Post-Christmas Adventures

Last time I left you on the edge of your seat, wondering what I did after Christmas. Well, the long-awaited answer is here. Back in the fall, my friend Jake and I decided to go on a hiking trip. Let me give you some background because You're probably thinking, "Scott doesn't hike. He might hurt himself." Well, you're right. But I miss the mountains. They are gorgeous and I don't get to enjoy them very often so I figured a good hike would do me well. Jake and I planned to go 60 miles in 4 days which was more ambitious than I realized. Fortunately it snowed 2 feet and we had to cancel that trip. I decided to do 19 miles in 1.5 days. I thought it would be easy. I was wrong. Turns out I need some better hiking boots. After mile 12 my feet were hurting badly. My friend Todd decided to come with me which was a good idea. It was great for us to share what was happening in each other's lives. We saw some great views including the one above at McAfee's Knob and the icicles in a creek. Other pictures are on facebook. I also got to test out my 15 degree sleeping bag as it got down to 12 degrees overnight. I am happy to report that my Big Agnes bag kept me nice and toasty.

After surviving the wilderness, I spent another day in Blacksburg hanging out with great friends before returning toward Norfolk. I say toward because I stopped to enjoy the Hokies play football and spend New Year's eve with some college buddies. I must say the Hokies played well. Stinespring wasn't a complete idiot, our defense played well, and Tyrod didn't disappoint me. It is always good to see close friends you don't see very often. The party was out in the sticks which is just my style. I got to ride a 4 wheeler, play a little cornhole, and my buddy Michael let me play with his whip. I had a blast. That's all for now.

Welcome back

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since I posted. That's dumb. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. I was privileged to be at home over the holiday. My shipyard shuts down between Christmas and New Year's so I am forced to take vacation during that time. At the shipyard where I'm doing my training, Newport News, there was no training on the 23rd or 24th, so I went home early. A week and half without work is great. I went down to my sister's house in North Carolina with Mom for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Seeing my niece and nephew along with watching how my sister and brother-in-law love them is really encouraging. Here is Jenna, she is going through a ballerina phase. If you don't think this is cute, tell me and I'll come punch you in the face. I came back to Blacksburg the 26th, celebrated my niece Jenna's 3rd birthday and spent some good time with Dad and Marj. My good friend John Dooley invited me down to his house to smoke a cigar and have a little grappa. The next day we even got to shoot some skeet together. Nothing makes a country boy smile like shooting pieces of clay out of the air.

I will discuss my hiking trip and New Year's in my next post, but I will jump ahead to current events now. After returning to work, my coworkers and I started our next class, chemistry. I am not good at chemistry, but I have certainly learned a lot over the past 2 weeks which is great. I am still running Monday Homework Club in Norfolk. Today had some bright spots. A few of the older kids have made some great strides in reading comprehension and graph reading. One of the younger girls today had to write a sentence about a hero of her's. After a bit of prodding she chose her mom. I asked her why she looked up to her mom and she said, "Because she loves me." I said, "Why does she love you?" And she said, "Because I love her." I soon realized we were in an infinite logic loop. She wrote her sentence. I didn't know how to solve our problem.

The newest member of my family

Ok, that's a little extreme, but nevertheless, I'm excited. I don't have children now because I'm barely capable of feeding and dressing myself, let alone providing for a human being. Well remember how Guinevere drowned a few weeks ago? Well I found a new car that is suiting me perfectly. I understood that I had a clean slate with which to work. It took me 2 years to find out that I liked Guinevere and I only had 2 weeks to find a new vehicle. I hunted around for awhile and found her in Richmond. Corporate lease car. 8700 miles. $3000 under blue book value. A little more than I wanted to pay, but I have always been taught that it better to buy on value than price. I took her out on a photoshoot the other day and here she is.

I don't know her name yet, so just like we did for Guinevere, I would love to hear your suggestions for naming her. I'm only about a third of the way through the owner's manual, I'm constantly learning new things about her. Lots of buttons and functions, for sure. Next time you and I hang out, ask me for a ride and I will gladly oblige.

