounds... and I found out in order to do Electrical Tech, you need to sign for 6 years. Sigh... Next Saturday is the Physical, where I try to enter the Delayed Entry Program. I will talk to a detailer about my options as far as jobs go if I pass (which I'm pretty sure I will). I think I'll not worry about this now.

You should have heard the birds when I got home from work! Everywhere you looked there was a couple of them flying around. The whole world was full of singing... in the rain. :) I love all those little birdies.

Jp

Hello Again

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 05:36:00 +0000

And Happy Columbus Day!

Well, this was a rather unusual weekend.

Friday after work (and after lunch - which was steak! boy did that taste good!) I went and got my bike pumped up (and bought a bike pump - so I don't have to do this again) at a bike shop in Redmond. Previously I only had my little hand pump, and that really doesn't work on a regular basis. It's really only supposed to be for emergencies. So sometime soon I can go biking again! Yay!

Just a block away from the bike shop is a neat little store that I hadn't been to in a long time... McDonald's Books. I was really there only to poke around and look, but I ended up taking a couple paperbacks home with me. :)

But the odd part was this conference that my parents are involved with. It has to do with promoting Creation science... it's something that I believe in and agree with, but also something I am not all that interested in. I prefer history and philosophy to geology and biology. My parents are science folks though. They like that sort of thing. I remember once doing science in grade school and getting frustrated at studying "how the weather works" again. I remember I told my Dad, "I understand how clouds are made... but why are there clouds?" It must have been fun to raise me.

After helping Mom set up the snacks she brought, I raced outside to go look at the glorious sunset. I drove a ways in order to see if I could get a glimpse of Puget Sound (this was near Everett). After making a few turns I landed in a pretty swank neighborhood and gasped as I saw the Sound. It was all lit up in rosy pink from the magnificent reflection from the acres of layered clouds of the same color. The dark purple Olympic mountains were jagged against the bright orange sky. I stayed there for 15 minutes watching as the colors quickly faded to lighter pinks and yellows before they disappeared all together.

SATURDAY, October 10:
After sleeping in a good deal, I spent the day at home all alone. I thought of cleaning the house, but I never did get further than cleaning out my own room. :) Got rid of some stuff I never use, moved stuff around so it's more accessible, and most importantly, vacuumed. I almost ran out of time to eat before heading to the U for the football game, but I did get a bowl of soup down along with some cut up portions of steak leftover from Friday - veggie soup is greatly improved with steak - and I made it there just in time for the first of the four places we play for fans before the game. The game itself started badly, quickly recovered well, then went to pieces in the third quarter and then miraculously finished with a totally unexpected win. From my position in the west end zone seating I could see the whole stadium jumping wildly in ripples down the rows, accompanied by the deafening roar from all sides. I've seen games like this one was turning out to be for six years now. We knew the drill... another humiliating, deflating defeat. But all of a sudden, we scored and then we intercepted; and we won. What?! What a night.

SUNDAY, October 11: "One Weed Too Many"
Now this was really odd... I set my alarm and got up early to go with my parents and the Fun Couple down to our friend's little visitor center/museum down by Mt. St. Helens. They are an elderly couple, and they needed some gardening help. Meg was busy with grading homework, so Jason and I had a lot of time to talk as we pulled up weeds. We did this pretty much all afternoon with a break for lunch (I brought the last of the soup!) and again for dinner... it was then that I finally gave up the diet for lack of soup. I slept off and on all the way back home (2+ hours) and I think I must have slept funny on my right wrist... it was either that or the weeding or both that caused my wrist to still hurt a little today.

Monday, Today:
Busy, busy, busy at work, and generally pretty happy. I dreamt about Remember WENN last night (for no particular reason), about Betty telling Celia about Victor during the 3rd season, and I spent the morning being very, very glad that I am friends with you folks that read this. I feel fortunate and blessed to know you.

Jp

Overboard

niferjen@u.washington.edu (niferjen) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:44:00 +0000

Here I am catching up with the week again... I never do post at night.

Both Wednesday night and Thursday night I read chapters in the B-J's manual... all about ship nomenclature, design, types, functions and personnel assignments. And ever since Monday, I've started this diet that my brother used before he went in the Marines. So far it's just veggies (mostly made into a very healthy soup - that needs lots of spices) and fruits, besides Tuesday night with a baked potato and tonight and tomorrow, where it finally allows for beef. Last night after going through half of my bowl of soup and a bit of brussel sprouts, zucchini and avocado, I just stared at my bowl and put it in the fridge for today. Yikes! That's a lot of veggies. I've been doing mostly alright though because I only have one bowl at meals, and I don't eat breakfast. Others I know who have done this eat way too much of that soup! Goodness, it's been hard! My coworkers just got out my favorite fall candy on Monday... candy corn. And mom has been baking cookies all week long for the conference tonight and tomorrow. It's a darned good thing I can feel the results. I weighed myself on our extremely unreliable scale, and it looks like I've already lost 5 lbs. - we'll see how it goes. I'm feeling much thinner, that's for sure.

But along with all this, I have my doubts about the future. How dumb is it to quit your job in the middle of a recession? I have zero guarantees of finding one after the service, but a lot of the point of all this is to use the GI bill for either a master's degree in library science or (how 'bout this for random?) a band instrument repair tech. school. Maybe both? They pay for school and living costs for several years, and both of these are short programs. Okay, I'm going to stop second-guessing myself, trust in the Lord for all providence, serve the country and change my profession. Enough with being scared!

This was all running through my mind as I got up and did Jazzercise this morning and then came home and took a shower before work. I snacked on leftover zucchini for a post-workout snack on the way here. LOL

Wow, (rumble) I'm hungry!

Jp