Blog Of A Spy

Crap, Senior year gonna suck.

2006-05-07T22:15:00.000-05:00

That's my date for Prom and I...she's a beauty.

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Man, I just realized that senior year is gonna suck majorly. I don't get to relax on my Senior Year (which means no Senioritis for me, which isn't bad...) because of all my work, and my girlfriend is going to Anderson, which REALLY sucks, since that is like 2 hours away...grrrrr. Not to mention college will be up after that, which is 4 more years of suckage.

However, this past weekend has been one of the more relaxing and fun one's I've ever had. I had Prom on Friday, which was pretty much the best prom I've had yet. I went dancing afterwards with my girlfriend and about 20 other people at Copa Cabanna, and then she and I and our friends went and saw M:I 3, which I thought was pretty good. Then, on Saturday, we (she and I) hung out from like 6-11 and we watched some little kids play baseball, and we had a picnic with mixed-berry smoothies and XPLOSIVE PIZZA GOLDFISH...YUM!!!! Then we 'watched' the Sister Act, but we only got about half way through it before I had to go home, BOO! Then, Sunday has been nice, had baseball practice and went golfing and shot a 38, which is alright. After that was Sunday Night Live, and we talked about factions and divisions (mostly it talked about denominations of the church and other stuff along those lines, and it was pretty refreshing). I ought to do a spiel about that sometime; heck, I ought to do a spiel, period. I've been slackin lately..

Cisco Happenings:
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Well, I don't know what they did in class on Thursday, since I missed for the National Day of Prayer concerts...which were cool, but I missed one of my favorite classes since the school decided to make it a white day. GRR.

Les Miserables along with a miserable week...

2006-05-01T19:16:00.000-05:00

So I ended up going to a play on Sunday night, it was called Les Miserables. Yes, THE play by that name. It's a great musical and all, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But that was the beginning of the week, and Prom is going to be the end of the week.

Too bad today seemed like it was crappy. I don't have a good feeling about this week...

Cisco Happenings:
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Mr. Klinefelter gave us a big packet of labs to work with in Cisco dealing with Routers and stuff like that. I know a bunch of stuff now about how they work, and it's nice to do something other than the curriculum. Hehe, one of our routers got passworded and we can't remember the password, so we're trying to crack it, hack it, do whatever we can to free it. But anyways...that's what's goin' on in there.

A Great Break, and A Better Weekend...

2006-04-23T21:39:00.000-05:00

Everyone must be all rested up from Spring Break, I take it...I spent most of the time with Liz after the baseball squad and I put a whoop-up on a buncha teams.

Cisco Happenings://

Last week was nice, we finally got our Cisco Test working, although we're still having problems with bottlenecking (we believe). It's probably not the access point, but the switch that it's connected to; it's quite outdated. Anyways, I got an 88% on the test, which isn't too bad after I forgot most of it over the weekend.
We're hearing that Mr. Carroll might get us a few older routers that we can disassemble and examine on the inside, which is good. We need to learn those things as they are pretty important to networking and hacking.

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For those that haven't heard, Liz New and I have gotten an idea rolling with a bunchaton of Seniors and Juniors to go dancing after prom at this place that she and me both went to on Saturday, the 22nd. It's a really sweet place, open until 11, great music (they do requests, too), you get pizza, it's a really, REALLY nice place. Alot of people love the idea, and from the sounds of it, I'm going to see if we can't rent the place for afterprom. It's gonna be great guys!!! Only thing is, I might ask everyone to pitch in $2 so it doesn't hurt me so much when it gets around to it.

I haven't gotten the info yet, but if you wanna check out their website, it's Copa Cabanna.

Suh-weeeeet.

Dog Gone Cisco

2006-04-10T09:53:00.000-05:00

CCNA Happenings:
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CRAP! Our Module 2 test won't work! We think we might have cause problems with Cisco's Netacad server when we all tried to access it at the same time, but it's flipping Cisco! They're not supposed to have server problems, they BUILD servers! Oh well, I think I can remember my answers from the test, hopefully.
Spring Break is here, wheeee!!! Finally!!!!

Time to hang out with Lizzie New (for those that don't know, we're going steady right now) for a week straight. Not to mention we have baseball games all week...that's what I call a vacation.

Hope you guys have a great Easter, too!

New Beginnings

2006-03-28T07:25:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been at a loss for words lately. With the passing of a friend in Chad Canipe, and the recent departure of Mark Palmer to the other side, I've felt a little hopeless and a little hopeful simultaneously.

All I could think of when I heard the news of Palmer was that God was taking his warriors home to be with him until it's the time that they fight again. The kingdom is coming soon, and we all have to be ready, but until then, never lose hope. God wouldn't want us to.

I seem to have a weird problem with death. I don't feel emotion when people die; once, at a funeral for a friend when he had passed (he was 16 and was dying of some disorder), everyone seemed to be crying but me. I just didn't feel like not being here was something to get all that worked up about. It's not the end, but just a tiny sliver of our existance. It's weird because I take God and his promise for granted, which is unlike many, many people. Normally it'd be opposite, they wouldn't think twice about God, but he's so present, I see him everyday and it just comes naturally.

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CCNA Gear:

Took our Module 1 test earlier last week, and we all didn't do so well on it. Guess we'll see how it turns out later...

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Bringin' It Back

2006-03-21T22:45:00.000-05:00

(I've written this once, and for the sake of originality I'd rewrite it a different way, but for lack of time I can't do that quite yet.)

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Hello again. Coming to you from a dark, snowy night in the middle of March. Like that arctic sentry up there? I particularly do, mostly because he signifies a watchful eye; someone who will be ready when the time comes for some great happening, something that most others won't see coming, or, if they do, won't do much about. As you might be able to guess, I also try to be the same way. I had a nice conversation with a VERY good friend of mine about what we want to do after high school, and where we're going to live, and all this other stuff about the future. I ended up finishing it off by saying, "You know, I'm not entirely sure this is exactally how my future will be, but I'm going to do all I can to make it this way." It really got me thinking about my past and present at the same time. Questions came to mind like:

"Why did I come to CCS?"
"Am I sure of what God wants me to do in my future?"
"Why did my parents randomly stop their house-hopping in Columbus, and later, Cincinnati?" (They went all over the country before stopping in Columbus to have a house.)
"Should I stop and give some time for relaxing and meditation on the Word and enjoying life, or will I have time for that later?"
"What if I had never taken part in golf, or baseball, or the school drama?"
"What if I had never met so-and-so, where would I be now?"
"Why do I feel so warm about such an uncertain future?"

...because, a lot of me searches for purpose. Rationality. Things that define me and things that I define. Thank God for God. If not for Him, I'd be in a world of hurt. Of course, it's not just myself that searches for this rationality. That's why I love sharing my thoughts through things like "Why Trust is Essential" or "Our Stinky Mats" or "Revenge of the Shockingly Refreshing" or my issues with the modern Church and all those other collections of thoughts I put on my BlogSpot or Xanga site. It always feels good to give others the tools they'll need to endure what's coming down the road ahead. One example has to do with someone I hold dear...

Someone who shall remain nameless (at least right now, unless she says so) told me about a condition of her's (I'll just say it has to deal with some genetics she was born with) that had to do with her future, and it really shook me up. We had been idly chatting, and suddently it (the topic) came up. Right before she told me the news I said a quick prayer, because I had this gut feeling what it was about, and I really felt like this wasn't deserving of someone who had such a caring heart and obviously would do a great job, but this condition kept her (mostly) from having this opportunity without a lot of gruesome work and risk. After she told me, I felt kind of shell-shocked, but after I gathered myself, I let her know that it'll be alright, since we do have the Great Physician on our side. I think she really needed to hear that, because, maybe it was just me, but she didn't seem to worry about it any more, and that's always nice to see.

