A Jet fuel shower.

Today at work, I experienced something a little more exciting than normal. It was so windy on account of a cold front moving in, that nobody wanted to fly. It was a clear and sunny day, just too windy. So, all flights for my shift for canceled. The mechanic, Mike, and I were talking about helicopters and how one goes about fueling one. I was told what to do if one were to land, but such landings were few and far between. I ended the conversation by saying that it'd be rare if one were to land when I was working.

A few hours later, I heard a noise on our radio. It sounded like someone was trying to radio in as if they wanted to land. Since nobody had taken off, I assumed that nobody would be landing. A few seconds later, I heard the sounds of a helicopter. Mike came running into the office saying, "Your first helicopter just landed!" Sure enough, as I walked out onto the parking area, a chopper was sitting there with its rotors still whirring.

It's kind of ironic that my first encounter with a helicopter that close was also the first time I was to fuel one. Luckily, the pilot was a jovial type of guy. When the jet fuel sprayed up out of the goose-neck fuel intake and all over me and the chopper, he simply laughed and said, "Whoops, I should have told you about that. At least you were upwind!" It wasn't hard to fuel, it was just messy with that type of intake. I am told that the jet fuel smell won't come off for about a week or so. The people sitting around me in my first class of the day definitely noticed the smell. They were getting light headed just sitting near me.

From now on, I'm wearing a rain jacket when I fuel helicopters.

A strange phenomenon.

The other morning I woke up to something very strange. It was very cold outside and as I left for work, I noticed something all over my truck. It was hardened water! I've never seen such a thing on my truck before...it was as if dew somehow solidified on the vehicle overnight. I had to scrape it off the windshield and windows. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was ice. Oh wait, IT WAS ICE!! The misery begins..........................

Progress report

Well, nothing new is going on up here, so I figure I should just give an update on my academic situation. I'm barely holding on to an "A" average and may have just dropped to a "B" in one of my classes.

Surprisingly enough, the class that I thought I'd get a "B" in, World Literature, is the class that I may end up getting an "A" in. I just received my second paper back from the literature professor and it was an "A" for the second time. The papers each count for 25% of the grade, so two "A"s and an 88% on the midterm give me good odds of getting an "A" assuming I receive a good grade on the final exam.

Another class has turned out differently than I originally expected, unfortunately it's not not as positive as the first. I started out very strong in philosophy class, but I may drop to a "B" after the result of this last exam.

The other classes seem to be strong "A"s so hopefully I will be able to hold on to those.

Until next time...

Still here...

I know it's been a while, but I assure you there's a reason for it. Let me try and bring you into my world for a moment. Imagine yourself wading out into the water at the beach all the way up to your nose. Then a large set of waves come in and every time one hits you, your head goes under. Just as it passes and you're able to catch your breath, another one comes. This is what my past few weeks have been like with school. The moment I get done with one huge assignment or test, I can barely catch my breath before I get slammed with something else. I am slowly loosing my grip on an A average for this semester. I definitely do not recommend allowing someone else to choose your college courses for you...even if they are an employee of the university. The fact that I have to juggle two jobs just to barely squeak by financially doesn't help either. I may have an easier time with school if I could actually focus on school 100%.

Well, enough of that stuff. Some good things have happened lately too. My girlfriend, Le'Rae, and her mom, Debbie, came up a week ago to visit during the fall break period. We were able to go to the natural bridge which is an hour north of Lynchburg. I've never actually heard of it even though it's apparently one of the 7 wonders of the natural world. It was really cool and I enjoyed the nature trail there. I would like to go up there one Saturday and take some pictures with all my photo gear. I don't know if that will happen as I have ZERO time and it will be getting very cold soon. I don't think snow covered nature trails are that attractive anyway. I'm really glad they both came up. Le'Rae and Debbie always go above and beyond when it comes to taking care of me. It was nice to be able to spend time with my girlfriend and also all the other McGregor people that came up for fall break. We had our own little McGregor party.

Speaking of McGregor parties, there was another fun event that happened just today. Aiden Nix, Pastor Powell's grandson, turned 1 today. Pastor and his wife came up for a visit and I was able to sit and chat with Dr. Powell which was nice. Hanging out with the Powell/Nix family and some of our mutual friends was a big stress relief that was much needed.

