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Vacation Time

Well, a while back I talked about how Nichole and I were going to go to Breckenridge in September for a wedding. But, after going through the costs and some thought about it we decided to scrap that idea and decided to do, what I think is, the ultimate vacation.

We booked a cruise! Just 47 days from now, May 4th, we will be sailing out of Port Canaveral for the Bahamas. It will be a 4 day cruise aboard the Carnival Sensation. Withen my family, we like to call this cruise, "The Booze Cruise". Haha. Our ports of call will be Freeport and Nassau. Having cruised before, I have been to these places, but I can't wait to go again. What makes this even more exciting though is Nichole is a first time cruiser. Having never cruised before, this will be a whole new experience for her. 47 days and counting.

The Chase

I just thought I would share with you, what our Sammy did yesterday. 

So, after church, I knew I had to go pick up Katie (my sister) from her job at McDonald's. She's too lazy to walk. So, I had to drive clear across the county just to pick her up. But, anyways, I decided I would take Sammy with for a  car ride and then let him run around like a fool in my parent's backyard. He had a great time running around with the other dogs and trying to hump Bridget! Haha. On the way back home I stopped by Cheryl's house to pick up the computer. Once we finally got home, I'm getting out of the car and before I could even close the door Sammy jumps out of the car and takes off! He bolted across the parking lot and down the sidewalk. I took off after him, but he was running at full speed and I had flip flops on. His ears were flapping in the wind and you could hear him galloping away. Meanwhile I'm trying to chase him down, running out of breath and to no avail. He gets all the way to the other side of the complex before he stops to pee on a tree and I lurched at him. But, he was too quick and got about another 20 feet ahead and peed on that tree. I catch up, jump and caught him. Of course he got a spanking and a good talking to as I carried him home... both of us panting.

Happy St. Patty's Day

I can't wait to go home tonight and have dinner. Being St. Patty's Day, what else would we be eating but corned beef and cabbage. It's been cooking the crock since last night. Corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and some good Gulden's mustard. It's going to be an awesome meal.

Trash to Treasure

Speaking of free (see prior post), Nichole and I have been getting some good free stuff lately. As my family takes care of my grandmother's estate, I claimed the desktop computer. My Aunt was kind enough to bring it back with her yesterday and I ran by to pick it up. It does need a little work and has some virus and spyware issues, but once those are fixed it will be trucking. Our old desktop was so slow and old that it was time for a replacement. But, the best "free" we have had all week was last night...

I was taking Sammy for a walk and we had to go drop off the trash. There is always some interesting crap lying by the dumpster. Quite often you will find some paintings and pictures, cabinets, bed frames and I have even seen a stove and TV. It's amazing what people throw away, but most of it is all junk. Well, not last night! Lying next to the dumpster was this very nice, chocolate brown, leather (might be vinyl) headboard with a sign attached, "Free Headboard. Enjoy!" I was skeptical for a second. It has to be damaged or something. But, after taking a good look, it looked perfect. I brought Nichole down with a flashlight and we took a look at it. It was like brand new! Why would anyone give it away for free or throw it out if it was brand new condition. They could have gotten something for it. People are always trying to sell their "wares" on the peg boards. But, another man's trash is another man's treasure. After some work and modifications, we now have, what is basically, a brand new, in perfect condition, chocolate brown leather headboard. It's awesome. Now, we have to get rid of our old one.

So.... we have for sale:

Light oak, queen headboard with iron work

We also have:

Mintek DVD Player with remote

(not sure what size) CRT computer monitor, black

Free

Run over here to get your free on! (It's been a while)

Church Chat

The Oklahoma trip was awesome and well worth it. We learned a lot and got to meet some really cool individuals. Now, the team that went, has some new ideas and thoughts about going forward in our multi-site ministry. When we returned last Monday, we were thrust, full force, into this holy week. I've have been so busy with church lately that I have had to go out there the past 4 days! I have to go today. It's really cool what we can pull off. For Palm Sunday we had our regular worship team of instruments (drums, bass, guitar, piano, etc.) and we added a small orchestra consisting of viola, violin, cello, flute, trumpets, oboe, clarinet and sax. Services looked awesome and sounded amazing.