Even going back to the days when the prophets of old told Israel to be on watch for the Saviour to come, and how to prepare for His arrival, they were acting as Men (appointed by God, of course) at the Ready. So I guess you could say the job of a Sentry, of a Man at the Ready, is more than looking to/for the future, but it's also about picking everyone up and preparing them to last the tough times ahead. To me, this is a great way to further the Kingdom, and I love to do so. Yet another reason why I love being a man at the ready. Have a fun night, people. God watch and God bless.

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Lord, thanks for such awesome people as these.
We praise You for everything that has brought us before You and for everything You have brought before us.
Help us to lose our anxiety of the future, and come to us in mind, body, spirit, and soul.
Caress us with Your healing hand, and make us complete through the sacrifice of Your Son.
In all these things, I pray Your name.... Amen.

CCNA Again!

2006-03-19T18:45:00.000-05:00

Howdy doody, everyone.

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First off, another collaboration of thoughts from the Spy are coming here soon. I really do like sharing them with you; my busy life, however, dictates that there be a minimum of these collaborations, unfortunately.

Secondly, here's a Cisco report.

For the most part, our entire class has finished the DVDs we've been viewing in CCNA 2 about 'String Theory'. Cool stuff, neat theory, will be difficult to put in concrete, however.
Our CCNA 2 // Module 1 test will end up being Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on this snow I've been hearing about. Something about a couple of inches??? Anyone have anything on that? Anyways, mostly it will be over such things like...

Internal Workings of Routers
WANs/LANs comparison
Small amount of protocol

...so that'll be fun when we get to it. Personally, I'm glad we're finally diving into the meat of the course. I feel like I haven't learned much in that class since finals, and it's one of the few I really enjoy going to and learning in.

Here's to tomorrow!

CCNA Update

2006-03-08T00:32:00.000-05:00

CCNA Update:
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3/6/'06 -- Talked about Routers and WANs today. Mostly we spend classtime going over the first module of CCNA 2. Basic stuff, mostly talks about the hardware configurations of certain routers and switches, and how WANs operate on a much grander scale than LANs. After reading that, I spent a little time hacking another CCNA classmate's computer, not doing much though. I only use my skillz for good, most of the time anyways.

3/7-8/'06 -- Got home at 12:25 tonight from play practice. I'm gonna be sick or something tomorrow, I'm soooo tird. On the bright side, had chicken nuggets from Wendy's until I was stuffed. =) It's all good, nuggets and frosties are good!

School Update:
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"Fiddler" play is Thurs, Fri, and Sat.

Cyall later, more info when I'm not so tired.

CCNA 2

2006-02-28T18:42:00.000-05:00

CCNA Happenings://

(1). One Part of the CCNA Curriculum down...
Three Parts to go!!!

(2). The CCNA 2 class got a slightly-unmobile lab going in our tech room, so we can do stuff on it. We've already done the first CCNA 2 lab as well, and got a quickie look at the curriculum.
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School happenings://

Not alot, just missing out on baseball while being in the play. Clint and I were watching practice from the Drama Room when we didn't have to be in a scene or two...

Weird, network was down today. Isn't usually the case, but some kid at the other building probably hit the "Off" switch on accident.

The Shockingly Refreshing™ Strikes Again...

2006-02-19T20:11:00.000-05:00

(This post is dedicated to the awesome person we all know and love who chooses to go by the name of a Reverend Chris Marshall (but I think he's really a superhero in disguise)) Cya around, buddy!!!

I just spent about an hour hanging out with a bunch of Senior guys, Pastor Marshall, and Brian Poole, after gathering at the Starbucks in Barnes & Noble's in Union Centre. I'd have to say it's pretty refreshing to hang out with some of those guys, but I feel awkward when it's all of them, and just me by myself, since, even though Brian is a great guy, he relates more to them, and them to him, and I feel like a sore thumb just sticking out.

It's weird for me, because, as try as I may to be a great guy, accessible to all, and nonjudgmental and everything, it's almost my Achilles Heel. I belong to everyone so much, that noone really says I'm in their core group of friends, save a few select people. This translates into fun Friday nights-Saturday morning of them telling me what they and their friends did for fun....yeah, it's not cool. Earlier tonight was a great example! I was at SB with all of them, and we were going to go to a movie, but Marissa had a party and everyone but myself and Tyler ended up going there, and Tyler went over to Kirstie's... I didn't feel like inviting myself, so I just hit the Panera next door and am now chilling at home. Not cool.

Now, if someone called in 10 minutes and asked me if I wanted to do something, I'd most definately go, but instead, I feel called to deliver a "Spy Sermon" (sure, it's a bad name, but it's the best I got).
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Our Stinky Mats
(based on a sermon by Reverend Jess Abbot)
Mark 2: 1-12

Everyone in the world has problems...but this specific man had a problem most couldn't acutely deal with. He had quite the debilitating condition, he was permanently paralyzed from birth. As a paraplegic, he was unable to walk, run, mostly do anything that required mobility. In today's world, he could just call the "Scooter Store" and get a motorized wheelchair and have it covered by Medicare. Unfortunately for him, the time period is 32 A.D. and such dreams are just that, dreams. He lives in the time of the Romans, and also, the time of a man named Jesus Christ.

One day, this seemingly-otherworldly Jesus fellow had made his way to Capernaum, where this paralytic man had been forced to make his residence, and started teaching in one of the homes there. Such was this Man's fame, that the otherwise-roomy household was suddenly brimming with people, so much that they were forced to crowd around windows just to be able to hear him speaking. A group of the paralyzed man's friends heard Jesus had power to heal their friend's condition, and so they picked up their friend, who had been laying on the same mat for many, many years, to this house Jesus had chosen to rest at. Now, upon reaching sight distance of the house, you could imagine the looks on their faces as they realize the gathering has attracted such a crowd that it's spilling out of the openings. "It won't be possible for us to get our friend in there for this man to heal him..." was the thought probably running through more than one of their heads, and for good reason! 4 men needed to carry a 100-200 pound paralytic man on a mat through a door packed with people that showed no sign of parting like the Red Sea did in their ancestor's time. However, one of them got the bright idea to go up on the roof, take out enough tiles to make a large enough hole, and lower their friend through the roof so Jesus could easily access him. These guys went up on the roof, lowered this man lying helplessly on this old mat to about nose level with Jesus and the crowd, and crossed their fingers.

Now bear with me, this mat had been the place of residence for this man since he had been horribly crippled. After he could no longer live with his parents, he was most likely forced out into the street to beg for mercy from those more fortunate than him. He lived on it, ate on it, I'm not sure it was the bathroom for him, but I'm not saying anything with certainty. Point is, this mat was DISGUSTING. Back to the present, this man was displayed out on his smelly mat for Jesus and all those to see. Anyone and everyone in the village could see what life the man had lived, just by examining the rug this guy lay on. But Jesus had other ideas. Jesus, seeing the faith of his friends, looked down on the man with a smile and said to him: "Son, your sins are forgiven." Pharisees in the crowd were shocked! They said to each other, "How can this man have the authority to forgive sins? That is for God alone!!!" Jesus, perceiving in his Spirit that they were saying these things, said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." Jesus turns to the paralytic man and says, "Get up, take your mat and go home." To the astonishment of everyone in the room, save Christ, the man suddenly becomes invigorated, and raises up on his own two feet, takes up his smelly mat, and goes home in the full view of the entire town.

