Apomo

Been planning our vacation to Virginia/Maryland. Here’s our tentative plan. Our goal for this trip is three-fold. 1) Have a vacation, have some fun; 2) Familiarize ourselves with the area, meet a realtor, drive around the neighborhoods of Williamsburg; 3) Help our 8 yr. old son get a feel for the place so that he can visualize where we’re moving which hopefully will make the transition easier for him. My kid loves science, and is quite interested in history too.

Day One: Visit Arlington National Cemetery in the morning. Lunch w/my brother who works nearby. Drive down the coast to Williamsburg checking out the scenery and getting a feel for the area, particularly in Gloucester County which is on our short list for a place to live. Maybe meet a realtor there if time permits. Spend the night in Williamsburg, also on our short list of places to live.

Day Two: Spend most of the day at Colonial Williamsburg which is a very cool Colonial Town that’s been restored to Colonial specs. There are all sorts of reinactments, museums, operating Colonial stores, demonstrations, etc…Everybody there wears the Colonial dress. I went there as a kid and remember it as being a really, really cool experience. In the late afternoon we’ll meet w/a Williamsburg realtor and maybe see a couple houses. At the very least we’ll drive around Williamsburg and check out the neighborhoods, centers of business, etc… At night we’d like to go to a restaurant and see if we can’t strike up a conversation with some locals and get the inside skinny on the area.

Day Three: Drive to through the east side of Richmond, checking out the areas as we go, including downtown Richmond. We’ll spend about half the day at The Science Museum which my kid will love. They have an IMAX theatre there too. Would like to visit the Speedway to check it out briefly. Mid-afternoon or so we’ll drive down through some counties we’ve not visited to get a feel for those areas and make our way to Virginia Beach. We’ll stay there at a hotel across from the beach.

Day Four: Spend the morning at the beach. Drive another route through some new counties, around the south, west, and north sides of Richmond and up to Fredericksburg on our way to Baltimore where my brother lives. We’ll stop at Fredericksburg and check out the Civil War battlefield and museum they have there. Then we’ll drive the rest of the way up to Baltimore and stay at my brother’s house.

Day Five: We’ll sleep in and spend the day with my brother and his family and all the nieces and nephews will have fun. Maybe a BBQ at a park or Chuckee Cheese or something. I might invite my friend who is a cadet at the Naval Academy to hang out with us too.

Day Six: Spend the day in Washington DC checking out many of the major sites at the Mall. Union Station, Library of Congress, The Capitol, White House, and Lincoln Memorial. We won’t try to do them in-depth. Just visit them and hang out a little. Just enough to whet my son’s appetite. They have this TourMobile you can take where you can get on and off as much as you like all day and the driver gives you narrative along the way. We’ll do the whole circuit on the bus/tram but only get off and check out about half the sites.

Day Seven: Spend the morning with my SIL and her kids. In the afternoon, fly home.

Day Eight: Sleep all day.

All in all we’ll end up driving through the heart of about 25 of the 92 counties in Virginia as well as visit or drive through all the major cities and large towns of south and east Virginia. Plus have some fun and meet a couple of realtors. I think this trip will give us a good idea of what to expect from the area and help us choose the best place to live for the next many years. I have all sorts of hard data from the 2000 Census, data about the schools, business development, racial breakdowns, political breakdowns, income breakdowns, etc…. But there’s nothing like being there in person to get an emotional connection and to help figure out where the best place for your family actually is located.

Got word from State Farm that I passed the initial exam. Evidently 50% fail it. On to the next step…background checks.
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Very good book. I’m not sure what to even think about it yet. I’ll have to read it again and give it some thought. I identify with a couple of its main characters on several levels and its on interesting way to look at the idiocy of our culture and our need for God.

Am going to order Anne Lamotte as well. Been meaning to read her for awhile. My friend Russ is reading one of her books and says I’ll dig it. I’ll read more Huxley too. Thanks AN!]]>

(Did I just post two posts in a single day? Wow, it really is slow at work)]]>

It’s been extremely slow here at work so I’ve been redeeming the time by doing all sorts of research in regards to relocating there. Lots to think about. Been studying the demographics of the area, looking at real estate, checking out the school systems, figuring out where the areas of growth are, where centers of business are, moving costs, tax rates, etc…. With all the data in hand we can visit there and get a visual, personal, emotional impression and hopefully make sound decisions as to where we want to live and work.

I really hope this works out. My wife and I sat down for lunch the other day and wrote out a Pros and Cons list. We ended up with about 23 pros and struggled to come up w/4 cons. Across the board it will be a huge improvement and step forward for us.

But one thing I’ve learned the last few years is that many times what looks so great to us really isn’t the best thing according to God’s plan. So, we don’t marry ourselves to any plan or idea. We check into it and allow for God to do what he wants too because his way is always the better way. Like Christ in Gethsemane, “Lord, this is what I want and if it’s possible to do this then that’d be great. But, even so, I want your plan, not mine.”
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*Found out today that they’re finally going to bring the second agent into my office in two weeks. I have mixed feelings about that. Happy that I don’t have to work six days a week any longer, which will give me time to do the State Farm vetting and get everything sold and ready to move if need be. But, it’ll mean my income will drop some for the next several months. Also, a little pissed off because I feel dissed. I was number one in the region last month. Three weeks later they bring in another agent. That’s bullshit if you ask me. Nothing I can do about it though.

*Met with the guidance counselor at the local community college. Found out all I need is a Philosophy course to graduate w/my A.A.. Figure I’ll take an evening or summer course and get that in the bag. Only need nine more units to complete all my transfer credits. Might try to complete that too. Thanks for the inspiration Prov!