On another positive note, I was finally able to move into my room last week. It still has some finishing touches, but all of my furniture is in, and I was able to clean out the living room and it's actually functioning as a living room now. The house is slowly coming together and it's getting to the point where I actually feel at home when I'm here. The only downside is that with this really nice room (it's better than anyone else's...even Jeff's) comes a rent payment. I will have to start working more hours in order to afford the rent and other bills. Not to mention that my meal scholarship for Liberty has officially expired, so now the food at school is no longer on them. I will be so relieved when this semester is finally over and I can actually choose my own classes for next semester. At least if I'm overworked then, I can just blame myself. If I don't write soon, it's probably because I have two exams, one quiz and a paper to write all in one day!

One more cool thing to add. Saturday night I went to a Switchfoot concert thanks to Natalie. It was actually a really good show. I wasn't too sure at first, but those guys did a good job. It was fun. The lead singer looks like David Spade though...it was distracting.

I'm baaaaack!

After two years of being out of the game, I am FINALLY back in a science lab! I cannot tell you how glad I am to be surrounded by the glorious disorder and wonderful odor of modern collegiate science education! It's amazing how similar labs are to one another. Before, I worked in a small, community college science lab in Florida. Now I'm at a larger, Christian university in Virginia. The labs are exactly the same! It's like returning home. From the construction of the labs to the materials used, it's as if labs are punched out cookie cutter style.

My supervisor, Dr. Offield, who is the lab manager as well as instructor for biology, embryology and Biochemical & Molecular Techniques, has been great! He pretty much made this position up for me just to get me in the labs. He knows about my experience as a lab manager and has given me a lot of freedom in how I organize the particular room that I've been assigned to. Typically, a student assistant, or TA, is assigned to just one class/professor/subject. My role is to keep the prep/storage area for the biology classrooms organized and cleaned. I can once again assume my role as the "lab nazi"...NO LAB FOR YOU!!! I will eventually be given more responsibilities as time goes on, but this newer room is in need of a lot of TLC which will take me a while. I will begin shadowing a senior who is the TA for Dr. Paul Sattler (the Bio/Chem Chair). The plan is for me to take on this TA's responsibilities once he graduates. I'm looking forward to meeting all the other professors on staff. Some of whom are nationally published in scientific journals and creationist articles. It's great to be rubbing elbows with professors like this!

On another note, classes are beginning to settle into a manageable rhythm. Research paper deadlines are beginning to peek their ugly little heads, so that will begin to make life hectic. Plus, the honeymoon period is officially over as I have taken my first exam. It was in Philosophy class, although the test material was actually logics stuff and not philosophy. The professor says that this first test is actually the most difficult of the semester. He introduces logic at the beginning of the semester in order to simulate a boot camp of sorts. Once the boot camp is over, things become a little easier. Well, I sure hope he's right. I just barely passed this first exam with a score of 100%. I know, I know, it's embarrassing. I promise to do better in the future.

What just happened?

Well, as you can tell by my lack of recent posts, this first week of class has been a whirlwind! Not only are 3 of my 5 classes writing and reading intensive, not only am I frantically trying to get the hang of my new airport lineman job, but I am also living in at a construction site. The schoolwork is so intensive, I've actually had to schedule when I do what assignment. Well, Tuesday morning before work, my shower just stopped working. What was a fairly small job turned into a huge project. Jeff, Jonathan and I were up until about 2:00 AM fixing the problem...so much for my scheduled homework time. Then, the next night after I returned home, Jeff was in the downstairs kitchen getting ready to install the "new" dishwasher. Jeff's dad showed up this Friday in order to work on my room and get it ready for carpet, stucco and paint. Once that's done, I will have a bedroom!

This week, I will be starting my first day at work by myself on the line. I can't even begin to guess what will happen, so you will just have to wait for a future post to find out.

I attended campus church on Wednesday night and it was great! It is incredible to have Dr. Ergun Caner as our regular speaker. I am really looking forward to going every week. Another cool thing regarding church happened today. We had a special guest at Thomas Road Baptist church, Erik Estrada from CHiPs, was there. I knew he was in Lynchburg filming a public service video months ago and used the Liberty University studio, but was unaware that he was even a church attender.