I can't help feeling, when I first heard this story, of the smelly mat the paralytic man laid on for years on end. To myself, this mat symbolizes everything that holds us in captivity. Drugs? It's your smelly mat. Addiction to sex? It's your smelly mat. A NASTY attitude? It's your smelly mat. We are no different than that man whom was healed 2,000 years ago. Each and every one of us carry a smelly mat, one that reeks of diversely flavored scents, but we each are either laying on one, immobilized by it, or carrying one, and have been returned to life by precious grace. I carry a mat, as well. It's one that not many people see, yet I still carry it on my back, as a constant reminder of when I was forced to lay on it and beg for help from others. Then, for some reason, our friends, or maybe our solitary friend, or maybe even someone totally unexpected, picks up the corners of our mat, and, withstanding the smell, takes us to Jesus to be healed. 'Your sins are forgiven' 'Get up, take your mat, and go home.' This healing is complete, total, soul-filling, yet in the middle of all this, we still carry our mat around. Without this mat, we'd be lacking a crucial piece of our being: memories. Memories of when we did those things, when we hung out with those people, when we were just like them. This mat, this constant reminder, enables us to notice a fellow soul lying on the roadway of life and, equipped with great faith, carry them above and beyond the crowded gathering of life and to the center, occupied by Jesus. He brings complete and total healing upon them, and they have the mat to remind them, too.

Yet I'm perplexed by some people today. Each carries a different mat, whether they acknowledge it or not, yet some choose not to see that or even to attempt to carry each other to the Christ so that they may be completely healed, too! Why!? It's it a fear that others will point out our mats and say, "You're like the blind leading the blind; both will end up in a ditch! Hah!"? Yet those will fail to see who the truly blind ones are. Take heart, people of God! Notice the paralytic person on the side of the road, immobilized by their sins and troubles and worries of life. Take up their mat and bring them to the Christ, who once told us to take up our stinky, smelly mats, as well. It's by remembering the mat we once laid on that each will be carried to the feet of God, to receive a wholeness they won't be able to describe. Never forget about your mats, for someone once carried you to the Throne when you were paralyzed in the sin of your mat; go and do likewise...

Amen and amen.

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Have a pleasant night in the Lord, my friends.

CCNA 1...Still going?

2006-02-14T20:16:00.000-05:00

Whoo, it feels like we'll never get out of CCNA 1 at the pace we are going. Exams were back in January, and we're still doing stuff from CCNA 1.

It's not like it's a massive deal, since I get to spend less time worrying about school and more about the play, which is coming up...but I feel like the cobwebs are settling in for a little while.

CCNA Happenings
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Mr. Klinefelter says we're going to be doing some more labs, and we're approaching ever so close to CCNA 2, which has to do with Routers and how they handle 'routing' and 'routed' protocols, something we learned about a while ago...which is good, since it'll be a refresher course. Here's to progress!!!

Bitter Cold, Vibrant Waves

2006-02-09T16:13:00.000-05:00

February is half way finished. The school year is approximately 5/8th's completed, and I'm missing the first 5 parts a bit more each day. That said, turmoil and serenity are locked in a titanic struggle, and turmoil is gaining the upper hand with each day...

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First: Our Bible Applications 2 teacher, Rev. Marshall of Ordinary Community has sent in his two-week's notice to our Administrative staff, and is resigning from his position at CCS to take up a much-better-paying job at Indiana-Wesleyan, at the Cinci consulate (?). I'm super happy for him, since he deserves the up in paygrade, considering the stuff he's been through, but this is a bittersweet victory, barely cusping out at 4 years at CCS, I've had him for less than one full year in class, and I'd have to say he's most likely the most practical, laid-back, level reasoned guy I've met. Too bad...it's like losing a family member in the degree he'll be missed. I was talking about it with some friends at a party last night, and it was news to them, and it bummed them out a good deal, Oops. So much for a happy party!

Second: After reading a good deal of works on politics, I'm convinced the current generation of American politicians are the most hollow-headed, selfish, out-of-touch people on the planet. Which does not bode well for anyone. We need another Reagan again; a champion for the people, for Capitalism, for America. Stupid Alzheimer's...

Third: Valentine's day was QUITE tumultous. 'Nuff said.

Fourth: UCONN LOST TO VILLANOVA, ARRGH!!! (I'm a big UConn fan.)

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However, life isn't so bad as we all portray it. Politicians can only screw up so much, we'll still get to see Marsh every once in a while (and I'm secretly visiting him down at the Barnes and Nobles in an hour and a half...heehee), Valentine's Day is ALWAYS tumultous, and UConn is still going to win it all.

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Cisco Happenings:

Anyways, the class of Cisco is progressing well. Mostly we've been upgrading our work area (Graceland) for CCNA 2, by prepping a small lab and organizing all our gear. We still have to take the official Final Exam too, sheesh, we better get motoring. I wanna get to CCNA 3 and 4 next year. :P

Doc and Rev. Klinefelter have also brought up an interesting point: "What if we make our room Podcastable?" Certainly has a 'cool factor' of 10, but practical implications could be scarce, however. Yet, it's right next to the Chapel, so we could make that our audio/video lab, and run our tech sector out of there. Not to mention (I have some pretty good experience with FTP and servers, so I could do this), we could make those podcasts, and our lessons from those classes, and student resources all available on the File Server. Doc showed me a good 'library' service-type resource, which is an excellent way to organize stuff. Funny...my father has been using technology like that, called Socrates, for a good while now, and to great effect.

I finally have Studio MX on my laptop in there, so I'm going to be tweaking with that, too. Flash, here I come...

And rumors of another "Spy Sermon" abound, so stay tuned...

Interesting Situartion

2006-01-23T17:35:00.000-05:00

Well, old and faithful, I'm currently in a situation that is quite the predicament. Without delving to details, I'd love to hear from you guys if you think it's morally right to completely rip another person's parents when they're deserving of it.

Granted, I would NEVER do such a thing if it weren't warranted. But I feel this person's parents have alienated that person because of multiple errors by 1) the parents, 2) the person, and 3) me. Now, they told me it was nothing against me, but I'm told they don't trust me, which I DO believe is degrading, after all, I have gone out of my way to make sure they CAN trust me.

So what do you think? Comment it up.

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2nd Semester Starts Tomorrow!!!

Yeah, and I've been practically beaten and drug to the conclusion that I should join choir. Mrs. Cash can be quite persuasive!!!

Oh well, I'm sort of looking forward to it, despite the fact I've been sick lately, and my voice has been suspect because of raspyness and clogged sinuses. I'm feeling alot better though. Honest!

WoOoT! Cisco party on the first day for Cisco back!!! GO REV. K!!!

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I can only hope in the midst of my mess, the Lord will come and craft order out of this chaos. This is my prayer for today....
Good luck and God bless.

Exams!!!

2006-01-15T11:44:00.000-05:00

Well, exams are this coming week. Cisco has been fine, and I'm starting to come down with something, think it's a head cold. Oh well...

We've been finishing up our Web Design projects in class, and our group finished ours ahead of time, so I'm using the time to blog.
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Anyways, I'm worried about exams. A couple we haven't reviewed quite enough, and while I'm confidant in my (mad) own(age) skill(z), it could be tough to study for. Anyways, Cisco and Algebra II will be the hardest two in my opinion, because we just do so much we run out of time in both classes. Cisco will probably be the easier of the two, but it'll be interesting to see how they come out.

Have fun frolicking in the weather!
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UPDATE 1/18/06 : Cisco Exam Grade: 70% (weighted) / 66% (non-weighted)

Phew, that was a tough one. Although, I do believe I did well.

New Year's Post

2006-01-07T15:38:00.000-05:00

Gentlemen, the 2005 is almost a week behind us. Well, technically it is a week from today. But anyways, how have you all been doing in my absence. Sheesh, has it really been since December 12th that I've posted?
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Well, I'm here to fix that. On the right over there, you can see a bundle of children playing "London Bridge". The painting itself looks old, yet vividly colored, and the children look like they're having a fun time imagining the bridge about to fall down. It's a painting of children using their imaginations to make a normally bland scene bright and fun. Anyways, on a networking note, it looks like how a compter network could be really complicated, and if one hand breaks the link, you'd have a tough time finding the break. But outside of the networking, it's pretty relaxing to see the kids playing around and using their imaginations. Wish that would happen more today, but that's just my two cents on this. It seems that they also look like they're having a peaceful time coexisting, too. I wish we had more of that at the same time, but again, unlikely.