*Really pissed at a “friend” of mine. Several months ago my 8 yr old son and her 9 yr old daughter kissed a few times. Innocent childhood stuff if you ask me but her parents spazzed out and our relationship has been strained ever since. Found out today her Mom has been talking to people about it as if my son is pervert or something. I wanna take Mom out behind the woodshed. And not to kiss either.

*On a really serious note though. My friend Russ’s wife found out she does have grade 2 breast cancer. Not sure what the prognosis is since they just talked to the doctors earlier today. But one thing’s for sure, I’m going to much more supportive and helpful than I was with my other friend Dave who died from cancer about three years ago. I really let him down when I let life get the better of me and wasn’t there for him when he needed me the most. I’m not sure if I can ever forgive myself for that. Hopefully this time I’ll be a better friend.]]>

Got several appointments for routine tests on my heart tomorrow. Sandwiched the job interview in between a couple of the tests. I hope it goes well. Even got my hair trimmed and am going to buy a new shirt tonight. Dang it, I might even wear a belt…and socks too. haha.

Had a weird theological thought on Sunday. Went to church w/my wife and the pastor was talking about how in the OT they would give sacrifices to roll the sins ahead a year. They weren’t “remitted” according to our definition and understanding of remission and foregiveness, just postponed until the cross when they were “put under the blood”.

Not sure if that’s theologically correct. But if so, if made me think a little. If Jesus was the final sacrifice for past, present and future and we’re following the pattern of the OT, then are all sins (past, present, future) “under the blood” retroactively and proactively? Even unrepented ones? I find it interesting that in the Gospels Jesus frequently forgave people’s sins even though they didn’t “repent”. He just did it because he could and because he wanted to. Am I Calvinist?

Another thing that I’ve thought of more than once the last few days. I need to pray for a God awareness. As a former fundie and a product of modernity, I find it too easy to compartmentalize. I tend to do that with God. When I’m at church I generally am pretty aware of God (assuming that I’m actually AT church and actually paying attention), but too many times when I’m at Wal-Mart or Casa Flores Mexican Restaurant I’m not always aware of God. I forget he’s there in the room. I forget that in Him I move and breathe. It’s too easy for me to play the hypocrite and do the right thing when I know people are watching and have Christian expectations of me. But when I’m alone I tend to forget that I’m not really alone. 

I guess what made me think of this again was reading Truett Cathy’s book. He mentioned how his Chick-Fil-A people are taught to treat each customer as if they’re the President of the United States. Sounds great, but we don’t really do that. We treat people differently, depending on who they are. We do the same thing with God, depending on where we are. Obviously, if he was standing right there in physical form we’d do much of what we do differently. At least I would, speaking for myself. But, just because he’s not standing right there we sometimes fool ourselves into believing he’s “up there” and doesn’t see what we’re doing, or saying, or thinking. It’s weird how we think.

I think the Apostles had a real sense of God awareness because they actually knew Jesus as a real person. They had a point of reference, a bank of memories and observations. Us, we have just words on pages and some generally screwed up interpretations to go on. I think that’s why he’s not generally not ’real’ to us. He’s too much of an abstract conception in our minds. I don’t know of we view Jesus as a person as much as a concept, a figure, a figment of imagination.

I want to have a God awareness that understands his abiding presence every where, all the time. I think David had that. Abraham had that, and some of the prophets. I think that’s part of what set them apart from everybody else.  Much strength, power, and conviction would come from this kind of God awareness. How much easier tough situations would be if we truly understood that he’s HERE in our struggle, like he was on the boat in the storm. He’s not somewhere else and comes to visit us from time to time. He’s here, all the time. But I forget that most of the time because my awareness level is low. 

Maybe I’ve been thinking about this too because I can’t get the U2 song “Wake Up Dead Man” out of my head. 

On another note, I think my wife and I have come to an agreement on church attendance. They started a 9 am service at the church. It’s 1 hour long and they try to be laid back (you can bring your coffee and sip it during service, woo hoo!) So we go to that together most Sundays. Then we put the our 2 yr. old demon in the nursery and the older one in Sunday School for the second service and my wife and I take off for a two hour brunch and coffee date. It’s a nice arrangement.

Took a little exception to something else the pastor said. He talked about the role of the Holy Spirit is to empower us to “do the right thing” in our lives. It’s to give us strength to help us do the things we should do as Christians even though we don’t always want to, or are unable to do on our own because of our sin nature. He talked about how in the OT they were given the Law and told to obey it but had not help in doing so. But us, according to him, now have an aid to help us live up to standard of “the right thing”.

I disagree, I think the Holy Spirit’s role is not to necessarily empower us but to actually change us so that what was difficult to do (“the right thing” ) is now a part of our nature. The essence of the Law was to live in love. As God’s love changes us we begin to live within the Law of Love because it’s written on our hearts, not just written down on tablets of stone. Obviously we’ll never arrive at any nirvana of perfection, but the process is transformation of character not just behavioral modification. 

I mentioned this to my wife and she said I was being too critical. She thinks that’s what he meant. Ok, maybe it is what he meant, but it’s not what he said. Maybe I am too critical, and a little self righteous too I’m sure. But the mere hope for empowerment misses the point in my opinion. Fundamental tranformation is goal. See, I’m still a fundie.

Now that I’ve worked myself into a state of high dudgeon I’ve made myself hungry. I think I’ll head on down to Casa Flores and get me a nice beef quesadilla.]]>