Another addition to the excitement this week started during the late night plumbing adventure. Living with 4 pilots has already begun to pay off. Jeff's girlfriend, Natalie, has been a friend of mine for years. She and her family have attended McGregor Baptist for decades and I've shared many incredible mission trips with them. Natalie's father, Craig, is a private pilot and owns a plane. Jeff was flying down to Ft. Myers in order to fly back with Craig and Patti in their plane for a visit to Lynchburg. Out of the blue, while replacing the shower pipes, Jeff asked if I'd like for him to pick up Le'Rae while he was down and fly her back for the weekend. Well gee, let me think! Two days later we were still waiting on permission from Craig himself just to be sure it was OK. That permission came 4 hours before takeoff. Le'Rae rushed to get ready and in a few hours, she was in the air! She shadowed me Friday at school and we were able to just relax yesterday and enjoy church today. She left around 2:00 today. It was a nice surprise and I'm glad I didn't have to wait until October to see her.

Talk about a crazy week! I can't think of much more to write and even if I could, I need to get back to studying. I have four books to read, a synopsis to write, logic rules of inference to study and a quiz to study for. Plus, Jeff's dad is hammering away in my future room as I type. I like excitement, but I hope next week is a little less hectic. My head's still spinning.

Crash course in being an Airport Lineman!

Well, today was my first day of training for being a lineman at one of the Falwell Aviation airports. They moved my training day from Saturday to Sunday due to scheduling issues. Falwell Airport was the particular airport for today's training. Next Tuesday and Thursday mornings will be training at Lynchburg Airport.

Sunday's are apparently the slowest days of the week. It is definitely more laid back here than I expected. When I say laid back, I'm talking laid back! Half of the instructions ended with the phrase, "you can do this if you want, but its not that big of a deal". That was the case for just about everything other than actually dealing with the planes. Even that was more casual than I thought. My self and the lineman for the day and my trainer, Jim, were the only two people working. There was a quick stop in from Kyle Falwell, the grandson of the owner and manager of the two airports. He's a fast-moving, fast-talking guy in his early 30's. Seems nice, but it was only the first day and I haven't screwed anything up yet.

About 4 or 5 planes landed throughout the day. Most of them were either instructors just taking their planes out for fun or "weekend warriors" as Jim put called them. They are the rich guys who own one or two planes and just feel like taking them out for a spin. The airport acts as a gas/service station for guys like that. They'll pull up and Jim would ask, "Do you need any gas? Would you like the windows cleaned?" It was even less formal than a gas station, though. One guy hopped out of this plane in sandals, Hawaiian shorts and a tank top. He was a regular "weekend warrior" who just came by to get some gas and hang out for an hour or so. Then he was off.

The funniest thing that happened was that after Kyle stopped into the Falwell Airport, he left to go check on the Lynchburg Airport which is only about a 10-15 minute drive down the highway. A few hours later, a plane lands on the runway and whips up to the door of the hangar at full speed. Out pops Kyle and the lineman working the Lynchburg airport! Apparently, Kyle didn't want to drive the 10 minutes from Lynchburg Airport to Falwell Airport, so he flew and brought the other lineman along because nothing was going on down there. Hey, why not, right!? Shoot, if my family owned an aviation company and managed two airports, I wouldn't drive anywhere. I'd turn the drive-through at Taco Bell into a fly-through.

I'm not sure what's in store for me at the jet center over in Lynchburg Airport, but I hope its as laid back there as it was today at Falwell Airport. I was expecting more of a large regional airport setting with security, FAA and Homeland Security officers. Instead what I got was one guy, a golf cart and a BB gun. Of course, the planes they have at this airport are so small, you could push them by hand into the hangars. Not exactly government official worthy.

To all you Chicken Littles out there...

If you see what looks like fire and brimstone falling from heaven, don't worry, its just me at work. My official first day at Falwell Aviation is Saturday. There are two airports that Falwell Aviation owns/manages. The first is the place I did the interview today and will work Saturday - Falwell Airport. It is extremely small...as in you take a tiny dirt road from the main highway to the particle-board hangar office. I'm surprised the single runway that they have isn't dirt also. The other strip is much larger and fancier, I'm told. The interviewer called it the "jet center". It is where most of the big-business clients fly out of for their cross-country meetings. Falwell Airport is mainly used for flight instruction and for private pilots.