But these are my takes on the picture. It's kinda calming to look at it, really, since it's a nice takeaway from modern life, which is so full of troubles and things to distract you.
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Not much happening today, tomorrow is the Bengals game. Come on, Bengals!!! Stop the bus here! Along with the Bengals game, the pastor our church has been looking at and having conversation with is coming for a big congregational get-together, and I hope it goes well. I'll tell you all about it Monday or maybe Sunday, but probably not.
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The CCS drama is in full swing, and I've been graciously given the part of Fyedka (who runs off with Chava) in "Fiddler on the Roof". It's a dubious honor, since I'm the only main that isn't Jewish, and, even as a Russian man, I have to hit some pretty high notes in one particular song called "To Life."

It's not fun. But I feel like I'm going to have a blast with it, though! I'll catch you all later.

A Growing Community

2005-12-12T23:08:00.000-05:00

Man, let me just say how awesome it is to see our school community growing, hopefully together.

Zach Garretson has a blog up now, along with non-Cisco-ites of Lizzie New and Rochelle Mayberry, so I'd advise you guys to watch those.

CCS now has an official bulletin board for the school to call it's own, and it's popularity is spreading. It has around 20 members now, and is frequented by a few. Staff have also picked up the torch and registered there, which is great.

Christmas break is upon us, we just have Hell Week (Navy SEAL term for really tough week in BUD/S training) to go through, and then we're free!!!!!

Snow Days and Forum Blaze

2005-12-09T03:16:00.000-05:00

Well, it's done. The long awated, much coveted, Friday-snow day has finally appeared. In the midst of this, we've gotten some nice powder. Unfortunately, it's really light and not good for packing snowballs.

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In all this excitement, Mr. Klinefelter has established a forum for ALL of CCS to visit and use. Clearly he's an awesome guy; no-one else would have the know-how or will-power to actually maintain it or get it going. It'll be pretty popular here soon, I just know it.

Speaking of technology, we quickly reviewed Module 6 on Wednesday, but the snow day changed the plans to have the test on Friday, so it's moved to Monday. Module 6 could be one of the harder one's so far, just because there's a TON of detail dealing with duplex modes, Layer 1 and 2 protocols, and Deterministic/Non-deterministic methodologies. Ah well, I cannot wait to take the test and show 'em how it's done.

And apparently the crossover cables didn't work on the Xboxs, so we have to use the old straight throughs and switches, which is inconvienient.

We Must Never Forget...

2005-12-07T09:53:00.000-05:00

April 18, 1775.
June 18, 1812.
1846.
April 12, 1861.
April 25, 1898.
April 6, 1917.
December 7-8, 1941.
June 25, 1950.
1961.
August 2, 1990.
September 11, 2001.
March 20, 2003.
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These are all times America has been forced to participate in a war. More often then not, a war for peace. Peace from tyrrany, despotism, fascism, and communism. Now we face terrorism, and unless America catastrophically fails our troops, we will win. Like we've won so many other battles through our firm resolve and will to fight to live, no other force on Earth can truly combat the will of a people to protect and serve each other.

We must never forget the sacrifices made, and will continue to make in the coming year. Never forget, never fail.

Knowing Hurts Less Than Guessing

2005-11-30T23:14:00.000-05:00

Ever invested time? Time you thought was going towards an achievable, valiant goal?
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Ok, maybe I lied. Maybe it wasn't annihilated. Maybe I'm just stupid sometimes. I really ought to be more patient. I can at least take comfort in the fact that if I had been a year earlier, it would have happened.

Yes, we talked earlier, during assembly, when people were flinging themselves over a line of plastic money. But I had the deck stacked against me from the start, she's dealing with her senior year, and more pressures and problems then she would care to deal with, and I just have bad timing trying to start a relationship at this point of her life. However, in keeping a good attitude about it. Cedarville isn't that far off, and I cannot wait for her to get her Christmas present.

Far as I know it, nothing has changed. Just the facts were spoken.

At least listening to Coldplay helps a bit. =P

A Retro Christmas

2005-11-30T09:48:00.000-05:00

As soon as I said retro Christmas, you all thought I meant hippie didn't you? How about I do you one better:

A Christmas where you watch things like "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.", and "A Charlie Brown Christmas", and "Scrooged", and "Elf", and "It's A Wonderful Life." Amazing movies, things that really hit your heart where it counts. This may be the most cliche thing you hear all day, but I love the Christmas season not for the presents (oddly enough, when asked what I wanted for Christmas, I didn't say anything back.); I really don't WANT anything substantial. I thought it would be nice to get so-and-so, but I didn't really want anything. I just wanted the snow that had been so long in coming, and an excuse to stay indoors and make hot cider and hot chocolate, and roam through the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights, and to hang out with friends that I'd needed to hang out with for so long.

Well, I can't say that I don't completely like presents. I like making them and giving them to others, and seeing them ask, "Where did you get this???" Then what makes it better is the look on their face when I tell them I didn't buy it anywhere...I made it. The cheer I get from the Christmas season makes every other holiday pale in comparison.

How fitting that our most joyous season is the one where Christ comes to Earth. It's the first week of Advent. Only 4 more weeks before the big Birthday!!! Unfortunately, I'll be in Florida for most of the Christmas vacation, so I won't have too much time with friends. I'll have to make it up to some of them, but I promise I will.
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Cisco is progressing well. We're currently on Module 6, Ethernet Fundamentals. My dad is pretty into this Cisco thingy, mainly because he's an engineer and and stuff. He taught himself submasking last night. He's been pushing me pretty hard in this class to learn alot. His IT department head wants to talk to me, and I'm getting a MindLeaders account for Christmas so I can get other certifications and stuff. Resume building time!!!

Should help for College and stuff to have all this knowledge under my belt. Should help.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2005-11-25T17:52:00.000-05:00

As some would say it: Happy Turkey Slaughter Day!!!

Hope you all didn't stuff yourselves silly...
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All's quiet here at home, been driving, hiking, and listening to alot of music. It's a darn shame it's too cold to do stuff outside, or I'd be out at 3 in the morning with my flashlight and paintball gun exploring the woods.

Why a paintball gun? Well, it was a year ago, but I swore I saw some coyote-dog hybrids running around in the woods while I was back there. I let my friend's mom (who worked at the park) know, and she said they thought some wild dogs were running around in the southern section, but they say they took care of them.

Never can be too sure, even at 3 in the morning. =)

PS: READ THIS BLOG! It's a Marine in Iraq's blog. Really upbeat, especially for a soldier. This blog is another reason why I love our troops so much, they ROCK.

The Kingdom Is Among You Now

2005-11-21T20:23:00.000-05:00

It's amazing what God does when you assemble. I see it in Chapel, I saw it on the Mission Trip, and I saw it also on Thursday, November 17th, in a small home, next to a large church, in a community in Norwood, Ohio.

The time: 6:00 PM
The place: St. Eliza's (or rather, a small house next to it =P )
The whut?: Believers from all over, or so I heard, assembled for an outpouring of Biblical proportions. Hearing the buzz over at AK's, I stopped by, bringing the Puppychow that's now practically CCS-famous, and saw a mystical sight. A small town house, which I later learned held up to 14 people at one point (amazing in and of itself), was the host of a conglomerate of people who had come to see the famed St. Elizabeths!