It feels nice to be out of the rental car (2010 Hyundai Sonata) and into the new G. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the Sonata. It has satellite radio, easy-to-use controls, a nice display, decent handling, and a fairly comfy ride. On the downside, the acceleration was poor and I have a feeling that after a long roadtrip the seats would not be pleasant. But good gas mileage and great durability warrant a recommendation from me. You know I could talk about cars all day but I will spare you. If you have car questions, talk to me.

Thanksgiving part 2

I feel like I should include a little more Thanksgiving related items on here. I guess a Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without a thorough discussion of what I'm thankful for. I could talk about lots of really obvious and really cheesy things I could talk about, but I'm not going to do that. Besides the family, friends, job, church, etc., I'm thankful for a God who loves me. He loves me despite my comprehensive doubt, fear, insecurity, jealousy, rebeliousness, judgementalism, hypocrisy, idolatry, selfishness, and tendency to treat others like crap. That completely amazes me.

Also over Thanksgiving, I ended my 11 year deer drought. I have finally cured buck fever. Dad and I went hunting Thanksgiving morning, had some great conversation, scared off a turkey, and shot a deer. The best part is I didn't have a heart attack hauling this thing up the hill. I will be taking a hiking trip a few days after Christmas, so jerky all around! One more Thanksgiving story. One of my roomates from college, Steve, got married. Here he is with his wonderful bride, Theresa. It was a great wedding, so many people were there who I don't get to see regularly. It has been a treat to watch 6 of my friends get married this year. I can say with complete confidence and joy that all of these relationships were ordained before time and I can see the Lord's hand in it all.

By the way, I just watched Transformers 2. Totally awesome. A word of advice: don't fall in love with fictional characters. Low chance of success.

Enter cheesey thanksgiving-related title here

Wow it has been quite a month. Settling into my new work environment, watching Guinevere flood and dealing with the aftermath of that, Thanksgiving with the family, I could go on. I've noticed that as I read blogs, I enjoy more frequent, shorter posts than the alternative. Therefore, since there is much to discuss, I will have short entries over the next week. I understand your time is valuable and I'm honored you're spending it learning about my life.

You probably know that I'm a sucker for a pretty sunset so I couldn't resist taking this beautiful picture outside of mom's house. Thanksgiving was pretty sweet. I got to see all my family except my sister, Bron, but I hope I'll get to see her over Christmas. I did the traditional overeating on both Thursday and Friday. I hadn't been home since September, it was great. I think that Thanksgiving, besides Easter, is my favorite holiday. The materialism related to Christmas is obnoxious and something I think detracts from understanding why Christ came to earth. I hung out with my nephew and niece which was totally awesome. The below picture serves three purposes: 1) highlight Connor and I spending time together reading Dr. Seuss 2) Connor and I sounding out words together and 3) We are both working on our reading skills.

Tuesday's Gone

Well, she's gone. I just watched Guinevere get hoisted onto a flatbed wrecker. It was tough to see her go. Issac the wrecker driver was really nice and identified with my pain. I felt the sting of guilt as salt water came out of the exhaust as it was lifted up. Overdramatic? Probably. I don't have kids. Therefore, I treat vehicles kind of like a child. Now before you look at me with those judgemental eyes, please know that I would love and treat a child much better than I would any vehicle.

We had a massive flood here in Norfolk and the tide came in, flooded my car and a few rooms in my house. My street was waist high. I've never been a part of a mass flood before, so this was certainly an adventure. The water level on Guinevere above is at about 2/3 tide, so I'm guessing that the water level was at least a foot higher. At right is my street last Thursday. To get an idea of how high the water was, the motorcycle in the middle of the picture had half of it's wheel covered in water. I hope you aren't worried about me because of 2 reasons: 1) I have insurance. I will find another car and although I do love Guinevere, 2) she's just a car. I could think of about 2301934 things that are more important than her. I'm thankful that I'm safe and that I have a family and a junkload of friends that love me.