I was informed that I would be doing everything from opening the offices, to scheduling flights, to prepping and fueling the planes. Basically, everything besides actually flying the planes! Now, you would think that some of those responsibilities would require some kind of trade school certification at least, but apparently you can be hired off the street. In fact, some guy walked in after my interview and simply asked, "Uh, can I have a job?" He was promptly taken into the same office that I just came out of. Scary stuff!

So the next time you're sitting in a plane, getting ready for takeoff, and you see those guys running up to the planes with fuel hoses and other complicated looking apparatus, just think...any one of them could've been serving you your fries at McDonald's a month prior!!

Can you picture me as...

Well, my roommate, Jeff came home today and asked for my resume to take back to his work. He works as a flight instructor for Liberty. The small airport that he flies out of for instructing students needs somebody to tow the planes in and out of the hangar. Apparently the last guys that they employed ran the planes into the walls of the hangar and caused a lot of damage. They want somebody responsible and mature to do the job (go figure). As to why they want me, I don't know. I'm kind of intimidated by the responsibility. Just one of those planes cost more money than I will ever make in my entire life. Oh well, it can't be that hard right?........

A not so shocking realization.

Today when I happened to glance over at my stack of schoolbooks, I came to a realization - most college professors are insensible to the fact that their students might be taking classes other than their own. Its one of those things that I'm sure has crossed my mind before but, in the six or so years that I was away from academia, I seem to have forgotten. Is one textbook per class not sufficient? If a professor needs THREE books just to teach his or her class, either they are trying to teach too much in a given course or they need to find a more thorough textbook. Maybe I'm being unreasonable, but it seems like eight books for five classes is a bit ridiculous. If I allow myself to be paranoid, I guess I could accuse universities and colleges of brokering certain unscrupulous deals with textbook publishers...but that's just silly...right?

School books, goodbyes and drug addicted city planners.

Well, the past few days have been a blur. While Le'Rae and her mother were here, we worked on getting the downstairs area of this house liveable for me; and believe you me, that's not an easy task for one as O.C.D. as I am. The place will do until Jeff gets back and we finish everything.

We were also able to get over to the campus and get a few things done. The books are all purchased (one still needs to be picked up) and the campus has been explored. I found a back entrance to the campus from Wards Road (equivalent to U.S. 41). The road practically goes up a sixty degree incline, so that will be fun during the winter when there's ice! I cannot get my parking sticker until the first day of classes because, like all institutions of higher education, they want to make nothing simple and practical. I guess they thought I would have nothing else to do my first day of classes!

I am totally convinced that the city planners for Lynchburg were taking every kind of recreational drug known to man when they designed these roads! Now, I consider myself to be an understanding and lenient person when it comes to the limitations of cities to cater to everyone, but this place is absolutely ridiculous when it comes to roads. I have successfully navigated Tampa, Miami and Orlando road systems. All three of those cities are larger and more hectic than this sleepy little farming town, but yet they are much easier to get around in. Not only will the same road have two or even three different names all at the same time, but the north and south (or east and west) parts of the road will be on opposite sides of town. The roads also have a nasty habit of instantly changing from one road into another just for the heck of it. For instance, Wards Road is also business 29 North, but that's totally OK because back home, U.S. 41 is also called Cleveland Ave. and Tamiami trail at times. State highways sometimes have distinct names depending on the town they pass through. The problem arises when Business 29 North decides it no longer wants anything to do with Wards Road, so it splits off from the thoroughfare completely while Wards Road changes its name to another state highway and then promptly ceases to exist!! If you are on Wards Road/Business 29 North and you know a certain destination is up the road, you would logically assume that when you come upon a highway exchange from Hell, if you take the exit for Business 29 North ramp, you would remain on the road you had been on...WRONG!! You find yourself traveling through back wooded hillbilly-land hearing nothing but banjo music!! Anyway, if you want a visual of what I'm talking about, go to Google maps and look up Lynchburg...its guaranteed to turn your logical little mind into mush!

Anyway, Le'Rae and her mom left Tuesday via Roanoke airport. It isn't fun saying goodbye to your girlfriend for months at a time, but that's life. We will still see each other almost every night thanks to the wonderful internet (thanks Al).

Well, if I don't post anything for a week or more, its because I followed the road signs on my way to the store. I'll probably wind up in Canada or something...