I walked in, immediately felt welcomed when people asked me who I was and that when I mentioned Chris Marshall and Aaron Klinefelter, it was like they had known me for years. I talked to guys like Kevin Rains, Eric Keck, Matt Murray, and Ken Oster. Plus numerous others, like Tracy and Steve, whom I learned was also a web design afficionado. But man, the conversations were buzzing, the kids were laughing, and there was some good stuff there. Unfortunately, I got cut short when I had to go get church pictures (blargh!) but from what I saw, it was rockin.

I don't care what everyone else says about the "Emerging Church" or how getting tattoos isn't right, that was the Kingdom, right there in front of me, and it felt good! That wasn't the "emergent church" as quite a few know it. It was Bible-driven, community-engaging, fellowship and worship of the Most High.

It was there that I also dropped (practically) a bomb on Marsh and Kliney; and asked them, on their home turf, about the emerging church, but I was met head on with excellent points, and that just reaffirmed what I thought about them already. I feel pretty sweet about what's happening there, now I just need to get a car so I can drive down there and investigate further!

Yeah, that's my backyard.

Anyways, in other news, my body hurts from an awesome session of baseball conditioning with Kev. Savage, (rockin' Mr. Savage!!) and somehow, it feels really good. Just had about 6 eggs (no really), and I have alot of energy for tomorrow and the weekend. However, one thing is nagging me, and it's concerning a certain female (the one that Doc was tutoring at lunch, Mr. K, that's Sarah), but I figured it was for the best that she hang out with her family and fellowship with them, while I find new trails through the woods behind my house, yeah so I'm unselfish like that; still hoping we can do something over the weekend (No, we're not BF and GF...yet =D ). Yeah, this picture is my backyard, or what some would call "Sharon Woods", and I went on a nice hike through it on Sunday night. Yep, so it's a hiker's dream - when the locals don't yell at you for trekking down a stream in the middle of some public property.

Yeah, I got chewed out by some old lady, but I was diplomatic, and explained that although it wasn't probably safe for the homeowners who's "property" (little did she know it was actually the Hamilton County Park Assocation's property) I was roving over, it was much less safe for someone like me, and if I was the only person she would see back there, she and her neighbors were fine. Now that I think of it, being nice and not being very blunt like I could have been was my own little ministry to her...in my own way. But not to mention that a few of my pictures I had taken of the wilderness on Sunday (20 of 26) got corrupted in the process of moving them from the camera to the PC. ARRGH!

Ah well, the rollercoaster of life goes on. God stays faithful.
Selah.

100!

2005-11-17T11:13:00.000-05:00

So we finally got a party in Cisco! Someone got a hundred! Actually, Tyler got a 97% and was really close, but I went over the 90's hump and hit the triple digit number!

Everyone seems to be doing well on the test, so we are pretty excited about it. Go CISCO!!!

Transition

2005-11-12T23:29:00.000-05:00

Tonight is the beginning of a new experience for me. I've seen it for a long time coming, but had no idea how this particular situation would pan out. Tonight, our senior pastor had his retirement dinner, leaving our church without BOTH pastors, as our associate pastor left for Pennsylvania about a year ago. We still haven't found a senior or associate pastor to fill the void, but we've been gracious to have a retired reverend, who I hold dear to my heart, (A Mr. Ken Soderlund) serve as our interim pastor until our "Call Committee" can decide who fits our congregation.

The new senior pastor, when he gets here, will have massive shoes to fill, although we are trying our best here at Prince of Peace not to give the new person (when he or she comes) that impression, for you see, Pastor Stroeh was our senior pastor for over 34 years. He started in 1971 for our church, and as such, holds a special place in many, many people's hearts.

If you are reading this, please pray for our church in this time of transition. It's one of those churches that is truly a 'diamond in the rough'. I just feel God has his hand guiding us along, and I'm faithful that he'll give us someone who will teach us just as much as 'ol Pastor Tom Stroeh did.

For the love of comments...

2005-11-12T17:33:00.000-05:00

...Someone other then me post on Rochelle's blog!!! EDIT: She has many wonderful things to say, and the Kingdom is surely with her. Come on, what are you waiting for, go check it out!!!

It's in my link bar on the right!!! --------------------->

Baseball and Christmas and Living Simply, Oh My!

2005-11-11T23:00:00.000-05:00

I am super excited! Doc Savage gave us the word; the word that BASEBALL conditioning begins MONDAY! Now, normally, a guy like me wouldn't be into conditioning like this, but I'd have to say, I am just PUMPED for this baseball season. I've got a chip on my shoulder from last season, and I let it show over the summer league. Why, I just voluntarily ran 3 laps around my neighborhood, which is approximately 1 and 1/2 miles, then had a banana and checked out the stars. I was blessed to see a shooting star, which was exciting for me, since it was my first in a while. Ya know, if you just look for stuff, you can find alot in everyday life that we take for granted. Clouds, fresh fruit, and simple conversations are these great pleasures that we don't notice alot of the time, yet I want to pay attention to this kind of stuff.

I've been reading a book called "Simplify Your Life". This book is a list of 100 ways you can simplify your life through doing what-may-seem-like-difficult-yet-not-type things, for example: Maybe this isn't practical, but one suggestion is to quit buying clothes that need dry-cleaning, or start buying groceries in bulk, or stop making your bed. Honestly, do you really need to make it spotless when you're just going to jump back into it about 15 hours later? If you say cosmetic reasons, then my point's proven. Don't get me wrong though, fixing the sheets when they're on the floor probably isn't such a bad idea, but it doesn't need to be like the surface of a pristine lake, no ripples in sight.

Alot of things in my life have pushed me towards this veritable "Return to Eden". In fact, that's what I'm going to call my weekly thoughts on this subject of simplicity. It's remarkable how complexity can grow on you. The American lifestyle is one of busyness, which I don't believe is how things ought to be. Rather, Rev. Aaron Klinefelter (My CCNA Teacher) mentioned "spiritual disciplines" that, when applied to your life, actually stretch your perception of how much time you have left to do work. I spent about an hour and a half lying on a hill next to the 3rd Green at Sharon Woods GC (I live one minute tops from there) watching stars, and yet it seemed like it took at least 3 to soak it all in.

I have another suggestion: [) Go see the world. (]
While on the mission trip, a group of people and myself were chatting about where we would like to live, and I got to start it out. First thing I said was: "I'd really love to settle down in New Zealand. I mean, everyone wants to go to Australia for the scenicness of it, yet New Zealand is practically the same place, and I'd want to go there just to get away from it all; to live a simple life." People's eyes widened, I received some headnods, and heard some "Wow, New Zealand, that's where I want to go some day. Great idea!" I mentioned the same thing to my mom, and she said: "Well, have fun, and don't mind the sheep." I chucked at that, but I'd get used to sheep running around I guess. If not, I could always chase them off with a tennis racket...or SOMETHING.

Anyways, I'm glad that I still have time before college and girls and life to be able to lay down, chow on a banana, and trace pictures in the sky. Try it, live simply. Be a rebel.

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My mother is currently practically yelling at me to get to bed, but she apparently doesn't grasp the fact that I got much less sleep on the mission's trip and still operated optimally all the time. Eh, it's alright though. I've decided to wrap up this portion of "Spy vs. World" with a tribute to Christmas time:

Some Children See Him

By Alfred Burt

Some children see Him lily white,

The infant Jesus born this night.

Some children see Him lily white

With tresses soft and fair!

Some children see Him bronzed and brown,

The Lord of heav'n to earth come down.

Some children see Him bronzed and brown

with dark and heavy hair!

Some children see Him almond-eyed,

This Saviour whom we kneel beside.

Some children see Him almond-eyed

With skin of yellow hue!

Some children see Him dark as they,

Sweet Mary's Son to whom we pray.