Back To Blogging

I haven't blogged in a while because we were having some ad/spyware/porn issues on the blog. For some reason, both my Aunt's blog and mine got infiltrated with spyware. But, it had to have been embedded in the blogs, because only those blogs had pop up spyware. Well, thank God it is gone. So, now there will be lots of catching up to do.

What We Are Doing Here...

Just a few shots of what we have seen and what we have come out here for. 

This is Life Church's Production Suite. From here the message and service is captured not only for recording and archive purposes but it is also beamed via satellite to their 18 satellite/multisite sites. The signal is beamed in realtime, therefore all the multisites receive the signal in realtime and display it to their congregation. It's really awesome, what they do. This is what Van Dyke is eventually wanting to do.

This is at one of their multisites. We went to Tulsa today to see how they put together on of their multisites. This one in particular because it is a portable site, meaning that every weekend they load in all this gear, set it up and then tear it down after service. It all contains 3 huge screens, intelligent (moving) lights, hazers, a full band, lots of trussing and a decent sized sound system. This is only the sanctuary. At all their multisites they also have a children's ministry and meeting areas. It's a big production. This is how our multisite at Van Dyke operates. Again, this site receives the message in realtime via satellite. It's a pretty cool experience.

Okie

So, I'm in Norman (20 mins south of Oklahoma City) Oklahoma and it's not much different than Florida. Of course there are some different options for food such as Taco Bueno, Red Robin and Grandy's and there are plenty of people that do not know how to drive, but other than that it's about the same. Except for the topography of the land. I thought Florida was flat... but this is flat. You can see for miles across the land. We are on the fourth floor of our hotel, so I can see even farther than that from here! It's pretty cool.

We decided to eat Red Robin last night for something different. I definitely did not want to eat at some place we have back home and with red Robin being right next to our hotel we decided to go there. I had an awesome Sicilian Burger. Mmmmm good. 

Also, we are staying at a La Quinta Inn & Suites. Now it is common knowledge that, in English, La Quinta means "Next to Denny's". But, this is the first La Quinta I have seen that is not next to Denny's! They are right next to an Ihop though. Maybe since it is an Inn & Suites they decided that they must also upgrade the restaurant.

Here are some shots from the hotel room. Nothing exciting...

Here I Am

Here we are... in Norman, Oklahoma and it is cold. I mean freezing cold. Well, maybe not as cold as where my friend Leebo is, but still cold. It dropped down into the upper teens last night. No snow though. Right now it is in the lower 30s. That might not be that cold to some of you but there is some wind out here in plains and it cuts right through you. Plus, remember, I am from Florida where it is always warm. This past winter I didn't even have to bust out any of my sweaters or long sleeves. But, I have them now. I'll try to stay warm.

Flying Sucks

Nothing like sitting at the airport waiting. Yep. My flight on American Airlines this morning was originally for 7:50 am. So, I got up bright and early to head on out to the airport. I got here and yes, the flight was cancelled. Apparently they are having some nasty weather (snow) in Dallas, where my connecting flight was at. So, after waiting over an hour in a huge line to get to the ticket counter, I was issued a ticket on Delta for a 12:25 flight to Atlanta and then to Oklahoma. Well, at least we are getting there. But wait, there's more. We go to our terminal and go through all the screening and de-clothing bs just to find out our flight got pushed back an hour! Now we are leaving Tampa at 1:25 pm instead of the original 7:50 am! At least we will not have to wait as long in Atlanta for our 3:40 pm connecting flight.

Page Rank

Well, I'm now a Page Rank 0. The big 0. Just like the rest of ya.

Business Trip

I'm getting to get away for the weekend, which should be nice. A few guys from the church and myself are flying to Oklahoma for the weekend. Yeah, I know... there is absolutely nothing in Okie. But, we are going for a conference with a stage and lighting company... the geeks we are. I'm excited to be going. Not only do I love flying, but it's all paid for by the church. We'll be gone for 4 days. It should be a good time. It will be nice to get away from work and the daily grind. I don't even know what the weather will be like. I guess I should get on that.