The house

Well, I'm as settled as I'm going to be for a while. We worked all day yesterday and today to get all my stuff inside and thrown somewhere. The downstairs living room (bottom two windows on the right of the picture) is my room for now until Jeff comes back and we get the bedroom drywalled and painted. It will be a nice room once it's done. Until then, things are strewn everywhere. My kitchen downstairs is also waiting for some improvements. The dishwasher down here is broken so Jeff has the old one from upstairs in the middle of my kitchen floor down here. We will replace the broken one for the one that was upstairs. I will take more pictures as things get organized and finished.

Finally here!

Well, we arrived in Lynchburg at about 5:30 after another long day of traveling. I met just one of my 4 roommates, Jonathan. All of my roommates are pilots. Three are flight instructors for Liberty and the fourth will be soon. Jonathan was kind enough to help unload the trailer only 2 minutes after meeting me. We only got about half the trailer unloaded because I have to find room for all my stuff first. My room is under construction so I have to take over the downstairs living room/den. I will have to set up shop here until my room is done in September. The house has a lot of potential and even though its stuck in the 70's, it's not bad. Jeff is working wonders for what he's remodeled so far. I'm hoping that I can be involved in the remodeling process.

As for now, I'm exhausted and need to sleep. Pictures will come soon.

Still on the road...

We are currently driving through South Carolina. The time is: 12:27 PM. Le'Rae is driving my truck while I take a break...although, I'm not sure that I can relax while she drives. At least the sky is blue and we can clearly see the little red trailer that has every one of my possessions in it. I hope to be at my new home by 3:00 or 4:00.

Rain, rain and shredded tires.

Well, Florida gave me a wet and soggy send-off. It rained from the minute we left Fort Myers until we were well into Georgia; with only a half hour break around 2:00. I am so sick of this dumb rain!! Once we got close to Savannah, GA, one of the trailer tires started to unravel! Luckily, we were only 1/4 mile from an exit. We got the trailer to a gas station, unhooked it and went to the local Wal-mart to get the tires fixed. Since it was in the evening, we decided just to stay in Savannah for the night. We'll get an early start in the morning and get to Lynchburg around 1:00 or 2:00. So far my scorpion, Sasori, hasn't died so that's a positive thing. I really hope that tomorrow is a bright and sunny day all the way up to VA. I don't want to have to unload in the rain.

On the road...

Unless you are reading this at an ungodly hour (like before 4:00 AM), I am currently on the road. We are trying to make it to Lynchburg, VA in one day. I know we'll at least get within a few hours even if we don't make it. Today was so busy, I didn't really get a chance to say goodbye to Florida...not that today's weather was nice or anything. At least I could've gotten a nice send-off with a beautiful sunny day.

Shark Week Blues

It's a cruel twist of fate that the week I'm leaving my Southwest Florida home, Shark Week is airing on the Discovery channel. First, I am so busy with all the moving that I'm barely able to watch the specials. They have programs on all day, but still...not very easy to watch when I'm packing up a condo. When I load up the trailer today along with my TV, that will really be a downer.

On top of all that, the realization that I'm leaving my sub-tropical paradise hometown, full of its mangrove swamps, beaches and exciting wildlife, for an almost arctic destination is really depressing. I'm an aspiring shark researcher; and Florida is one of the shark capitals of the world, but yet I have to leave it to achieve that ultimate goal. Why is it that Liberty couldn't have a Southwest Florida campus? It's not easy being an aspiring creationist marine biologist.

P.S. Could somebody record tonight's Shark week program for me?

Too much packing to do!

There's still a lot of packing to do even though Le'Rae and Debbie kicked butt last week for me. I've been living in a condo full of boxes for a week now. I want to be done with this process and unpacking in the VA house.

"L" minus 3 days!

It's Monday, July 30th. Three days before I start moving for Lynchburg, VA to attend Liberty University. The concept of a blog site is GREAT...assuming, of course, the person posting isn't a completely lazy blogger. I, unfortunately am such a lazy blogger. In 2003, I spent 6 months in Ecuador for missions and attempted to keep up with a blog site for my family and friends back home. It started out fine, but I soon began to neglect it. Since I'm moving away from my home town of Fort Myers, Florida to finish my long neglected (are we starting to see a pattern?) biology degree, I figured I would try a personal blog site again for all those family and friends back home. We'll see how it goes...I give it a month before my postings become few and far between.