Some children see Him dark as they,

And, ah! they love Him so!

The children in each different place

Will see the Baby Jesus' face

Like theirs but bright with heav'nly grace

And filled with holy light!

O lay aside each earthly thing

And with thy heart as offering,

Come worship now the infant King,

'Tis love that's born tonight!
'Tis love that's born tonight!

Well, that's all I got. Night all.

Da SpyGuy

Revenge of the Shockingly Refreshing™.

2005-11-09T09:22:00.000-05:00

Greetings to the blogosphere. I'm sure I speak for a great many of us when I say that a little retreat here and there is healthy for the soul. Having just gotten back from a school-sanctioned "mission trip", I'd like to say I have firsthand experience with the subject. I met new people, saw new places, and did new things, and witnessed barriers being broken down, and regretably, some were built.
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The Doc and myself had a good, long conversation about life and relationships, and trusting others with your soul's "checking account". It's on this subject I'd like to talk about "Trust."

Why Trust Is So Important
---------------------------------------------

1) Trust is essential for relationships. - Without trust, we cannot possibly hope to unlock the full potential of a relationship. A friend of mine named Kevin Savage (affectionately known as Doc) illustrated this concept to me via an example of a checking account. A relationship with someone is your checking account. You have to put something into it to take away from it, or else your check would bounce, causing more problems. You would have to steadily maintain a trusting relationship with that person to keep from "bouncing" when you get into an argument, or from totally losing that relationship with your lack of maintenance. I've had friends who periodically show up now and then, but it's not like it used to be with them, partly because my changing circumstances caused that relationship to start to wither away. I find myself longing for "those good old days", and it's because you need to 'deposit' every once in a while.

2) Trust is a risk. - With every bit of trust you put into a relationship, there's the potential that you will be betrayed; your heart splayed out for the world to see. Yet it's also in this dark prospect that you achieve the greatest joy: if you find someone who trusts you and you also trust, then it serves as a "shoulder" to cry or rest on in times of trouble, a veritable oasis for a weary traveler. This risk almost serves as an adventurous icon, but it can be emotionally and physically exhausting to clean up for things you said to someone you trust, which is why I usually test people first (which may not be the most trusting thing, but maybe the most prudent). I've found people with the capacity of being excellent friends, yet I don't feel like they could handle the situation correctly, possibly for reasons being that I think their understanding isn't that of mine, or they'll try to judge me for it instead of just listening, or that their loose lips will sink my ships. This brings me to my next point:

3) The amount of trust you put into a relationship is connected to the intimacy you get out of said relationship. - This is pretty self-explanitory. No trust in a marriage leads to false information, which leads to lies, which leads to fighting over not telling the truth, which leads to other problems. Likewise, not trusting in God leads you nowhere. I'm currently trusting God with a certain person, and I've already had experiences with her (oh dear, it's a female! God forbid we have fellowship and relations with someone of the opposite sex, just like God wanted it to be....) that I've been awed over. I don't know if she and I will know each other past High School, but even if we are not, the things she has shown me are too precious to attempt to put a value on. My trust in her and her in mine is our vehicle to otherworldly things (literally, we were stargazing on Monday night, yet our time was cut short, ARRG). Trust enables you to do amazing things.
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Of course, those who choose to not have relationships can not ever trust, but that's not a healthy thing to do.

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Bengals : 7-2!
WHO DEY!

Ten.

2005-10-24T09:23:00.000-05:00

Well, I've hit the big ten count on my blog post total. Ironic how it co-incides with the end of the quarter, because technically I should only have 9 if I did one a week. Oh well, them's the breaks.
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In other news, the Cincinnati Bengals came out with another "W" yesterday after a battle with the Green Bay Packers. Not only should we have buried them after so many interceptions, but the ending of the game was quite interesting. A fan stealing the ball, a fake spike, an underhand pass after the line of scrimmage that was completed... wow. I laughed for a good five minutes after that one.
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Ah, Monday is a test day in Cisco. We're finally going to be taking the Cisco Module 4 exam, and I'm expecting to ace it. Then we'll get to PAR-TAY! It's gonna be easy though, as a class we already took it at the beginning of the module as part of an experiment, but the experiment had mixed results, some did well, others didn't fare as good. But we're back to our routine; hopefully we'll speed up and take care of the other modules that we are behind in.
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My grandmother is in town: she's visiting from the Tampa, Florida area. She was blessed to be booked for a flight about a month in advance, and it turned out she left the morning Wilma was supposed to roll through. But she was here to see my sister confirmed into our church as a member (you know, affirmation of Baptism thing), and we all went out to eat afterwards. It's nice to see her again, and we're planning on heading down there at Christmastime, but we're probably going to lose our entire Christmas vacation... X-(

Anyways,
Peace

Shockingly Refreshing™ (Part 2)

2005-10-20T18:51:00.000-05:00

Glorious, isn't it? This is half of my room, after what looks like it was destroyed by a nuclear device, only without the unsightly crater and nasty radiation...but I digress.

...And yes, that's me, looking every bit as disgusting as the room behind me. Those are pretty cool shorts, too. Heck, they're cooler then me....maybe.
--------------------------------

N - E -WayZ. I'm slightly hyper, I just finished a tall glass of Sprite, and ate a packet of Quaker Oats "Cinnamon Roll" Oatmeal right out of the packet (no bowl, I know I'm crazy). Not to mention I worked out for an hour today, mostly abs and legs. Did me good, that it did. I was so tired, and practically felt sick, so I know I worked myself well.

School is giving me a couple of headaches, although there's some light at the end of the tunnel in the form of a 99% quarterly on my history, and the test over Cisco turned out well, although I was going for an ACE so our class could party, which is much needed among all the classes I think. However, the only class giving me trouble is the one I didn't even get to see my interim over! WHAT THE HECK!!!!???? I'm confidant I'm only bloating it with how worrisome I can be, but it's a viable concern. Anyways, I'm not too worried about it, still 3 more quarters and 2 exams left, so I should be OK, but its not even the now that worries me, but how will it affect my college standing; sorry, I get anxious sometimes.

Fall's in full swing, leaves are falling, temperatures are dropping, kids are moping (including me). I only hope God can give me a light to see through this mess of pea soup I call "transition". Needing to worry about ACTs, SATs, colleges, grades, a social life, sports, working out, friends, this weblog, and an outfit (I'll talk about that later) can put some major pressure on someone.

On the brightside, my fasting went well, and it also taught me some important things, if not at least one: "Don't worry so much! I've got it handled. -God" I just need to have faith in Him. Which leads me to say...

I PROMISE I'll get to the thing about Trust next time around!!

Shockingly Refreshing™ (Part 1)

2005-10-16T22:18:00.000-05:00

Check me out! All you faithful may be wondering if I fell in a hole, but I'm here to say that I did not fall in a hole, but I was actually hanging about 20 feet above the ground on a high-ropes course with my "churchies" (homies, churchies; same thing) on a two-day church retreat.

The theme was "Trust in Troubled Times". What a great theme! The guest speaker was Dan Stroeh, son of our own Pastor Stroeh, who I hold dear to my heart because he also has cancer of the nervous system, Neureo-something or other...basically he has tumors on his nerves all over his body. It literally would eat him alive, but for some reason, he doesn't look all that bad, except for having the use of only one leg (he needs a cane). He really is a funny and great guy, and we had quite a few good chats. I really liked it, all of it. 'Course, I also ripped my favorite hoodie of all time: my Road Ragers hoodie I get in trouble for wearing in school all the time. It's not that bad though, I'm probably gonna sew it up or put laces in to make it more rugged looking.

Anyways, the theme of trust is something I had SERIOUSLY needed going into the weekend, and I came to face some darker manifestations of myself over the weekend. Good thing I'm more then a conquerer in Christ. But the theme is something I'll digress over 'l8r'.