Some of you know that during activities that may require me getting dirty (i.e. car work, landscaping, etc.) I wear jorts. See, I knew it. There you go with those judgement eyes again. I know I look ridiculous and I don't care. With that said, below is the proper attire for a mass flood.

a new office

I have successfully completed two days in my new place of learning. Newport News is a very different place from anything I have experienced. As soon as you leave the interstate, it's as if you have entered a new country. When they built the shipyard, I guess they forgot about parking because the surrounding area only contains 3 things: privately owned parking lots, 7-11s, and run-down buildings. I have been told not to attend the shipyard after dark as it is dangerous. I have shifted my schedule to account for the parking demand. I leave my house shortly before 6, join a carpool, and arrive around 630. I sit in a dungeon-esque room that has 4 empty desks, one window (which looks out to some hazmat building), and 4 file cabinets. That's it. No pictures on the walls, nothing. I longer have a computer which makes me more efficient. I sit and study for 8ish straight hours, then leave.

I included the above pictures because when I go outside for a break these are the two ships I see. They are, from left to right, the USS George HW Bush (41st President) and the USS Carl Vinson (Representitive from GA) . They're real big.

I haven't been home since September. I'm looking forward to Blacksburg. And turkey. I won't go into my love affair with Thanksgiving now.

Not every adventure is a good one

I must apologize to all you out there. Once a week is my goal for posting frequency, and it has been over 2 weeks. My bad. As expected, Jake's wedding was off the chain. I could talk about how good the food was at both the rehearsal (steak) and wedding (seafood pasta, etc.), but the people present were great. I saw lots of folks I hadn't seen in quite awhile and it was good to see Jake and Amanda tie the knot. I feel honored because I was a groomsman and the wedding party was fun.

I guess I haven't talked much about work lately so I should update you on how that is. I am finishing Phase 2 of my training which means on November 9 I start "school" in Newport News at Northrup Grumman shipyard. I basically keep learning the same information about how the reactor works over and over again, only this time it is taught by the experts. That is the technical side of how work is going. This past week was Drug Free work week, which I am so glad is over and I can go back to drugs at work. Also, there was a mass email about how medical marijuana is legal or not. For about 2 hours, many people hit "reply to all" and there was a great argument going on. Quite hilarious. I was also told at work this week by an older guy that since I'm 24 I should be "making babies." I guess I'll start working on that. What an awkward thing to be told by a person you don't really know at all.

After Jake's wedding, I realized I didn't have to look good for anybody for a little while, so I grew a mustache. I can see you judging me through this computer screen. So I'll calm your fears. Yes, I admit it does look terrible. Really terrible. It is not a permanant fixture upon my face. I can only look in the mirror so many times before I throw up.

I got the flu this week. The flu sucks. Hooray for green phlegm.

Watch this, it's funny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZsBL4d1Eus&feature=player_embedded

Nuptuals

Oh hello there. This week has been the week of the wedding. 3 weddings in 7 days. Last Saturday, I drove to the beautiful Shenendoah Valley to watch a buddy of mine from college, Toby, get married. The setting was a vineyard on top of a hill which overlooks the transition in Virginia from Piedmont to mountains. You can see in the picture the rolling hills followed by the steep mountains in the background. I got to see some guys from school that I hadn't seen since graduation and some not in 3+ years. It was gorgeous.

I had to be back in Norfolk Sunday morning for church, which meant a 3 hour drive at 6 am. If you ever have the chance to do that, just pass on it. After church I went to Busch Gardens for the Howl-o-Scream festivities. There were several haunted/scary/spooky type of buildings where you walk through them and people try to scare you. It was quite fun getting scared and laughing when other people got scared. The 2 best things at Busch Gardens were the real-life Joe Dirt, complete with ridiculous mullet and goatee, and the only woman I've ever seen with the mullet.

Last night, I watched Jim and Pam from The Office get married. Watching a wedding from the comfort of my couch is the way to go.

This weekend, my friends Jake and Amanda get married. I'm super excited. I have the honor of being a groomsman which means I get first crack at the reception buffet table. Sweet. I honed my dancing skills this week by helping out at homework club both Monday and Tuesday. I taught the kids how to do the Sprinkler, the Lawnmower, and the Shopping Cart. In return, I learned the Jerk. It is essentially like skipping, except you skip backwards and don't actually go anywhere. It requires rhythm, of which I have little. Hopefully I can overcome my bland ways this weekend and tear up some dance floor.