As it turns out, Cisco is going to be picking up speed like nothing other. Since we're so behind in our studies, Mr. Klinefelter is saying we're probably going to take two tests in three class days, which could be tough on us, but we need to speed up since the end of the quarter is in less than a week, so we really need to pick it up. On a positive note, the exam over different types of media should be really easy, so I'm aiming to ace it ("when anyone aces a test in Cisco, we get to have a party where you can consume things" -Rev. K), so I hope I do well!!!
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Da' Cincy Bengals pull it out again! 5-1 after a come from behind win over the Tenneesee Titans! Chad Johnson, Chris Perry, and Carson Palmer all had excellent games, and Carson is tied with Peyton Manning for the most consecutive games with a QB rating over 100 at "9".
WHO-DEY!!!

Deceiving Appearances

2005-10-08T15:11:00.000-05:00

I'm listening to a massively awesome song called "Arcane Echoes".
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We were visited on Friday in our CCNA class by a Mr. Teller of Anixter. I'd like to say he had some big shoes to fill; to be honest, a bunch of us thought we would be bored out of our minds without Rev. K. around teaching, but I'd have to say he was a pretty interesting guy, and he did a good job on the presentation. He showed us alot of gear and wires/connectors, alot of stuff I had not seen before. Absolutely amazing how much technology advances on you without knowing. Apparently the capabilities of fiber-optics are way beyond what I thought. Can't wait to hear what they come up with next!
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I could imagine you guys could think of about 20 different things that could be deceiving to you, well I found one out over the weekend that destroyed "my best laid plans" (I got the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" DVD over the weekend, amazing movie...) and threw me a wicked slider. Apparently, certain people may or may not be what you think of them, even when they seem to be amazingly genuine...

I'd have to say it really shook my core, since I tend to think of myself as one of those people who can see that coming a mile away, it was right under my nose the whole time, and yet I failed to notice it. It took a long conversation with a friend of a friend to get the whole truth (names withheld to protect the innocent and guilty), and yet I'm still having a hard time grasping it. Part of me says: "Ain't no way!" but a darker, sage-like voice is also saying: "You had to know it was too good to be true. No one's that perfect."

It's amazing. I got caught up in blissful ignorance, and caught an uppercut right to the jaw. But, true to my trademark style, I changed my plans lickity-split, and was all for the better. Part of me is still carrying emotional baggage, but as time goes on, it's hurting a bit less.
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On an even better side, I had an awesome Friday night hanging out with some friends I hadn't seen in months, and we're planning on getting together even more later on this month and next month probably.

It's ironic, probably two of the most pivotal events of my year happened within hours of each other. What timing. No coincidences there, I just have to find out what kind of shot just went across my bow. I think I have a good idea of what though.
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Man, it was freezing today! Had to wear a tuke just to keep my ears from freezing off. It warmed up a little later, to a nice 59 degrees, so it was much more comfortable later on. Hope the trend keeps up, from what I hear, it's supposed to be nice later on this week into next week.

Hoo Rah!

2005-10-04T17:46:00.000-05:00

^---- Check out these goofs! The Homecoming game was a heartbreaker for the football team, losing 33-32 in overtime. The guys played well, and as of Sunday morning I was still feeling bad for them. Homecoming went well, though. From what I heard, one of the better ones that we've had. It was in a great location too. I thought it was a sweet place we were in, and went exploring a little. Got to eat outside, as well, which was unique. ---------------------------------------------------------------
But other then that, school resumes. Prom thoughts are already going around, I've heard. Cisco is going well. Our class got the chance to take the Module 2 Exam over again, which was needed for quite a few of us. The first one, all failed but one, and even the guy who passed didn't do so hot. Anyways, Rev. Klinefelter said our performances this time 'round were much better. And everything is starting to click, so we're picking up the pace a little. ---------------------------------------------------------------
I received a chance to lead my youth group in something we like to call "Sunday Night Live" last Sunday. I'd have to say I was really excited, and put alot of thought into what I was going to talk about. It's like a youth awareness thingamajig that we do all these games and activities and the host talks about life and other applicable thing...amajigs.

Well, my sister and Mr. Marshall (Bible Apps. 2 teach) each gave me great ideas for a topic, so I ended up doing it on "conflict". I made some rather interesting points, and we had a good discussion afterwords (our youth group is a sharp bunch).

Some of the things we talked about:

Keeping the Kingdom in Mind - Our church, about two years ago, had a BIG debate over where our music liturgy was going. It was contemporary vs. traditional. It was a pretty heated discussion: One member said that he wouldn't accept anything but traditional only. Our pastor said something along the lines of "Look, I'll bless you as you go on your way and go out our church doors for the last time, but we cannot accept a traditional-only format." The guy ended up leaving. Someone in our youth group asked: "So he lost?" I turned and said: "We all lost if he ended up leaving like that." Deep.
Diversity - I brought up the point that "Our diverse (supplemented by our sinful) nature is a breeding ground for conflict. Just the fact that we all have different ideologies and methodologies is a testament to that fact." I just threw in this little tidbit for added effect: "If I chose my way all of the time, I'd be wrong in 50% of cases." It isn't really meant to be taken literally, but it still carried power.
How Jesus Handled Conflict - Jesus was a rare case. He was a peaceful man, not looking to start any conflicts, yet he knew inevitably he would face them. He faced his disciples, the Pharisees, Satan, and His own mission on numerous occasions, yet not once did he take a "live-and-let-die" attitude like so many so called "peacemakers" of today. He faced them head-on, keeping in mind that every conflict was a chance to strengthen those around him and Himself, most notably, all the times he taught his disciples a new lesson.
Fight or Flight? - Invariably, we have to face conflicts at some point and time in our life. How we handle these conflicts is a direct portrayal of our spirituality. If we handle them with mercy and love, yet resoluteness, they see that in ourselves, and also our God. This also carries a little footnote that asks: Are you in a conflict just to conflict, or are you doing this for the better? The former is no good, no one wants to know a God with followers that constantly bicker like children.
Is It Even Applicable? - Constantly debating things that might not even matter in the end is moot. There's a reason that we have a Bible, we can each read it and discern from it what we want. If someone thinks that a passage implies "So and So", they can believe that if they want. The only exception would be purposely warping something that is blatantly obvious, like interpreting "Thou shalt not lie." as saying "Thou shalt not lay down." or something rather obvious.

It was such a good topic because you could kind of feel some weight drain from the room afterwords. Was there some tension being built up because conflict is a topic many churches avoid altogether? I believe this answer is "Yes". Why is this so? Why not equip people to handle conflict in a much more prepared fashion then avoiding a topic that might carry some emotional baggage with it? Apparently, they believe the Pros don't outweigh the Cons, but that's their problem.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Anyways, it seems the weekend is going to entail a much needed
break. Possibly going to the movies with some female folk (at least 2 but maybe 4), going laser tagging with some friends, playing golf, and watching my Cincinnati Bengals play the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Jags are no slouch either. A win here by the Bengals, and they get to a coveted 5-0 start. But they have their work cut out for them. A good offense early, and containing the run are going to be their keys for success, that and minimizing penalties. But if anyone can do it, WE CAN!

WHO DEY!

Change of Seasons

2005-09-28T20:22:00.000-05:00

Enjoy the new look? I think it's ok, more appealing then the old black on.....black. I can do more with this one.

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So! Another summer's come and gone (so I'm a week late =P ), and another 3 months of our lives have floated down the drain. I always feel like I missed something every summer, always left with regrets, although I exhaust myself physicially. Maybe that's the problem, physically exhausted, but not spiritually or mentally. Maybe a fast or two is in order. On a very serious note, the prospect of fasting fascinates me. All I really heard about was a hard fast, but I should have applied a Lent-like approach to it. But I digress, I really, really want to do one, but I'm in the height of my fall sport, so I must put it on hold. Ugh. Another regret.

Anyways, speaking of regrets:

I regret I haven't talked to Rachel more.
I regret that God hasn't taken a bigger hold over my life then he has in the past.
I regret I haven't shot a 39 all stinking year at golf, and I didn't even do it in a match that counted. Go flippin' me.
I regret that I don't have my license yet, because doing so would make the below regret MUCH easier:
And I regret my life is so crazy with my family and church and school I can't even make time for friends!!!

Although, it's very apparent that God answers prayer. Yesterday I really, really needed a free bell right before lunch to get caught up so I wouldn't have to work through lunch again, and not 5 minutes later, something unexplained (that's not entirely true though) happens, and we get a free bell. I literally just turned my chair, raised my hand, and said really loud: "WOW! God answered my prayer lickity-split!"

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Anyways, I'm missing Cicso again tomorrow. AGAIN! ARRGH! It's Ok, I don't like "White" days anyway. I don't know if anyone else at CCS feels this way, but they REALLY dropped the ball on scheduling. I'm sure Mrs. Zoeller, or whoever that does it, isn't naive enough to actually think it isn't a good idea to split classes that would assign above average amounts of homework so we don't get overwhelmed certain nights, and underwhelmed the next. It's really bad for our parents, our lives, our homework, in general; and our psyche, yet it still happened.

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I'm also really ticked at the world. People can have absolutely no common sense. Chris Marshall of "Ordinary Community" (he's my Bible Applications teacher) and I had a short-but-sweet conversation at the end of today's class over... I forget what it was over... anyways it went something like this:

Billy: "So, Mr. Marshall, you acted as a homeless person for a time?"
Mr. Marshall: "Yep. People always say that homeless people should get jobs... Let me tell you, it's not that easy."
Billy: "Did you try the library to go learn and get some skills, as I homeless guy I mean?"
Mr. Marshall: "Yep, but, ironically, the librarian wouldn't help us, seeing as we were all dirty and smelly."
Billy: "What? It's his JOB to help you! How can they make judgments like that?"
Mr. Marshall: "Apparently, he assumed I was a homeless guy, and he didn't help. At all."
Billy: "I'm glad people have common sense. Seriously? He wouldn't even help find a book?
Marsh: "Nope."
Billy: "That kind of thing REALLY makes me mad. Wouldn't even do their job..."

Wow. That's screwed up. Enough venting, I should only be so happy with myself considering how blessed I am.

Sickness Bites

2005-09-25T22:31:00.000-05:00

Sorry for keeping my loyal fans waiting so long. Viruses hit hard; I'm a first-hand witness of it. After just over a week of coughing, hacking, weezing, and a lost voice that's found it's way home (finally), I can resume blogging without making a mess of my keyboard.

We missed the Seniors on Friday. Us Juniors started watching "Sneakers" which is turning out to be pretty good. I had never heard of it before, and while I like Tron a bit, this is pretty neat. It may be a little out-of-this-world, but it seems to be rather enthralling. I just have a couple of problems with that scenario back then. I realize it was probably REALLY easy to hack, but that just looked too easy. Ben Katenkamp and Myself probably have seen and hacked real things, but that was elementary stuff. I mean Ben and I have a computer game called "Uplink" that's way harder then how they pictured it. Other then that, I'm pretty good with it (the movie).

Cisco is hard. Let no one tell you different. My dad seems to believe that it's not as hard as it seems to me, but he's also done college level physics, gotten two engineering degrees, and had alot of experience under his belt when he started working on networking and communications applications. I'm a Junior in High School, and while I'm a bit pleased with myself on the 77%, I'm worried about the rest of the class. Some of them might read this, and, let me tell you guys, I may seem smart, but sometimes, I'm just lucky. I'm worried most of us might be in over our heads.

Anyways, I was really disappointed when I missed the football game Friday. Had to babysit the younger siblings. Homecoming is a week away. I'm excited only a little though. It's just a glorified social time to connect with people you may not have seen in a while. It's strange, I still don't know some people here as well as I should, and I'm definately sure not alot of people here know who I am. Nope. But really, I'd much rather not have people around me know the truth sometimes. I don't care what anyone says, there's just some demons that only you and Jesus get to face together, and I can depend on Jesus a bit more then some of my earthly friends. Well, just don't give up, because that's the only way you can fail yourself. To not try. Noone else has to know you didn't make it, and most people don't know when I don't make it!

Of course, I like being a mystery at some times...

Atlas of Cyberspaces

2005-09-10T18:12:00.000-05:00

Cisco Class is going well, but school in general isn't going so hot. I don't like the way some of the teachers operate.

We checked out the Atlas of Cyberspaces on Thursday. Alot of the stuff is nifty, but really localized to a point. It's interesting to see how the internet is connected like a massive spider web. It made me ask "Just how much stuff is out there?"

I was specifically looking for a poster or screenshot of Earth that shows all the wired connections to each other. It had the "lattice" of the networked websites shown all over the globe, and the number of connections were astounding! Unfortunately, I couldn't find what I was looking for on the atlases of cyberspaces, though I was expecting it to be the poster child of the Atlas of Cyberspaces.

Amazing to see that the Internet came from a small network called MILNET, thanks to DARPA. Another amazing technology courtesy of the Army!

EDIT: Happy 7th Anniversary, Reverend K!

Aftermath

2005-09-01T06:20:00.000-05:00

After seeing the pictures of Katrina, and hearing the stories, I'm relieved it wasn't worse judging by what could've happened. If you think about it, only one or two levee's failed during the storm, and while none should have, all of them could have failed just because of the sheer amounts of water that was bombarding the coast. If that would have happened, disaster could have been catastrophe.

Yet I'm glad it seems the only major loss was in property and not in life, although the lives lost were tragic, it pales in comparison to the deaths in the Iraqi stampede. Well over 800 lives lost just because a bridge collapsed! Not to mention the injuries involved as well were atrocious. It's unknown if the man who caused it was acting maliciously, but if he wasn't he sure goofed up. It kind of makes you think about Freedom Of Speech and the like, but that's a can of worms I'd like to open later.

Expectations

2005-08-26T09:24:00.000-05:00

Taking the CCNA Assessment course really just jogged my memory there. As you should know, I am required (by law as it were :P) to keep a journal or online blog. Being a tech whiz, I opted for the 'wired' solution, which has turned out to be an interesting experience. I've known about blogs for a long time, but I just never got into the scene. Blogs seem pretty nifty, but I wish they were more customizable. These templates seem too vanilla to catch my attention, much less anyone else's.

Yet the mere fact that they're here put a major broadcaster under the microscope means they're a big deal. If that one guy said: "The pen is mightier then the sword." then what does that mean for blogs?

First Time's a Charm

2005-08-25T00:14:00.000-05:00

Well, all you loyal fans out there - all one of you - this is my first blog. I'm going to take the liberty to say to comment on graduation: I, for one, don't believe that time speeds along quickly...for myself, at least. It's kind of a struggle to make the days pass when you count every second looking for something radical.

My Bible Applications teacher, Reverend Marshall, said something along the lines of: "Our journey with Christ should be an adventure". I heartedly agree, but I guess my journey with Jesus doesn't give me the adrenaline fix that alot of things I've done in life has. Not to say it isn't daring, dangerous, and rebellious, but I do pray for (oddly enough) more action in life. God does answer prayer, but in his time, so I wonder if I will just get what I pray for, but there's this little thing called prudence in the back of my head wondering if what I am asking for won't come from behind and nip me.

Such are the ramblings of a person at 10:30 at night. Life goes on.
Semper Fidelis

PS: CCNA is rockin'!